Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions Does Your Church Have a Magnetic Personality?

Does Your Church Have a Magnetic Personality?

Careful about that … 

Some people just naturally draw others to them. What’s it take to be magnetic? John Maxwell suggests these characteristics as displayed in the life of Peter:

  • Confidence – Peter displayed poise and optimism as a communicator.
  • Conviction – Peter knew where he was going and what he had to say.
  • Connection – Peter focused not on himself but on others.
  • Compassion – Peter exuded warmth and love.

When Peter ended his message in Acts 2, everyone asked, “What shall we do?” They felt motivated and ready to act. God used Peter’s charisma like a magnet.

Just remember magnets have the unique properties to both attract and repel!

Over in 1 Kings 19, Ahab and Jezebel demonstrated some roadblocks to attracting people. Characteristics like:

  • Pride
  • Insecurity
  • Moodiness
  • Selfishness
  • Perfectionism
  • Cynicism

If you exhibit characteristics like these very long, you will find yourself repelling people from you.

I’m pretty sure that’s not exactly the type of magnetic personality you were thinking of.

Magnets have wonderful properties; one of the most amazing is they can both attract and repel.

In a previous post, I wrote about “Magnetic Personalities.” If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to jump over and take a look at it—it’s a quick read, and it will give some background to the rest of this post. Go ahead—I’ll wait …

What goes for magnetic persons also goes for magnetic teams—like the Guest Experience team at your church. Sometimes the very thing that makes you “attractive” may also be “repelling” to someone else. Your team may go by another name, you may have multiple teams, but I am willing to bet if you are the leader of such a group, you are always looking for ways to improve how you do what you do. Are you ready?

Not so fast! Before you can improve, you need to know where you are—you need to establish a baseline measurement.

Here is a list of questions to assist you in identifying your present level of Guest Experiences. The list is adapted from a great book by Chip Bell entitled Magnetic Service. Answer “Yes” or “No” to each question:

  1. Do your Guests believe your church listens to them more deeply than almost any other organization they can think of?
  2. Do you anticipate Guests’ future needs so well that Guests feel you can practically read their minds?
  3. Are Guests given an opportunity to participate in a different way than they would have expected?
  4. Does your Guest Experience have such sufficient consistency such that Guests can trust it as being repeatable and not serendipitous?
  5. Do Guests see your church as rather daring or gallant in this approach?
  6. Do Guests think you and other team members in your church have more fun than most people?
  7. Are Guests given a chance to learn a lot simply through their encounter with your church?
  8. Do Guests witness you and others on your team perpetually improving service?
  9. Is the interpersonal engagement with you so unforgettable that Guests think positively about it again and again?
  10. Do Guests view their Guest Experience as special, distinctive and not the usual “same old, same old” approach?
  11. Do Guests comment on how the church is almost always super comfortable to be a part of?
  12. Do Guests feel completely free of dissonance and anxiety when dealing with your church?
  13. Does your Guest Experience reflect a deeper destiny, vision or commitment to serve?
  14. Is your Guest Experience delivered in a way that clearly reflects a wholesome and generous attitude?

How many honest “nos” did you have? If you answered “no” more than three or four times, you have gaps to fill, holes to repair and practices to start.

Congratulations! You now have a baseline measurement of your Guest Experience …

… Where do you go from here?  

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bobadams@churchleaders.com'
Bob Adams is the Vision Room Curator and Guest Experience Navigator at Auxano. His dual passion for serving the church focuses on expanding learning opportunities for leaders and creating WOW! Guest experiences for churches. Bob’s background includes 23 years as an associate/executive pastor and 8 years as a consultant for a church design build company. Bob is a volunteer Guest Services Coordinator at Elevation Church in Charlotte at the Uptown campus.