Miles of Smiles
Christine Yount Jones
Miles of Smiles
One important ingredient for a friendly church is a genuine
smile. It's not that we have to train people to smile; we simply
need to place greeters where their smiles will shine. And watch the
contagious nature of a smile after that!
- Greetings-"A smile brightens everyone's day.
When someone smiles at you, it sets you at ease," Echols says.
"Along with our overall church greeting team, we place children's
ministry volunteers at our main entrances and the entrances to our
children's ministry environments to greet kids and families as they
enter the church."
A long-standing guideline with our Group Workcamps foundation is
the "10-foot rule." All volunteers and staff are trained that
whenever someone comes within 10 feet of them to flash a genuine
smile. The 10-foot rule could transform your church!
- Goodbyes-Ministries have usually perfected the
first 10 minutes of friendliness. Church growth experts are
finding, though, that the first 10 minutes may not be the most
important. Dr. Charles Arn, president of Church Growth, Inc., says
in an Off the Agenda blog interview: "We also asked the focus
groups when they decided that the church was friendly or not. From
the answers we got, there's a 10-minute window that's pregnant with
opportunities for a church to make a good impression. And it wasn't
the 10 minutes I expected…More than any other time, folks said, 'I
decided this was a friendly church in the 10 minutes following the
conclusion of the service.' Many feel that's the first time people
are free to be themselves."
How friendly is your ministry in the last 10 minutes when parents
are frantically retrieving their children?
- Fun, Fun, Fun-The best way to put a smile on a
child's face is to create a ministry that's enjoyable. Add humor.
Play with kids. When kids go home and tell their parents what a
great time they had, that'll put a smile on parents' faces
too!
This is excerpted from Children's Ministry Magazine.
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