If you are a regular volunteer teacher, at some point you will probably have a student who is visiting. This child could be visiting a relative or with parents who are considering attending your church or faith based program. Yet, we often do very little to take advantage of these opportunities to teach and influence these children for God.
If a visitor feels welcomed and valued, they may return. On the other hand, even a visiting relative may walk away with negative feelings about Church or even God if their visit is mishandled. So what are some things you can do to give a visiting child a positive experience?
- Welcome the child warmly and ask his/her name.
- Ask the child if he/she is visiting from another town or lives in the area.
- If the child seems to be an extrovert and comfortable sharing information, you may want to ask other questions and ask your regular students to give their responses to the same questions.
- Many visitors arrive late. Do not embarrass the late arriving visitor, but do what you can to get the visitor quickly up-to-speed with what is happening in your class.
- Have each student introduce themselves to the visitor and share an interesting fact.
- Have a student who attends regularly be a helper to the visitor, explaining things, showing where things are, introducing the visitor to others, etc.
- If the child is old enough, capture the complete name, mailing address and telephone number. You may be the only one able to capture this information for your church or program. (Be sure and share the information with the staff.)
- Consider having a visitor “goodie bag” with information about ministry events, classroom activities and some fun little thing to enjoy.
- Send a follow-up note addressed to the child. Tell him/her how much you enjoyed their visit. If the child is in a position to return, mention a few upcoming events or activities that might encourage the child to come back to your class.
- Offer your own contact information if you are comfortable or the contact information for a staff member to the parents if you have an opportunity to meet them.
- If you normally send parent letters home, make sure visiting children have a copy. You may even want to accompany the child to meet the parents and offer to answer any questions they may have.
Taking a few extra minutes to encourage visitors can make a huge positive difference in their life and even their faith journey. Don’t allow the business of teaching distract you from making these children feel welcome.