New Survey from ACS Technologies Reveals Key Ways for Parishes to Make People Feel Welcome

Florence, SC, November 12, 2024— With overall trends showing lower numbers of Mass attendees, Catholic parishes seek to better understand how to improve their outreach strategies, particularly leading up to Christmas, one of two times of the year when Americans are most likely to attend church.  ACS Technologies, a 45-year leader in church management software, market expertise, and data analysis, gleaned key insights from a recent survey aimed at further investigating why self-identifying Catholics consider “warm and friendly encounters” to be highly important when visiting a new parish. 

ACS Technologies examined the theological beliefs of 15,000 Americans with their ground-breaking American Beliefs Study: Religious Preferences and Practices, originally conducted in 2013 and then repeated in 2017 and 2021.  Distilled into a series of nine unique reports, valuable insights revealed changing behaviors and social and moral attitudes and trends within communities of faith.  Data in these reports, namely with regard to the question, “What do you look for when searching for a new parish?” impelled ACS Technologies to conduct a smaller follow-up survey in February 2024 on hospitality alone.

“Christmas is a time that churches usually see an influx in attendance, and it gives us an incredible opportunity to perform outreach initiatives based on reliable data,” said Terry Poplava, General Manager of ACST Catholic, a division of ACS Technologies. “In the American Beliefs Study, newcomers reported that ‘warm and friendly encounters’ were highly important to them. We were specifically interested in the behaviors and circumstances that foster this kind of environment in a parish.”

The follow-up survey conducted this year asked 1,075 American Christians to rate the “warm and friendly” level of a number of different actions.  On a 5-point scale ranging from “Somewhat Warm and Friendly” to “Very Warm and Friendly,” the Catholic sample gave highest scores to the following actions: 1.) someone at the door greeting you with a smile, 2.) seeing a friend in attendance, 3.) someone offering you a seat at Mass, 4.) someone personally inviting you to attend a church (Mass), 5.) hearing all visitors welcomed by a church leader, and 6.) someone personally inviting you to Mass.  

“The most important thing to note when looking at these findings is that most are made by fellow church attendees, showing that the Catholic call to evangelization is quite simple,” Poplava said. “These are practical ways you can evangelize while going about your normal weekly Mass routine.”

In summary, Poplava offers the following suggestions for parishes:

Rethink “Welcome”: a smile and an invitation are a great starting point for many people, but invitation, conversation, and community experiences are more impactful. Be intentional about the way you reach out to those around you at Mass.
Build Bridges of Trust: Before a person can fall in love with Christ through the Catholic Church, trust must be established. Creating an intentional plan to reach out to newcomers and follow up with them later will allow them to feel at home at your parish. 
Communicate Impact: Set clear expectations and goals for parishioners to follow so that growth can be celebrated as a community! Examples of goals would be to encourage parishioners to find one more person to invite to an upcoming event.