Coming up to "Back to School" season means that families are going to be coming back from summer vacations, away for fewer weekends at sport tournaments, and getting back into their regular routine, including church on the weekend.

While you may be tempted to continue communications as normal, this is an important time to leverage your in-person and online communication strategy to get families connected with your church this fall, insuring they'll get connected and stay connected throughout the year.

We'll cover these 6 "Back to School Season" communication ideas:

• Clear directional signage
• Announce the 'regular' things for 4 weekends
• Collect contact information
• Stay connected through email and text
• Plan a significant outreach event in the fall
• Ask for feedback

Clear Directional Signage

Directional signage tells your guests that you were expecting them. 

Most members don't need your directional signage to find their way to restrooms or classrooms, but families who haven't been very frequent for a few months and new guests will appreciate being able to find their way around.

You might also emphasize any changes with bright, attention-grabbing signage.

Have you moved a classroom from one end of the hallway to another over the summer?

Are you working to direct traffic better in your foyer with an intentional entrance door for your auditorium and a distinct exit door?

Are you trying something new with organizing traffic flow for how kids are dropped off at the beginning of service and picked up at the end?

Have you moved (or expanded) your kids check-in area?

Having clear directional signage is important to making your guests feel welcome, and removing any pre-service confusion that may end up being a distraction from them focusing on service.

Announce the 'regular' things for 4 weekends

We know that announcements are often focused towards what's new and exciting, but since families are coming back from being away, traveling on vacation, or simply watching online from the cottage, now is the time ti announce the "routine" things.

Remind people about your regular routine events:

• Midweek Youth Service (and what ages or grades can attend)
• Tuesday Morning Prayer (when and where)
• Online Bible Study (how to get connected)
• Small Groups (where to sign up)
• Volunteer Opportunities (and which departments are in need)
• Service times (if you have more than one service on a weekend)

Sure, you can talk about the next exciting event coming up, or the ladies conference in the fall, but some people will simply need to be reminded that their kids have graduated to the right age for youth, or that small groups are available every week.

Collect Contact Information

While in-service announcements can sometimes feel like the pinnacle of communication (since everyone wants to be sure their event gets announced) don't forget about the opportunity to reach people through the week. 

In order to be able to stay connected through the week with email or text, you need to be sure your records are updated and complete.

Take a few weeks to ask EVERYONE to complete a connection card, scan a QR code on your screens, or opt into text messaging with a code.

Remember that statistics tell us the average church member attends approximately once every 3 weeks - since people are sometimes traveling, working, or out sick - so you'll need to request this information for at least three weeks to reach everyone (and we would recommend something more like 4-6 weeks).

Stay connected through email and text

Now that you have the contact information for everyone in your church, stay connected regularly. Send a text reminder to parents of teenagers on Wednesday to remind them about your mid-week student ministry. 

Send an email with a recap of Sunday's sermon (from YouTube or Podcast) part way through the week, so anyone who missed can feel in the loop, and volunteers who were serving in kids ministry or greeting at the front door can also listen.

Send out an email each week of your Sunday announcements with registration links for each of the events in the list, a volunteer registration page, a social media post that you would like people to engage with, or a small group directory page on your website.

With your email, try and get as specific as possible for who gets what information. Families who signed into kids church get info about what's coming up for kids. Families with teenagers get info about youth ministry. Your sermon video on YouTube would go to everyone (but on a different day from the other communication).

Consider this: Provide intentional information to a specific recipient. Have a single person (staff or volunteer) build a weekly communication calendar to make sure you're not bombarding people on one day, and completely silent the next.

Plan a significant outreach event in the fall

Your community needs to hear from you as they're also getting back into their fall routine, and an event allows your church family to work together for a common purpose.

Fall outreach events could be:

• Back-to-school backpacks gifted to your community
• Fall BBQ
• Trunk-or-Treat as an alternative to Halloween
• Harvest Festival (Check out our full fall banner catalog)
• Hosting a farmers market

You might also like to check out this article on 8 back to school outreach ideas.

Ask for feedback

Create a survey to ask your church members how they would like to hear from you. 4 or 5 simple questions can really inform your communication decisions. Here are some ideas of what you might ask:

• How would you prefer to hear about upcoming events? Text, Email, Bulletin?
• How often do you reference the bulletin announcements after Sunday? Frequently, Rarely, Never
• Do you prefer text message reminders or email reminders for upcoming events?
• Which social media platform are you most active on?
• Do you prefer to watch (youtube) or listen (podcast) to Sunday's sermon during the week? In the last 90 days, how many times have you listened to the sermon other than Sunday in person?