FUMC Evangelism

March 2008
Kevin Swain, Swain Solutions
Evangelism Consultant


There is an abundance of good news about First Church in 2008, together with some news that challenges us to do better. The challenging news is that alongside the blessings of all that God is doing among us today, our membership and participation statistics are not reflecting numerical growth. Numbers aren’t important of themselves, but they take on Godly proportions when we’re counting the number of lives that are being touched by the gospel (e.g. “… oh Lord I want to be in that number…”) Fortunately, we already have in place nearly all of the difficult means through which dramatic growth can occur. The rest, with God’s grace, should involve relatively easy efforts. I’ll share the good news first, and then offer some strategies for productive change.

The Good News:

Two impressive campuses in two prime locations

Extremely competent worship leadership, including outstanding preaching and music

Four dynamic Sunday morning worship services, each with a unique and effective style

Informative seeker friendly bulletins and power point displays

Over 100 different greeters throughout the course of every month

Diverse program that nurtures and encourages spiritual, social, and mission orientation among its members

Active, talented, and energized Evangelism leadership team

Effective newsletter ministry, Tom’s Tidbits email encouragement

Organ and Organist. Wow.

Informative Web page

Active and committed youth ministry, confirmation training, and education hour, children’s ministries

Open minded and diverse congregation, sociologically and politically.

Top Ten Strategies to make the good news better:

1. Attracting the unchurched. We need a comprehensive marketing plan, to be developed by the Communications Team and supported by the budget, that will keep the ministry of First Church visible to its neighborhoods and the community at large. Such a plan should include an emphasis, at least quarterly (including Easter, Fall, Christmas), on direct mail, advertising on mainstream media, and canvassing. Special attention should be given to the neighborhoods adjacent to the HW 10 bypass, and to campus and downtown residents, including the homeless. Welcome signage large enough for roadway view at both campuses is also important. There is an especially urgent need for signage with worship time at the celebration center. Staff should oversee each of these efforts to provide consistency and accountability.

2. Guests of First Church at non church events is another important part of an effective marketing strategy. A welcome table, which is being designed and constructed by the Evangelism team, should include copies of the Who’s On First brochure and should be displayed, not only during worship, but also at events hosted by First Church, such as Jubilee, Civic Choir, Christmas Dinner, Scouting events, AA and Al Anon family groups, Preschool events, and athletic gatherings. Sometimes, the booth should be staffed by a greeter. When the public is invited to such events, staff should be present to represent the church in support.

3. Connecting with guests. The evangelism team is already instituting a process that would create lay contact by phone at the first visit, a doorstep visit with gift and a handwritten note at the second visit, and staff attention at the third. Thereafter, it should be the responsibility of staff to begin work on assimilating repeat visitors into the life of the church and membership, which would include connecting them with persons and groups that would be helpful to them. A “mentoring” program is being considered that would loosely connect established members with new members in a structured way.

4. Greeters should be trained by staff at least twice a year in ways to be hospitable without fear of being obnoxious. Some greeters should be stationed outside welcome areas to spot and respond to those who appear to be visiting. Greeters should also be sufficiently informed to be helpful with visitor inquiries, including the availability of Christian education options.

5. New members should be received at least once a month, and some sort of reception should be available to those receptive to membership every week. The evangelism team should engineer this process, and staff should be involved. In the meanwhile, staff should offer to meet with anyone who expresses an interest in membership within one week of the interest being expressed. Those who have attended more than two times should be invited in some way to consider a membership commitment.

6. Any inquiry / new member class lasting more than one hour should not be cast as a requirement for membership, particularly when the prospect has a history of United Methodist membership. However, new members should be expected to make a specific commitment to the church beyond worship. Activity and interest survey forms are being developed by the Volunteer Coordinator, in consultation with the Evangelism consultant.

7. Web presence. A link to the most recent newsletter should be prominent on the home page of the Web site. The web presence is very comprehensive, but the interface suggests otherwise. The front page should be indexed in such a way that all of the information categories are clearly visible and available with one click. One way to do this would be to have a general index along the top, and a detailed outline of contents along the left margin. This indexing should in turn be carried over onto each of the other pages.

8. The youth fellowship can be a significant source for church growth. Youth should be encouraged to build their programming with unchurched youth in mind, and to reach out to friends accordingly. In order for significant growth to occur, statistics persuasively suggest that there should eventually be a separate fellowship for junior high and senior high youth. There should be an evangelism emphasis in youth programming at least once a quarter, which would include spiritual as well as recreational opportunities for unchurched youth.

9. Campus ministry. Although we do well by hosting the Wesley program in our facility, specific programs should be developed and tailored to the unique interests and needs of college students, e.g., a young adult singles group, and nontraditional worship hour on Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon.

10. Visibility and recognition of First Church in Lawrence community. All staff should have a commitment to serving the community in some way beyond the local church. In addition to the marketing campaign discussed supra, the evangelism team should work to place our branding into the community in a variety of formats, e.g., coffee mugs, license plate holders, canvas bags, note pads, etc. Also, preaching staff should explore making sermons and short inspirational messages available through broadcast media, including cable tv, radio, and internet.

posted by Kevin Swain  # 12:44 PM 2 Comments