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Church welcome speech sample

A short example welcome speech for church visitors

Posted by: Susan Dugdale 

Our church welcome speech sample below covers the 3 essential elements of a genuinely welcoming speech for the visitors or newcomers in your congregation.

The speaker has:

  1. acknowledged the visitors/newcomers
  2. given them an introduction to the core points of the congregation's beliefs and practice
  3. and warmly invited them to connect and participate in church life.

The speech is sincere, brief and will be easily understood by those who hear it.

Image - Drawing by Amy Burton - 5 singers with their arms lifted in worship.

All the possibly tricky issues are covered

Although it might appear simple the speech covers a number of potentially complex issues succinctly.

These are:

  1. freely offering a warm welcome regardless of the visitor's motivation. That is "just looking", or seriously considering the church as fitting their needs.

  2. addressing unspoken questions the newcomer may have through giving a clear statement about what's at the heart of the church's belief and practice. The visitor does not have to guess. If they're debating whether to join the congregation, they have been given something solid to base their decision-making process on.

  3. giving an invitation to discuss issues personally.
    For example: "...so if you ever feel like just another number, we're doing something wrong, and I give you permission to tell me about it."

    The implication of that invitation is powerful. The message it gives is: "You are valuable. I care, we care, enough about you to give you time. I am not above or better than you. You are free to tell me where I have gone wrong in reaching you."

  4. providing clear means of creating a connection. E.g. "Fill out one of our connect cards" and by completing a prayer request.

  5. having a welcoming pack to give to visitors. It's something tangible they can take away that contains the church's essential details and contacts. (In this speech it's a "bulletin".)

  6. looking into the future, anticipating what's ahead if the invitation to join is accepted

  7. honoring the guest: "Allow us to serve you."

You're most welcome to take, shape and change the speech to fit your needs.

Image - 4 variations of a drawing by Amy Burton of 5 singers with their arms lifted in praise.

Short church welcome speech sample

"I want to take a moment to extend a very warm welcome to everyone who's visiting us for the first time this morning.

Whether you're just having a look, or are searching out for a place to worship, we're sincerely delighted to have you here.

To give you some idea of what we're all about, I'll quickly sketch some of our foundational beliefs.

Our vision statement says this: "Getting and growing people in relationship with Jesus".

So firstly, we're all about Jesus Christ.

We believe that Jesus was who he said he was, the Son of God who came and died for our sins.

So, if this is your first time in church, we hope that you get to know Him as we do, because He's truly what life is all about for us!

Image: Quote - Every person who walks through our doors is important to us, so if you ever feel like just another number, we're doing something wrong, and I give you permission to tell me about it.

Secondly, we're all about people.

Every person who walks through our doors is important to us. So, if you ever feel like just another number, we're doing something wrong and I give you permission to tell me about it.

As a group of God's people we care about you and your family. We're here not only to feed you spiritually, but to help in any way we can. We love doing it and it's why we exist!

Image: quotation from church welcome speech: We hope to cultivate and grow meaningful and positive relationships between each other.

Thirdly, we're all about relationships.

We hope to cultivate and grow meaningful and positive relationships between each other, and also go further by getting, and growing, in relationship with God.

Christianity is all about a Person, and less about a set of rules. That means that we exist to be in a relationship with Someone. To us that Someone is Jesus. We are not here merely to obey a religion.

That's us in a nutshell!

I want to encourage you to fill out one of our connect cards that you'll find in the bulletin you got when you came in. Just write your name and e-mail or phone number on there and give it back to us.

We'd love to stay in touch with you and to let you know about some exciting upcoming events we're planning for the next few months.

Also, if you've got a specific prayer request, please find the courage to write it down on that same piece of paper (there's a space for it), and put it in the prayer box at the back of this room when you leave.

We'd love to pray for you, but if you don't ask us, there's nothing for us to pray for. So, I encourage you to take hold of this opportunity and allow us the honor of serving you in this way.

Enjoy the rest of your worship time with us, and God bless you!"


About this welcome speech for a church

This example of a short church welcome speech was written by Leon Potgieter, an actively committed Christian. At the time he gave it to me to share he, like me, owned and ran a website offering public speaking help.

Other useful resources

Here's three more valuable resources to help with church-centered communications: 

  1. If you're here looking for inspiration because you've been asked to be a church greeter, to offer words of welcome to visitors do check this link. Chris Walker from www.evangelismcoach.org has neatly summarized 10 practices to welcome church visitors.
  2. For inspiration and help with graphics visit ministrydesigns.media. They have literally thousands to choose from, and many of them are free.
  3. Barna Group - respected providers of specialist resources to help leaders of Christian churches, humanitarian business and/or non-profit organizations understand what they need to do.          

Related pages of interest: