Reaching the Lost: Strategies For Success

Developing contacts through your membership is one of the most productive avenues to achieve success in the Contact Step of the HTHSOE model.  The first stage was to engage your members by using HTHSOE bookmarks. Never stop challenging your members to provide more names.  Now we will introduce another tool called the congregational invitation card.  TJ Gifford from the Lake City church of Christ in Florida introduced us to these cards.

Purpose: The purpose of these cards is to invite those you meet to your church services. When you meet new people and engage them in conversation, the goal is to create contacts. Contacts provide basic information such as a name or address to make a connection. One way to do this without being awkward is to take the first step by extending an invitation. The first contact should not seek a conversion or even a Bible study. Perhaps a warm and friendly invitation to visit is what they need.

Description: These initial cards are easy to use, and they provide everything you need to extend an invitation. The card should include the congregation’s name, address, phone number, time of services, a line for your name as the invitee, an image of your church building, a church logo, and a QR code to take them to your congregation’s website.  You can see an example at the end of this training sheet.

Application:  You can place these cards in your compassion cards and personal cards sent during holidays and special occasions. Pass them out around town at local stores and restaurants. You can set a stack at public areas. Try handing them out at ball games, fairs, and flea markets. The uses are unlimited and provide an easy way to develop contacts in our busy world.

Challenge:  Ask your members to pass at least one out each week. This would equal 52 invitations per member per year.  If you do the math, this is a great way to reach the “many.”

Required Information:

Congregation’s name

Congregation’s physical address

Congregation’s mailing address

Congregation’s service times

Congregation’s Logo (may need a picture file)

Congregation’s website domain or direct link to a web page

Contact’s name

Contact’s email

Contact’s phone

Order amount (we recommend a minimum of 1,000 with an estimated cost of $130.00)

If you are interested, please contact TJ Gifford who will help you develop these cards. His contact number is 864-510-3562.  His email address is tjgifford27@gmail.com. You can begin by sending him the required information.  It will take about ten days to design, print, and ship.