ELEVEN WAYS TO CONNECT WITH THE GROUPS MEETING IN YOUR CHURCH BUILDING

Recently, in a coaching call with a group of church leaders on Long Island, the questions arose, “How can our church begin to build relationships with the people who meet in our space during the week?  We have lots of people in and out our doors, but we don’t know them, and none of them come to worship on Sunday.”

In the following hour, we generated 11 practical answers to the question – and with a little more time and creative thinking, the list would go on and on.   The churches that parlay weekday building traffic into greater Sunday participation do things such as…

 

1.     Get some decaf brewed and a coffee lobby host from the church welcoming people into the space graciously.... especially during times with higher building traffic.

2.     Meet with the leaders of the various community groups a couple times a year, feed them and allow them time to connect with each other and think together about occasional community events that allow for collaboration.

3.     Sponsor a joint event or project between the church and one of the groups - something that overlaps with the mission, interests and comfort zones of both.

4.     Create good bulletin boards and other signage in the halls pointing to the fact that relevant and intriguing stuff happens at the church during other times.

5.     Recruit for the community groups.  Evangelize for them.  Make 30-45 second i-phone-videos that allow them to tell what they are up to and invite others.  Post the videos on the church website, or show them occasionally at the end of worship.  This ideally could lead church folks beginning to infiltrate some of the community groups (which is what we want to see!).

6.     Designate a few of the church folks as ambassadors to particular groups - letting the group leaders know these folks are go-to people on anything about the church or the space.  See that the ambassadors (or someone from the church) annually gives a 30 second welcome from the church, such as: "I have been in this group for a couple years, but I am also a member of the church that meets here - and the church has asked me to let all of you know how happy they are that we have found a home in this space - and to welcome us here for another year."

7.     Pray for the groups that meet at the church building during the week.

8.     Donate $25 to each group, perhaps with a Christmas card - a gift from the church offering a church donation to the cause of their choice.  This says the church likes the group and wants to invest in it and in the things the group feels passion about.  

9.     Brand the space.  For example, provide church branded coffee mugs (rather than Styrofoam) by the coffee pot, and then (if possible) ask church volunteers to wash the mugs the next morning.  Not only is this gracious hospitality, but now everyone is now drinking from Trinity Church coffee mugs.  Subtle reminders that we are at Trinity.

10.  Unlock the sanctuary and turn on a few lights, especially if it is evocative space.  Let folks peek inside or go in and sit quietly.

11.  Last, and certainly not least, design worship and other core events and programs in a way that will engage and bless the sorts of characters that are wandering through the church during the week.  We can build all the bridges in the world, but worship (and other programming) also must be engaging and even fun for folks - real community folks, not just longtime church folks!

In short, churches that take their weekday visitors seriously will end up seeing them again in different venues and experiences - including worship, mission and fellowship events.