10 top tips

Here are some ways you can make the most of the Christmas campaign:

  1. Tell your congregation about the radio adverts and online advertising to encourage them to invite their family, friends and neighbours to church this Christmas.  Use the downloadable ‘who will you invite’ poster and Facebook picture to help encourage them.
  2. Download and adapt the posters to display outside church during December. If you normally decorate the outside of your church, home, or other setting – you may like to get creative with the ‘Follow the Star’ theme!
  3. Use the logos and posters to create invitations to give out for your services and events – the blank posters can be scaled up or down, so can become a large poster, or a small flyer. Or use the logos and star graphics to create your own design. Free design sites like Canva make this easy.
  4. Think about how you can tap into the hunger for family events and experiences – what can you do to make church at Christmas extra-special for families?
  5. Make sure you promote what you’re doing! If you are going to be serving minced pies and mulled wine, make sure you say that in your publicity. If you’ll have some activities for children – mention it in your Facebook posts. Don’t assume that people will know what happens at church events – if something is special or different, let people know!
  6. The radio adverts will run from December 1st-25th, so ensure that your website is up to date by December 1st with your Christmas service times and some information about each service to help people choose which one is best for them. Anglican churches should also update A Church Near You – 80% of users searching for a church are new to the site!
  7. Make sure you add your main Christmas services as ‘Events’ on Facebook – there is an event cover design that you can download  for this. Creating your services as events means more people can see them, and you may wish to consider spending a small amount (£30-£50) to promote them to people in your local area, using the boost function. For help with this, contact Eleanor Ledesma
  8. The World Cup Final is on Sunday December 18th at 3pm. Grasp this as an opportunity with some of these ideas.
  9. Think about what you can plan for the New Year, so that you can keep in touch with new people. Could you schedule an Alpha course or Christianity Explored for January? Talk about what you have planned for January during your Christmas services, and print out invitations for people to take away with them. If you are thinking of running an Alpha course for the first time,  Martin Walker, Blencathra Mission Community Leader, has many years experience leading Alpha, and would be happy to speak with you about it.
  10. Finally, make sure people receive ‘the great invitation’ as well as an invitation to church. During every Christmas service, make sure people understand why Jesus was born, why they need him, and how they can respond to him.