Christmas is one of the biggest opportunities of the year to welcome people into your church. But are you making the most of the connections you've built throughout the year?
For many people, Christmas is the one time of year when they attend a church service. Whether it's a traditional carol service, a Christingle celebration, a family nativity or a Christmas Eve service, churches often welcome people who wouldn't normally attend on a Sunday.
But what about all those people who have already connected with your church during the past 12 months?
Perhaps they've attended an Alpha course, brought their children to a parent and toddler group, joined a community event or visited a Sunday service for the first time.
These are people who already have a connection with your church, and Christmas provides a wonderful opportunity to invite them back.
With iKnow Church, you can use Finder, Circles and the Communication Suite to help you reconnect with these people and personally invite them to your Christmas services.
Think About Everyone You've Connected With This Year
Throughout the year, churches connect with far more people than just those attending Sunday services.
Think about the different activities your church has organised:
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Alpha courses - People who have spent time exploring the Christian faith and may welcome an invitation to a Christmas service.
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Parent and toddler groups - Families who regularly attend midweek activities but may never have attended a Sunday service.
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Community events and talks - People who have enjoyed events organised by your church throughout the year.
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First-time visitors - Those who attended a service once or twice but haven't yet become regular members.
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Children's and youth activities - Families who have connected with your church through holiday clubs, children's groups or other activities.
Each of these connections represents an opportunity to extend a warm invitation this Christmas.
The challenge is identifying these people and communicating with them easily.
That's where iKnow Church can help.
Using Circles to Contact Specific Groups
If you've been using Circles within iKnow Church, you may already have groups of people organised around their connections with your church.
For example, you might have a Circle for your parent and toddler group, Alpha participants or those who attend a particular midweek activity.
Rather than having to manually find everyone who has attended, you can simply select the relevant Circle from within the People module and send an email using the Communication Suite.
This makes it easy to send a Christmas invitation that's relevant to that particular group.
For example, families attending your toddler group might appreciate an invitation to a Christingle or family nativity service, whilst those who attended Alpha might welcome an invitation to a traditional carol service.
A personal and relevant invitation is often much more meaningful than a general announcement.
Using Journey Items and Finder to Identify People
You may instead have been recording people's involvement through Journey Items.
Journey Items allow you to build up a picture of someone's connection with your church over time.
For example, you might have recorded when someone:
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First visited your church.
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Attended an Alpha course.
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Participated in a community event.
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Attended a particular church activity.
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Took another step in their journey with your church.
Using Finder within iKnow Church, you can identify people based on the information you've recorded about them, including their Journey Items.
This means you can find people who attended a particular event or activity during the year and use that information to help plan your Christmas invitations.
For example, you could find people who attended Alpha earlier in the year and invite them to a Christmas service where they can continue exploring the Christian faith.
Or you might identify people who first visited your church during the past 12 months and send them a friendly invitation to return.
The information you've been recording throughout the year becomes particularly valuable at Christmas.
Using Finder
If you want to send an email to a combination of people (ie in the Parents and Toddlers Circle, Journey Item Alpha, Journey Item First Visited) then you can combine these into a finder query and then just send or schedule an email to all these people.
For help on creating a finder query visit our support page.
Sending Your Christmas Invitations with the Communication Suite
Once you've identified the people you'd like to invite, iKnow's Communication Suite makes it straightforward to send your Christmas emails.
You can create an email containing details of your Christmas services, including dates, times and information about what visitors can expect.
You might also include a personal message from your minister or church leader, letting people know how much you'd love to welcome them.
For example:
"We've really enjoyed welcoming you to our church activities this year, and we'd love to invite you and your family to join us for one of our Christmas services. Whether you've been to church recently or haven't attended a service for a while, you'd be very welcome as we celebrate Christmas together."
You could even tailor different invitations for different groups, making each message more personal.
What About GDPR and Communication Preferences?
Whenever you're contacting people, it's important to respect their communication preferences and your organisation's data protection responsibilities.
The good news is that iKnow Church helps you manage this.
The Communication Suite takes account of the communication permissions recorded against each person, so emails are only sent to those marked as having agreed to receive them.
This means you can use Finder and Circles to identify the people you'd like to contact, whilst iKnow checks their recorded communication preferences when sending emails.
By keeping your records and communication preferences up to date throughout the year, you can make your Christmas communications both easier and more effective.
Make Your Christmas Invitations Personal
Whilst it's easy to send an email to hundreds of people, remember that the most effective invitations often feel personal.
Someone who attended Alpha may appreciate a message referring to the course. A family attending your toddler group might be particularly interested in your family-friendly Christmas services.
Think about the people you're contacting and what would make them feel genuinely welcome.
You don't necessarily need to send the same invitation to everyone.
Using the information already held in iKnow, you can make your communications more relevant to the different people who have connected with your church.
Start Planning Your Christmas Invitations Now
As Christmas approaches, now is a great time to review the connections your church has made throughout the year.
Open iKnow Church and take a look at your Circles, Journey Items and Finder.
You might be surprised by just how many people have had some connection with your church during the past 12 months.
Rather than relying entirely on social media, posters or your regular congregation to spread the word, why not extend a direct invitation to those who have already spent time with your church?
Christmas is a special time of year, and for many people it provides a unique opportunity to step inside a church and hear the real meaning of Christmas.
A simple invitation could be the encouragement someone needs to come along, reconnect with your church and discover more about the Christian faith.
Make the Most of iKnow Church This Christmas
iKnow Church helps you build relationships with the people who connect with your church, not just on Sundays but throughout the whole week.
With People, Circles, Journey Items, Finder and the Communication Suite, you have the tools to identify those connections and invite people to take their next step.
This Christmas, make the most of the relationships you've built throughout the year.