How to get people in the church door

How does one go about inviting people into the church building to begin creating a relationship with them? Find something they might be interested in talking about and offer conversation.

A congregation in the Diocese of Delaware is doing just that. Check out this press release that was carried in their local news paper:

"The Rev. Rita Nelson will explore this afterlife from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, July 8, at St. Peter’s parish hall, 211 Mulberry St., Lewes. She will include some heavenly possibilities and beliefs held by a variety of tribes and authors, including C.S. Lewis, Lisa Miller, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and others."

More here.

Think that will get any interested people to stick their heads in? Have you tried something similar? Wanna share what worked?

(Years ago clergy were told to think about holding classes on potty training for toddlers. Apparently that topic generated a lot of interest among people who might be looking for a church home as well. But that might be a bit dated today...)

Posted by Nicholas Knisely on July 10, 2010 7:38 AM | |
Comments (3)

St. Paul's says come for the Tiffany windows, stay for the worship.
http://www.styleweekly.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=E60AB9861D194D43A633B84D359FE078

And they're offering poetry at a cafe downtown, billed as building community in the center of the city.
http://www.stpauls-episcopal.org/news/downtownadventure_july2010.pdf
(Handbill - slow download, but linked for those interested in how they are advertising this.)

Posted by John B. Chilton [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 10, 2010 11:58 AM

This is what the evangelicals do, though their toolbox is going to be entirely different. They invite people in to watch sports, play sports, get their kids into stuff and out of trouble, and what have you. They do softball, we do Lessons and Carols. They do "showy" Christmas spectaculars, we do lectures and discussions about the afterlife, or book clubs about Celtic spirituality.

This is an excellent idea all around and it's high time we begin to think in this manner. People who enjoy our kinds of extra-curricular offerings will also feel at home worshiping with us, if they ever feel the need to come to church. It's hard to explain the real feeling of Anglicanism to someone who isn't one already, but it's not hard to have events that carry our sensibilities into other areas of life, and then say, We do church much the same way.

Posted by Clint Davis [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 10, 2010 1:03 PM

How does one go about inviting people into the church building to begin creating a relationship with them?

Am I the only person who sees that opening sentence as hopelessly bass-ackwards?

I think there we've found the problem. Forget marketing. Be the Church.

God will add the increase.

Posted by Howard Preston Burkett [TypeKey Profile Page] | July 11, 2010 11:55 PM

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