Organizing a Backslider & Visitor Outreach
Brian Norman
1. Gather Names, addresses & phone numbers of people who use to go to the church or have visited in the last 3 years
2. Preferable put the names, phone #’s and addresses in a computer database like Excel, etc.
3. Separate the Names into those in the same household
4. Separate those which have an address from those that only have a phone number
5. Print out those names that just have a phone number. 50 to a sheet of paper, or as many as possible.
6. On labels print out those with name, addresses, and phone #’s.
7. Stick those with name, address and phone # on 3 x 5 cards.
8. On the 3 x 5 cards give basic directions on how to get to their house from the church
9. Put live music from a real service at the Church on one CD. Specials, regular worship songs and the choir singing. Put the church label on the CD’s and enclose in a CD sleeve
* Make about 100+ copies depending on how many names and addresses we have. And how many you feel we can reach in an intense 2 hour outreach.
10. Have the Pastor write and sign a letter. It should do the following:
* Tell the people how me he and the whole congregation misses not having them there and
* Tells them that he and the congregation is praying God’s will and blessing be upon their life.
11. Enclose the letter from Pastor in an Envelope with their name on it.
12. Put a church card and a flyer for the revival in each envelope.
What We Do At The Outreach:
* Everything should be prepared (CD, letter, note cards) before the Saturday the outreach will be. DO not wait to the last second to organize things.
* The Outreach should be promoted beginning at least the weekend before. Promise them they will be done by noon….and mean it.
* People should meet at the church at 9:45 a.m. that Saturday.
* Send the people out in small groups of two’s, three’s or four as the turnout and properness demands. Note: Each group should preferable be given notecards of names and address in a certain area. Not all over the place
Instruct the people about what they should do:
* Knock on the door fairly loudly (or ring bell twice)
* Step back from the door
* When the door is opened ask for the person who visited the church (if the whole family did not visit)
* Inform them that you are there on behalf of the Pastor and the whole church to thank them for coming or visiting the church in the past. And that you simple wanted to pray a blessing on the household. That God would protect, provide and guide all that lived there. Then give them the packet that contains the CD and letter and flyer. **Keep this to less than 5 minutes total per house.
Note: DO NOT get into discussions with backsliders about past problems. IF THEY bring it up quickly and politely inform them you are there simple to thank them for coming in the past, make them aware that the church and the Pastor misses them and to bless them. (Smile too).
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.”
This article “Organizing a Backslider & Visitor Outreach” by Brian Norman was excerpted from: www.briannorman.org web site. October 2010. It may be used for study & research purposes only.
