The Big Welcome: Physical, Relational, and Spiritual!
WELCOME to Issue #209 of The Seedhead from Alex and Hannah at Dandelion Resourcing - a weekly confidence booster to help you step into naturally supernatural discipleship and mission!
How to create a welcoming space in all your church gatherings!
We recently wrote this article for Alpha USA, and think you’ll enjoy it as well. Even if you don’t run Alpha, the principles totally apply - whether weekend services, missional communities or micro churches, midweek gatherings, student ministry, even social events. So translate what you read into your specific context, and grow in the grace of welcoming!
Helping guests feel loved, accepted, and welcomed is vital for any church to do - especially if you’re running an Alpha Course!
Researchers have found that people visiting a church for the first time will decide in under 10 minutes whether or not they’re returning. So getting your welcome right is all important!
In order to do this well, think about your welcome in 3 categories: Physical Space, Relational Space, and Spiritual Space.
1. Physical Space
This is about offering a thoughtful, charming, and inviting environment. Elements to focus on include:
Accurate signage - from the parking lot onwards, make it abundantly clear which way to go. Make sure to show the way to the bathrooms!
Bathrooms - These should be spotless, smell good, and have a few extra ‘touches’ - such as higher end soaps, a lit candle, or fun artwork - which communicate that your guests are expected and welcomed.
Lighting - Harsh sterile lighting is not conducive to a warm welcome. Bring in some side lamps to create a far cozier atmosphere.
Sound - As people arrive, have some appropriate music playing on a good quality speaker. Set the volume at a level that helps early arrivals not feel self-conscious, while still allowing for easy conversations for those with quieter voices.
Temperature - Some churches make their rooms feel like walk-in refrigerators, while others are gym sweat boxes! Be willing to adjust the temperature mid-session.
Well-planned room - Where will people get their food? Drinks are often best served from a separate spot. Can every seat be easily moved to watch the big screen for the Alpha video? Are group spaces set up to encourage conversation?
Aesthetic charm - Spend a little money to brighten up the space, whether it’s through plants, art, fun signs for table numbers, blankets on a few chairs (if it’s a chillier day), pens for taking notes, flowers in vases on every table, etc. Make the space full of little delights!
2. Relational Space
This is about doing what you can to help people feel loved, welcomed, accepted as they are, so they’ll hopefully be more willing to risk being vulnerable and candid as each Alpha session moves along.
Friendly people on the door - Offer a welcome that is warm and genuine, but not over-the-top or invasive of personal space (no hugging of strangers!). Put some of your best team here.
Name stickers - Have someone with attractive handwriting give a name badge to everyone (team and guests) as they arrive. Do this every week!
No surprises - Explain clearly what the plan for the session is, and be willing to do so multiple times.
End time - Set a specific end time, announce it publicly, and ALWAYS honor that. You can of course invite people to stay later if they wish, but always finish (meaning, you’ve formally closed out the session) a minute or two before that actual end time. No excuses! View this as an integrity issue.
Where do I go? - Each guest should be walked over to their group and handed on to the table leaders. This is especially important in the first week.
No insider talk - Don’t do in-house jokes that only church people will get, or refer to last Sunday’s sermon that no guest will have heard, or reference people just by a first name as if everyone should know them. Use language that is jargon free. Lower the barriers of entry so anyone can come in and feel like they ‘get’ what’s going on.
Poker faces - Sometimes guests will describe lifestyle choices or use fruity language that you might not commonly hear in church gatherings! That usually suggests they’ve been nowhere near Christian community for a long time, if ever. So don’t react, but celebrate their presence. Recognize that you’re not their parent, and allow them to belong before they need to believe or behave like you do.
3. Spiritual Space
This is the most important ingredient. Everything we do must be rooted in our relationship with God, since even the best organizing in the world can’t make up for a lack of spiritual depth. And of course, our ultimate hope and prayer for all our guests is that they will have a genuine spiritual encounter with the Risen Lord Jesus.
Pray for specific names - Every individual matters, and we must be praying for guests by name on a consistent basis.
Pray in the building beforehand - Ask for the presence of the Lord, a cutting off of other voices, unusual spiritual openness, answers to prayers, meaningful conversations, salvations, and whatever else comes to mind.
Clear spiritual pathway - As you plan your Alpha, make sure that you have points in the course where you know that guests will have the opportunity to receive Jesus into their lives. This will take preparation on your end, so pray and plan for that moment in advance.
Mystery - Don’t feel the need to explain everything about our faith. Yes, there are sound, rational, logical reasons to be a Christian, and Alpha does a fabulous job of looking at many of these. Simultaneously, there is also a great deal of mystery and paradox. It’s fine to give room for those aspects to breathe too, rather than sweeping under the rug in awkward embarrassment!
Encounters - As trust is built and the course goes along, allow room for people to have encounters with God. We don’t need to be weird, but we do need to be spiritual. What we are pointing people towards is a supernatural God!
Next Steps
As you look at the Physical Space, Relational Space, and Spiritual Space, where are you strongest and where are you weakest?
Now look at the Physical Space, Relational Space, and Spiritual Space through the lens of your church, and consider where corporately are you strongest and where are you weakest.
What ideas can you and your team add to the examples given above?
What would you add to this list? How have you seen individuals, groups, and churches excel in welcoming others?
With love,
Alex + Hannah
ALEX AND HANNAH ABSALOM
P.S. Have you read our book Hearing the Voice of God? It’s a practical, biblical, and simple pathway into the prophetic gifts, and includes activations, next steps, and discussion questions.
