People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Thinking
Christmas
by James W. Moss, Sr.
It is time to start thinking about Christmas. I know what you are saying, “Come on Jim, it is only June. In fact, it upsets me when they start putting Christmas stuff up in the store in November.” You will be too late if you wait until November to do this.
It is time to start building your outreach strategy for Advent and Christmas. Outreach is defined as the things a church does to walk people through the door once. I am deeply appreciative of the impact The Passion of Christ had in raising a public awareness of the Christian faith. That movie gave new meaning to the words, “Jesus suffered and died.” However, it does appear more first-time attendees will walk through the door during Advent. It seems the birth of the baby has a stronger appeal.
The one major exception in Pennsylvania is that first Sunday of Advent that I will call “Deer Sunday”. It is the last day before the first day of deer hunting when thousands of people go to the cabins in “Penn’s Woods.” Many churches in Pennsylvania will struggle to have an average attendance on the first Sunday of Advent. Other than that, Advent will be an interesting time of attraction.
I believe that more people who have been absent from church for an extended period of time will return to church on Christmas Eve than at any other single service of the year. Are you already full on Christmas Eve. Do you need to add an additional service?
Outline everything your church does during the Advent Season. Are there some additional programs your church could implement to attract either marginally churched or unchurched people to walk through the door?
Now design a strategy involving a minimum of three methods to encourage attendance and visitors for Advent and Christmas Eve.
There are four markets you are attempting to reach:
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Regular attendees. These are the people who show up a minimum of once a month. If you track attendance, (and you should, of course), you will be amazed to see how many of your people average two Sundays a month or less. Recommend they try something different like attending all four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve as well. |
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Marginal attendees. These are persons who actually attend but average less than one Sunday a month. Again, an appeal could be made to make a special gift of their attendance to the baby Jesus. Encourage them to attend during Advent and Christmas Eve. |
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People in the community who once went to church but no longer attend. Some call these damaged Christians. Many of them had a bad experience in a church. Should they be in the midst of a teachable moment in life, they may respond to a special touch. |
| People in the community who have never attended a church. |
The first two markets will be reached by promotion within the body. The third and fourth markets will be touched by a broader strategy.
The challenge is to lift up the Christ of Christmas so that all people will be drawn to him. Then they will learn that the baby of Bethlehem became the man of Calvary.
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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June 16, 2005. Volume 8, Issue
10.
People Spots Online
is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life
Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org.
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