Tonight we had our New Year’s Eve party at The Refinery. For years our student ministry had done New Year’s events, but had gotten away from them the past couple of years. We brought it back this year, and much like PumpkinFest we were super pleased with the results. This threshold event had a couple of strategies in place to connect first-time students to church, here’s some of the thought process behind the event:
We wanted to get word out about our regular service times. This event we printed the service times on the paper bracelet that students received when they came in. In times past we’ve handed out postcards as they left to make sure they knew about what the church had to offer them. If the planets align, I would love it if after a big event like this we could give out a calendar of activities for the next 3 months. The point is, find a way to get your services times and ministry in people’s minds so they remember that as much as they remember having a good time.
We wanted to have an excuse for a second contact. In times past we’ve had students fill out cards for a drawing or for a mailing list, but that can make for an unnatural contact when the event is over. This time we took fun pictures and asked for people’s email address so we could send them a digital copy of the photo. In that email with the photo attached, we put in some basic info about our ministry and a clear invitation to attend a service. Here’s a copy of what we sent out tonight:
Thank you so much for coming to Party Till ’09 at the Refinery with HSM! We hope you had as much fun as we did! Attached is your photo from the festivities.
We would also love to invite you to one of our weekend services. They happen every Saturday at 4:30 and 6:30pm and every Sunday at 9:00 and 11:15am in the Refinery Theater. We promise you won’t be disappointed…this is church like you wouldn’t expect! We try to shatter the stereotype that church is boring with great music, humor, and teaching geared just for YOU!
Let us know if there’s anyway we can be there for you in the future and help you get connected to HSM!
We love you!
Alanna Moine and the rest of the HSM Staff
However you do ask for the second contact, be sure to look for a natural way to reach out to them in the days or weeks after the event.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
JG
Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 15+ years and serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. [
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Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
Just curious. When did your NYE party end? We bounced around the idea of having one, but parents were concerned about being on the road (or their kids being on the road) late with other (drunk) drivers, etc. We ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth the risk for our situation. What’s your take? (that question is to anyone reading this, not just Josh)
-c
Josh can you show us some pics from the event? Curious as to what it looked like and what you guys had available…
Great tips. It’s a lot like branding. We need to get the youth group’s name–or brand–in front of students as much as possible in a positive, relevant ways.
Pastor C,
We intentionally moved our new years eve party to december 30 (this a new years eve “eve”) party. Calling it a new years eve eve party attracts attention because it is something mostly unheard of. There are several advantages for us:
- even though we weren’t feeling the heat from parents in our church, moving it to another night provided us with a safer option thus allowing for more kids.
- allowing for more kids = going from 30 teens to 130 teens this past year. so we have more options. We rented out a laser tag facility for just us. Another advantage that wasn’t possible if we wanted to celebrate on Dec. 31. Most companies hardly do any business on Dec. 30 but are very interested in making money on Dec 31 with business and alcohol sales.
- one big challenge for us was what to do about transportation? How do we get 130 teens from our church to a laser tag place 45 minutes away when we only own a 15 passenger van? WELL, we soon discovered another huge advantage of holding a party on Dec. 30. It is the slowest day of the year for charter bus companies so we get great deals!
- another advantage of holding a new years eve party on dec 30 is that teens can celebrate with you and then celebrate with their family on dec 31 so you don’t interrupt family plans or plans with your family.
Hope this helps. This is an excellent option for us and i hope that it helps you in your ministry. I am more than willing to help you in any way if you would like more details.
Josh,
I love the emailed picture contact idea. I’ll use that. Thanks
Davedandconfused,
Great idea!
Jeremy
@Jeremy awesome! I was pumped about the idea, too! JG
How did you keep up with what picture went with what email address?
@Pastor C We had them fill out a little card that gave us the email address and the picture # (I believe it was the number the camera assigned to the digital photo).
JG
I really really like these ideas. Keep up the good work.