People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
A Plan of Outreach
by James W. Moss, Sr.
Outreach is the things your church does to walk new people through the door. My hope is the church can retain about one-third of the people who visit. Evangelism is the sharing of Christ with a person.
Your church needs a comprehensive plan designed to walk new people through the door.
If your church averages less than 100, I encourage you to set a goal with a minimum of 10,000 touches for the coming year. If your church averages between 101-199, then 15,000 touches. If your church averages between 200-299, then 20,000 touches.
How will these touches be made?
There will be monthly contacts with already identified prospects. Should you have 100 prospect families and mail to them on a monthly basis that would be 1,200 touches. Should you make a monthly contact with 400 homes, that would be 4,800 touches. Should you be interested in a packet of materials that one church used, I would be delighted to send you such but would need to charge $10.00 to cover cost.
 | There could be a special promotion during Lent, in the summer, and Advent. |
| There could be a Lenten mailing to 3,000 homes nearest the church. |
| There could be a service evangelism project that delivers a free gift to 200 of the homes nearest the church during Lent. |
| During the summer, the church could hand deliver 1,500 invitations to Daily Vacation Bible School. |
| There could be a large block party for the 400 homes nearest the church. |
| There could be an Advent mailing to 3,000 homes nearest the church. I recommend the Shalom Foundation. You may call Dick Benner 540-433-5351. They do a nice job. |
| There could be a service evangelism project that delivers a free gift to the other 200 homes nearest the church during Advent. |
Remember that all invitations should be date sensitive. There should be a specific invitation to a specific date. Generic invitations make little impact.
This is a lot of work. It sure is. I don’t know any real shortcuts. If there have been few new people in your church, then you need to listen closely. There is a simple proverb:
“If you keep doing what you have been doing,
you will keep getting what you have been getting.”
Why embark on such a massive program?
Because Jesus loves people. Because your church loves people. The people in your community need Jesus and your church. An outreach ministry is conducted not to benefit your church but to benefit others. Such an effort should create a people flow.
Of course, outreach works best when a church has a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Whether the people stay will depend on the welcome they receive and whether the service was something near what they expected. However, there needs to be a serious flow of new people to cover normal attrition and generate growth. It takes a serious effort to generate a serious people flow.
It is also more effective when coupled with a quality absentee ministry. The newcomers are absentees after the first visit.
I challenge your church to design a plan that has a minimum of 4 strategies designed to make numerous contacts sufficient to achieve the goal suggested at the beginning of the article. Keep the basic purpose of outreach in mind. That is to win new people to Christ and the church and expand the kingdom.
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Also see:
|
Do You Want Your Church to Grow? - People Spots Vol 7, Issue 10 |
|
Keeping People Who Visit - People Spots Vol 5, Issue 3 |
|
Keeping People Long-Term - People Spots Vol 5, Issue 4 |
|
Normal Attrition - People Spots Vol 7, Issue 16 |
|
Understanding Outreach Today - People Spots Vol 7, Issue 19 |
|
Understanding Saturation - People Spots Vol 7, Issue 17 |
|
Walking People Through the Door - People Spots Vol 5, Issue 2 |
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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January 7, 2005. Volume 8, Issue
1.
People Spots Online
is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life
Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org.
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