Below is a base level version of the follow-up procedures that we successfully used as pastors to make sure that our people, including visitors, didn't fall through the cracks.
What this training doesn’t discuss is collecting information AND what to do with the information that is collected. But properly collecting and using a visitor's basic contact information is an ABSOLUTE KEY to long term and sustained church integration and discipleship, and therefore growth.
Visitor Follow-up (Basic)
First Visit – Send the visitor(s) a handwritten post card from a person on the follow-up team (ideally the person who met them on Sunday).
Second Visit – One of the follow-up team members (ideally the same person who sent the note), calls the visitor/visitors to connect with them. The team member needs to take GREAT notes on this call, share them with all staff, and input those notes into the church's database system. Best practice here is that the team member asks the visitor(s) to meet them at the welcome booth on Sunday for a gift and to connect more in person.
Third Visit – The/A pastor calls the visitor(s) and schedules a time to take them to lunch after a service. (If growth is heavy, lunch can be with a volunteer staff member or a board member if need be.)
Past the third visit, the visitor(s) should be helped/encouraged to get involved in a discipleship group and entry levels of ministry/outreach. If the visitor(s) begins regular attendance AND completes an initial discipleship program, then they should be offered to begin the process of church membership, which should include more active discipleship.
Visitor follow-up is NOT in consecutive order… meaning, if the second visit comes weeks after the first, a phone call still goes out. After 2 months though without the visitor progressing into discipleship, the “count” then starts over for them if they visit again.
Missed Attendance Follow-up (All Attendees - visitors and regulars alike) – unplanned/unknown attendance misses only
First Miss - Handwritten post card from the follow-up team.
Second Miss (IN A ROW) – Call from one of the follow-up team. This person needs to take GREAT notes on this call, share them with all staff, and input those notes into the church's database system. This post card could also come from a pastor.
Third Visit (IN A ROW) – Call from the Pastor and scheduling a time to meet with the person/people who have been missing. That meeting can be a meal. (If growth/turnover is heavy, the meeting can be with a volunteer staff member or a board member if need be.) If the person/people do not schedule the meeting and not return over the following 2 weeks, they are removed from the active roster to the inactive roster. Both rosters should be utilized in full for advertising special events/outreaches.
This roster move is VERY important when it comes to membership voice and voting rights within the church decision making process. Your by-laws should clearly spell out what the process is for inactive members to earn a spot back on the active members list. That process should include a meeting with a pastor who is given the authority to make the decision about whether or not these members are still qualified to move back to the active roster.
Missed attendance follow-up is done in consecutive order only. If the person/people miss one week, attends the next, and them misses the following – they again get a handwritten post card (as in a first miss).
Again, all attendees qualify for the Missed Attendance Follow-up, including those who have only visited one time.
This is a key function of capturing initial visitors and retaining members.
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