Sometimes churches are so excited about trying to get their people to invite people to come to church with them that they resort to some pretty crazy gimmicks to entice them. The classic example of this is with the old “Pack-a-Pew” Sunday. Everyone is assigned a pew (or in real English, a wooden bench) that they are responsible for filling with guests. The people who are successful in packing pews are then rewarded in some way.
I picture the conversation going like this, “Hey Bob, my church has asked me to bring you to church to sit in my pew and if you come I’ll get a prize.” Bob, “No thanks, I don’t think I want to sit in your pew.” So, even though they’re well-intentioned, the results don’t produce a lasting change of encouraging people to be inviters.
Now, I haven’t made this as a formal announcement, but for those of you loyal blog-readers, I thought I’d let you in on a little secret. This Summer, we’ve started encouraging our inviters on the back end. Rather than holding a carrot out in front of people as a prize to be won, we’re taking note of what our guests are writing on the line on their Connection Card that says, “How did you hear about us?” When they write in the name of a person, we’re sending the inviter a gift card for a treat of some kind (Starbucks or Blockbuster certificate). This is a simple way for us to invest in the people who are connectors.
Now that you know the secret, try it out and see if it doesn’t work for you. (Not to be greedy of course, but to see lives changed!)
Cool idea. I guess I’ll move to TX