Why should your group follow-up on guests that visit a worship service, event, or even your Sunday School group?
A simple answer: Because we should care about their eternal destiny and their personal spiritual growth!!
If a guest attends a worship service or your Sunday School group and completes a guest registration card, then it is very likely that they would like some kind of follow-up. If not, they would not have completed the card! My personal preference with follow up is to “follow-up with impact.” Yes, that means visit their home! Yes yes… I have heard how unpopular and unworkable a home visit is. But I also know from personal experience that a home visit communicates compassion and concern to a guest. If you are willing to visit them in their home, you have communicated that your group will go to great lengths to minister to them.
Other follow-up options also include:
- Text message
- Phone
- Form letter from the church
And yes, there is one form of follow-up that is absolutely the worst and can be summed up in one word: ignore. Ignoring a guest speaks just as loudly as visiting them at their home; but do you really want your church to have the reputation of ignoring its guests? Of course not…
So develop a system and work your system. Fine tune it so that your group offers grace and community to every guest that visits your church.
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Bob Mayfield is the Sunday School/Small Group specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Bob also has his own blog, as well as coordinating the BGCO’s online training site for Sunday School leaders, reconnectss.com.