Research helps churches welcome guests

~ A research tool of Faith Perceptions is its Mystery Guest Program. A church will have a number of anonymous "unchurched" people attend worship services and then complete a detailed survey.

Research shows that 75 percent to 80 percent of all churches, regardless of their size or denomination, are in a state of stagnation or decline in terms of attendance and membership.

Faith Perceptions, a consulting firm for churches, is trying to reverse that trend.

"Our consulting firm provides market research for churches; in particular, churches who are seeking to become more welcoming and hospitable to their first-time guests," said Melanie Smollen, president of Faith Perceptions.

Several years ago, Smollen had the idea to change the way forward-thinking churches approach their hospitality and growth by using comprehensive market research. Faith Perceptions, which opened in 2008, is a division of Henderickson Business Advisors Cape Girardeau.

Melanie Smollen, president of Faith Perceptions in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

"We work with all denominations and all sizes of churches nationwide," Smollen said.

Since 2008, 530 churches throughout the United States have used the services of Faith Perceptions.

"To date, we have evaluated over 4,200 worship services," Smollen said.

One of the main research tools of Faith Perceptions is its Mystery Guest Program. A church participating in the program will have a number of anonymous "unchurched" people from the community attend worship services over a period of time. After a church visit, a mystery guest completes a detailed survey, surveys of the various mystery guests are reviewed and analyzed, allowing the consulting firm to produce a comprehensive report for the church -- identifying its strengths in the hospitality process and its opportunities to improve.

"Any church that improves the way they welcome and connect with first-time guests and visitors positions themselves in a place for growth," says Smollen.

The Mystery Guest Program sets Faith Perceptions apart from other consulting firms for churches.

"We are different from other firms because most of them are individual consultants who come and spend a weekend at a church," Smollen said. "With Faith Perceptions, you are getting the information straight from the lips of the people that you are trying to reach."

The consulting firm works not only with individual churches but also with an entire diocese or district.

"We also work with existing churches that want to plant a new church, expand a service, or we can survey their congregations on things like starting a new capital campaign," Smollen said.

Smollen emphasized that Faith Perceptions' services may be used by churches with large or small congregations.

"Fifty-percent of the churches that we work with have an average weekly worship attendance of 150 or less," Smollen said. "Our goal is to help churches [of any size] do a better job of connecting and welcoming their first-time guests."

A local pastor whose church recently used Faith Perceptions' marketing research services, including the Mystery Guest Program, found the research both enlightening and helpful.

"Their chief observations were about basic hospitality and identifying space," the local pastor said.

The church then made several relatively simple changes such as having the staff identify themselves both on a projected screen and verbally during the worship services, and highlighting specifically where new guests could gather and meet with staff and congregation members after a service.

"They helped us get an outside perspective and get better at doing what we do," the pastor said.