by Fiona Dunn
I loved going home to the UK this Christmas – the church I grew up in is known for its amazing music – and this Advent season it didn’t disappoint. The choir at St Alphege was spectacular and their Christmas Services are full of visitors. My church here in Australia has fantastic Christmas activities but I wonder how many of our visitors come back in the New Year?
What about your church? Have you got a plan to reconnect with these new or lost people?
What would it take to connect with these awesome people – that have an interest in Christianity – but aren’t part of a regular faith community?
Many of you may have anticipated this issue – compounded by Australian summer holidays – and provided newcomers with an information pack about what you do and how you can meet their needs. You may have chatted to them after the service or activity and personally invited them to come again. You may have even managed to grab their contact information (Woo Hoo!!).
So now is the time to follow up….. and for those of you who grabbed some contact information a great way to get to know someone is over a cup of coffee (yes, I do live in Melbourne and a cold drink may be more relevant for you or even a bubble tea depending on the culture of the area you are in). This “get to know you” cuppa is a great start to start showing God’s love and care to someone. The purpose of the meeting is to connect with them and find out more about them, their life, circumstances and where they are on their spiritual journey and what their needs are. The fact that they are willing to meet with you indicates that they are at least curious.
Some great questions to ask are:
- Tell me a bit about yourself?
- What made you come to our church ?
- Did the message make sense to you? (if they came to a Christmas service)
- How do you think our church can help you? (let them identify their next steps first, this helps them own it)
It might be good to have some resources to have with you such as your churches worship times and activities that you have such as playgroups, English classes, and Alpha. They may be ready to come to church and it is always nice to have someone that you know there for the first few times you go who can introduce you to other and help them feel part of the community. Sometimes someone isn’t quite ready to join corporate worship and an offer to read the bible with them over a cuppa using a Discovery Bible Method to discover the basics together using a tool like in MyFriends.network can be great way to help someone along their spiritual journey.
But what if you didn’t collect peoples contact details? Ask your congregation who they asked to come to celebrate Christmas at church. Did any of them recognise any of the visitors … Ask your church members to arrange for a cuppa to connect with their friends, family or neighbours and show God’s love to them through prayer and caring from them – meeting them where they are at on their spiritual journey and supporting their needs – intentionally living like Jesus.
MyFriends helps everyday Christians connect intentionally with their friends and give them the tools, skills and confidence to have spiritual conversations with their social networks. Contact Fiona.Dunn@Powertochange.org.au to learn how to run MyFriends at your church or join us over zoom in Term 1 for an online MyFriends course to find out what its all about.