It’s Easter weekend!

…Kind of like the Superbowl of Christian faith.

Holy Week. Lent. Good Friday. . . Easter. This is ground zero.

Some ministries plan elaborate spectacles and turn the sanctuary into an open house environment this one time each year.

This is definitely the easiest weekend all church members can invite a friend from work, school, family or even those strangers you have regular relationships with such as the security guard, bus driver, mail carrier, etc.

Why not take advantage of Easter claiming to be the happiest day of the year for Americans? Everything is in your favor.

Besides using the major US holiday as an easy conversation starter, do your people have easy ways to describe your church?  What style would you characterize the worship service to people who haven’t been to church in ages (or ever!)?  How can people describe the lead pastor or the sermon messages?  And are you aware of anything else people routinely have trouble with when bringing up church with friends or co-workers? It’s the little things that many people need help with — For example, the logistics of explaining service times, location, directions, etc can be daunting to bring up.

The question of the day is: Are you doing everything you can to make it easy enough for people to invite a friend?

Here’s a great mailer I received from Liquid Church which has always been consumed with being an outward-facing ministry:

It was a great reminder to invite someone to church. And the message on the back reinforced the simple message I can use to convey when doing so — which is aimed at helping to set expectations in an easy 1-2-3 format.

But the best part of this postcard invite-a-friend mailer was in the simple detail:

The card itself was perforated on one side with a pass-along mini-invitation card with all the basic information anyone would need to know about visiting Liquid.

This is a 5-star example of making it easy for church members to go out and invite a friend to church. Successful outreach follows the classic word of mouth marketing strategies — and this church marketing piece serves to provide tools to make it easier for people to share the message with others.

QUESTION: What does your ministry do to make it easier for members to invite others to church on Sunday?

This is a tip that can really pack the pews. . .But most churches never use it.

In fact, only 2% of church members actually follow-through with this secret weapon to grow a church.

Did you know that 73% of people who do not attend church have never been invited?

And couple that with the fact that up to 82% of people say that go to church with a friend if they were invited, almost every church out has the potential to grow their attendance rosters within the next 4 weeks.

Why are only 2% of church goers inviting new friends and family to come to a church worship service, event, class, outing, picnic, retreat, bible study, or fellowship group meeting?

What excuses are you holding onto that prevent you from creating annual invite-a-friend weekends (other than Easter or Christmas!)? How can you change the culture of your church right now to be more INVITING — literally? Why haven’t you created pass-along conversation tools to hand out to EVERYONE in your church?