Creating Safe, Spacious & Sanitized Services
Welcoming back your folks is not going to be easy. Some have likened it to launching a campus or even planting a church. I don’t think it is gonna be that…
Creating Safe, Spacious & Sanitized Services
Welcoming back your folks is not going to be easy. Some have likened it to launching a campus or even planting a church. I don’t think it is gonna be that difficult, but I do acknowledge it’s not gonna be easy. That being said, with some focused coaching and increased effort, you will be able to welcome your people back to safe, spacious and sanitized services.
There are also unique circumstances each of our churches face like population density, denomination differences and how your governor is feeling this morning. But I have compiled generic best practices that apply to all of us regardless of your unique circumstances. Also, you may have already reopened. Don’t worry, you can still implement the best practices below.
Communication
Before we talk about creating services we need to talk about communication that will set you up for success. These three foundational communication points will ensure your people know your plan and want to actually participate in it.
1st - Survey Communication
Survey your people. If you haven’t done this already, DO IT. It will garnish valuable and actionable information. I serve on the executive team at
, and we discovered a ton of useful info through our survey. The biggest discovery was our volunteers were coming back in thirds. A third would be willing to serve once we reopened, a third a couple weeks after we reopened and a third a couple months after we reopened. The discovery of a decreased volunteer base had major implications for how we planned our reopening.
A survey also communicates you value the feedback of your congregation. There will always be folks that throw stones at your leadership and plans, but you minimize that group and the stones they can throw by giving them a voice into the process through a survey. Here are a couple of very practical ways to conduct the survey.
If you want to survey your folks, but don’t know what questions to ask, then visit
for a free downloadable template survey. It will help you hit the ground running.
2nd - Over, Cluster & Deadline Communication
You need to step up your communication game by over communicating, cluster communicating & deadline communicating.
Over communicate by repeating your main talking points until you’re sick of hearing them. Then repeat some more. Your goal should be to communicate so much that you start hearing people parrot what you’ve said.
It can be confusing to send out updates to your staff and guests every day. Cluster communication combines your talking points, allows people to get multiple points of information at once and avoids this confusion. If you don’t practice this principle, people will stop listening to your bombardment of singular communication.
Even if you don’t have answers or info at present, let people know when you will. This is deadline communication. You might not be able to make the call on when you are reopening right now, but at least let people know when you will. Deadline communication brings comfort and calm to wondering and worried hearts during a stressful season.
3rd - Confidence Communication
Discern when God has called you to reopen and execute that. On one end of the spectrum there is Ed Young and
. They reopened weeks after Easter. On the other end there is Andy Stanley and
. They won’t reopen until they can do church like they did before. After you prayerfully consider when God is calling you to reopen, confidently communicate it to your congregation. Remember, what is right for you isn’t necessarily right for others. So refrain from scolding churches that disagree with you.
Creating Safe Services
Now that we’ve covered foundational communication, let’s talk about creating safe services. Here are five ways to do that.
Creating Spacious Services
So we talked about creating safe services now let’s talk about creating spacious services. Here are five ways to do that.
Creating Sanitized Services
So we talked about creating spacious services now let’s talk about creating sanitized services. Here are three ways to do that.
Conclusion
So those were my tips on how to welcome back your church by creating safe, spacious & sanitized services. If I missed any tips let me know. I would love to hear from you and learn from you. You can email me at
and read more blogs at
. Have yourself an awesome day.