It is not surprising if you are aware of what a church welcome speech is, every person who has been to a church must have heard such a speech at some point in time. There is no restriction as to a particular length or form that one needs to stick to while preparing a welcome speech. What is required is that the speech should reflect your genuine enthusiasm. Here, let’s see how to deliver a Church Welcome Speech?
The welcome speech at a church is very different from the usual speeches you might have heard or been asked to deliver. It is a summary portrayal of what the people can expect from the occasion. This speech also hands out a special task to the speaker to make the visitors feel like they belong there. This speech carries a lot of weight for a reason, your speech is being compared to what has been delivered in the other churches. The energy you will carry will set the energy bar for the attendees throughout the event.
A proper church welcome speech is supposed to start with an introduction. It is very important to set the tone of the speech so that everyone gets a brief idea of what they can expect from this. As you have the chance to address the people, you can also lay down some useful information. It is always advisable that you pay some attention to the first-time visitors. You can end the speech by letting the attendees know what has been planned next.
This article gives you in detailed guide as to how you should draft your church welcome speech and some examples have also been laid down for your reference.
Welcome Speech:
A church welcome speech is delivered to address the gathering at the church on a particular occasion. The task of a welcome speech is to set the focus of the attendees on the ongoing event. The speech gives a synopsis of the goals of the meeting.
Reasons to Give a Welcome Speech:
- A welcome speech is to make the new visitors feel comfortable with the environment and in the company of the attendees.
- It helps to set the tone of the event, letting the people know what to expect from it.
- A gathering might have people with different things on their minds and this speech works towards bringing everyone on the same page.
- A welcome speech can also act as a catalyst to raise the belief of the people in the church.
Why Plan a Welcome Speech?
While many of the experienced speakers usually think that they can put something together on the spot but it is not advisable to do so. And there are reasons:
You might have it figured out in your head about what you want to speak but facing a gathering would make you ramble.
When you are not sure about exactly what you want to say, you might start stammering in front of the gathering.
When you start committing these blunders, you would want to make up by using humor. And that would only contribute to making the speech a disaster as you wouldn’t know what you want to say.
And when all these things happen, it is natural that you will end up forgetting the important points which you were supposed to discuss.
Basics of a Good Welcome Speech:
- Introduction and Greeting: You should start by greeting the gathering to get everyone’s attention. Introduce yourself by giving your name and let the gathering know who you are. You can continue by identifying the name of the church and introduce the people who are worth mentioning.
- Attention to Visitors: As an important function of the welcome speech is to make the new visitors feel comfortable in the church. So, you can thank them for visiting the church on the given day.
- Values and Goals: You might want to include the personalities on whose visions this church was laid down. Highlight the unique values your church believes in but make sure you do not go on and on about this.
- Service Elements: It is important to include the service elements before they begin. You can include the less common elements of the service and all the basic elements like where visitors can direct their prayers.
- Practicalities: You can always convey address the practical concerns of the attendees.
- Childcare: You can give the attendees much-needed information about the child care facilities. This assures the newcomers, so you can take few seconds from your speech to do this.
- Faith: You are in a church and there is no reason why you should not talk about faith and love for God. You have to mention the prayer.
Examples of Speech:
Speech 1:
Good morning! I am [insert your name] and I am here to welcome you all to [insert church name]. We like to thank the people who are here for the first time and we hope that you will feel comfortable here. We have gathered here to spend the next [mention the time] worshipping together and then hear [insert the name of the preacher] talk to us about [insert the topic]. We would like to know you, thus we will request you to spare few minutes to fill a contact card placed at [mention the location].
Please remember [Here you can include all the basic information which might include child care or information regarding the church app and where the bathrooms are located at].
I request you all to join me in the prayer. [Include the prayer]
You all may stand and join in to sing with me as the worship team starts playing. [Include song title]
Speech 2:
Hello! My name is [insert your name] and I would extend my warm welcome to you, it is great to this gathering here. For the people who have visited [insert church name] for the first time, we are delighted by your presence. I hope you can be comfortable in this environment. I would like to inform you about [include the required information about child care facilities and other relevant things]. We request you to spare few minutes to fill out the contact card at [mention the location].
Please join me in the prayer. [insert prayer]
[introduce the next element]
Speech 3:
Good morning! We are delighted to have this gathering which is here at [insert the name of church] on this special occasion of the birth of our beloved Lord Jesus. You might be a regular attendee or a first-time visitor, we are just glad to have you all with us. Let us celebrate this day by singing some Christmas carols and discuss the relevance of this festive season with you.
I am [insert your name] and I would like to take few minutes to inform you that [include the practical information which is required to be delivered]. We would love to know a bit about you. So please fill free to fill out contact cards kept at [insert location].
Join me while I sing the prayer. [insert prayer]
[introduce the nest element]
Speech 4:
Good Morning. I am [insert your name] and I would take this opportunity to welcome you all to [insert the name of the church]. I hope you all are excited about being here just as I am to celebrate Easter. I would take a moment to especially thank the visitors for deciding to join us on this special day. We all will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus by [include all the elements of the service on the given day].
I would request you to spare a moment to fill the contact cards which are available at [mention the location]. It is an initiative to know you better. I would want to lay down some information regarding [include all the information which is required to be known about the service].
Please join me in prayer.
[Introduce next element]
Speech 5:
Good morning! I am [insert your name] and I am here to heartily welcome you all to [insert name of the church] to [insert the church name] on this lovely [insert the occasion] morning.
I am delighted to be worshipping with you all today. I would like to take a moment to thank all my first-time visitors to be present among us to celebrate [insert the occasion]. I would also request them to fill out the contact cards which are available at [insert the location], it will help us know about all of you.
We have a lot of things planned for today so, without making further delay let us begin with a prayer. After this, we will have [name of the preacher] among us who has a special message to share with us.
Please note that [include all the relevant information about the ceremony].
Let us pray. [insert the prayer]
Speech 5:
It is God who blesses us with children. To recognize this blessing to the community of faith, we have gathered here to dedicate this child. I am [insert your name], I welcome you all to [insert the church name] on the behalf of my family.
We have believed that we have got the privilege to raise our child in a way that honors God. Ultimately, this child is his blessing and it seems right to find some time to dedicate this child [insert the name] to God.
[Include all the information relevant to the ceremony which people need to know about.]
[Sing the prayer or invite the person who is about to sing the prayer.]
Welcome [insert name of the person responsible for dedication] here so that we can begin.
Styles of Welcome Speech:
While you must have figured out the basic outline of a welcome speech, you might want to decide on a style of delivery that suits you. Here are some styles which might work well for a welcome speech.
- Adding Some Humor: Nothing captures the attention of a gathering better than humor. It is a clever way to open the service as it makes everyone present feel comfortable. While one of the reasons to deliver a welcome speech is to help the minds of the people gathered to focus on the given subject, using a comic approach works wonders in doing the same.
- Strong Believer: For someone to have this style of speech, they need to have a strong voice that might seem stern yet friendly. This speech is going to be powerful as it would cement the faith of the gathering, making it stronger. The voice has to carry a lot of love and belief in Lord Jesus. This helps the people to prepare themselves to engage themselves in practicing their love for God.
- Helpful: While the point of a welcome speech in church services is making the gathering feel welcome, this style of delivery is successful in doing this. You can make yourself available and look approachable to cater to the people gathered on the day if they need anything. This helps in making the first-time visitors feel comfortable at the service.
Tips to Deliver a Welcome Speech:
- Along with the basic elements which are to be included in the speech there are some tips you might want to stick to while delivering a welcome speech in front of a gathering.
- Avoid Reading It: Welcome speech is something you start your services with. The speech is delivered to make the people feel comfortable and to set the tone of the services. And to achieve these two goals, you need to be thoroughly prepared to be able to speak extemporaneously. It is okay to have some cards with you but do not read the whole speech from those cards.
- Make Eye Contact: An appropriate delivery of speech requires that you make eye contact with the audience. It shows that you are full of confidence and you know what you are speaking. However, do not keep staring at the people but just meet their gaze instead.
- Modulate Your Voice: Talking too fast can show people that you are nervous. If you are a beginner, then you are likely to commit this mistake. When your adrenaline starts pumping, it is natural to end up speaking faster than you had thought. So, to avoid that risk speak even more slowly than the original pace of your voice.
- Brief: Keep your speech brief so that you don’t lose the attention of your listener midway. Remember that you are not the one preaching the sermon. Your job is to open the service. Consider cutting off your speech only to the important information.
- Include a Joke or Two: When you say something humorous it helps the people relate to you and will look more humanly to them. When you get a few laughs then you will also feel confidence growing. Yet make sure that you keep it up to a limit, as the goal is not to look funny.
- Stewardship: You can choose to include the stewardship mandate and its progress as a part of your speech.
- Regular Attendees: While you do want to make the first-time visitors feel comfortable and understandably so, do not forget the regular attendees. The speech should make them feel included and, thus you can add comments which include everyone present in the room.
- Don’t Over-Inform: The welcome speech does require you to give some valuable information about the service, you cannot make your speech just about it. Avoid overwhelming the gathering by making the speech an information brochure. The importance of including relevant information is undeniable, but also make sure you are including only the important things.
- Formality: It is your choice whether to deliver the speech formally or informally. But when you are in a church setting you should start the speech formally. You can include some jokes, but keep in mind that you are addressing a gathering of mixed age groups.
- The tone of Speech: The way you sound will be leaving an impact on your audience. So, you should work on the tone of your delivery. You wouldn’t want to address the gathering sounding stone-cold, without any life in the voice. You can work on making your tone sound warm, engaging, or relaxing.
- Encourage the Visitors: It is the first time that the visitor has visited the church and they might not be aware of what to do throughout the process. It is your job to make them feel included. You can ask them to fill up the contact cards or take some notes, make them aware of what they can expect to happen, and describe how a prayer request is made. This would encourage them to play a more active part in the service.
- Name The Next Person: Keep in mind that ending a welcome speech is a crucial part. The transition to the next event in the service should be smooth and not awkward. This helps first-time visitors understand what is happening. If there is an awkward silence and you haven’t even introduced the person who will be talking next then it will spoil all your efforts which you had given in the speech. You can choose to introduce the preacher by saying their name and letting your audience know what they can expect from the preaching. You are free to do this your way but the congregation must be aware of what is coming next.
As a new priest or member of the congregation, it can be an overwhelming and unnerving experience to deliver the speech. A church welcome speech isn’t that hard to draft if you know what you have to include in it. You do not have to overdo anything. Keep it short, sweet, and simple. While you can use these example templates to deliver the speech, we do not recommend you memorize these. The best will come from your heart.
A personalized speech drafted by you would give an insight into what you hold within and that will help the listeners connect with you. You might use the examples as your reference. Remember there is no specific formula to deliver the speech, whatever works for you is the best formula. You can speak in front of a mirror, trying to modulate your voice and your style to figure out which style suits you. Always keep in mind the tips included in this article and you will be good to go. Over time you can refine yourself and engage in giving some other people tips on how to deliver this speech!
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What can you say before you start a welcome speech?
Read the audience in the room before you start speaking. You need to start by greeting the gathering. You can say something along the lines of “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today I take the pleasure of welcoming you all to…” You can either keep it formal or include some informal lines, depending upon the occasion you are speaking for.
- What makes a good welcome speech?
A good welcome speech starts with a greeting. It gives an introduction to all the relevant people present in the gathering. The speaker expresses their gratitude for the attendance of everyone present. A brief introduction to the event is given. The speech concludes by inviting the person who is in charge of the next event.
- How can you welcome a guest to the church?
You can start by greeting the guest and making a firm handshake with them. Your body language should say that you are approachable which means that you need to have an open posture and you must carry a smile on your face. You can ask the name of the guest and use the name in the conversation. Remember to be friendly, however, even that is not enough. Always make sure you introduce yourself too.
- What do you mean by a speech of introduction?
A speech of introduction is delivered to introduce the chief speaker of the event. It aims at encouraging people to listen to the speaker. The speech has to be brief. It should not overshadow the speech of the main speaker but highlight it instead.
