3 Tips for Church Texting this Easter
There are two major events that seem to drive the most amount of visitors to Sunday services: Christmas and Easter.
At Easter, church leaders have the opportunity to share the message of Jesus' resurrection with their people. This year, it’s our goal here at Thryve to see your church have its most engaged and highest attended Easter Sunday yet.
With today’s hybrid ministry models offering both online as well as in-person services and programs-it is more important than ever to have a text messaging strategy for digital engagement and connection.
Here at Thryve, we provide church leaders with a smart communications platform and tools for reaching more people and driving engagement. Here are 3 tips for engaging your people this Easter:
Tip #1: Set up an Easter Week Series
The story of Easter is best told in its historical context! There is no better way to take your congregation on a spiritual journey than by sending them a daily series during the week leading up to Easter.
On Palm Sunday, make an announcement at your Sunday service to subscribe to a devotional series.
There are many ways to do this but since most churches use MailChimp check out their article on here to do a daily devotional over email (except it’s called ‘campaign’): https://mailchimp.com/help/getting-started-with-campaigns/
This is a great way to walk your congregation through important church events like Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and more! All while interrupting their schedule to remind them to think about the significance of this week as Christians.
Need a template of Scriptural passages for your devotional series to start from? Look no further!
- Message 1: Thank you and overview of devotional
- Message 2: Matthew 26:1-16, Mark 14:1-11, Luke 22:1-6
- Message 3: Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, John 12:12-50
- Message 4: Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Hebrews 4:14-16
- Message 5: John 13:1-17
- Message 6: Matthew 27:11-60
- Message 7: Matthew 27:62-64, Luke 23:55-56
- Message 8: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20
Tip #2: Capture First-time Guests During Your Church’s Easter Sunday Service
Easter can be one of the most successful events for reaching new people. However, with many church doors closed and most services online, it’s harder than ever for church leaders to connect with their digital visitors.
Make it easy for guests to let you know who they are. For online visitors, make sure your online services have a clear and easy-to-find link pointing visitors to fill out online connection cards out.
If you are holding in-person services, place a welcome card and a prayer request form on every chair. During announcements, encourage everyone to fill them out. Providing both ensures first-time guests don’t feel singled out while capturing the prayer requests of your people.
Tip #3: Create a Shareable Invite
Your congregants are your best marketers. Make it easy for any of them to invite a friend by designing an invitation that they can use. Your invitation can be in the form of a:
- email invite
- text message language
- a visual graphic for easy sharing on social media
We recommend looking into church texting platforms to quickly send out sample texts for everyone to copy and paste. The more personal your invitation is, the better people will respond.
Encourage your congregation to reach out to a handful of friends that aren’t Christian and invite them to the service. Use the graphic or the sample text as a way to provide information.
We hope this Easter is your best one yet and that God would bless all the work you do to prepare for it! If you have creative ideas on how you’ve engaged your congregation during Easter, please share them with us in the comments below.