Many people will come into our churches for Christmas services and events who might not necessarily attend at other times of the year. This provides a great opportunity to not only share God’s love but also let your local community know about the other exciting things your church is doing. Here are some ways in which our renewal churches are planning to do that as they look to grow their congregations.
Kingswinford parish have thought carefully about how to advertise their other services, capture details and make the best use of resources.
Renewal Leader Adam Hadley said:
“As part of our national funding we have had a booklet and flyers professionally produced to advertise our regular services, as well as requests for prayer. These will be given to all those attending our Christmas services and where people are happy to, we will sign them up to our database to keep them up to date with everything we’re doing.”
He added:
“In the New Year we will then use the same materials to publicise what we are doing to a new housing estate being built in the parish.”
St Peter’s church in Bengeworth, Evesham have invited local families and those that visit their café ‘The Point’ to their three Christmas services which they plan to be as welcoming and joyful as possible. There they will be announcing January dates for their next Alpha course, which they feel is an important first step for those new to Christianity.
Vicar Andy Smith said:
“We never ask ourselves, ‘how can we get people to church’, our strategy is always to love people generously as Jesus would, in everything we do, and then journey with the curious ones in their questioning, in the hope that they find faith in Jesus. Once the good news of Jesus is received and believed, church is the next natural step in living out the faith that they've found.”
Holy Trinity Old Hill’s Operations Manager, Tim Hancock, is making the most of their digital strategy and social media platforms in the run up to Christmas to promote forthcoming services and events. 
Earlier in the year Tim started an Instagram account and is working hard on building up their following on this and their other channels, so that those that follow at Christmas will see their future posts and promotions.
Ops Manager Tim Hancock said:
“Ahead of our Christmas Event this year I decided to shoot a funny reel with a News Anchor reporting on sightings of Santa and whether he would be putting in an appearance (borrowing a little from panto land!), to encourage our local community to attend. People at church loved it and we also added it to our church newsletter and asked people to share, as the most simple, cheap and effective form of promotion we can do. We’ve gained quite a few more followers recently!”
“I have also created jpegs for rolling notices on our screens at our Christmas events and services, and I’m shooting another video to share what’s happening soon. Going forward I am scheduling posts now to ensure we are advertising each key date that’s coming up, in a timely fashion.”
Tim added:
“Christmas represents our biggest opportunity of the year! Church is more in the spotlight at Christmas than at any other time so we should definitely try and maximise opportunities. After all, we have the greatest story in the world!”
