April 26, 2024
DACULA, Ga. – Congregations across Georgia are turning to The Big Invite, a step-by-step guide for packing out sanctuaries, to make sure they’re maximizing church attendance.
Scott Smith, communications director for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and architect of The Big Invite, said the initiative is a proven way of making sure people know they’re welcome and wanted at Easter services.
“The Big Invite has been used by thousands of churches so far and overwhelmingly delivers great reviews,” Smith said. “We've lost count of the number of reports that have come in year after year since 2017 of churches who have broken attendance records, not just for Easter, but all-time attendance records.”
Church leaders can get started by visiting The Big Invite website.
Smith designed the initiative as a blueprint for churches to follow in order to have more guests than ever on Easter, though the principles work any time of year.
The idea is to saturate communities with multiple invitations, both online and offline, in ways that get results. In essence, the initiative is designed to pique interest of Christians and non-Christians.
Levi Skipper, the Mission Board’s lead strategist for church strengthening, describes Easter as “a natural wave” in attendance. He encourages churches to ride such waves to have a greater impact in their communities.
That’s the idea behind The Big Invite,” Smith said. It allows churches to maximize the natural attendance bump.
Materials for The Big Invite are available via the website.
“Easter is the ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ for the church when it comes to preaching the gospel,” Smith said. “I'd say that makes Easter Sunday the best Sunday to preach the gospel to the unchurched if we do a good job of inviting them.”
