RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY: unchurched families

Many churches use October 31st as an outreach event. If you're one of them, you're probably asking yourself...

"How can we get unchurched families to attend?"

"How can we reach families with this event?"

"How can we get families who come to return on Sunday?"

These are great questions and it's why you do the event. But the answers can often be hard to figure out.

Here's are some answers to these questions that will help you reach and keep families through your Fall Festival.

Get the word out in your community. Families are looking for a safe place for their kids and will come if they know about your event. Here's some ways you can spread the word.

Cast vision to the families in your church that this is a great opportunity to reach families. Encourage them to invite people to come.
Provide invite cards that they can use to invite friends, family members, co-workers, schoolmates, and neighbors.
Provide posters that people can put up at places of business.
Do a mail out to your community that advertises the event.
Use social media to promote the event and have people in your church promote it to their social media contacts.
Advertise on free local outlets such as the news, community channel advertising, etc.

Give families a great experience at the event. It is vital that families have a great experience. If they don't, they simply won't come back. If people are rude to them, if their kids don't get enough candy, or if the festival doesn't match what was advertised...it doesn't matter how much you follow up. They won't come back. The first impression truly is a lasting impression.

Collect families' basic contact information. You can't follow up without it. Here's some ways you can collect it.

Let them know up front that you are not going to show up on their door step the next week. People will be hesitant to give you their information if they think you are going to show up at their house unannounced.
Have people register for a free gift that they receive right on the spot. It might be something as simple as a full-size candy bar for their kids. With all the mini-candy bars being passed out, you'd be surprised how many people will give you their contact info. just to get a large candy bar for their child.
Have a drawing for some large prizes like a bike, family meal certificate to a local restaurant, movie tickets, etc. Ask people to register for the drawing.
Have a grand prize drawing on the following Sunday. You must be present on Sunday to win. This prize should be something significant enough that it would bring a family back on Sunday. (example - 4 tickets to Disney World or a major family attraction in your area)
Have a free photo spot with a professional photographer. Offer to email them the picture.

Have a table or booth set up with church information, brochures, etc. Staff it with friendly volunteers who can answer questions.

Provide a family show during the event. It can include music, puppets, games, and family fun. Make it a soft touch to give kids and parents a feel of what weekends are like.

Follow up after the event.

Follow up as quickly as possible. If you follow up within 48 hours, the likelihood of them returning goes up.
Send them an email thanking them for coming. Include information about weekend services or other upcoming events. Keep it short and simple. If they had their picture taken per above, you can attach it to this email. Here's a sample email.

Dear Parent,

Thank you for being our guest at the Family Fall Festival. We hope you had a great time. your church's name is a family made up of people just like you and me, who come together to encourage and support each other on this journey called life.

One of the most exciting and challenging parts of life is being a parent. At your church's name, we want to help your kids learn more about God and discover the purpose He has for their lives. We also desire to come alongside parents to provide parenting tools, resources, encouragement and support.

You can get more information about your church's name by visiting our website at your church's website or by calling phone number. We also invite you to be our guest at any of our weekend services. We're here for you and your family.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Send them a handwritten note. Include a coupon that they can redeem for a free gift the next time they attend the church. It might be a drink for the parents and a small toy or t-shirt for the kids.
Invite them to your next big event. Add them to your mailing list and invite them to your next event. Even if they don't show up for a church service the next weekend, you may see them return for another event. Keep planting seeds...God will bring the fruit.
Call them. A short...thank you for coming...if we can be of any service to you...phone call is appropriate. I would encourage you to keep it light and not come across as pushy.

Fall Festival is one of your best opportunities to reach families. I'm thinking of a family who came to our Fall Festival last year. It was their first contact with our church. They came back on the weekend, gave their lives to Christ and are now growing in their faith and serving in the ministry.

What a great opportunity you have this year. Whether you're hosting a Fall Festival on your church property, participating in a community event off-site, or being a witness in your neighborhood, I'm praying with you for many families to come to Christ.

Vacation Bible School has been a staple in children's ministry for decades.

It has been used by God to reach and disciple millions of kids over the years. While it has been in decline in recent years (you can read the stats here), 68% of churches hosted VBS last year.

While our church does not have VBS, I know many churches that still host it with great success.

Should you have VBS? That's a question that only you and your team can answer. But what we can say is this - like any other program, event or ministry, we should regularly be evaluating whether it's the best use of our time and resources.

Here's 10 reasons to continue doing VBS and 10 reasons to cease it. I would encourage you to work through these with your team and see where it takes you.

It may cause you to amp up your VBS and pour even more into it or it may cause you to make some changes. Remember...the end goal is to make sure what you are doing is effective.

10 Reasons Why You SHOULD Have VBS

It's reaching unchurched kids.
It's reaching unchurched parents. 6 months after it's over, you can point to families in your church who were reached through it.
You see kids grow spiritually because of it.
It is well attended.
Volunteers enthusiastically support it and give their time to it.
It makes your weekly kids programming stronger.
The entire church supports it and gets behind it.
The resources are available to do it with excellence.
Kids get excited about it.
You are seeing teenagers who went through it when they were kids coming back to serve in it.

10 Reasons Why You SHOULDN'T Have VBS

The guests are predominately kids from other churches.
You aren't seeing kids come to Christ.
It's not helping you reach unchurched families. You can't point to families in your church who've been reached through it.
Declining participation.
It's very difficult to get people to volunteer for it. The people who are volunteering have been doing so for years and are burned out.
The church as a whole doesn't see it as a priority and provides very little support or resources.
It is such a drain on your ministry that it causes you to limp into the Fall ministry season.
Kids are being made to come instead of being excited about coming.
There is another ministry you could put the time, energy and resources into that would produce more fruit.
You are having it because it's what you've always done and not because it's effective.

The floor is yours. Do you have VBS? Why or why not? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.