We keep our Network calendar small so that you have time and energy to host events of your own for your campus. This is an area where you have the creative license to design an event that will work for the kids and families in your community because nobody knows them better than you!
There are three types of events that you should host at your campus on a regular basis:
Invite: Give people a reason to check out Sandals Church.
Invest: Give them a reason to come back.
Serve: Give them an opportunity to get involved.
Invite
Invite events give the people in your church an excuse to invite their friends and family to church. The only goal here is to give kids and families something fun and memorable to do together. It's a lot easier for someone to say "yes" to a fun event in the community than to visiting a church on Sunday morning. This is a great way for people to check out our church and see that Christians aren't crazy people ー well, not all of us. 😉
Ideal Time:January/February and August/September
More new families visit our church during these months than any other time of the year. Not only that, families that visit during these months are more likely to come back (Return Rates spike for these months). What we've learned is that the beginning of the year and beginning of the school year are times when families are more open to adjusting their rhythm, in this case making church a part of their family life.
Examples: water day, movie night, picnic in the park
Invest
There's a reason that we do more than just Invite events. We think it's important to give new families a reason to come back. How can we add value to a kid or a parent that makes them curious/interested enough to join us on a Sunday? For starters, it doesn't always have to be an "event". You could plan a "comeback weekend" for kids with a fun theme, special prizes, the works! This could be the next step that you communicate to families when they attend your Invite event.
Ideal Time: March/April and September/October
Examples: parenting class, themed weekend, midweek program
Serve
Ultimately, we want to get people involved in the mission of our church because it's a great way to grow in their faith and get connected to a community. It's also important for kids to learn the value of serving others at a young age, especially when their parents model it for them!
Ideal Time: May/June and November/December
Examples: mom/dad in volunteer role, child plugged into Kids Serving Team, family serving event (such as assembling care packages for the community)
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