Church leaders must begin to see every church member as a customer, place value on customer service - says Pastor Tope Dada at Pastors' Leadership Retreat

 

Pastor Tope Dada

By 'Gbenga Bankole

The Music Director of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Tope Dada has said Church leaders (Ministers) must begin to see every church member as a customer and place value on customer service.

He noted that every organization is influenced by the quality of its customer service and due to rising customer expectations, delivering excellent service is no longer a choice but a necessity especially for the contemporary church.

Pastor Tope Dada stated this while ministering on the topic "Customer Service Excellence" on Monday January 17, 2022 at Pastors' Leadership Retreat organised by CAC Nigeria and Overseas holding at JABU, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State.

While making it known to all ministers that members of the church are their customers and are volunteers who can leave at any point in time, the Cleric said they must try their best to treat them with respect and retain them.

He however urged them to focus their attention on the 47 percent population of the church which are the working age and 39 percent which are "before working age," adding that 14.34 percent who are the "after working age" group (65 years plus) are members who in most cases can't leave the church.

"Most churches shy away from their customers because they do not see the church as God's primary business. Billboards, Sunday bulletins, radio jingles, or slogans are not the only basis of the churches' relationship with their external customers. Each of these can play a key role, but to walk into a church organization and not well received gives customers an immediate impression that can be very difficult to overcome. For those who are not already loyal to your church, a sloppy or unattractive welcome provides serious demotivation to connect. How you communicate with any person who might potentially enter your doors would contribute to the overall growth of the church. Such poor relationship happens in the church where members are not seen as volunteers who can move to other denominations without your permission.

"The question is "What is the purpose of the church?" God created the church for a purpose. There must be an understanding of the reason for the church's being to place value on customer service. Research shows that 68% of members leave our church because of discourteous service,14% dissatisfied with the product/services, 9% because of competitors, 5% develop other relationships, 3% due to relocation, and 1% because of death.

"Customer service in the Church is much different in today's culture than what it was some twenty or ten years ago. Certain basic principles remain timeless, but with new advances in technology, as a living organization, our customer service excellence must be changing as society is emerging. Our approach must be with open, managed interaction, embracing the 4 service dimensions of job knowledge, flexibility, people and self management," he said.

Pastor Tope Dada further said that Customer service is an attribute of God because He relates with other Persons of the Trinity, adding that "God relates with spiritual beings and with humans. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Paul, etc. (Genesis 3:8; Genesis 18:7; Genesis 37:5; Exodus 3:2ff; 1Sam 3:4-15; 2 Corinthians 12:1; Romans 8:16).