Mission to New Residents

Connections started as a grass-roots movement of crazy, committed, Christ-loving individuals. A few of us found each other, started meeting, starting inviting our contacts, and got this mission started.
Since then we have settled into a familiar and effective way of doing ministry:
We love our neighbors, we build into their lives, we bring them to Connections. It’s got us this far and continue to grow our mission.

Along the way we have talked about, and dipped our feet, into various ways of building up our church. We’ve given out invitation cards around town.
We’ve hung some posters around the mall.
We’ve put ads on Facebook.
We've prayed to find a way to reach out to our community and promote our church in a way that works for us. After talking with a few people about how they found out about Connections and got involved, we think we’ve stumbled upon a really great idea.

One of the main ways that people have come to Connections is through a move to the area. They were looking a church, for friendships, for a sense of “neighborhood.”  Praise God, they found us.

So we said to ourselves, “Instead of sending out wasteful and ineffective mass mailings, why not “target” our outreach? Let's try to get in contact with all the new folks moving to our region.  It’s more intentional, more personal, and just a better fit with our church culture.”

So here’s the plan:
The sale of all residences is public information. We have a volunteer who is willing to go through each months listings and compile the addresses for us.  Then we can reach out to these new residents! We’ll need a team of a few people (3-5) who can block out one morning once a week, or one or two days a month.

Each month we’ll take that list of addresses- It ranges from about 100-300, depending on the month. First, we’ll send them a simple hand written note. Yes, hand written, form letters will just get filed in the blue box! It will read something like this, “Welcome to London. We hope your move is going well. If there is anything we can do to help you, or if you are looking for a church, we hope you’ll visit or give us a call. Blessings, your neighbors at Connections Community Church.”

Then, a month later, we’ll send a follow-up note. This time a form letter, hand addressed. It will welcome them to the neighborhood, again. Remind them of Connections. Extend an invitation to call or visit. Then, we’ll include a “perk.” We’ll invite them to bring their letter to a worship service to receive a welcome pack to the community.

Now we need people to make it happen!  If you have any thoughts about this plan, let us know.
If you would like to be a part of this team reaching out to our community, or lead this new ministry, please talk to us! We’ll get you everything you need to get started!