The church prepared a fantastic Christmas afternoon for the community: a petting zoo of farm animals, face painting, craft tables, free food, Christmas Carols, and a message from the pastor designed for visitors. A truly fantastic afternoon.

But the follow-up plan? There wasn’t any. All the momentum from the event totally disappeared.

If you want to keep the momentum going, you need to plan at least two steps ahead. What are some next steps that would make sense for visitors? Coming to your next church service on the following Sunday is too big of a step for most people. We need to find a way to lower the barrier.

Here in Australia, it is especially hard to plan follow-up events after Christmas. The whole country takes a four-week holiday. But that doesn’t mean we can’t think about preserving the momentum that our Christmas events created – even if our church planned nothing.

Here are a few ideas:

• Send a text message saying that you appreciated their coming to the event. Ask what they thought of it and see if you can get together at a café to discuss their questions.
  
  
• Send a link to an article that builds on the message of the event. For example:

  “John, I thought you might like to read a short article about What’s My Purpose in Life. I would love to get your opinion when you return from holiday.”

• Arrange to meet for an extended time where you can ask four questions:
  1. What did you think of the event?
  2. Did the message make sense to you?
  3. Has anyone taken the time to share with you how you can know God personally?
  4. Can I share this with you?

I am sure you can think of a dozen other ways to keep the evangelistic momentum. The important thing is to do something. Nothing is NOT an option.

My wife and I are on a two-week holiday in Melbourne to see family. When we get back to Sydney, we plan to visit the families we invited to our church Christmas breakfast for a personal chat. And I will send a few of them texts this afternoon.

What is your plan?

Let’s Pray

Lord Jesus, you have given us the greatest message of all time. Thank you for the Christmas season and the many opportunities it gives us to talk about you. Keep us from losing the evangelistic momentum that the season provides. Give us creativity, perseverance, and wisdom as we interact with the people we invited to Christmas events. Amen.