🔔🎁It's Beginning to Look Like a Phygital Christmas🎄❄️

Hey there, are you thinking Christmas yet?

We're less than 90 days from Christmas. Let that one sit in. If you and your church leaders are not talking Christmas yet, it's time. As we're heading into the holidays, here are some Phygital (TM) tips to help you as you're planning and preparing for Christmas this year.

Know who your online audience is. If you’re trying to drive people into physical space, then your messaging to people in another state is going to be confusing. Online Ministry 101: take the time to learn who people are and shape your messaging appropriately.
Online Ministry 102: The best marketing you have is in your building each week. Create Christmas-themed shareable content each week heading into your large Christmas services. Getting your people excited about the experience will get their friends hearing about the experience.
Be very public about the hook/attraction/event/surprise for your large Christmas Service. Don’t make it a surprise. Be very vocal about what it is and that way it becomes a draw. The experience needs to be a magnet.
If you don’t do Christmas Eve service physically, consider doing something online for both physical and online audience. There are ways to do something tasteful and simple.
As difficult as today is, there's a reason we all want to go back to yesterday. For the experience, do something that’s traditional, old school. In all this new and disruption, people want a normal feel. They want to re-live life the way that it used to be. Even something like an Advent wreath can go a long way. Fireplace. Going for the feels will break down some defenses, and allow people to be relational later.
Involve Kids. Nothing brings parents like kids. A kids nativity, a kids Christmas play or drama, a kids choir, a kids dance group. Maybe even sponsor something outside of the church service and use it as a way to build relationships with the community outside of weekend services.
End of year service projects are great, if they are simple enough to get massive engagement. Huge wins. Gets word out in the community. Once again, make it public. Food drive for local food pantry. Toys for local tots. Make it local and make it known. Partner with other orgs and get exposure outside of the church community. There's no limit to the amount of good one can do, as long as he doesn't care who get's credit. - Ronald Reagan.
City-wide service projects in advance of Christmas give you an opportunity to connect with people cold to your church. You serving them gives you an opportunity to warm them to the idea of church. This may be a boil the frog slowly approach. May not see dividends of this in 2021, but culture of this will pay off in 2022 and beyond.
For an online audience, service projects are different. The secret to service projects for an online audience is simply "teaching people to fish, and boiling the frog slowly." Rather than giving people a list of service projects (that your likely paid-professional church staff created) you’ve got to encourage your online audience to find their own partners locally – check this out. https://be.thechurch.digital/blog/church-online-in-2020-teaching-people-to-fish
The best way to get people to come back is thru relationship. I’d put 75% of your energy into a relational invite-oriented culture or serving community relationally, and 25% on better experience. Having a digital expression of your service gives people an opportunity to invite people digitally, not just physically. People can share an experience online even though they are on opposite sides of the country. Phygitally, your church can have a massive impact this Christmas with a relationtional, phyigtal mindset.

Now, how do I get people back in the building after New Year? Relationships. How you win people is how you will lose people. If you are winning people only by the pizazz of an experience, then you will lose them when your experience doesn't meet their consumer qualifications. Relationships keep people engaged. We're not called to make experiences, we're called to make disciples.