My wife and I decided to have breakfast out this morning. We checked out some websites and asked friends, but decided to go to Bills in Surry Hills. The main reason was Bills reputation – we’d heard good things about it, we’d seen the queue of people lining up to get in, we’d considered going in the past, and so today we thought we’d give it a go. It was a disappointing experience from start to finish.

• First came the coffee – burnt, and with milk that had a strong resemblance to dish water.
• Next, our meals were placed on the counter by the chef. Time to eat – or so we thought! The waitress took them to another table, where they explained they weren’t the meals they ordered (which is correct, as they were ours!). The waitress then took them back to the kitchen (i.e. bin) before we could get her attention and claim the meals as our own.
• We then called another waitress over to explain that we hadn’t received our meals yet, that people who’d arrived after us had all got their meals, and that we suspected our meals had been way-laid. She checked, and there had indeed been a mistake. She apologised, and said our meals would be out soon.
• Our meals (scrambled eggs on toast and ricotta hotcakes) came out and were well below par. The eggs were watery and tasteless. The hot cakes were cold and stodgy. I felt confident that I could’ve done a better job in my own kitchen!

The only redeeming part of the meal was the chat we had with the manager as we left (the first time I’ve ever done this). We explained our situation, she was very apologetic, and said that we wouldn’t need to pay for our meal and that she hoped that we would come back again.

I just don’t think that we would – an experience that we had high hopes for, was disappointing in so many ways. Not only that, but it’s unlikely we’d ever recommend the restaurant to anyone else. All our expectations, built up over a period of years, were dashed in the space of an hour. Our expectations played a large part in the disappointment we felt – I’ve had numerous average meals (many of them cooked by me!), but these experiences were balanced by the lack of expectations I had coming into the meal.

So, as I watched my meal do a tour of the restaurant and then tried to power through my hotcakes, I pondered the lesson that this presents for churches. Here it is:

A reputation is built up over a long period of time, and this reputation leads to certain expectations when a person finally decides to visit your church. If the experience doesn’t match the expectations, the visitor will be disappointed, and the likelihood of a return visit and recommendation is low.

It’s a challenge, isn’t it? The lesson here isn’t about being perfect – I didn’t expect it of Bills, and a visitor doesn’t expect it of your church. But a visitor’s experience is the sum of the pre-formed expectations and the combined elements of their time with you. The sum of our experience at Bills was terrible. What will be the sum of the experience for people who visit your church?

Churches seek to promote themselves and build a good reputation in the community. They run and promote events, the place ads in the local paper, there are articles written about them in the local paper, post signs on their noticeboards, they develop websites that promote the mission and vision of the church. It’s likely that people in our communities will have exposure to a number of these over a period of time. Perhaps they might come to the conclusion of “I’ve heard a lot of things about that church”, so that on one day, for whatever reason, they decide to walk through the front door.

Will their experience meet their expectations? There are a lot of variables that affect the experience a new person has at church and some of these are out of our control. However, where we can control those variable (i.e. friendly welcomers, clear instructions and guidance throughout the service, etc), we should – it will benefit the visitor, and go some way to encouraging them to return, and recommend the church to their friends.

You only get one chance at a first impression. Make it count.