A big question ministry leaders ask during the Christmas season is: “What is our plan for Christmas outreach?”

The following are a 5 tips from David Dargue, minister of Christ Church Gosforth.

Talk to regular attendees

As a staff team, you’ve had ideas about what you might do. We each hope and expect to be personally engaged with people who are looking into the claims of Christ. But since we’re only a small part of our church, we’ve talked to our regular attendees to find out what they think will be effective.

Make a plan and execute that plan

This year we chose to lead a Life Explored course because it’s a good fit for people in our area. We’ve also designated a specific time and place for our meetings and reduced our list of scheduled activities. This ensures the course doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Incorporate volunteers

We need to move from ‘my plan’, to ‘our plan.’ We’ll have a Sunday announcement about the course so that regulars know what it is. We’ll  also recruit and cast vision to the church community, so that it becomes their plan too, and not just mine. We want to make it clear that Life Explored is something we’re doing together!

 Be enthusiastic!

Make sure that all people know about your Christmas outreach plans, and that  they are communicated with excitement and anticipation. It’s a great time of year to share the best story ever told.

Remember your guests

As a church, hopefully you’ll have guests at your services. So how do you follow up with them? While you might be able to meet some visitors during services, you won’t be able to speak with everyone. Find a way to take note of who the guests were and who they came with, and you’ll be in a better position to get in touch afterwards.

(Content from this post originally appeared on the Christianity Explored Ministries blog on December 7, 2017)