The images refer to an Easter service, but you get the idea.

Details are below.

With social networking site Facebook, your church can take this same concept online by creating a Facebook event for Christmas.  People in your church who use Facebook can then easily invite their Facebook friends to Christmas services using this Facebook Event.

Here’s how to do it.

Before you begin…
First you need to have a Facebook page (or group) for your church.  I recommend you have a Facebook page for your church.  The steps below describe how to create an event from your FB page.

By default there should be an “Events” section on the left side of the FB page.  Click the “Create Events.”

Oddly, on the FB page for my church which recently created another FB event there was no link to create a new event.  I had to go the to the “Wall… Info… Photos” tabs towards the top, click the + sign to add a tab for events, click that tab, and then click the “+ Create Event” button on the right side.  Very cumbersome.

Step 1: Event Info

That will take you to the “Step 1: Event Info” form.  Fill in the event name and optional tagline.  The event type is awkward.

It’s a required field in the form, but there is no good fits for worship services.  “Causes” doesn’t have any adequate sub-categories.  Neither does “Music/Arts.”  “Other” seems like a good option, until you see that none of the sub-categories there fit either.

I think the categories are only used by other people searching for events, and since the vast majority of people find out about FB events through an invitation from their friends the categories are really irrelevant.

Moving on to the description, I would strongly recommend your church have an official description for every event so that the description is the same on the website, the bulletin/program, and Facebook.  Because FB Events only gives one start and one end time, if you have multiple Christmas services include the times of those services in the description.

The rest of the Event info should be self-explanatory.

Step 2: Customize

This form starts with the option to add a picture.  I strongly recommend you do this.  As with the description, if there is an official Christmas logo/graphic your church is using on the website and program/bulletin, it’s best to use it in the Facebook event.

Next there are a bunch of options.  I recommend enabling everything.  It’s unlikely that many people will post photos, videos, or links, but that can only enhance the event.  Click the save button at the bottom of the page if you make any changes to the default option settings.

Step 3: Update Fans

If you click the “Finish and View” option, it will skip over one of the most important steps, getting the word out to “fans” of your church’s Facebook page.  To do that, from the Event page click the “Update Fans of [your church]” link on the right side.

There are two important things you can accomplish by updating your “fans.”  First and most obvious, you are getting a reminder out to them to participate in your Christmas services.

Second and equally important, you can encourage them to invite their Facebook friends to the Christmas services and give them instructions on how to do that.  So, here’s the update I sent to “fans” of my church (Cypress Meadows Community Church)

Subject: Invite your Friends to Easter at Cypress

Hi Everyone!

As you know this Sunday is Easter, we hope you and your family will join us as we celebrate our risen Savior, Jesus Christ!

Easter is one of the 2 times of the year people who do not know Jesus or are not connected with a church are most open to attending a service.  So, we’ve created this Facebook event to make it easy for you to invite your Facebook friends to Easter services at Cypress Meadows.

Just click the link below to the Easter Services event.  Then click “Invite People to Come” on the top right of the event page.  It couldn’t be easier!  Invite your friends so they can experience the amazing love God has for us!

Update the Page Status

Another way to make “fans” aware of the Facebook event and the opportunity it provides to invite friends is to update your church’s FB page status.

Go to your church’s FB page.

In the box labeled “Write something…” enter something like:

is getting ready to celebrate Christmas. Invite your Facebook friends using this Facebook event – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=63598044471

This message will show up in your “fans” news feed.

It will also appear at the top of your church’s Facebook page.

Of course, change the actual link to the one on your page

Take the Initiative – Invite Your Friends

Last but not least, lead by example.  If you are encouraging people to invite their friends to Christmas services using the Facebook event, be the first to do so and invite your friends.

I would suggest inviting all your FB friends who are already a part of your church.  But more importantly, I would suggest inviting some of your FB friends who are not a part of your church.  After all, that is what this is all about.

Let me ask you this?

Have you created a Facebook event for your church’s Christmas services?  If so post a link here.

Got any other ideas for ways to use Facebook to promote or invite people to Christmas services?

The Easter version of the above article appears at OurChurch.com. The principles are the same.

Paul is a great guy to follow on Twitter and he sends out great newsletters.

Paul Steinbrueck is co-founder and CEO of OurChurch.Com, elder of CypressMeadows.org, husband, father of 3, blogger. You can follow him on Twitter at@PaulSteinbrueck

In our current life situation, we are planting a church in the city in which we live.

We are currently a small church, made up primarily of immigrants from foreign countries.

Approximately

• 35 adults in attendance each week
• 20 children under age of 14

Here are 5 steps we are implementing to grow that total number to 70.

This list focuses on ways to increase numbers in the small church congregation.  As a church adds to its numbers, do not forget the actual work of evangelism: sharing the gospel message with those becoming part of your community of faith.

1.  Set a growth target for your small church

While we might agree that evangelism in the small church is not about numbers, you can’t reach a goal if you don’t set one.

We have set a goal to reach a consistent attendance of 70 people within the next few months.

From our current regular attendance of 55, we need to add 15 people, a realistic number.  We don’t expect to reach an currently unrealistic goal of 200.

A year ago, we were simply 4 adults and 4 children.

2.  Increase the number personal invitations

The invitation of a friend or family member is still the most effective form of adding people to your church.

Our leadership team regularly calls people into prayer about inviting people, including strangers that we meet who express a spiritual thirst.

We regularly launch new sermon series on a life theme to give a natural invitation point for friends to be invited.

We have small groups that are open to connecting people that want to take that step.

Inviting others is being built into our DNA.

Our members pray (see number 5) regularly and are sensitive to opportunities to invite people to church.

Even last week, a complete stranger showed up who had been invited the day before during a random encounter.  The stranger had been chatting with our church member about her search for happiness and our member gave her a church invitation.  She came.

3.   Serve your church visitors and guests with honor

Your hospitality system plays a role in shaping a visitors decision to return and get involved.

Greet visitors when they come, visit with them after the service, and most of all, remove the unnecessary barriers that keep visitors from making that second visit.

Just last week, we invited a family in our neighborhood to join us for church.   They came and had such a good experience they have promised to come again this week.

Hospitality and welcome plays a role in this.

We also look for opportunities to pray with our guests before they leave.  This often opens the door for God to work and for our guests to notice that God is concerned about them as well.

4.  Be on a Mission in the community

I’m not talking about mission statements and cliche verbage, but rather the hands on work of serving in the community – be that in the schools, in the parks, in the orphanges, etc.

What is your church doing to be an agent of transformation in the community?

Churches that spend themselves on behalf of those on the margins (and sharing their faith as well as serving) have an attractional element for people who want to do something with their lives, not just attend a monologue bracketed by a few songs.

I once asked a church, “What is your church known for in the community?”

The answer: “We have a great music program.”

If I don’t play an instrument, sing well, or enjoy their style of music, there is no place form me and I won’t return.

But if a church is tutoring kids, sharing food with the hungry, building affordable housing, cleaning up the streets, mentoring work-release people – I want to be involved.

We are still doing our community exegesis about the needs of our community.  We’ve visited with three high schools and talked with their leadership.

In the meantime, our small groups set aside a time every six weeks to do a community service project.

If you’ve got a great mission in the community, you’ve got a reason for people to come back and get involved.

5.  Prayer

I’ve found from John 15 there are two keys to effective prayer in general.

1. Abide – an intimate relationship with Christ.
2. Ask – Jesus invites us to ask.

This key theological point has rattled my soul.  What can I ask for that would advance God’s kingdom?

What is something measurable can you ask for?

• That your unchurched neighbor will accept your invitation and come to your church?
• That your church would add 15 new believers this year and celebrate their baptism?
• That 4 visitors would join the church over the course of the next 8 weeks?
• That you could invite 5 people in the next 10 weeks who express a need for church?

What is something specific that you can ask the Lord for with regards to your evangelism efforts?

Prayer is key to all church growth.

Lots more to say . . .

By no means is this list exhaustive.

But these are action steps we are applying in our local context to grow our small church.

As we talked further on the phone, we kicked around a few ideas unique to their church, but developed some ideas that are useful to many churches.

So here are 6 steps to a successful “Invite a Friend Day.”

These are the steps we followed in May when we launched our morning worship service.  Read on to see what happened.

1.  Build a base of prayer.

• Encourage people to pray for this particular Sunday
• Have people write down names of potential guests on a card and pray daily.
• Ask God for opportunities to invite people.
• Read 10 ways to pray for more invitations.

2.  Build momentum.

• Make an announcement each week.
• Pastors: talk about your personal invitations to others.
• Cast vision for hospitality and welcome
• Prepare marketing materials your people can give away.
• Read Refreshing a Vision for Church Hospitality

3.  Update / Review your hospitality systems.

• Cast a fresh vision for your greeters and ushers of welcoming the church visitor.
• Give your building / meeting space a fresh review for cleanliness and presentation.
• Review your method to get visitor contact information.
• Update your visitor follow-up process to current information.
• Read Review your Church Hospitality Ministries

4.  Give people tools to invite their friends.

• Distribute invitation cards
• Distribute flyers.
• They can share with their networks like Facebook.
• Give people online tools to share with their networks.
• Update your webpage to feature the sermon series.
• (Read Business Card Outreach Idea for Church Members).

5.  Launch a sermon series that day.

• Launch a 3-4 week sermon series around a life problem.
• Use the series to show the Bible is relevant to life.
• Give opportunity for people to respond to the gospel message.
• Foreshadow the next installment to increase the possibility of a return visit.
• Lift up opportunities for people to build new friendships or give themselves away in service.

6.  Have a follow-up “meet the pastor” type event.

• Prepare a social event within a few weeks of the first Sunday.
• Invite your guests to that event.
• Showcase the mission of the church and its involvement in the neighborhood.
• Invite people to serve in the community.

Our story:

These were the steps we followed in the launch of our day in May 2010.

We had prayer going, we talked about this day for 2-3 months ahead, we had marketing materials and a relevant theme: “Starting Over.”  We had social tools to share online, and lots of invitations went forth.

We had great success in attracting people to our service.

We only expected 30 people, but had 70 actually attend that day.

However, we failed to complete these last two steps.

We had a great launch, but lost lots of momentum because we had nothing related the next Sunday we met.

The following Sunday was an unrelated sermon topic that people failed to rally around.

The invitations dropped way off, such that only 40 people came.

As we retool for the next launch this fall, those last two steps will be critical for us in continuing to build our base.

In your research, have you found that there’s one specific reason that visitors come to church?

The friendship factor.

We’ve asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came to church, and between 75 and 90 percent of respondents say, “I began attending because someone invited me.”

In an earlier study, people came to church through the following forms of contact:

• 2% by Advertisement
• 6% by the Pastoral Invitation
• 6% by organized evangelism campaign
• 86% by friends or relatives (Source:The Inviting Church)

Did you know

• One study found 37% of Christians linked their conversion to being invited to church (Johnson, p. 91, citing a 2003 study)
• Martha Grace Reese’s work showed 40% who joined first came because a friend invited.

But only 2% of church people invite an unchurched person to church? (Thom Ranier, 2003).

Can we change that, particularly as Easter approaches?

Praying to Invite Visitors.

Recently, I listened to Church Talk Radio and they had a brief 5 minute segment on praying your work in inviting people to church.  I added the last four.

1. Pray for your potential Guests (see How to Make a Prayer List of Friends)
2. Pray for the opportunity to arise to invite them to Church
3. Pray for awareness of their need (See What is Spiritual Thirst?)
4. Pray for awareness of the opportunity
5. Pray for the courage to invite them to church.
6. Pray for favor that they would accept the invitation.
7. Pray they would follow through and come.
8. Pray that your church would welcome them.
9. Pray that the message and worship would be awe-inspiring (See 2 Things Grow a Church)
10. Pray that they would hear the message and grow one step closer to God.

How to use this Prayer list for Easter.

I hope many of you are preparing your Easter events, or a new sermon series to kick off after Easter.

Use this time to re-encourage your congregation to be involved in inviting people to church and to pray for those invites to happen.

Pastor, as you prepare your sermons these last few weeks, how can you lift up the value of invitations and practice that yourself?  Who are you inviting to church?

Do you need to give them a tool to give away, like a business card that church members can give away?

Charles Arn has surveyed thousands of people: (Source: 3 Questions for Charles Arn)

In your research, have you found that there’s one specific reason that visitors come to church?

The friendship factor.

We’ve asked more than 50,000 people over the last 10 years why they came to church, and between 75 and 90 percent of respondents say, “I began attending because someone invited me.”

Those friends and relatives are critical to the growth of churches. They far outweigh factors like the facilities, music, preaching, or children’s ministry—people may stay because of these things, but they come because someone they knew invited them.

I’m glad to see that there is some recent research done in the area of getting first time visitors.

If you want to know how to get your church to invite people, it starts with personal relationships with non-church goers.

In my notes about how visitors come to church, I have these stats from 1987. It is still in print from Amazon (Source:The Inviting Church, 1987 p. 44):

• 2% by Advertisement
• 6% by the Pastoral Invitation
• 6% by organized evangelism campaign
• 86% by friends or relatives

Your personal Network

Lifeway research released in 2009 indicated that most people are still open to a invitation to a church from a friend.  See: Statistics on Invitations to Church

Who can you invite to church?

How is your personal network growing?

Do you have unchurched and non-Christian friends to invite?

Check out our series on Building New Relationships to start examining your existing network of friends to invite.

Lifeway Research and the North American Mission Board surveyed over 15,000 people (read more on this report via Lifeway Research) and they found that most people said they would be willing to receive information about church in a personal conversation with a family member, friend or neighbor.

Check out this results:

This information re-confirms much of the research that I have collected during the 1990s.  I’m glad to know that research organizations are still looking into these issues.

Key Statistical Finding

Stetzer writes:

Ultimately the research showed that relationships remain the most effective approach to those outside of the church, and that good marketing / advertising are a good support, but not enough on their own.

Considering our series on building relationships and looking at our spheres of personal influence, the data still indicates that if we want our churches to grow, we need to be inviting people to them, as well as talking about our personal faith in Christ.

Take a look at the full LifeWay story news release here and the USAToday here.

And, feel free to comment below.

Smaller churches however, may not have the programmatic resources.  Their strength has to be relational.  In turnaround churches,

“new faces and families in church enable members to believe again in a brighter future and invest again in their buildings, their witness, and their efforts to please God.”

15 Efforts to Increase First Time Visitors in the small church

The pastors were surveyed as to their intentional efforts that seemed fruitful to reach new people and increase the retention of first time church visitors.

1. Emphasis on Invite a Friend
2. Utilize advertising — phone, letters, ads, signs
3. Start new programs
4. Welcome visitors better
5. Encourage lay visitation
6. Follow up with visitors
7. Conduct pastoral visitation
8. Focus on children’s ministries
9. Deliver visitor welcome packets and baked goods
10. Offer pastoral care to the community
11. Redirect existing programs outward
12. Clarify the meaning of being a Christian
13. Pray intentionally for unreached people.
14. Provide opportunities for new people to serve
15. Plan for special evangelistic events.

The key result here is that small churches must do well at making relational contact.

What surprised me is how high advertising ran on this list — which isn’t personal at all.

How new people come to church for the first time

Now Crandall’s original study was done in the 10 years ago, when church growth scholarship was really studying the impact of such advertising.  From research done some time ago and still in print from Amazon (Source:The Inviting Church, 1987 p. 44), here is what was found:

• 2% by Advertisement
• 6% by the Pastoral Invitation
• 6% by organized evangelism campaign
• 86% by friends or relatives

I don’t know if there has been any new research to show these numbers to have changed or remain the same.

At least the statistics show that for most growth to happen, personal invitation is still the best.  I was glad to see that be #1 on the list.

Invite a friend

There are some formal campaigns that you can create to run “Friendship Sundays” or “Friends and Family day” or something like that.  The idea is pick a Sunday and build momentum for invitation, programming and the like.  That’s one approach.

A Twitter friend bought a 10 week packaged campaigned off the Internet in 2009 and laughed at it’s 1980s content, down to the poster art and the plastic lapel pins.  At least the tapes were updated to CDs, though the manual still referred to tapes.

But it doesn’t take a lot of resources to run such a campaign.  A future post may focus on this issue.

Successful evangelism in small churches

But Crandall’s research revealed that

Successful results in outreach, evangelism, and church growth in smaller churches depends on

1. Having a pastor who leads in evangelism
2. Training, planning, and goal setting for growth
3. Inviting friends and family to church
4. Designing programs to reach new people
5. Visiting all prospects
6. Enhancing the church’s image through promotion and advertising
7. Holding special evangelistic events
8. Clarifying the meaning of being Christian
9. Praying for God to touch lives
10. Using the gifts of the body for the work of the kingdom.

This list highlights for me the role of a pastor in evangelism.  Yet the challenge that I keep encountering is that many pastors have no formal seminary training (confirmed by Martha Reece’s research and Ron’s Research), nor do many pastors (at least mainline anyway) have a lot of personal experience in evangelism.

They may be able to set the goals for growth and hope other people help make it, but pastors need to lead in evangelism.

Neither one is evangelism per se (For example see, Is Neighborhood Outreach Evangelism?)

But there is a marked hesitancy to discuss your faith.

That could be for a variety of reasons, many of which have been talked about here (see Fears Category).

How then does an evangelism trainer, pastor, or ministry leader help a person move forward one step in increasing their ability to share their faith?

From Witness to Evangelist

Over 10 years ago, I saw a scale drawn up by Harold Percy, a Canadian Evangelism trainer.

Think of the scale as a level of comfort.  Level may be the wrong word

Level 1

The first level is where a person is comfortable talking about the church and inviting others to come and participate.

There is no active discussion about faith, but about joining your social group.

The church has a meaningful place in your life, your social network at church is safe, and you’d like your friends to participate and connect.

You love “Invite a Friend Sunday” and appreciate your church for offering events where you can invite your friends.

Your church doesn’t embarrass you.

Level 2

This second level is where you feel comfortable talking about your personal relationship with Christ.

You are able to describe God’s current activity in your life.  What is God doing in your life today that makes the gospel Good news?

You are able to describe your testimony, how you came to faith, and what difference that faith commitment has made.

You have moved from being comfortable talking about the church, to your personal faith.

In most of the areas I do evangelism training, sharing your personal Christian testimony is still a challenge for many people. (See Personal Testimony Questionnaire for a download to help you)

Level 3

Being able to explain the gospel simply and clearly.  You are able to articulate in a simple way the main points of the gospel.  Why did Jesus die?  What difference does it make to you?  Perhaps you have practiced and memorized a gospel script (How to Practice a Gospel Presentation). You can do this with strangers, or perhaps only with close friends that you have built a meaningful relationship with.

Level 4

You are comfortable inviting people to start following Jesus, inviting them to make a commitment.  If you are preacher, you may have great skill, or need to develop your skill in giving an invitation to follow Christ (Giving an invitation) as part of your sermons every now and then.

For the Evangelism Trainer

I have found this little tool helpful to offer to people in my seminars.  Here is how to use it:

Take a moment and place yourself on this scale.

1. Where are you most comfortable?
2. What can you do in the next 6 months to move to the next level?

Then offer a sharing time and have people set a goal for their personal growth in evangelism.

Next Step

If you want live coaching on growing in your personal evangelism or developing your personal testimony, see our 1-1 mentoring program or Quick Evangelism Coaching Call. We’ll be glad to provide some ongoing training.

Among other things, Eric reminded our group about different styles of evangelism connected with your personality.

The material came from Becoming a Contagious Christian, Bill Hybels and Mark Mittleberg.

Peter’s Confrontational Approach — Acts 2:22-41

If Peter was convinced he was right, there was almost no stopping him. He was direct, he was bold, and he was to the point.

Many of you know Peter’s in your face approach.

Instead of complying, he defied.

Instead of being quiet, he proclaimed.  He was very direct.

Eric told of a friend who would walk up to bikers outside a bar and say:

“Hey, How is it going?  Have you read your bible today?”

Paul’s Intellectual Approach — Acts 17:15-34

Paul was a thinker.  He wrote the awesome book of Romans.  He thought through how to present the gospel to Greeks, Jews, Romans, and others in a contextually appropriate way.

His treatment of the Altar to the Unknown God at Athens is a testimony to one who can present a rational case, and debate philiosophers in a way that they want to know more.

CS Lewis might be a modern day example of this.

I am not.  I have a hard time reading a CS Lewis book beyond the first chapter because it is at such lofty heights that he writes.  Yet I know people who came to faith because of a little book called “Mere Christianity.”

Blind Man’s Testimonial Approach — John 9:1-15,25

This man, born blind, could only speak from his experience.  He confidently declared: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” That’s hard to argue with, isn’t it?

Many folk can only talk about the radical change in the life that has happened since they started following Jesus.  They may not have the boldness like Peter, or the intellect to defend the rationality of faith like Paul, but what you have is a testimony of a changed life.

You may not know all that you believe, but your life has been transformed and it’s worth talking about.

Matthew’s Relational Approach — Luke 5:27-29

Instead of inviting people to church right off the bat, Matthew invited fellow tax collectors and sinners to his home.

Do you enjoy having people into your home, sharing a meal, and spending time in conversation? Many people will never be reached until someone takes the time to build that kind of closeness with them.

He was allowing himself to get close first and spend time outside of “the church.”

Samaritan Women’s Invitational Approach — John 4

When Jesus encountered this woman, and transformed her life, she ran back to town and started inviting people: Come and See.

She immediately went to her town and brought her friends to the well to hear Jesus for themselves. This simple invitation resulted in His staying in their town for two days. Many of these men and women became His followers.

Many people are excited about what God is doing in their church, and in their own life.  Instead of feeling confident about sharing their own faith story, they are eager to invite people to their church to see what God is doing and to hear others proclaiming the news.

Come and see, is a great invitation to give.

Dorcas’ Servant approach — Acts 9.

Gifts of Hospitality, the welcoming of strangers, acts of service to those in need are all viable forms of evangelism.  Its a tangible way of expressing the love of Jesus.

Closing comments

• Mark Mittleburg published a whole chapter excerpt from NavPress.
• Order Becoming a Contagious Christian, Bill Hybels and Mark Mittleberg, direct from Amazon.
• Listen to this podcast that looks at personality styles and evangelism.

Eric wrapped up his session with a reminder about how to present the gospel simply using various gospel scripts, such as the bridge illustration, the moral ladder, do vs. done.

Let me ask you this?

What style do you see yourself fitting into best?

Church prays for passion for the lost.

McCready and 14 others began praying in January 2002 that God would give them a passion for the non-Christians in their community. In the ensuing six years, nearly 260 people have made professions of faith in Christ.

One of their core values is prayer.  Evangelism and prayer go hand in hand.  Prayer is what fuels their growth, and keeps their evangelistic passion high.

Here are some other articles about Evangelism and Prayer:

• Ten Devotional Questions about Your Evangelism
• Three Verses on Prayer (in a book review article)
• Take a risk and pray.
• HEART.
• Evangelism PAINS
• Martha Reese writes about how prayer shapes the growth of a church in  Unbinding the Gospel.