George Barna released a study some time back that revealed how many churches have no one to answer the telephone during normal office hours. Smaller churches would be even less likely to have someone in the office. An even greater problem is that many of these churches also did not even have an answering machine to record any messages that do come in. This means that people trying to contact the church is unable to reach anyone and no one in the church knows there was even an attempt to contact them.
My own experience confirms this. As a judicatory minister I often try to call churches and pastors only to hear the phone ring and ring with no response. More often than not, they also do not have an answering machine so I can't leave a message. The cost of an answering machine is so low today there really is no reason for every church not to have one. If the church only ministered to one family a year as a result of a message left on an answering machine it would be well worth it.
One final thing. Many of the churches that do have an answering machine only ask people to leave a message and their phone number. This is a great opportunity to tell your callers the time of your services and any special events that might be coming up. The caller may only want to know what time your worship service starts so they can attend. If they can't get that information from you, they may decide to attend a church that does make that information available. Keep the information on your answering machine current and you just might see some new faces in your congregation next Sunday.
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