Fall is the perfect time to reach out to your community and invite people (back) to church.
Besides simply sending out mailers and putting up signs, we always suggest that churches partner their marketing efforts with getting involved in their community.
Here are three ideas:
1. Host an End-of-Summer BBQ Bash.
Host a barbecue for the community and have your members invite neighbors and friends. Consider sending out invitations to the entire area.
I’ve seen events for which the church supplied the food and each family brought their own cooler of water and soft drinks. Or you could always ask your own church members to supply the food for a potluck-style meal.
Bring in a live band (maybe even your worship team), set up a softball game for the adults, and have games ready for the kids. Later, set up a large outdoor screen and show a movie.
These kinds of get-togethers have great results in welcoming folks to your church, as well as making a positive impact on the community in general.
2. Plan Service Projects.
We featured some churches doing great things for their community over the Christmas season. But why should we isolate good stuff like this to the holidays? Here are a few ideas for right now:
- Connect with a church in a low-income area and put together teams to tutor students throughout the school year.
- Spend a Saturday cleaning up a park in your community.
- Create bracelets with the first name of each student in your church, and then hand them out to the congregation so they can be praying for the students as they return to school.
- Host a school supply drive in your church; then donate the supplies to a local school.
3. Begin a New Sermon Series.
Instead of continuing a sermon series that many who have been away over the summer may have missed out on, plan a new one for this fall.
A new sermon series is great for inviting new people to church as well. If families have moved into the area or if people are looking to visit a church, a new series allows them to get involved and not feel out of the loop on their first visit. Promote your new series via social media and direct mail.
People get excited about anything new, so starting a new topic gives you a way to get your church excited about the fall and about getting plugged back into church.
So there are my ideas—what is your church up to this fall?
