In our last post, we observed one church’s experience using GuestView to manage their guest follow-up. One of the recommendations we made was to provide a welcome packet for your church’s guests. Below we’ve put together some ideas for your visitor welcome packets.

In the comments below, please add your own thoughts. How do you build your visitor welcome packets?

Presentation

  • A simple portfolio folder. This will be easy for your guests to bring home with them. It’s worth taking care to find a good-quality folder to leave a good first impression.
  • A gift basket.
  • A coffee mug with your church logo. You can use the mug much like a gift basket.
  • A small tote bag.

Content

Here are some ideas to get started. You should be selective so that you don’t overwhelm your guests with too much information!

  • A welcome letter from your senior pastor.
  • An informational brochure on your denomination, church-planting network or family of churches.
  • An informational brochure on your church: your statement of faith, mission and vision, history, etc.
  • A list of your church’s ministries and services, to help your guests connect and find ways to serve or receive care.
  • A directory or map of your church’s small groups or Sunday school classes.
  • Invitations to upcoming meetings or events.
  • A free book on Christian basics, such as Jerry Bridges’ The Gospel for Real Life, John Piper’s Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, or C. J. Mahaney’s Cross-Centered Life.
  • Instead of a book, you could include a gift certificate for a free book at your church’s book store or book table.
  • A brochure or tract that clearly explains the gospel. An outstanding resource for this is Matthias Media’s Two Ways to Live.
  • A CD sampler of some of your church’s songs or hymns.
  • A card with information about your church’s online resources. If you are already using GuestView to manage connections with your guests, you can include this sort of information in an automatic welcome email that you send to your guests. Such an email could also point to a guest feedback survey.
  • A nice pen with your church logo imprinted on it.

For any printed materials, you should use high quality paper stock and printing; also be sure to have someone copy edit your materials to look for obvious errors. Quality and professionalism in presentation goes a long way toward making a good first impression!

Delivery

You can deliver welcome packets to guests in a number of ways:

  • Hand them out at a guest welcome desk in your lobby.
  • Have your ushers distribute them to guests who raise their hand during the service.
  • Make them available at key traffic flow points in your building (for example, at all entrances to the auditorium).
  • Have your welcome team hand them out to guests at the front door.
  • Make them available to guests at a guest reception after the service.