Whether you call them connection cards, church visitor cards, or contact cards, using welcome cards for churches is an important part of building relationships with people in your church.
Welcome cards can give church visitors a way to tell you more about them, as well as provide you a chance to minister to their needs.
It also gives occasional and regular attenders and church members the chance to pass along important information in an efficient and easy way.
If you’re looking to add welcome cards to your church, or change what you’re using right now, you’ve come to the right place! These welcome cards for churches options include ready made options, customize your own, and digital options.
We are offering a free customizable Canva church visitor card template for you – we’ll highlight that later in this article!
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What should I look for when choosing welcome cards for churches?
As you browse through church supplies online, you will find a variety of options for church visitor cards. Many of the more traditional welcome cards ask for a lot of information besides the usual contact details such as name, physical address, phone number and email address.
Amount of information. Age range, names of family members, birthdates, marriage status, and church attendance were just some of the other options printed on a few of the welcome cards looked at for the article. Some also gave an option to ask for a visit from the pastor.
The two questions to help you choose the right type of visitor cards are: how much personal information do you need from a person filling out a visitor card, and, how much information will new visitors be willing to volunteer?
People today are often more skeptical about sharing as much information as they might have in the past. A visitor card that asks too many questions might not get filled out at all. This might be why some churches are choosing to print their own customized welcome visitor card.
Additionally, it’s great when there is space to add open-ended information from the person filling out the card. Whether they are submitting a prayer request, answering a question asked in the service, or asking to be baptized, it’s good to have a place for notes from the visitor or church member.
Size options. Where will your visitor card reside? Is it in a slot on the back of a pew or a chair? Is it included with the bulletin or sitting on a table? Size restrictions may dictate that you choose a smaller card.
You may be able to choose a larger card if you are setting them out on a table, but they might not get used as frequently.
Printing Options. Will you be printing these at home or in the church office on a regular printer? You may want to choose a design that already is laid out for letter-sized paper. Choosing the print size before you choose your design is recommended.
Otherwise, popular sizes seem to be 3 x 5, 4 x 6, and 4 x 9, and are often printed at places like VistaPrint, Office Depot, or a local print shop. Be sure not to print on glossy material as this surface can be difficult to write on with a pen or pencil.
Readymade Welcome Cards for Churches
This is often the easiest way to find your welcome card for church, but it is the least customizable. Some of them will be a great fit for many churches. Here are a few examples.
Connection Card from Outreach
This connection card from Outreach is 8.5″ x 3.66″, which is a great size for some pews or chair backs. It includes a date, which is an important detail for long term use of the same card. It leans into asking a lot of information, but it also has a section for asking for spiritual responses.
3 x 5 Church Visitor Cards
Amazon has a 3 x 5 Church Visitor and Prayer Request Card that might be a good fit for some churches. The area on this double-sided card for a prayer request is spacious, and the box to mark it confidential is a nice touch.
Welcome Visitor Pew Cards
This card is also 3 x 5, and describes itself to be double sided, though the back is not shown in the preview. It does include “Would Like a Visit from the Pastor,” which might be a perfect fit in some cases, and outdated in other scenarios.
Eucalyptus Welcome and Prayer Cards
Looking for a decorative visitor card? These welcome cards are also 3 x 5, and ask for a lot of information. This beautiful card features a eucalyptus design.
Printable Welcome Card
Are you in a hurry to have a visitor card? If you don’t need any customizations, and you’d like to print them yourselves on a printer, then this design from TaiFerry Designs on Etsy offers a 4.25 x 5.5 non-editable card. Its low cost and instant access are definitely a plus for this design.
Simple Connection Cards
Effective Church offers a free package of connection cards in .PDF form and free templates of MS Publisher in various sizes. They are worth checking out to see if one of them suits your needs!
Customizable Welcome Cards for Churches
If you’d like more options than what a readymade card might offer, then you may want to check out these customizable welcome cards. A church connection card template is usually sold by individual designers on marketplaces such as Etsy.
If you do buy a digital download from one of the Etsy sellers, the best way to download your digital product is onto your desktop or laptop computer, and not through your Etsy app.
Choosing an attractive design and customizing it to the type of visitor you think you will have can help make a great first impression on a new visitor.
Free Welcome Card Template
First up, we are including our free welcome card template that you can use in Canva. It is 4 x 6 in black and white. It requires a free Canva account. Or if your church is one of the qualifying non-profit organizations, you can sign up for a free Canva for Nonprofit Pro account.
If you like the design of this but would like some color already added to your welcome card template, choose one of our other designs available for purchase.
Clicking here or on the image will take you to the church supplies section, which will give you a choice of the brushstroke edition, the bold edition, or a bundle of both of them.
You’ll probably want to print this at a printer, such as VistaPrint or Office Depot. Be sure to check that the design is in your printer’s “safe” area.
If you’re wondering how to customize this In Canva, see the video below.
Other Canva Visitor Card Templates
This 4 x 9 Card showcases a modern design.
This simple 5.5 x 4.25 template is also customizable in Canva.
If you like a more colorful design, this could be a good choice for your church. The bright background colors set a nice tone for welcoming first-time visitors.
This product is a set of Canva templates for different purposes including a visitor card template, as well as templates for a groups connect card, a volunteer initiative card, and a card for prayer requests.
Wondering how to remind people to fill out these cards? This article about welcomes for churches gives wording you can use during the church service and in the church bulletin or church announcements.
Online Welcome Cards for Churches
Maybe your church is trying to reduce paper consumption as much as possible, or perhaps your church is online and doesn’t have physical cards to distribute. Whatever your reason is to need an online welcome card, there is a solution that will work for most churches that have Planning Center.
This article describes how to create an online form that works as your digital church connection card, prayer request card, and even more.
The data goes into your Planning Center database. If you are fully integrated into Planning Center, these “digital cards” could simplify a lot in terms of handling and following up on contact information. These online forms help not only new visitors, but also regular attendees and current members.
Once your form is created, simply share it as a link in your online worship service space. Or for an in-person way to fill out the connection card, have QR codes printed on the bulletin, for bulletin boards, or in other handy places around the church.
It could even be included on a digital display or digital signage you might have in the lobby with other announcements about church activities.
While none of these designs are the perfect solution for everyone, there is bound to be one of these welcome cards for churches that will be the right choice for your church to be welcoming visitors.
Being faithful in gathering this information with church welcome cards, and using it wisely, turns these welcome cards for churches into powerful tools for outreach!
Be sure to mention filling out the welcome card during your welcome speech or greeting, or in the bulletin.
We hope that this will bless your ministry and strengthen your efforts in being a welcoming church. God bless you!