Wayne Hedlund

Category: HEALTHY CHURCH

  • Guest Experience #3 – Sort it Out . . .

    Sort it out . . .

    If you have been following along in my series of blogs on applying the “Strategic Process” to the guest experience at church, you will have just read a couple of days ago: Guest Experience #3 – Envision ‘What’s the Hope’. I’d like to complete what I started in that blog entry here. If you remember, we dreamed about a future that looks something like this:

    • WHAT WOULD I WANT A GUEST TO SAY DURING HIS OR HER VISIT? “I feel welcome at this church. The people are friendly and I believe they are glad I’m here. Everything is done with excellence. My whole family enjoys being here and feels cared for. They teach the Bible in a relevant way and I’m learning how to apply it in my everyday life. I am experiencing God here, and I know He’s transforming me. I feel I am part of something great, and I look forward to inviting my friends and family. I can’t wait to find out how I can get more involved.”
    • WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE AS A GUEST ARRIVES?  As guests drive up to our church they see a well groomed lawn and building on a paved parking lot. There is someone outside dressed as a parking attendant just greeting people and offering to help with the elderly or little children. As they enter the building they are greeted warmly by a married couple and are given clear directions to the childcare programs, with an offer to accompany and help them get acclimated to out kids’ rooms. There is upbeat, contemporary worship playing in the halls, plenty of light, and a smell of fresh brewed coffee. They will be given a Welcome Packet with information about our church and asked to fill out a very simple guest card before entering the sanctuary.

    The sanctuary is well lit and offers comfortable seating. There are special lights and props on-stage supporting the sermon series. Once the couple enters our sanctuary they are handed a simple bulletin and easily find seats near the back where they won’t feel too uncomfortable. The worship is new to them, but they notice that people seem to genuinely love God and are obviously singing to Him. Everyone on-stage communicates in a friendly and clear manner when they address the congregation. The sermon is delivered with passion and is completely relevant to their lives today. There is an opportunity for guests to make a fresh commitment to Christ near the end. etc. etc. etc.

    • WHAT WILL THE GUEST EXPERIENCE AFTER THE SERVICE IS OVER? The guest will receive an email from the Senior Pastor by the end of the day letting them know he was glad they were able to visit the church today and encouraging them to reply to the email, letting him know what they thought of their experience. By Wednesday, the guest will also receive a phone call from a church member who will simply ask if they had any questions about their experience in church on Sunday and to “look him up” should they choose to visit again sometime.
    Wow! That’s a great vision! I’m sure that, as time goes on your team would refine and clarify hopes and expectations for the future. That’s an important part of the process too.
    Why it’s important . . .
    The more you clarify what you want the future to look like, the less likely it will be that you and your team strays from that future as you strive to reach it. Putting in black and white what you are hoping for is one of the best ways to ensure unity and focus as the weeks, months, and potentially years go by. A dream like this transcends people and will likely stay alive even after key members of your team (and maybe even you) have moved on to other things or other churches.
    Sort it out . . .
    Here’s what we didn’t do yet. We need to sort out the key elements of this dream into categories. This is important for us to be able to Face ‘What’s in the Way?’ and Determine ‘What’s the Path?’  So I’m going to attempt to sort out some (probably not all) of the key elements that we will want to focus in on in the weeks and months to come (in our hypothetical church setting).
    START BY LISTING THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS YOU SEE IN YOUR VISION: people are friendly, excellence, whole family (children/teens), care, relevant Bible teaching, Application in Bible teaching, experiencing God, equipped to invite friends, equipped in how to get involved, facility appearances (external/internal), signage, seating, lighting, greeters (outside/inside), coffee, guest seating, welcome packet, guest card, staging, simple bulletin, contemporary worship, congregation worships, opportunities to receive Christ, email guest, phone call to guests.
    NEXT, GROUP THEM INTO CATEGORIES:
    • Host Ministry: greeters, parking attendant, cafe host (coffee), friendly, trained to host guests in building, chairs saved for guest in sanctuary.
    • Production: welcome packets, guest cards, simple bulletin.
    • Core Values: excellence, caring, relevant.
    • Worship: contemporary style, congregation engaged.
    • Children/Youth Ministry.
    • Sunday Sermon: relevant, application oriented, opportunity for salvation, opportunity to respond to God.
    • Facility: outside, clear signs, comfortable seating, good lighting, (sanctuary/hallways/lobby), stage is relevant to series.
    • Guest Follow Up: email from pastor, phone call from member.
    • Other: way to invite friends, opportunity to get involved, (Next Steps).
    FINALLY, IDENTIFY THE AREAS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU RIGHT NOW:
    • Host Ministry: greeters, parking attendant, cafe host (coffee), friendly, trained to host guests in building, chairs saved for guest in sanctuary.
    • Sunday Sermon: relevant, application oriented, opportunity for salvation, opportunity to respond to God.
    • Guest Follow Up: email from pastor, phone call from member.
    Final Thoughts
    At this stage you may discover a couple of things.
    1. There is a lot more to a solution than we thought. Praise the Lord! Consider what would have happened had you not walked through this process! No wonder we often feel like we are trying to make progress, but never get traction. Often it’s because we haven’t really identified all the important elements necessary to see our vision successful.
    2. We didn’t do an adequate job in step two of the Strategic Process.
      Now that you’ve clarified what you want the future to look like, you will likely discover that you didn’t really think through step two: Clarify ‘What Is?” Now that we’ve drilled down to the areas in our ministry that we really want to focus on, we should really go back and do some more clarification. For instance, if you compare the above list with our ‘What Is?’ list you will see that we haven’t really clarified how well we are fulfilling our core values in the lobby, worship, sermon, children’s ministry etc. We should clarify where we are strong and where we are weak in each of those areas.
    3. Some of the things we want to focus on will impact much more than what we intended.
      Awesome! You identified that you want the sermon to include opportunities for people to respond to the Lord when they are over. That will not only impact guests, but everyone! You decide you’d like coffee in the lobby. Cool! That will help stimulate fellowship among everyone in the church.

  • Guest Experience #3 – Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’

    This is part 3 in my series of posts walking you through the “Strategic Process” by exploring the guest experience in a hypothetical church scenario. The premise of the strategic process is based on the book, “Being Strategic” by Erika Andersen. You may read part one here and part two here to catch up.




    The Strategic Process includes Five Steps:


           1. Define the Challenge
           2. Clarify ‘What Is?’
           3. Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’ (Part 1 / Part 2)
           4. Face ‘What’s in the Way?’ 
           5. Determine ‘What’s the Path?’

    Today we will Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’  This is my favorite part of the strategic process because we get to dream about the future. We are going to brainstorm the most perfect future we can think of for our particular church and situation. We’re going to pull together everything we know God has spoken to us about the future and pray for more wisdom and discernment. We are also going to include anything we have learned through workshops, books, personal experience, etc., that might play a role in what we believe the future should look like. When finished, you and your team should have a sense of excitement about the possibilities.

    In this step, we will engage four key elements:

    • Pick a time frame for success . . .
      (When is a realistic goal that you believe you can reach one or more of your “hope” objectives?)
    • Imagine yourself in that future . . .
      (Mentally put yourself “there” so that you can accomplish the next objective below.)
    • Describe what success looks and feels like . . .
      (Very important. You give details as to what you see, hear, smell, touch, and feel about your environment. This should be written in the present tense, not the past or future tense.)
    • Select the key elements . . .
      (Sort out your brainstorming and future-casting into several categories or key elements.)

    Note: Sometimes you will want to describe the future from several different perspectives. This will help clarify for you later all of the different elements that are really important to you.

    Here we go:
    In our hypothetical situation described in parts one and two we’ve already completed “Define the Problem?” and “Clarify ‘What Is?’”. Now let’s pull together some ideas of what the future might look like for our guests.

    • WHAT WOULD I WANT A GUEST TO SAY DURING HIS OR HER VISIT? “I feel welcome at this church. The people are friendly and I believe they are glad I’m here. Everything is done with excellence. My whole family enjoys being here and feels cared for. They teach the Bible in a relevant way and I’m learning how to apply it in my everyday life. I am experiencing God here, and I know He’s transforming me. I feel I am part of something great, and I look forward to inviting my friends and family. I can’t wait to find out how I can get more involved.”
    • WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE AS A GUEST ARRIVES?  As guests drive up to our church they see a well groomed lawn and building on a paved parking lot. There is someone outside dressed as a parking attendant just greeting people and offering to help with the elderly or little children. As they enter the building they are greeted warmly by a married couple and are given clear directions to the childcare programs, with an offer to accompany and help them get acclimated to out kids’ rooms. There is upbeat, contemporary worship playing in the halls, plenty of light, and a smell of fresh brewed coffee. They will be given a Welcome Packet with information about our church and asked to fill out a very simple guest card before entering the sanctuary.

       The sanctuary is well lit and offers comfortable seating. There are special lights and props on-stage supporting the sermon series. Once the couple enters our sanctuary they are handed a simple bulletin and easily find seats near the back where they won’t feel too uncomfortable. The worship is new to them, but they notice that people seem to genuinely love God and are obviously singing to Him. Everyone on-stage communicates in a friendly and clear manner when they address the congregation. The sermon is delivered with passion and is completely relevant to their lives today. There is an opportunity for guests to make a fresh commitment to Christ near the end. etc. etc. etc.

    • WHAT WILL THE GUEST EXPERIENCE AFTER THE SERVICE IS OVER? The guest will receive an email from the Senior Pastor by the end of the day letting them know he was glad they were able to visit the church today and encouraging them to reply to the email, letting him know what they thought of their experience. By Wednesday, the guest will also receive a phone call from a church member who will simply ask if they had any questions about their experience in church on Sunday and to “look him up” should they choose to visit again sometime.
    Go to “Guest Experience #3: Sort it Out”


    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Guest Experience #2 – Clarify ‘What Is?’

    Define ‘What Is?’ — Self Evaluation

    In my last post I started working through “The Strategic Process” by exploring the guest experience. The premise of the strategic process is based on the book “Being Strategic” by Erika Andersen.

    The Strategic Process includes Five Steps:

    1. Define the Challenge

    2. Clarify ‘What Is?’
    3. Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’
    4. Face ‘What’s in the Way?’
    5. Determine ‘What’s the Path?’

    So far, we have been able to Define the Challenge here.

    Now let’s Clarify ‘What is?’  In this step we want to evaluate where we are right now. This is an honest assessment of our current resources. It is also our opportunity to identify what we are doing right now, what we aren’t, what’s working, and what’s not. One tool we can use to do this is to utilize the acronym, S.W.O.T. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

    Emotionally, this is probably one of the hardest steps. It can be very difficult to be totally honest with ourselves, and it’s easy to feel discouraged when facing what’s not really working well. This is where we can be very tempted to cheat the process by not being fully self disclosed. It’s also a great opportunity to set the stage for true change.

    In Clarify ‘What Is?’ we will follow three guiding principles:

    • Become a ‘Fair Witness’   (try to be objective in your evaluations)
    • Pull Back the Camera   (look at the big picture)
    • Sort for Impact   (identify what is most relevant to your problem and it’s potential solution and organize them into groups when possible)

    Enough talk. Let’s tackle our hypothetical problem and move to step two in the process: Clarify ‘What Is?”

    NOTE: The below ideas are completely hypothetical and do not represent the actual ‘What Is?’ for Elim Gospel Church or any other church that I am aware of. Also, this list is a very basic list and does not fully represent what the list would actually look like if several team members sat down to this discussion in a lengthy brainstorming session.

    Define ‘What is?’ S.W.O.T. analysis:

    Strengths:

    • We have a welcoming facility with good, clear, signs.
    • We have an awesome worship ministry that is contemporary, professional, and Spirit led.
    • We have a nice welcome center in our lobby.
    • Our ushers greet everyone as they arrive to church every morning in a friendly way.
    Weaknesses: 
    • We do not have anyone greeting people at the door or helping visitors when they arrive.
    • Our services are not very visitor-friendly.
    • The messages tend to be full of a lot of christianeze and often presume that everyone is already a believer.
    • We have no way of identifying who our visitors are and getting info from them for the future.
    • We do no follow up with visitors.
    • Signs outside the building are not clear. 
    • We do not have any visitor parking areas.
    Opportunities:
    • We just purchased several books with great ideas to help us along.
    • Mary Smith recently expressed a strong interest in helping in this area.
    Threats:
    • There are already a number of visitors who have come through our church who may have expressed a negative opinion to their friends/neighbors about us.
    • We don’t have anything allocated in our current budget to develop this important area.
    Go To “Guest Experience #3: Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’”


    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Guest Experience #1 – Define the Problem

    We have a problem . . .

    OK. Here we go. I’m going to walk through the Strategic Process by exploring the “guest experience” in a hypothetical church scenario. Please notice two things:

    1. The Strategic Process.  {1.Define the Challenge, 2.Clarify ‘What Is?’, 3.Envision ‘What’s the Hope?’, 4.Face ‘What’s in the Way?’, 5.Determine ‘What’s the Path?’}
    2. The ideas that I begin to clarify about the guest experience.  {How might you take advantage of the hypothetical strategic steps I walk you through over these next five blog entries?)

    Define the Challenge
    The first step in the Strategic Process is to define the challenge. In this step we want to draft a clear statement that clarifies what’s wrong. There is no point in engaging in future planning if we don’t have something that isn’t working, or that couldn’t work better.

    Utilizing the principles in the book, Being Strategic, we will define the challenge by asking:

    • What isn’t working?
    • How can we (I) . . . ?  {finish the sentence}
    • Would this {the previous sentence} feel like success.

    The Guest Experience Challenge
    All right, here’s my first stab of how we would define the challenge as it relates to the guest experience on a Sunday morning in many of our churches today. Let me know what you think.

    “It doesn’t seem like many of our guests return to our church after their first visit. How can we ensure that a considerably larger percentage of our first time guests will actually want to visit us again? If we can accomplish that, then it would feel like success to us.”

    Notice that the first sentence describes what isn’t working. The second sentence finishes the sentence, “How can we . . .?” and the final sentence clarifies that we have adequately defined the problem.

    I welcome your feedback.

    Go to “Guest Experience #2: Clarify ‘What Is?’“


    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • The Guest Experience – Critical

    I’m curious, how important are your guests to you? If you can’t describe how important they are to you then I suspect they may not be in the habit of staying. We have a holy responsibility to take each and every guest that darkens our door extremely seriously. They represent the lost, the needy, the broken. They represent potential members and leaders. They represent church growth.

    Unless you and your leaders really aren’t interested in reaching your community you will give great thought to what your guests think, feel, see, hear and even smell on any and every given Sunday morning. We did this a couple of years ago at Elim Gospel Church. We asked ourselves, “What would we want guests to say about us in an imaginary interview, if someone were to ask them:‘What do you think about Elim Gospel Church?’” Here’s what we came up with:

    Guest Vision Statement: “I feel welcome at Elim Gospel Church. The people are friendly and I believe they are glad I’m here. Everything is done with excellence. My whole family enjoys coming and feels cared for. They teach the Bible in a relevant way and I’m learning how to apply it in my everyday life. I experience God here, and He’s transforming me. I feel I am part of something great, and I look forward to inviting my friends and family. I want to get more involved and people are showing me how.”

  • Eight Systems of the Local Church

    Pastor and ministry coach, Nelson Searcy talks about the “Eight Systems of the Local Church” in his free e-book called, “Healthy Systems, Healthy Church“. He also wrote several blogs about each system in his blog series “Where There’s Slack, There’s Lack”. 

     
    I am indebted to Nelson Searcy for writing this e-book. It provoked me in several important ways. It caused me to think about ministry and church from a totally different angle.

    The result is that I’ve now utilized the original Eight Systems of the Local Church that Nelson Searcy writes about in the book and added two more. I call them, well, it’s not original or anything, but ‘The Ten Systems of the Local Church’. I suspect you’ll find both Pastor Searcy’s e-book, and my posts going into greater detail on church systems both very helpful. Enjoy.

    Get Nelson Searcy’s Free E-Book Here.

    Check out ‘The Ten Systems of the Local Church’ Here.

  • Strategic Planning Scenario #3

    Wondering what I’m talking about here? Read THIS BLOG ENTRY and these scenarios to catch up!

    Strategic Planning Scenario #3: Joe and Jane walk through the front doors of your church. Because they’ve not been in church in so long, certainly not as a couple and with kids, the first order of business is to figure out where they are supposed to go and what they are supposed to do. Do the kids stay with them in the service? Are they supposed to be dropped off somewhere? Where are they supposed to go first? 

    By now you know what questions we are asking ourselves. What are you feeling about this scenario? Are you confident Joe and Jane will have a positive experience?

    Obviously, we can keep walking with Joe and Jane through your church service. Their experience will likely include:

    • Sitting in your service before it begins.
    • Experiencing worship in your service.
    • Experiencing various elements like offering, announcements, and some creative element(s) in your service.
    • Listening to a message by either yourself, another church leader, or a guest.
    • Experiencing your church in the post-service environment – between the pew and the car.
    It’s a very valuable exercise to walk through what Joe and Jane will experience on a normal week and ask yourself what you feel about their experience and how confident you are that Joe and Jane will have a positive experience.

    This exercise is a foundational exercise in Strategic Planning. It has to do with evaluating where you are today in the ministry activities and environments you offer to your congregation and community.

  • Strategic Planning Scenario #2

    Wondering what I’m talking about here? Read THIS BLOG ENTRY  and Scenario #1 to catch up.

    Strategic Planning Scenario 2: Joe decides to give your church a try. He pulls his family out of bed and they manage to get to your parking lot with only two bouts of sibling rivalry and one heated disagreement with Jane, his wife. As they drive up to your church (a few minutes early) Joe and Jane can’t help but notice the condition of the building, the parking lot and landscaping. They aren’t really trying to be critical-  its just that they haven’t darkened a church door in many years, they really don’t know what to expect, and they are just a little nervous; so details are a lot more noticeable than they might normally be.

    So now is a great time to ask the same questions in Strategic Planning Scenario 1. How are you feeling about their first look at your church? Nervous? Embarassed? Perhaps confident or pleased? You’ve heard it said that first impressions are important; but it’s not often we would equate a few weeds or uncut grass as an opportunity to turn someone away from Christ. Yet that is exactly what could happen in this situation.

    Core Value: Excellence.  When we choose to do things with excellence it tells everyone around us that what we are doing is somehow important to us (and God). This cues them in that it should perhaps be important to them as well. It is a Core Value that sets the stage for an open heart. Conversely, if we choose to do things average or half-heartedly the impression of our guests and attendees is “where I am and what is going on here isn’t really that important”, simply because we didn’t give it our best in preparation.

    What does this have to do with Strategic Planning? Everything. Your strategic plan is going to identify your core values (like excellence) as well as help to develop plans and systems to get the little things done with the least amount of weight and work on your part.

     

  • Strategic Planning Scenario #1

    Wondering what I’m talking about here? Read THIS BLOG ENTRY to catch up.


    Strategic Planning Scenario #1: Joe Smith, who lives 8 miles from your church, finally decides he wants to “try” church with his family (after 15 years being away from church). Joe is 32 years old, is married, and has three kids (two in gradeschool and one in preschool).  He does an internet search for churches in the area and comes across your church website.

    OK. If you are a pastor let me just ask a very simple question. What are you feeling right now knowing this man is looking at your website? Nervous? Happy? Hopeful? Embarrassed?

    Do you think he will be more or less interested in clicking ANY of the links on your website after looking at the front page? Joe has been browsing the internet his whole life. He has an internal meter that says the website will probably reflect the organization. Does your website reflect your church and you? There are three things in particular Joe wants to know, since he hasn’t been to church in a long time and he’s bringing his family. Will your website help him with these questions?

    1. Will my kids be OK there? What will they do and who will they be with?
    2. Will I be bored and uncomfortable?
    3. Do I really want to do this?
    This situation requires Prayer AND Strategic Planning. 

  • Overcoming Barriers to Church Growth

    Several years ago we read a book as a team that really started us on the path of strategic planning at Elim Gospel Church. It was called, “Leadership Transitions for Growth” by Michael Fletcher. The book has now been re-released by the title, “Overcoming Barriers to Church Growth“. It’s a short and easy read, and played a big role in helping us to change our mindset as a leadership team for growth.

    Among other things, the book discusses how to build a leadership structure for the NEXT stage of growth you are believing God for in your church/ministry. He said it best on page 43:

    “To cross over into a new stage, leaders must understand what lies ahead and make the necessary realignments before they expect to move to a new level of growth.”

    He explores three questions for small size churches (under 200), medium size churches (200-700), and large churches (over 800):

    1. How do the Elders relate to ministry?
    2. Who does the ministry?
    3. How are decisions made?
    If you have been struggling getting your footing in church growth, I would recommend this book as a resource, especially in the area of how your church leadership is currently structured.

    Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”