This toolkit of intentional and compassionate strategies takes an encouraging, incremental approach to help even small groups get started quickly. Study the separate chapters on: imaginative marketing; the ministry of greeting, crafting welcoming materials, tracking and involving newcomers and structuring groups for growth. Then adapt an additional 34 pages of template forms, brochures, and procedures to your needs while employing Weeks’ point-by-point recommendations to: make sure your signs and property invite, not confuse; create powerful, welcoming ads and print communication, train and prepare greeters; and develop programs to incorporate and track newcomers during their first critical months.

Most church members don't see their churches clearly. In almost all of Thom S. Rainer's consultations, church members perceive their church to be friendly. But as he surveyed guests, he found that the guests typically saw church members as unfriendly. The perception chasm existed because the members were indeed friendly . . . to one another. The guests felt like they crashed a private party. Bestselling author Thom Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church) has a game plan for churches to become more hospitable. In a format that is suitable for church members to read individually or study together, Rainer guides readers toward a practical framework for making a difference for those who visit their church. Churches may use Becoming a Welcoming Church to assess and audit where they are on a spectrum between welcoming and wanting. Additionally, churches can use the companion book We Want You Here to send guests home with a compelling vision for what pastors want every guest to know when they visit.