Many people who attend church are not integrated into church life, as such they missing out on a rewarding fellowship experience with God’s people.
Reasons for people not being integrated and involved will be different for each individual, this may be through personal choice but with so much falling onto the shoulders of leaders, it can often be that members are just not being included in the daily life of the church.
The following suggestions will help spur further ideas of getting members involved into your church:
1. Stay engaged with your members
The most common reason for members not engaging is that the church is simply not including them. Regular communication with the church outside of Sunday is a great way to keep members informed throughout the week; in the busyness of life, an email from the leaders can help ground people in the reality in which the Christian life is lived.
Whilst iKnow’s communication suite is a great way to do this on an ad-hoc basis, if you would like communications to go out on a more regular basis, consider using email newsletter software, MailChimp is a free resource that integrates with iKnow so that you can send out regular email newsletters.
You could even send out a ‘message from the minister’ (pastor or leader) midweek to reflect on Sunday’s message and highlight what will be covered the coming Sunday, this will remind members of what God spoke to them about and also provide anticipation and hope for the week ahead.
2. Keep relevant data
It seems that every shop you go to is asking for information, and there is good reasoning for this, shops want to know who their target market is so that they can provide the right products. As a church we have something far greater than perishable goods to talk about and so by collecting the right information from our members, we can then use that in ways that will benefit them in a more tailored way.
iKnow has powerful search functions to help you find specific groups of people in your church, so the next time that you are planning your baptism course, you can find all the people who have been regularly attending your church, are members of a small group and serving in a team, but are not yet baptised. Creating really specific searches makes sure that members are being pastorally cared for in an effective way.
3. Create a mobile app
It seems like everyone has an app today, we all use apps for various daily activities, so why should church be any different? Whilst sending out regular communications is a good way to keep members in touch, an app provides members and visitors with instant connection to the church. Apps can really help with integrating people into church life as they can easily view rota’s, small groups and listen to sermons on the go, which in this modern world can be essential to maintaining a consistent spiritual life.
4. Keep it light
Whilst the message of the Gospel should never be watered down, the benefits of joy and laughter can often be overlooked in the Christian life, being replaced by striving to perfection. Consider sharing something light hearted with the church too and keeping communications regular but succinct. People are far more likely to open your emails if they know it isn’t going to be a long list of things that they ‘must do’ this week. An inspiring article, a picture or a video can help to break the ice.
iKnow Church Software is free to try for 30 days, you can trial it by clicking here and if you require any assistance, our team are on hand to help. You can call us on 0121 651 1125, or email hello@iknowchurch.co.uk