How to Promote a Church Event
John Lewis
So you are having a big event at your church. You want to see visitors attend
Listed below are some promotional ideas that you may work for you.
Getting Started – The first thing that you need to understand is that 90% of all visitors to your church are brought by a church member. Very few come on their own volition. You need to empower members to bring their friends.
Remember if every Christian in this country saw one friend come to know Christ this year and that trend continued, in four years every person in this country will be a Christian. Remember with God all things are possible.
Some of these ideas may not be applicable but some will help. I have known all of them to be effective in some circumstances.
- Pray and Announce – Enthusiastically announce the event a month in advance. Challenge your members to write down the names of friends who they could invite and pray for them daily.
- Sermon – If possible do a sermon on the importance of outreach.
- Additional Announcements – If you use a video presentation be sure to announce the event every Sunday for four weeks before the event. See if you can obtain/create a video presentation describing the upcoming occasion.
- Flyers – Make up a flyer (color is better than black and white) advertising the event. Remember that the better the flyer the better the result. Place a flyer in your bulletin every week for the three weeks before the date. For Children age 17 and under give them five flyers every week and really encourage them to bring their friends.
- Ambassadors – See if any of the children will be ambassadors by agreeing to hand out a flyers to everyone in their class. If they say yes, give them 25 flyers.
- Tickets – Create realistic looking tickets to the event and hand them out. Make sure that you make it clear that the event is free (assuming it is free). Solicit all of the local business to see if you can place the tickets and a poster in their business.
****Remember this will not get many visitors on their own, but it does get make it easier to invite friends. When people see your event advertised at their local supermarket, they are much more likely to come when invited to the event.*****
- Posters – Obtain and/or create posters for the event. Remember the bigger, the more professional the poster, the better the results. I sometimes print up posters on two 11” x 17” sheets and tape them together to create a 17” x 22” poster. Place at least five posters in your church. Distribute them to all of the businesses in your area.
- Press Release – Write up a press release and send it to the local paper(s). You can get sample press releases through Google. Be sure to include a picture of some type.
- Location – If at all possible consider moving the location of the event to your local public school or community center. My experience is that this increases attendance.
- Prizes – Here is an effective tool of outreach. Go to Toys R Us, Game Stop, Wal-mart, Target etc. Get a gift certificate (bigger is better). Tell your church children that they can put their name in the hat to win, but for every friend they bring, they can put their name in three times!
Let people know that they should not come to church just to win a prize. Just as we give these prizes away for free, so the greatest gift of all, salvation by grace through faith, is freely given!
- Pie In The Face – If your event is focused on children, e.g. a VBS closing or Upward Sports event here is a fun way to get kids excited. Set a goal of getting twice the number of kids as usually attend. If they reach their goal, then pastor or a willing adult gets a pie in the face.
- Phone Tree – If your church uses a phone tree, call the members to remind them of the event. If not, see if anyone will volunteer to call church members. Call every person in your church a couple of days before the event and remind them to bring their friends.
- Pray, Pray, Pray without Ceasing!!!
The above article, “How to Promote a Church Event” was written by John Lewis. The article was excerpted from www.johnlouis.net web site. Also see: www.youtube.com/johnlouis62 – I teach nine Christian Illusions that anyone can do. www.johnlouis.net – to see streaming videos. Used by permission.
The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.
This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”
