Inviting Disengaged Students & Families Back
The fall season of ministry is right around the corner. Sadly, with this delta variant, our fall ministry season may not be everything we wanted it to be. Numbers may be good where you are & you’re moving forward with a normal fall schedule. Numbers may not be so good where you are & you are wrestling with some challenging choices to potentially go hybrid or full digital again (I’m sorry for bringing it up).
Regardless of what your fall looks like, this truth remains: there are students & families who have not engaged in your ministry (in person or otherwise) since spring of 2020. As they get ready for their fall rhythm, now is the time they are most likely to be open to re-engage into your community. So, how are you doing that?
Here are a couple of thoughts.
1. The Personal Invite
Personal always wins. In a perfect world, even if you had a student who stopped ‘coming’ to church (in person or digitally) once COVID hit, they would have had a small group leader or two who were connected relationally to them & continued that connection with phone calls, text messages, etc. If that weren’t the case in your ministry, I would be asking why & how can we change that moving forward.
Either way, for those families & students who have not engaged since spring of 2020, I would be trying to figure out where their most personal connections were and have those persons reach out & invite them back. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s one of your leaders or it could even be some of the students. Phone calls...text messages...emails...postcards...maybe every one of those. If you can tie their previous connection to your community to a person or a few people, the invite back will feel far more sincere.
2. The Vision Focused Invite.
The first step is the personal touch...the relational touch. The second step is a little broader & casts a wider net. In the first step, often the ministry leader might not be the best person to make the connection. In this step, they probably are.
The best vehicle for this might be a couple of short videos. One directed to parents. One directed to students. You’re trying to do the same thing in both, but just speaking specifically to those audiences. In these videos, you’re trying to do 4 things.
Empathize with the circumstance
Take a moment to commiserate at how challenging the past 18 months have been...how difficult it’s been to be a teenager or to raise them in this crazy time.
Raise the tension
Why should teenagers want to be a part of what you’re doing this fall? Why should parents prioritize getting their teenager to your environment? This might be a good place to use a few statistics to help them see the importance of being a part of your faith community. Whatever you do, you’re trying to help the student & the parent realize why what you are doing matters.
Cast the vision
Once you raise the tension, you want to take a moment to cast some vision for this fall. Talk about the safe space you want to create for teenagers. Mention the themes & ideas that you’ll be working through as a group. Help your students & parents understand how your faith community will help ease some of the tensions you raised.
Invite
Finally, invite them to something. The hope is that your faith community & their small group become a regular part of their rhythm for the whole year (and longer), but give them someplace specific to start. Maybe it’s an event, an outing or a kickoff. Whatever it is, give them a call to action.
I’ve written up a couple of example scripts (following # 3 below) to give you an idea of what these videos could look like.
3. Prepare for Them.
The last step here is to be ready for them! Do you have enough small group leaders? Are they equipped to be the pastors & shepherds of their group? Have you gone through & prayed for all of the students who have been on your roster the past couple of years that you hope come back? Are your systems refined & ready to handle a new season of ministry?
This isn’t the end all be all. Surely there are some other ways to encourage families who have disengaged with your church to re-engage, but hopefully, this gives you some practical steps & ideas to get moving. The most important thing is that you DO SOMETHING!
I’ve heard too many stories of people who disengaged from churches who never really heard from those churches, therefore, never really felt missed or valued. My hope for you is that every student or family that may have disengaged at some point in the past 18 months know that they’ve been missed & are invited to join you in this next season of ministry.
SAMPLE PARENT SCRIPT
Hey, it’s Pastor Brett. It’s not news to you that the past 18 months have been among the most challenging many of us have ever faced. Trying to manage life in the midst of a pandemic is not for the faint of heart. Trying to manage your life & the life of a teenager in the midst of it all is a totally different story. It’s no wonder so many of our rhythms were thrown completely out of whack.
As fall rolls around, we’d love for you to consider making (your ministry) a part of your rhythm again. As uncertainty & anxiety continue to be a struggle for this generation, we feel like our community helps give students a safe place to process their life & their faith together. 69% of teenagers say they have 3 or fewer meaningful interactions a day*. Nearly 40% say they have no one to talk to that really knows them well*. More than 25% say they have one or fewer adults in their lives they can turn to if they need to talk*.
At (your ministry) we’re continuing our mission to create safe communities for your students to process their life through the lens of faith. This fall, we’ll be tackling themes like change, uncertainty, meaning, purpose, identity & authority as a larger group & within our small groups. In the midst of everything your teenagers are facing in 2021, we’d love for you to consider making (your ministry) a priority in your schedule this year.
The best place to start would be (details of your kickoff, next program or event).
SAMPLE STUDENT SCRIPT
Hey, it’s Pastor Brett. It’s not news to you that the past 18 months have been brutal. You’ve missed out on things you’d been looking forward to for years & had to deal with adults using the words like “pivot” and “new normal” way more than any generation should have to. Trying to navigate the teenage years is challenging enough. Throw a pandemic in the mix & you all have gotten a raw deal.
I know as each fall comes around, there’s a mix of excitement & anxiety about falling into a new rhythm. A new school year, a new season, a new team...you’ve got a lot going on. The statistics about mental health & what teenagers like you face on a regular basis is no joke. In the midst of all of that, we’d love to ask you to consider making (your ministry) a part of your rhythm this fall.
We know things get busy & that your life can be crazy, but we think that having a safe space to process life, wrestle with tough questions & search for meaning through the lens of faith is something that is worth giving time to. And we think that when you do, you begin to experience a level of peace & joy in life that is tough to find in other places. So, we’d love for you to join us.
This fall, we’ll be tackling themes like change, uncertainty, meaning, purpose, identity & authority as a larger group & within our small groups. And believe it or not, we’re going to have a blast doing it. In the midst of everything you’re facing in 2021, we’d love for you to consider making (your ministry) a priority in your schedule this year.
The best place to start would be (details of your kickoff, next program or event).
