Twittering in Church
"80% of all first-time visitors come because a friend or a relative invited them."
That's the common wisdom. That's what the church growth experts tell us. In other words, the thing that impacts church growth the most is one person telling another, one neighbor inviting another, one worshiper spreading the word to a friend. Though I believe it in principle, I am not sure I believe it about us. We can do a careful analysis, but based on what we hear from new members, my guess is most of our first-time visitors come because they have heard about the church in the community, or they have found us on the website, or they have been church shopping and made their way here. That is to say, I am not so sure our folks are so good at inviting others to come and experience the life and vitality of this congregation. There are exceptions, of course. Our youth are going crazy inviting their friends to Friday Night Lites, Hungry?, Youth Cafe and Club 42. And clearly, lots of folks are inviting their friends to take part in the rummage sale. That's great. But in general I would surmise that our folks are timid about sharing their faith and hesitant in offering the invitation. So here are some suggestions to make it easier:
1. Passing on the e-mail
How about passing on memos like this one--well, maybe not this one, given the content, but how about passing on the "Here I Am, Lord" newsletter or the "Shine" memo or Chad's "180 Seconds"? How about using those as a means of telling others about First Church?
2. Sharing Steeple Notes
Every week Steeple Notes lands in your mail box. When you are done with it, how about sending it to someone who might be looking for a church? How about handing it to a new family who just moved into the neighborhood?
3. Recommending sermons
If a Sunday sermon speaks to you, go to the website, pick up the sermon and pass it on to a friend saying "Here's a message that really meant something to me. I thought you might enjoy it."?
4. Twittering in church
Instead of turning off your I-phone in church, why don't you send a twitter or a text message to a friend saying,"I'm in church right now and you wouldn't believe what the choir just sang. Why don't you join me next week?"
So if find it hard to share your faith or invite others, tell me, how hard is that?
Next Sunday we will celebrate the ministry of Dr. Carl Price. After 13 years of service, Carl is retiring. He will preach at all three traditional services and at noon we will gather in the fellowship hall to honor him. Invite a friend to come with you on this special Sunday to say 'thank you' to Carl and Pat. You can even twitter it.
|
