6 Steps to Get Guests Back After Easter
(NOTE: I’m using Easter as the illustration big event. Put yours in and your good to go!)
Ever said to yourself after Easter, “Where did everybody go?”
I remember talking to a pastor/friend of mine after he had asked that question and he was ready to quit the ministry and go be a truck driver. No offense to truck drivers (my dad was one), but that was not this pastor’s calling. He was a pastor!
In this blog, we will look at 6 steps to get guests back after your big event:
Pray for the guest
Plan with the guest in mind
Make Easter the best ever
Do effective follow-up
Have an engaging post-Easter sermon series
Create a great Mother’s Day weekend
You wonder sometimes what goes on in the mind of the guest who comes to church on Easter, looks like they are enjoying what is happening and then they are never to be seen again.
BUT … there are certain specific things you can do to help guests to come back week after week after week. This is not necessarily a fool-proof, exhaustive list, but it’s a good starter-kit to get guests back.
If you follow these six steps, I’m confident it will help you retain more of the guests who come this Easter.
1. Pray for the guest.
This most basic and important exercise will yield you more results than any work you do on your own. In fact, the work you do on your own will pale in comparison to the divine and supernatural work only the Lord can do as He moves on the hearts of your guests.
2. Plan with the guest in mind.
We know the Lord is the One who brings the increase. It is our role to effectively plan so that we set the stage for all He wants to do in the lives of your guests.
Plan up to Easter. Plan the day itself. And plan for post-Easter. And as you’ve read in our other Easter blog posts, plan for Mother’s Day (more on that in a bit…).
Ever wonder what to say when you contact guests after they’ve visited the church? Well, no longer! Download this Done-For-You Follow Up Scripts PDF and you’ll be well on your way to communicating with clarity through text, email, and phone.
3. Make Easter the best ever.
While you are putting together the order of service for Easter, do so with the guest in mind. Think about someone outside the world of faith. We know this world. They do not.
Think of the person who is clueless about God and the relationship He wants with that person. Make sure all components of your service operate at the highest possible level. This is true for everything you are doing in Kids’ Ministry as well. Gotta be the best you can do!
4. Do effective follow-up.
You cannot expect guests to just come back automatically because you’re so wonderful. I’m sure you are wonderful, but the best follow-up systems are very-well thought through and require a good amount of work.
When you do so, you will see effective results. If you need a good follow-up process with specifics, you can find that at one of our previous blogs, The Perfect Follow-Up Plan After Easter. Follow this plan and you will see results.
5. Have an engaging post-Easter sermon series.
One of the best things a pastor can do is to create a series specifically geared toward guys for right after Easter. Here’s the deal. Women frequently come to church without their man. They wish he’d come, they pray for him to come, but he doesn’t.
I suggest you be strategic with this knowledge and promote on Easter the new series you are doing that is geared to guys and is appealing to a person who does not know God. It needs to be something of value that will help them reach a felt need.
You want the guy leaving church on Easter saying to his wife, girlfriend, mom or daughter, “Hey, that series the pastor was talking about sounds great. Maybe we should come back next week.” I’m telling you, the female in that guy’s life will be thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!!!
6. Create a great Mother’s Day weekend.
If you really want to have guests return to the church, you need to have something intriguing for which they will WANT to return.
If you’re sermon series isn’t enough to get them to come back, many times mothers will request their families go to church together on Mother’s Day. In fact, for many churches, Mother’s Day is the third most attended church service of the year!
So if you can do things that will pique people’s interests for Mother’s Day, then you are on track to see some of your Easter guests return.
Keep in mind, you need to promote your Mother’s Day activities on Easter Sunday.
Easter does not have to be same ol’ same ol’ this year. It can be the best Easter yet and the guests returning this year can be more than ever. If you do the things I have suggested you will see more and more guests WANT to come back. They really will.
Let’s go get ‘em … and let’s keep ‘em!
Want to know how to keep your church’s guests coming back week after week after week? Then download this Turn-Key Follow Up Process for Today’s Church PDF.
Check out these blogs on connections, as well.
To Connect People in Your Church, the Path Must Be Clear
Blunder #1 in Assimilating New People
The Absolutes of the Post-Easter Guest Connection
How to Connect with Church Guests
Rethink Easter: From Big Event to Big Impact
The Perfect Follow-Up Plan for Church Guests
4 Action Steps for Guest Follow-Up Strategy from John 4
The Perfect Follow-Up Plan After Easter
Thoughts About Guest Follow-Up
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