How Does Your Parish Evangelize?

[Sean611]

I'm curious, especially for those who are in growing parishes, how does your church evangelize? Do you advertise? Do you record your services for youtube? Do you have newcomers welcoming packets? Do you just wait for new to show up at a service? Do you have people specified who handle the welcoming of guests? Do you work public events? Do you work at charity drives or make yourselves visible to the public in other ways? Do you ever reach out to members of other denominations? Anything else that I didn't mention?

In particuliar, I'm looking for what works in TEC parishes, but all Anglicans are certainly welcome to comment. In general, it seems that we don't do evangelism very well.

 

[MKJ]

I'm curious, especially for those who are in growing parishes, how does your church evangelize? Do you advertise? Do you record your services for youtube? Do you have newcomers welcoming packets? Do you just wait for new to show up at a service? Do you have people specified who handle the welcoming of guests? Do you work public events? Do you work at charity drives or make yourselves visible to the public in other ways? Do you ever reach out to members of other denominations? Anything else that I didn't mention?

In particuliar, I'm looking for what works in TEC parishes, but all Anglicans are certainly welcome to comment. In general, it seems that we don't do evangelism very well.

Well, we have seen a fair bit of growth in our parish over the last 10 years or so. In the last three, there has been significant growth among young families.

I would not say that we really go out looking to bring people in. We do a little advertising at Christmas, and we do post service schedules at the local universities (5 in the city). We get a definite group of new people every year that way. Some just come along, but we also have a number of faculty who attend and I think some students come through them as well.

I would say that we probably have most people come to our parish due to some specific connection with some activity of the parish. We are one of the only parishes that have the daily offices done publicly and a mid-week Eucharist, so some come for that. I think that is particularly true of some of the people who live close by.

We have quite a few who come due to an interest in or connection with our community programs like soup kitchen or youth work or community university in the neighbourhood.

We have quite a few who come due to a connection with the music program. We do also regularly have concerts, and that brings some people who come for concerts and end up coming for a Sunday service.

There is also a contingent who come because we use only the BCP, and in fact it is hard to find a BCP main service in our city.

We do not have anyone specifically tasked to talk to newcomers, though the rector always makes a point of speaking to them. And we do not pass out packages or anything like that. There may, I think, be cards available in pews or the back of the church for people to fill out if they want to be contacted.

 

[Sean611]

Well, we have seen a fair bit of growth in our parish over the last 10 years or so. In the last three, there has been significant growth among young families.

I would not say that we really go out looking to bring people in. We do a little advertising at Christmas, and we do post service schedules at the local universities (5 in the city). We get a definite group of new people every year that way. Some just come along, but we also have a number of faculty who attend and I think some students come through them as well.

I would say that we probably have most people come to our parish due to some specific connection with some activity of the parish. We are one of the only parishes that have the daily offices done publicly and a mid-week Eucharist, so some come for that. I think that is particularly true of some of the people who live close by.

We have quite a few who come due to an interest in or connection with our community programs like soup kitchen or youth work or community university in the neighbourhood.

We have quite a few who come due to a connection with the music program. We do also regularly have concerts, and that brings some people who come for concerts and end up coming for a Sunday service.

There is also a contingent who come because we use only the BCP, and in fact it is hard to find a BCP main service in our city.

We do not have anyone specifically tasked to talk to newcomers, though the rector always makes a point of speaking to them. And we do not pass out packages or anything like that. There may, I think, be cards available in pews or the back of the church for people to fill out if they want to be contacted.

Thanks for the response! It sounds like your parish being involved in the community and doing some things differently than the other parishes helps you guys stick out in the community. Also, great to hear your parish does the daily office!

To give a little background on my parish, we are a small parish church of about 80 members with an average Sunday attendance of about 35. We are in a small community that is slightly under 10,000. The community is dominated by Southern Baptists, pentecostals, non-demon, and a large Catholic parish. Many people go to the church that their parents went to or belong to. Basically, it is harder than heck to evangelize in my community!

We take part in providing meals for a homeless shelter and the homebound. We also take part in food drives and charity drives that come up throughout the year. We have a website, youtube videos of services, facebook, and a twitter page that are all updated very regularly. We generally only advertise around Christmas. The priest and parishioners greet newcomers and we have a TEC welcome packet for those that want them. We hold two pretty large charity dinners/contests a year. We offer two Sunday services, have a nursery, have Sunday school for children, and have fellowship coffee and donuts/cookies/sweets after every service. We have three bible studies going, one for men, one for women, and one general study for men and women. The women have the groups Episcopal Church Women and Daughters of the King available to them. We are looking to start a Brotherhood of St. Andrew chapter for men. There is also an active youth group. Basically, we are one of the most active little parishes you will ever come across with some really great people doing great things.

All of this said, we are really struggling to bring in new people. In fact, if we were to lose one or two of the big and active families we have, it would mean real trouble for us. I'm just trying to get some ideas of what we might try or what we might do differently and what works and doesn't work.

 

[MKJ]

Yes, I think that you are correct about community involvement etc.

I think at base the success of our parish is based around a few basic principles or decisions that were made some time ago. Probably the most basic was that it was fundamentally important to really concentrate on and do well the daily prayer life of the parish and the Eucharistic liturgy and sacraments. The rest of the life and growth of the parish would come out of those things.

So they made a commitment to have the morning and evening prayer daily, and do do a really good job on the liturgy and engage with it thoughtfully and in a really Anglican way. (It is an Anglo-Catholic parish I guess, but that was really not in itself what was meant by that, it could have equally applied to a low-church approach to liturgy.)

Out of that came both the response to the local community, and ultimately the music program as an expression of the liturgical tradition, and also study groups and fellowship and stewardship within the parish.

Its the prayer, liturgical, and sacramental life of the parish that supports and directs the rest.

 

[Gnarwhal]

FWIW, I think the "come and see" approach of the EO, RC and some Anglican Churches ends up being more effective than a plethora of ministries. That's not to say that ministries are pointless, but I think the church benefits greater from narrowing its focus to perhaps just a couple of key ministries so that their focus can still be on the services themselves as well.

As someone who had been a part of a heavily missions-oriented church (C&MA) for over 20 years, I see how they tend to devote most of their energy on being "marketable". Either through progressive and contemporary worship or community "ministry" efforts, it all tends to end up being a pitch to sell the church to people. I like that most Apostolic churches like the EO, RC and Anglicans have an understanding that's somewhere along the lines of "this is the way it's done and has been done for thousands of years because this is what Christ taught the Apostles, so there's nothing to sell. Either you accept it or you don't."

 

[ebia]

FWIW, I think the "come and see" approach of the EO, RC and some Anglican Churches ends up being more effective than a plethora of ministries. That's not to say that ministries are pointless, but I think the church benefits greater from narrowing its focus to perhaps just a couple of key ministries so that their focus can still be on the services themselves as well.

As someone who had been a part of a heavily missions-oriented church (C&MA) for over 20 years, I see how they tend to devote most of their energy on being "marketable". Either through progressive and contemporary worship or community "ministry" efforts, it all tends to end up being a pitch to sell the church to people. I like that most Apostolic churches like the EO, RC and Anglicans have an understanding that's somewhere along the lines of "this is the way it's done and has been done for thousands of years because this is what Christ taught the Apostles, so there's nothing to sell. Either you accept it or you don't."

On the whole Anglican and Catholic Churches are not growing in the west, so an attitude of "come and see" isn't sufficient. On the other hand, Robert Warren's seventh mark of a healthy church does apply - "do a few things, and do them well".

 

[MKJ]

On the whole Anglican and Catholic Churches are not growing in the west, so an attitude of "come and see" isn't sufficient. On the other hand, Robert Warren's seventh mark of a healthy church does apply - "do a few things, and do them well".

Well, i do not actually think most Catholic and Anglican parishes are using a come and see approach. So i am not sure the numbers are indicative of much on that score.

 

[ebia]

Well, i do not actually think most Catholic and Anglican parishes are using a come and see approach. So i am not sure the numbers are indicative of much on that score.

I guess that depends on what one means by the phrase

 

[MKJ]

I guess that depends on what one means by the phrase

I was thinking of it in terms of what Cogent had said. There seem to be all kinds of efforts in Anglican and Catholic parishes to make the music, liturgy, et al as accessible as possible, in order to appeal to people.

Messy church, LifeTeen masses, Fresh Expressions, cheezy songs.....

 

[Cjwinnit]

"I really can't consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn't trying to convert me."

Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity - Larry Alex Taunton - The Atlantic

 

[PaladinValer]

Facebook, YouTube, Rummage Sales, our annual Golf Tournament for charity, turkey & food giveaway, gift bags, website, newspaper, Elementary School mentoring (indirectly here, of course), cooperative Wednesday services during Lent & Good Friday, brochures, Sunday School advertising...

...probably forgetting a few things.