Have you ever been to a good restaurant with amazing food, but you received terrible service? Maybe you had to wait an inordinate amount of time to be seated. Maybe your waiter or waitress got your order wrong, forgot to check in on you frequently enough, or was just plain rude to you. No matter how good the food was you probably would hesitate to return to this restaurant again.
The preacher could be great but if the greeters, ushers, and crowd treat you poorly when you visit you probably would think twice about returning.
Now factor in the whole pandemic. Churches went from meeting exclusively in-person, to shifting to meeting exclusively online, and now back to in-person. Whether online or in-person the guest relations experience is still paramount.
Where some churches are failing is when they make the shift back to in-person gatherings and they stop offering the online experience. Stopping online gathering is not an option. When churches re-open they must move to a hybrid approach if they are going to successfully meet the needs of their community because many will be hesitant to return or will make the decision to never return in-person again. Culture has shifted as a result of the pandemic.
To have a hybrid approach churches and individual ministries must offer an online live-stream option. This can be done through Facebook Live or other streaming options. What you can not forget are guest relations. Do not just plug in the live stream, offer the link, and think you have done enough.
If people are not connected to people they will not stay. Having great guest services matters if you want to be welcoming and inclusive.
All churches and individual ministries live streaming must create new volunteer positions.
Every ministry needs an “Online Host” to be present during programming.
An Online Host needs to be every bit the people person you would hope your greatest front door greeter would be. They are the relationship builders and the bridges to your ministry and church. They are your new first impression people.
Want to know more about what the duties of an “Online Host” are? Download our Online Host Job Description and start recruiting for your ministry today.
Download this free PDF with the “Online Host” volunteer job description.
