Christmas & Advent Outreach Products

A Three-Pronged Approach To Christmas Outreach

Christmas is just around the corner (where did October go?!) and if you’re like most churches, you’ve already started putting your service and event plans in place. But have you thought about how you will invite visitors to come?

Recent studies show only half of Americans plan to attend church on Christmas, which means having a full house on Christmas Eve is no longer guaranteed. So what is the best way for your church to see the most visitors this year? It’s time to plan a multi-pronged strategy to ensure you are effectively reaching out. Here are three strategies that, when combined, provide you the best opportunities:

1. Personal Invitations - Your regular attenders are still the best way to invite neighbors to church. People trust those they know for recommendations on auto mechanics or dentists, so why not a church? Studies show that 80% of un-churched people will come to church if a friend invites them. However, church members can be reluctant to step out and do the actual inviting, so it’s a good idea to make it as easy as you can.
• Provide small invitation cards with basic information for your Christmas Eve service times so your members can hand them to neighbors, post the on bulletins boards, or give them to business people they work with regularly.
• Create an event that is “invite-able”. Make sure your Christmas events are designed with visitors in mind. Try to plan something that will appeal to your community and their tastes and style, and keep your events free of too much “Christianese” and insider language.
• Challenge your entire church to step up, and then keep encouraging people to pray and invite. Use personal testimonies of people in your church whose lives were changed by a simple invitation as an illustration of what can happen. If people feel a part of a larger movement they are more likely to participate.
2. Church Postcards- While your members are inviting their friends, take the next step to reach out to a larger group. The most cost-effective way to reach thousands of homes is through the mail. And while some people have written printed mail off as “old fashioned” and expensive, recent statistics show just the opposite:
• 90% of people check their mail every day and 77% of consumers sort through their mail as soon as they get it. (When was the last time you sorted through your emails like that?)
• 67% of recipients feel mail is more personal than the internet.
• 8% of people keep direct mail for future reference.

Direct mail is most effective when it’s kept simple, which is why postcards work. They are easy to read, can include eye-catching graphics and their size and shape make them the most affordable way item to mail. ( Click here to see some great postcard options for this Winter.)

Perhaps most importantly, every piece of mail is at least reviewed by the participant - and no matter if someone puts your postcard on the refrigerator or in the trash - they still look at it. Printed mail has a 75% brand recall (digital ads only have a 44%) - so chances are they will remember your church name the next time they consider coming to church. Want to know more about effective direct mail? Click here.

3. Social Media - The third piece of your invitation push should be online - but not necessarily in the way you’d normally think. While your first instinct might be to post an invitation to your event and then ask your members to share it with everyone - that may not be the best method.

The average person spends nearly two hours a day on social media - and there are ads everywhere. Which means that people get desensitized to anything that even LOOKS like an ad. Approaching your posts from a different, more conversational angle, will boost engagement and get your post more widely read.

For example, a recent study showed that less people today believe in the key elements of the Christmas story (virgin birth, baby laid in a manger, angels announcement, wise men guided by a star) - so what would happen if your church created its own informal survey about the beliefs of your members and friends? It would probably get people talking and sharing - which is the whole point of social media!

Combining this type of conversation starter along with seasonal videos, attractive, thoughtful or inspirational messages, and an occasional event invitation will help make your social media page more readable and shareable. Learn more about regular social sharing and using social media for your church here.

Since you can no longer count on visitors to just show up on their own, the real key to having a successful Christmas outreach is to be intentional about reaching out to your community and then make your church as welcoming and friendly as possible.

Four Creative Ways to Reach more Church Visitors this Christmas

With the season fast approaching and only 46% of Americans saying they celebrate Christmas as a primarily religious holiday, this may be a good time to think through your church’s holiday celebrations. While everyone loves a candlelit Christmas Eve service, are there other events and services you could offer that would make your church more visible in the community AND increase the number of visitors this winter?

Here are four creative ways to rethink your Christmas plans:

1. Take it to the streets - Often as church leaders we rely too heavily on having the community come to us, but what if this Christmas season you took your church out into your neighborhood to serve? Here are a couple ideas to get you started:
• Collect frozen turkeys and then take them to an apartment complex, mobile home park or senior housing area and give them out - be sure to also provide a small invitation to your Christmas services.
• Hand out hot chocolate, coffee or even cup-of-soup to commuters at the local mass transit station on cold winter mornings and/or evenings.
• Go old-school and take a group Christmas Caroling through the neighborhood around your church. Invite people to join the group and sing along as you go door to door. Or take a group to the retirement home to put a smile on the faces of seniors in your area.
2. Share the story in new ways - Living nativities, drive-through nativities, movies about the nativity... they have all been done before, so how can you share the miracle of Christmas in a unique way that will garner attention? How about an art showing! The Story of Christmas is a 20-piece set of canvas-wrapped wall art that beautifully depicts key moments in the story of Jesus birth. This collection of 18” x 24” prints come with wall cards that identify the event depicted and help guide viewers through the story so you can invite families to tour the exhibit and learn about the real Christmas story together.
3. Help parents - The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, by opening your facility and offering childcare you can help provide relief to parents. Here are a few ideas:
   • Provide children’s activities like a Kid’s Craft Fair so parents can go to the mall, toy store or grocery store without the extra help of their little ones.
   • Open your church on snow days so working parents have a safe place to take their children - offer a VBS type class to keep the kids occupied.
4. Share a meal -Christmas can be a lonely time of year, especially if you don’t have loved ones who live nearby. Organize a holiday meal and invite singles, seniors, military personnel, immigrants or anyone who is without family to join in for a huge holiday potluck. Encourage people to bring their favorite holiday dish to share with their new extended family.

Christmas is all about giving and sharing God’s love with our broken world. By thinking outside the traditions, you may just find a new way to reach people this season!

Preparing Your Church for Holiday Visitors

While it may seem like the ministry year just got started, before we all know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here and your church will be caught up in planning special events, Christmas Eve services, and more. So before the crazy “holi-daze” set in, here are five areas of your church to review and update to help your Christmas visitors feel more welcome and comfortable at church.

1. Your Greeting Team - Visitors to your church may be completely unfamiliar with churches in general and that is where a good greeter can help ease anxiety and make them feel welcome and comfortable. Your greeting team is important to making the best first impression, so make sure your team is well trained and on point as you enter the holiday season. Consider a group meeting to talk about the season and get buy-in from the whole team.
2. Your Information Area - Similar to your greeting team, your information table needs to be staffed with friendly people who can answer questions and make your visitors feel welcome. It’s also important to have the area clearly identified with a banner or sign.

   Many visitors may be cautious about providing too much personal information on their first visit, so volunteers should be sensitive to asking too many probing questions. Instead, offer easy answers, helpful flyers or brochures, and a nice visitor gift.

3. Children’s and Youth Areas - The most important thing to parents is that their children are well cared for, so extra attention to your nursery, children’s and youth rooms is an important step in preparing for visitors. Parents want to ensure their kids are safe, rooms are clean and that any dietary restrictions are adhered to. It also helps to have an area that is cheerful, modern and fun. Fortunately, there is a large selection of inexpensive tools you can use to turn a drab area into something fun and attractive to both parents and their kids. Click here to see great ideas for kids of all ages.

   For nursery and small children’s classes make sure you have enough well-trained volunteers for the increase in attendance during the holiday season - especially for check-in and pickup. Provide parents with written information on your security measures, how you will contact them if they are needed during the service and the procedure for picking up their little ones.

   For older kids, be sure you have planned to get new kids involved in activities and ask a couple of your regular-attending children to make extra efforts to befriend the new ones so they won’t feel left out.

4. Interior Decor and Signs - Decorating for the holidays is a tradition not only in homes but also in churches. But when you are planning for visitors during the Advent season, not only should your church look festive, it should also be inspiring and informative. Fortunately there are inexpensive ways to both decorate your church and direct your visitors:
• Start with directional banners. Words like "Refreshments," "information," "Children," and even just "Welcome" give visitors the information they need quickly so they aren't left feeling lost.
• Add on inspirational banners for the season that feature scripture verses around the weeks of Advent or as stand alone verses about Jesus’ birth.
• Finish by decorating your hallways, seating areas or classrooms for the holidays. Tools like the adhesive wall banners or holiday themed Canvas Prints are a great way to give your walls an instant update without breaking the budget.
5. Outdoor Signs and Banners - It’s easy to get caught up in making sure the inside of your building is ready for visitors but the outside is important too. If a visitor can’t find parking, isn’t sure where to go, or needs physical assistance - they may turn right around and leave if the outside area isn’t accommodating.

   There are a variety of tools you can use outdoors. Custom banners can share important service times to passing traffic. Attractive flag banners and light pole banners can make your parking lots more friendly and direct drivers to special visitor parking areas. Hand held greeting signs can be used outside to welcome people to your building, and connect them with a friendly face who can direct them to the worship center or children’s areas.

Take these few steps in preparation for the holidays and your church will be a more welcoming and festive place for your Christmas visitors.