Say cheese!

By Thomas Hammond, Personal & Mass Evangelism Director, NAMB

With fall still several months away churches can begin now to prepare to use sweater weather and fall festivities as a photo opportunity and evangelistic outreach! Traditionally, as an alternative to Halloween, churches have used fall festivals as a way to draw a large crowd where they have fun, meet church members and staff and discover ministry opportunities. But because many churches are limited by money and volunteers, may we offer an alternative to the alternative? Photo evangelism! What is this? Well, here’s how it works:

As families get geared up for Halloween and begin buying costumes, mail out (several weeks in advance) invitations to your community inviting them to come by your church for a free family portrait. Tell them to bring their kids in their Halloween costumes. Be sure they know it’s open to everyone and even ask them to invite as many friends as they like.

Be sure to provide on the invitation

• Times pictures will be taken (we suggest the following schedule: 10a.m.-12p.m.; 2p.m.-4p.m.; 6p.m.-8p.m.)
• Map to the church and church campus
• Contact info including phone number and email address (you might want to have people call to make a reservation)
• Church website so they can find out more before they arrive

Who you’ll need

• Event coordinator—someone with administrative skills who can organize the work and the volunteers
• Photography team—two or more above-average amateur photographers with digital cameras
• Decorating team—have them create two or three photo backdrops with different themes: fall scene, cartoon scene, etc.
• Promotional team—several folks to spread the word
• Hospitality team—a handful of friendly volunteers who can serve as greeters, receptionists, refreshment workers, minglers and photography assistants (for supplying extra film, loading images from memory cards, etc.)
• Technical team—one or two technical people to make sure the technology works for you

When guests arrive

• Have signs directing them where to park.
• Greeters should meet them at their cars to help families find their way.
• Ask each family to fill out a registration card. Make sure you ask for their email so you’ll know where to send the images. Be sure to ask permission to keep them on your mailing list to inform them of upcoming events and activities.
• Provide information about ministries such as VBS, RAs and GAs, youth camps, AWANA, sports leagues, etc., plus how they can learn more about Jesus Christ!
• Offer refreshments and light entertainment (kid-friendly videos, puppets, etc.) while they wait.
• Take several shots of the children and/or family and allow them to choose the one they like best. You can easily accomplish this by downloading the shots onto a computer.

Follow up

When you send out the photos, be sure to include information about your church. You can also provide a link to websites with evangelistic presentations like www.thekristo.com or www.thegoodnews.org.