The ComeBack Effect

I pastored a small church for several years. Visitor after visitor would show up at the church, and at the end of the service would tell someone how much they had enjoyed the service, and that they would definitely be back the following week. People would come to me and excitedly share that news. But week after week we didn’t see those visitors again. We struggled with finding the secret to making first time guests returning guests.

            Jason Young and Jonathan Malm lay out a pretty good plan for getting people to return that’s based on hospitality. They suggest there are about ten things that the church needs to have in place for this to work.   A lot of it is common sense, most churches have probably done some or all of these things at one time in their life cycle. But then people get complacent.  “We’re a friendly church.” And the people in the church are friendly—with their friends. That just isn’t enough to make people want to return.

            So the need exists for a book like The Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Churches Guests to Return (Baker Books, 2018). Church people need to be reminded that a first time guest doesn’t already know everyone there, doesn’t understand the unwritten rules, and certainly doesn’t know where to find the things that he or she needs to make walking into a strange place a pleasant experience. Since the guest doesn’t know, the regulars are tasked with help a new comer see the church as a familiar and welcoming place, rather than a strange place, and a frightening experience.                       

            There are ten relatively short chapters in this book, each focusing on a different thing that makes the guest truly feel welcome, a person, not just a potential member. Each chapter ends with a section called “Key Points and Takeaways” for example, in Chapter One ‘Focus on Feeling as Much as Function’, one of the giveaways is this simple: “Serving is task oriented; hospitality is feeling oriented. Simply performing tasks is not enough to compel a guest to come back”. Or this: ‘Decide proactively what you want your guests to feel, then look for ways to create environments that will help them experience that’.

            One of the things that I liked about this book is that as I was reading, I kept thinking “I knew that!”  So many of the things the authors point out are pretty elementary things: things that most churches are doing or have done in some degree. Granted the examples given involve large churches with staff, a campus, and plenty of volunteers, some of the things are definitely doable even in a very small church, if the regulars can be convinced to step out of their comfort zones.

            I was reminded of the letter to Ephesus in the Revelation (Rev 2:1-7) where Jesus’ main complaint was that the church had forgotten her first love, and Jesus suggested that maybe they should go back to doing some of the things that they were doing when they first started and were excited about the gospel.

            Although this book is written for churches, it certainly seems like businesses could apply the same principles in their quest for repeat customers.

           

This book is scheduled to be released on July 31, 2018 I received a copy of this book from the publisher for being part of a launch team program. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions expressed are my own.

            5/5