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MAKE
A PLAN
door hangers are easy!
A
welcoming faith community can be the answer to the prayers
of individuals and families around your church,
and a door hanger campaign can be a simple plan.
September
Open House Month is perfect time to reach out to those
new in your neighborhood. This "Share Your Gifts"
message is a good opportunity to share your ministries
with your community. With the twine design, say "Come
visit us - no strings attached."
This
new
door hanger design is one of 25 designs available
free to your church. All designs are also customizable
for your local information. Prefer direct mail or newspaper?
You can browse all kinds of media, in a variety of sizes,
on MediaWarehouse
and begin using these free downloads immediately. Need
a UMC-friendly printer?
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VIEW
GIFT TV SPOT
national seeker message
Starting
the week of Sep. 1, the "Gift" Open Hearts
message will begin airing, that invites viewers to embrace
our Wesleyan tradition of giving themselves to others.
It offers The United Methodist Church as a faith community
of people with similar interests.
Now
that you know what your community will be seeing on
TV, want
matching worship and bulletin?
Explore
the Biblical
foundation of Gift, new
worship graphics, or visit IgnitingMinistry.org
to learn about all the themed expressions, such as "Good
Works," available free to your church.
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GET
READY
easy tips & worksheets
Want
to go from good to great on your welcoming? "Basic
Welcoming" helps you do just that -- and is
one of four parts of the updated Igniting Ministry Welcoming
and Media Planner.
"Basic
Welcoming" gives your team tools to help assess
where your welcoming efforts are today, and where you
may want to make changes, based on helpful exercises
like this Walk-through (6C.15) by September.
"Comfort
Checklist (6C.13)" looks at welcoming through visitor's
eyes. #9: do you offer an information table? And there
are 14 other questions to help you prepare.
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GET
VISIBLE
welcome in 9 languages
During April the streets around the Ft. Worth Convention
Center were aflutter with a colorful welcome message
from the people of The United Methodist Church --
saying welcome in Swahili, Chinese, Russian, German,
Spanish, French, Portugese, Korean and English.
These
banner
designs are now available, for your church,
as customizable free downloads from MediaWarehouse.
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WELCOMING
ONLINE
your
"other" front door
While
you are polishing your welcome for Open House guests,
don't forget your online visitors and their welcome.
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Allocate space on your home page to welcoming guests.
Don't hide all your welcome under a link.
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People will linger more when they see pictures of other
people. Remember, church is not a building. [Stay safe,
though. Do not display identifiable pictures of family
members under 13.]
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Seekers are first looking for "people like me,"
so the more often you can share another newcomer's story,
or connect visitors with other newcomers, the better.
"Weaving
a Web of Connections" offers online or on-site
Web Ministry training. Topics
include:
•User-Centered Design
•Welcoming the Seeker through Web Ministry
•Maintaining a Fresh and Dynamic Web Ministry
>more
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WRAPPING
UP THIS QUAD
Like
sand through the hour glass ... this quad has flown
by with these milestones for Igniting Ministry:
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Advertising increases denominational awareness from
14% in 2001 to 30% in 2007;
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Persons exposed to UMC advertising are significantly
more likely to be willing to attend a UM church;
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The report of independent researcher, Barna, concludes:
"Television is essentially a non-negotiable for
effectively reaching spiritual seekers."
"Open
hearts. Open minds. Open doors. The people of The United
Methodist Church®
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WELCOMING
CERTIFIED
and still going strong
Welcoming
certification celebrates many things your church may
be already doing, and offers new tips and ideas. Nimmonsburg
UMC has embraced this program for more than a quad
now.
Where
to start. Visit another church armed with a Mystery
Guest Audit. Walk in a seeker's shoes and you'll
discover ways you can offer a welcoming lifestyle.
more
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WHAT
SEEKERS TELL US
"This
spot ("Love Letters") melted right through
all that bitterness and turned my life on a dime. And
then the spot was punctuated by, “if you’re
searching for new direction in life, our hearts, our
minds and our doors are always open. The people of the
United Methodist Church”. From that moment on I
began to aggressively seek out membership in my local
United Methodist Church."
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