From Christian Newswire: Top Eight Things Your Church Can Do to Increase Membership in 2011
Most churches in the United States are facing declining membership, but the message is still as relevant as in the past. So what’s changed? The message is getting lost in all the clutter.
Here are my top 8 tips for increasing your church membership in 2011:
- List your church on Google Places. Last month 17 million people googled “church, find a church, church home, Methodist Church, Baptist church, etc.”
- Make up or buy some cards that invite people to your church and hand them out to every member. Ask them to go out and perform random acts of kindness and give out the cards. Memory Cross has developed some very unique ones or you can create your own. If each of your members can touch three people a year, think what an impact that would make to your community and your church.
- Get a list of people in the neighborhoods around your church and reach out to them at least 3-4 times a year. Postcards are a great tool because they are inexpensive and people have to see them, at least for a second.
- Create door hangers or flyers and give them to members to hand out in their neighborhood.
- Hold a free community event. It can be anything from a car wash to a concert to handing out bottles of water on a hot summer day. Do not accept any donations. Instead hand out a card with your church information on it.
- Start using email marketing and ask for the names and email address of all visitors. This will provide you a second way to connect with them.
- Set up a system where you connect visitors with someone in your church as soon as possible. Too many people come one time; and if they don’t feel connected to the church, they may not return. Even a phone call to thank them for visiting is a great way to open up conversation.
- Form a group that is committed to praying for people in your community. Meet on a regular basis and encourage them to write down any outreach ideas they come up with.
If you take action on these eight steps, you will find new visitors coming to your church and people’s lives being changed.
Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Matthew 2:13-15
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LGE
From the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation: Please join in solidarity this holiday season, and help to replant olive trees in occupied Palestine.
Knowing that the common people in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to suffer under occupation and displacement, we are reminded that Mary and Joseph, huddling in a nook, were refugees under Roman occupation, and that they had traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Joseph’s family lived. Just as they lived in fear of a foreign occupying power two thousand years ago, sadly the Palestinians live in fear of the Israeli occupation, which imposes apartheid and takes their land. Often times, their olive trees are ripped out in an effort to displace them from their land.
Help to plant so that the children of many future generations might enjoy and be sustained by a gift of hope, a gift calling for a just and lasting peace.
Semester of Service 2011 launches on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January 17, 2011). This year, Youth Service America (YSA) Grants will provide approximately $500,000 to nearly 500 schools and organizations to lead Semester of Service projects.
Semester of Service projects address meaningful community problems and their root causes – problems such as childhood obesity, hunger & homelessness, illiteracy, natural disasters, and environmental degradation. Semester of Service incorporates the practice of sustained service over a period of significant “duration and intensity” (typically at least 70 hours over several weeks or months), in order to provide enough time for students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to understand and impact challenging community problems.
YSA encourages educators and service organizations to participate by launching and culminating efforts for a Semester of Service on significant national days of service:
- The King Day of Service (January 17, 2011)
- Global Youth Service Day (April 15-17, 2011
- 9/11 Day of Service (September 11, 2011)
- The King Day of Service (January 16, 2012)
In a successful Semester of Service, students follow the IPARD/C stages of the service-learning process:
- Investigation
- Preparation & Planning
- Action
- Reflection
- Demonstration/Celebration
Educators wishing to plan a Semester of Service may obtain resources through YSA including:
The Semester of Service Strategy Guide [PDF] and Semester of Service Classroom Poster [PDF] are available and provide detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to develop and implement meaningful service and learning experiences using the IPARD/C process. Other resources are also available.
YSA provides a variety of grants (applications available), planning tools, training, and technical assistance to help Semester of Service participants plan, lead, and implement high-impact service-learning programs.
Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:20-21