Six Reasons Why Most Churches Are Lousy at Follow-up

Six Reasons Why Most Churches Are Lousy at Follow-up    by: Thom Rainer The church of 150 in attendance averaged two first-time guests a week, or 100 a year. How many joined the church? Only three. The church had no follow-up in place for guests. The church of 225 in attendance had a high attendance day of 360, with 75 guests attending that single day. How many of the 75 eventually joined the church? Only two. The church had no follow-up in place for guests. The church of 550 in attendance has had a Christmas event the past ten years that draws 1,500 people each year. That’s 15,000 in ten years. How many new members can the church trace to the Christmas event? Zero. None. Nada. The church had no follow-up in place for guests. So what’s going on? Why are so many of our churches lousy at follow-up?  I can point to at least six clear reasons. The church has no plan in place for follow-up. Follow-up does not just happen. A Great Commission church will know exactly what it’s supposed to do and who is supposed to do it every time a guest visits the church. Follow-up takes place outside the walls, a place of discomfort for many church members. A church’s follow-up ministry team needs to have the most outwardly focused members doing the ministry. Too many church members fear connecting with people outside the comfort of the walls of the church building. Follow-up ministry is not as splashy as other ministries. It often goes without encouragement or recognition. Follow-up ministry can become discouraging. Most of the time we focus on the five who expressed no desire to connect with our church rather than the one who did. We need to celebrate our follow-up ministries more. Follow-up ministry is not emphasized or recognized by leadership. That which is rewarded by leadership often gets the attention of the rest of the church. Not many leaders recognize or reward this ministry. Follow-up ministry is not even considered a ministry in many churches.Go to the websites of a number of churches. See how many of them mention some type of follow-up ministry as one of the ministries of the church. For many church members, that ministry simply does not appear to exist. If our churches and their leaders would begin to elevate the importance of follow-up ministries incrementally, we would likely see a disproportionately positive response. It’s an incredible opportunity most churches are missing. Let me hear from you.