Tips on Attracting New Members and Promoting Sunday School

a brief article from Neil MacQueen

I've often been asked for tips on promoting attendance. Occasionally I'm even asked about attracting new members.

Helen, a fellow Presbyterian in Viriginia, wrote asking me these same questions, and more specifically about "marketing Rotation-style Sunday School." Here is the response I gave her plus some additional thoughts on the subject. Hope it adds fuel to your thoughts.

Hi Helen...

You've asked very important questions which the churches I've been in have also asked. I think the answers about "marketing Rotation" have to been addressed in a larger context of what is your church doing -or not doing, to attract and inform its members and potential new members.

There are many books about "outreach" and "what works." There has also been a fair amount of research over the years.
I would encourage you to get your hands on several from Presbyterian Publishing and Cokesbury. Each will have ideas for you.

Here's what I believe about attracting members:

1. What people on the OUTSIDE want in a church is often different from what those on the INSIDE want. Example: visitors are often looking for a more dynamic worship experience. They are looking for folks to come up to them and strike up conversation. They want to join something in motion. Whereas many long time members tend to value consistency and regular but low-demand commitment. Who is visiting your church and what do they say they are looking for?

2. Most people want a place that makes them feel at home, comfortable, welcome. Look at your facility, walk around your building, what is it telling folks? That is the first "sense of who you are" that they receive. Buildings are incarnations of how we feel about ourselves and our message. Most churches are of ridiculously poor design. Many aren't clean. Many don't have worship hours on display. They pick beige paint and dull tile as their decor. The Spartan "look" is for the Spartans.

3. What is it like being new to your church? Go ask some new people. Go ask people who joined in the last year or so. Ask them for the dirt.
Ask them what grabbed their attention, and what turned them off. There might be something you never thought of that is bugging people, such as, no juice for their kids after worship. That really bugged me in a church I attended. They had water for the kids and coffee for the adults.

4. Worship is the primary experience. It is the primary welcome mat. What does your service say? Does it appeal to only those who understand it's old fashioned form and language? Are your volunteer worship leaders less than good? Is you pastor's demeanor unfriendly and cold, (or equally worse: plastic and forced). Is your music out of date? Even 50 year olds were raised with a rock n roll beat. Churches need to bring in a variety of styles. They need to bring in some quality worship talent on occasion. They need to diversify their music styles. Few things touch the soul like music. Thus, it must be done well.

5. How good is your preacher? What are the sermons like? "How good the preacher is" -is the #1 indicator of whether people will come back. If your preacher is mediocre, you need to seriously look at other areas of worship to improve -and overcome lackluster preaching. "Average" preachers need to keep their messages to 15 minutes. But it seems the more average they are, the more they drone on. Most preachers I've met who claim that preaching isn't about being interesting would give their eye teeth to be a dynamic preacher.

6. Evangelism will only thrive in an environment when these aforementioned items are addressed.

The research says that a plan to welcome new folks to join you in worship is not a one shot deal, it is a constant message, a banging drum. It is a message aimed at your own members. Many growing churches report that their members are their own best recruiters. As a member, the most logical folks to invite are your neighbors who don't have a strong affiliation. I once read a statistic (wish I could remember where) that said "the workplace" is where many adults often talk about their church and faith. It's also a logical place to invite people to your congregation.

Abandon the idea that yours is a "neighborhood church." In most cases that's not how memberships are built. People will drive 20 minutes past ten churches to get to the one the fits them.

Hey Norm.. "People want to go where everybody knows you name." After a second visit to the church we now attend, I was impressed how many people remembered me. Nametags are a great idea --not for visitors (they tend not to like them) ...but for everyone else!

KIDS can do a lot of inviting of their friends to Sunday School. When my daughters have sleepovers, we bring their friend to church --it's part of the deal. And make sure every visiting kid goes home with something special --a goodie bag that has a quality brochure about the church and Rotation, some candy, and some trinket of appreciation --and a little Bible booklet for young children. Put stuff in kids hands that say "here we are" and "we're glad your kid came." In my house we are always in need of rulers, notepads, pens, pencils and one more good refrigerator magnet. All these items can be printed with information about your church at a minimal cost.

The "answer" is really "answerS" ...it's not one thing, it's many, consistently worked on over a long period of time.

A big part of the answer is also "will we keep them once they join." But that's another email...

Makes no sense to waste your time recruiting if you're driving people to the back door.

Others Promotional Ideas --Some of which are very specific to "marketing Rotation" ...

--Get your local newspaper reporter to write about your Rotation program. Supply them with background material and quotes from parents and kids. (It's a fact, most reporters are always looking for new stories).

--Create a small color brochure explaining rotation, mail it to your members, then make it available to your visitors. Put it in MORE than one place around the church. Keep it brief. Rotation is a simple set of concepts.

--Write about Sunday School in every church newsletter --not just what's coming up, but what has past --how it went, and what the kids and teachers said about it. Put pictures of class happenings in your newsletter. At every opportunity, remind people of WHY you are doing things a certain way, not just the fact that you're "being creative." Most church newsletters are poorly written. They tell the "what" ...not the "why." And yet the "why" is what's on people's mind when they think about their church. WHY should I do/go/give more. Wish it weren't that way, but it is.

--Once a year, put your adult classes through a Rotation. Most of them will enjoy the break, and enjoy being like a kid again.

--Have a semi-annual neighborhood blitz. Walk the neighborhood around the church twice a year handing out pamphlets and PENS that have your church's worship and Sunday School hours printed on them. If you have a good neighborhood around your building, do things that impact that neighborhood. Clean up trash, look in on shut-ins, put on a free kids carnival.

--If you have the grounds and weather, get your program outside as much as possible. Hold classes on the lawn, have special coffees outside. Let the community SEE and HEAR who you are. Most people want to be part of something special. We had two older boys join our Sunday School because they saw us running around outside one day and wondered what all the fun was.

--What do businesses do to improves sales?

1. They provide something people recognize the need for.
    (some churches provide things people stay away from)
2. Inviting appearance. Gets you to take a good look. Doesn't turn them away.
2. Intriguing, constant and noticeable advertising
3. Quality Customer Service - Customers feel the 'company' cares about them as individuals.
4. Feedback and Follow-up   Rather than guessing, they ask people what worked and what didn't.

Some might wince at the suggestion that we need to consider how to "sell" church. But get over it. Every sermon I've ever heard was trying to convince me of something. Every lesson is an attempt to sell the student on a belief or value they should "buy" from the teacher. Ever since we stopped preaching hell, fire and brimstone, mainline churches have lost members because we lost the ultimate motivational tool -do this or go you might end up in hell. In the mainline church, we are focused on the "what" of our faith and programs and not enough on the "why" ...as in WHY they should do/believe/give/attend. To test the WHY emphasis in your church, read the next church newsletter. See if it is full of "what" and lacking in motivational "why" emphasis. The only time we get around to "why" is stewardship time. Then, it's too late.

I've convinced we have lost generations of youth because we didn't address the "why." Imagine if just half of all confirmands stayed active as teens and beyond. We'd be building more churches. "Why" involves explaining, but it also involves personal challenge --asking people to step up to the commitment of faith and membership.

--Last but not least, I am developing an understanding of "who" Sunday School kids are that might help you understand your "marketing." This understanding is quite different than the understanding I was raised with. I was raised to think Sunday School was for everyone. It was like some grand public education. But when everyone did not attend, I wondered, "what's wrong with them, don't they know this is for everyone?" Well, maybe it isn't. Maybe Sunday School is discipleship training and not a place every one should or has the gifts to plug in to. Maybe it is for the few -so that they might go out to the many.

I'm wondering out loud what would happen if we elevated the status of those who did attend by calling it Discipleship Training. Such students that are engaged in this elevated understanding would also be recognized as different by the congregation. I don't think this is about changing the name, or throwing in the towel on marketing. There are Bible verses and stories all over to support this concept of conferring special status and training on "the 70" or "the twelve." I can ALSO see the "psychology of elevation" that people would respond to --because it is a strong answer to the WHY question, -why am I coming/studying/doing/giving. (I have not fully developed this set of ideas --but my instincts tell me that there is something powerful here. Some time ago I asked a group at this website to help me differentiate Sunday School from other children's ministries and experiences in the church. What makes Sunday School different? special? What is its unique role and status? I continue to mull this over.)

Hope this helps.

<>< Neil MacQueen

Copyright 2002, Neil MacQueen. You're welcome to copy this article. It's not meant to be an all encompassing thesis, just helpful.

If you have really good suggestions that have worked for you, email me at neil@sundaysoftware.com

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