26 Jul Fall Planning for Churches: Get Started Today!

Fall is always an exciting time for church communities. Once Labor Day rolls around, local schools are generally back in session and families are ready to get reinvolved in church activities. And adults without children also tend to see fall as a good time to recommit to the values they hold near and dear. Attendance and spirits are high.

With a little planning now, in the summer, you can help ensure a successful fall for your church community. Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Set and Publicize Your Fall and Winter Calendar

If you haven’t already, gather up church leaders and firm up your fall and winter calendar, including special events. Then share the calendar on your website and social media! Giving members lots of “save the date” details well in advance will help them incorporate church activities into their family calendars from now through the holidays.

Leverage Text Broadcasting to Remind your Members about your Events

By using mobileAxept’s “ReachNow” tool, you can send text message reminders to your members. Pastor Erickson notes, “We saw a 300% increase in attendance when we started to send text message reminders to our young adult group. The tool is fantastic and simple to use.”

Plan a Fall Festival or Other Special Event

Depending on your church demographics, a fall festival can be just the fun, enticing activity you need to get everyone together and reinvigorated about your church community, mission, and vision. You can go big—carnival games, hayrides, pumpkin carving, bake sale, the whole nine yards—or you can go small. The main goal is to encourage fellowship and community-building.

If a fall festival isn’t the ideal fit, consider a conference, concert, potluck, scavenger hunt, volunteer day, spaghetti night, or other group activity that is suitable for people of all ages.

Do Something Totally New

If your usual fall calendar feels stale, switch it up by adding something new. Host a paint-your-own-canvas night, offer a euchre tournament, or sponsor an environmental service project, such as an open-space clean-up.

Think about the demographic you most want to connect with, then create an innovative new event around them.

Hold a Sign-Up Sunday

Promote all your fall and winter activities by holding a sign-up Sunday. Place tables around your gathering-room space, and invite volunteers to staff an information table for their favorite group or event. Bible studies, grief groups, community volunteer opportunities, Sunday school, choir, music groups, and more—this set-up gives members an opportunity to learn more about all the vital ways they can participate as members of your church.

Plan for Fall and Winter Giving

A large percentage of church revenue comes in during the fall and holiday months. You can solidify and even expand this trend by offering your members new and better ways to give.

Here are some ideas to think about:

• Survey your members now about what they like (and don’t like) about your church’s current giving options and systems.
• Remember the concept of friction. Anywhere in your giving process that’s complicated, time-consuming, or irritating, you’ll lose people—and thus donations. Aim for easy, fast, and friction-free.
• Create excitement and help members feel personally invested by clearly communicating the needs and uses for all giving. Help them feel a part of your ministry by sharing stories and consistently telling them how their dollars are being put to good use.

And if you’re not using text giving, or if your text giving tool hasn’t worked well for you, reach out to mobileAxept ASAP! As pioneers in text giving, we offer a friction-free, robust, true SMS tool that time and again has been shown to increase church giving substantially. We’d love to show you how.