Intentional Friendliness: Making A Great First Impression In A Smaller Church

Coming to a small church for the first time is an act of great vulnerability. So it’s important to do the personal things well.

You only get one chance to make a first impression.

That’s one of those truisms that’s actually true – in church and in life.

One of the hallmarks of healthy churches is that they work hard at making a good first impression. Helping guests make the leap from staying at home to being glad they came is essential. That’s much more likely to happen when they experience friendly people, helpful directions, easy-to-understand language and other expressions of love and care.

First impressions are so important that they’ve become a central part of today’s pastoral training, including the inaugural First Impressions conference that I was honored to speak at this week. (With more conferences coming soon). This article is a shortened version of that talk. Read More