The US Congregational Life Survey shed some light on why people visit a new church, and why they return after their initial visit. Four questions from the survey stood out:
How people find out about a church
- 49%: Someone invited them
- 23%: They passed by the church
- 9%: They’re looking for a specific denomination
- 6%: They saw advertising
Why people make a return visit
- 55%: Friendliness of people
- 34%: Sermon quality
- 30%: Overall worship experience
How churches follow up after the first visit
- 24%: No follow-up
- 20%: Letter or postcard from the pastor
- 18%: Call from a church member
- 13%: Call from the pastor
How churches attract new people (growing vs. established churches)
- 72% vs. 43%: Call visitors
- 85% vs. 72%: Use email
- 50% vs. 31%: Visit visitors
- 70% vs. 71%: Church website
Observations
- Denominations aren’t the most significant factor. Only 9% of visitors heard about a church because of its denomination, compared to 49% who became aware because of a specific invitation.
- Personal invitations are more important than flashy advertising. 49% knew of a church vs. 6% knowing based on advertising—that’s a huge margin.
- Children’s programming didn’t rank high for return visits. General friendliness gets credit for 55% of return visits.
- Nearly a quarter of visitors never receive any kind of follow-up.Visitors should feel welcomed and valued when attending a new church, and following up is an easy way to acknowledge that.
- Phone calls are effective. 72% of growing churches call visitors, but only 43% of established churches do.
- The website makes no statistical impact on church growth.
What surprises you here? How does this data suggest you should operate differently? Tell us in comments.
* * *
Try Proclaim for Free
Proclaim Church Presentation Software allows you to collaborate with your team from wherever they work best. No more emailing large files or fumbling with flash drives. Best of all, it connects with many of the tools you already use, like Planning Center Online, CCLI SongSelect, and Graceway Media. Try it for free at ProclaimOnline.com/Download. And now, you get 30 days of Pro Media for free too!
Philip Taylor says
September 28, 2013 at 1:34 pmVery Interesting numbers. Church is about relations both horizontal and vertical
Flora C Greene says
September 28, 2013 at 7:35 pmBeen preaching this for years,
Keith CookSr says
October 15, 2013 at 3:21 amThese statistics also reflect what we have found in our On The Go Ministries – Keith Cook Team surveying and working with churches all over the USA. Great presentation!
David Speas says
January 8, 2014 at 4:57 amGreat article for my preacher buddies!
David Speas says
January 8, 2014 at 4:57 amGreat article for my preacher buddies!
Daniel Speas says
January 8, 2014 at 5:16 amRonnie Palmer, Brian Hughes interesting stuff.
Pat Tiller says
November 18, 2016 at 10:13 amWhat is the % of people who will return to church when comparing the pastor doing the follow-up visit and a layperson doing the follow-up visit?
Ryan Nelson says
November 18, 2016 at 4:16 pmGreat question Pat. It looks like the survey data Ray used for this post is no longer available. When you remove the follow up methods listed in this post, that leaves 25% of churches that used a follow up method not listed here (which I assume includes follow up visits from a pastor and follow up visits from a member). Everything I’ve seen seems to indicate follow up visits are primarily used today in more rural communities, or in churches with a higher percentage of elderly people. As for the percentage of people who come back because of the follow up visit, there’s no way to tell from this survey data (“friendliness of people” could likely include this sort of follow up).
However, it’s also worth considering, how many people choose not to come back because they felt the follow up visit was inappropriate? When people give someone their contact information, it’s with the expectation that you will call, mail, or email them something, not that someone is going to show up on their doorstep for an unexpected visit. This is a great post that shows how many people react to these unsolicited visits: http://thomrainer.com/2016/01/seven-ways-not-to-follow-up-with-church-guests/