Get your group off to a good start

Make someone in charge

Everyone’s responsibility is no one’s responsibility. In order to insure that every visitor is treated well, make it someone’s job. Have someone stationed by the door prepared to greet everyone who walks in and especially to welcome strangers. Wal-Mart does it. You should too. It could be the teacher, but it is probably preferable that it be someone else. Get the friendliest, happiest, most welcoming person in the room to be in charge of greeting people.

Refreshments

People don’t know what to do when they first come in, and they are uncomfortable doing nothing. Give them something to do–eat. Give them something to eat. Eating relaxes people and puts them at ease. It gives them something to do and relieves the awkwardness.

Providing refreshments each week is easy enough to do. First, someone needs to be in charge. Not in charge of making refreshments every week, but in charge of seeing that it is taken care of. About every two months, they can pass around a sign up list with dates for people to volunteer. If it is a large class, you may need several to volunteer each week. A friendly e-mail reminder to the people who have signed up each week would go along way toward insuring that it is done.

Introductions and chit-chat

After a visitor is greeted at the door and shown the refreshments, the next step is introductions. It is not necessary to introduce them to everyone in the group; just a few people. Sit them next to someone and say, “Bob and Cheryl, this is Tom and Betty. Make them feel welcome, will you?” It is important at this point that Bob and Cheryl make them feel welcome.

How do they do that? Ask lots of questions–questions about Tom and Betty. Questions that are of interest, but not too personal. Good questions are the key to good group life. Questions like:

• Is this your first time be with us?
• How did you hear about our church (or group)?
• What kind of work are you in?
• How long have you lived here?
• Do you have family in the area?
• Do you have kids?

If the Bob and Cheryl in your group are not naturally good at this, you might coach them to have a list of questions in their mind. It will serve them well, not only in this situation, but in a million situations where they met new people. Better yet, if the Bob and Cheryls of your group are not naturally good at this, you might sit Tom and Betty next to someone else. Let’s put our best foot forward. First impressions matter.

This chit-chat ought to continue right up until when the group itself starts, or, when Bob and Cheryl sense that Tom or Betty have had enough chit-chat. There is a fine line between friendliness and nosiness.

From time to time–maybe about once a quarter, you might do a group evaluation of this process. Make sure you have a greeter and refreshments, and then ask. Openly, publically ask members how they felt the first week they were greeted. Hopefully, they will report that they felt great and the group was welcoming and inviting. A report like that will go a long way toward encouraging the group to keep up the good work.

You might think that all this is automatic and trivial and happens all the time and does not warrant writing about. If you had visited as many classes as I have, you wouldn’t feel that way. Visitors are often routinely ignored.

Treat your visitors well. The first five minutes set the tone for the rest of the class.