This is the fifth of five chapters in a 25 part blog series titled: The Five Elements of a Fully Implemented Connections Strategy, published over a five week period. Everything I have posted here is the result of my own personal experiences, from serving on church staffs, volunteering as a lay leader, and being brought in as a paid consultant. It is my hope that these posts will help you and your church get better at connecting with guests, not simply to increase your attendance and membership, but ultimately to grow the body of Christ. Implementing a Connections strategy (or “Assimilation” strategy) is a long term process, and one that relies on a culture of continual improvement. This chapter has five entries, which will all be linked below the post as they are published.
This was a clothing drive: Every non-staff person that participated in my area was new to the church and didn’t know anyone else. Isn’t that interesting?
5.5 Special Church-Wide Events. If you are a part of a traditional church model with a Sunday sermon, then you probably have occasional large events at your location and in your community. Large scale outreaches and events utilize ministry teams to accomplish goals and are a great way to pair new faces with existing teams. Take advantage of your large events to connect new people into your ministries and small groups. That’s a huge reason to have the events in the first place.
Most of your events exist as a place for your church members to bring their friends and neighbors to experience something or to serve someone less fortunate. You don’t have to change that. Something to consider is incorporating new faces into your actual events rather than simply aiming the events at them.
Some examples of events many of you already have that can include a Connections Ministry piece:
- Christmas Productions
- Annual Daddy-Daughter Dance
- Spring Family Events (egg hunt, etc)
- Missions Sunday/Missions Festival
- Summer Community Outreach
- Fall Kickoff
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving Outreach/Food Drive
- Christmas Toy Drive
How to do this? Make the invite. Be clear about what the event is and present it as an opportunity to be a part of something, not just a production to experience. People aren’t just strolling into your church on a whim. They are there because they want to be and chances are they’d like to be involved.
Main Series Page: The Five Elements of a Fully Implemented Connections Strategy
Element Five: Serving Together