With the world getting busier and busier it can be hard to get your community engaged. How can you personally invite people to your future events if they aren't there for you to talk to them? That is an issue that many churches used to face. By utilizing our tools like our live calling to send personal invites, prerecorded calls to send reminders of what we already invited them to, and texts to fill the gaps in between, our clients have found it to be easier than ever to encourage members to attend services and get involved in the congregation. Have a donation drive coming up? Have a baptismal celebration? A special holiday service? What about that monthly welcome lunch? Encourage, Inform, and Remind, and watch the engagement grow.

Okay, so we all have seen those new visitors in our church that filled out the welcome card with the intent of becoming an active member, The idea is, they fill it out, turn it in, and they receive some sort of contact soon welcoming them to the church. Unfortunately, this idea is simply an idea to some churches who do not have the time, resources, or knowledge of how to effectively reach out to those new members and provide them with a clear path of how to take the next steps on their spiritual journey with your congregation. Did you know that about 85% of people actually return to a church if contacted within 36 hours? This means that every time you hold a service or event with visitors, you should be calling or texting them the day after to thank them for coming and invite them to upcoming services and events so they will be more likely to return in the future. Hey, they might even bring a friend too! Notify your newcomers, welcome them to your congregation, and keep them notified of what is going on so they keep coming back.

The first step to engaging with your congregation is gathering your congregation. Sometimes that can be quite challenging when there are outside factors involved like inclement weather or natural disasters, people are traveling for the holidays, kids have school activities, members are sick or disabled, or when sporting events (*cough cough* Sunday football) get in the way of what really matters. As you're reading this I bet you're realizing just how many people have been absent lately for one or more of these reasons. But relax, you can still reach those people with Congregation Connection's Telemeetings. Now you can reach thousands of people at once, at any time, with very little set up involved. and connect live with members of your congregation. and anyone else you can round up not only in the United States but in other countries as well. What does this mean for you? Extensive outreach with a relatively inexpensive price tag. Many of our clients utilize our Telemeetings to conduct "Church by Phone" to reach those members that weren't able to make it to services. It is truly beautiful to see how many people congregate at once to worship together, and it is truly empowering to be the ministry leading that movement.

Almost everyone likes to be acknowledged, appreciated and recognized. If you make people feel that way, they will make you feel the same, meaning they will appreciate, acknowledge, and recognize your ministry or church as a result. Acknowledgment is truly a powerful way to build relationships that last. A lot of our clients like to acknowledge their congregation by sending out thank you calls or texts for attending events or services. This form of outreach has been known to keep members engaged for events to come. Some churches even reach out periodically to their surrounding community as well to thank key members like first responders, veterans or active duty military, and even mothers on mothers day. (Fathers, too!) These calls, texts, and telemeetings used to acknowledge and appreciate others have been extremely effective in retaining current members and gaining new ones.

A primary focus of your ministry or church is giving. Giving knowledge, faith, guidance, tithes, and giving back to your community. So it is no surprise that every time you gather, there is a reason to give. Before, your congregation was limited to only receiving offerings from active members who were present when you promoted your cause. Now, your congregation can receive offerings and donations from anyone, anywhere, anytime. By using our telemeetings, ministries have given attendees the ability to press the * button, get transferred to a live agent, and donate immediately at any time throughout the call, then connect back to the meeting so they don't miss a beat. Our clients have also used texting to send a link to their established online donation portals, or prerecorded phone calls to promote their cause, have the recipient press 1, and allow them to process the transaction with a live agent as well. For a more personal touch, some clients like to use our highly trained live communicators to reach out on their behalf to increase the results of their campaign. No matter which method you choose, Congregation Connection helps you give back to others.

There is nothing better than worshipping and praising together to spread the word and rejoice in the truth as well as interact in person with likeminded individuals who have the same mission. Send out texts or phone calls to the surrounding community to cordially invite them to worship with your congregation. Have some members that haven't been present or active in a while? Give them a shout out thanking them for all the times they have attended before, and invite them to come worship again. Unfortunately, not everyone can be present to worship. However, bringing people together for live prayer sessions with a telemeeting is a wonderful way to interact with and engage your congregation when you can't interact in person. Live prayer sessions give every attendee the chance to not only be heard but to support others as well by unleashing the power of prayer with up to thousands of attendees at once. Congregation Connection will bring your congregation to life by keeping every member up to date on the latest and greatest news regarding your ministry so they never miss an opportunity to extol the truth.