In the first two articles I shared with you ideas for starting a new church or ministry.
The first was clear vision and open practice on how to find it. The second was the building of the team, as the model of Jesus, he started his ministry with a team of 12 people.
Today I want to share with you about the opening of the church. After you have clearly understood that this is your calling, you have put the vision on paper and you are building a team that you see as complementary to the vision that God has given you, and meanwhile the days are passing and the time for the opening of the church is approaching.
My first suggestion as a date for the opening of the church would be two, but of course you see for yourself when it is most suitable for you. For me it would be spring, 1 month before Easter. Look at when Easter falls and 1 month before it leave the grand opening of the new church. The reason for this is, after having a big opening event, you have the opportunity to continue the momentum of the church in the next event which is Easter.
Or the same could be 1 month before Christmas. My suggestion would be, if you are going to start it in autumn, it would be better 2 months before Christmas, the end of October because in Tirana people leave the city close to the November holidays, but if it is not in Tirana the opening of the new church , end of November would be great too.
Before I give some practical ideas for the grand opening, I want to encourage you about something else that is equally important: the events before the opening of the church.
I would suggest a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 5 monthly events before the grand opening. For several reasons: It creates momentum, it creates a kind of rhythm, inertia towards the big opening. The team you have is tested, prepares you for the big opening. You start to influence the community, to be known in the community. And the church can start to happen from then because you will invite people from the community and some may choose to trust Jesus there or someone new may be added to the team.
For our team, we started the church in March, before the opening we did 5 events:
*October, karaoke night (year 2010, karaoke was a trend at that time). We owned a coffee bar, each team member invited their friends, and we did karaoke and board games.
*November live music with a guest band. We bought a well-known bar. Each team member invited their friends and had a free drink. The band was Christian and after 3-4 songs the band stopped as a break for the band and one shared the testimony of how he came to know Christ.
*December, Christmas party, we owned a bar that was very nice and we celebrated Christmas there, each member of the team invited a friend.
*January, 3D movie (January 2011, the first 3D movie in Tirana was Avatar) and the same thing, each person from the team invited a friend and they had free movie tickets.
*In short, the Valentine event was called Love in 4D, "realize the length, breadth, height and depth of God's love" from Ephesians 4. At this time we invited two well-known artists, one of them was in the final four of a contest, Friday fever, while the other also known on Tv.
I suggest the same according to this model or create another model yourself according to the moments that the city, the country is going through. But let this be the idea, a special event, with a good element that motivates the club to invite someone and motivates the visitor to come. After each event, I find a way to get in touch with people, email, cell number, to invite them to the next event.
Now that you've done these events it seems like things have been stirred up, the team has been strengthened, the day is approaching and the grand opening may be BIG. Prepare as a team to invite 3 times the number of people the church hall can hold. I wish that at this moment you have found a hall for the church, let's assume that the hall takes 50-60 chairs. Think of the grand opening in a different environment and aim to have over 150 people on the opening day. Because only 1/3, sometimes 1/4 of the people who came return to the church after the grand opening. If this percentage is returned, the hall of the new church will be full in the first week.
For the grand opening, consider these details:
1-Promotion, advertising. In addition to the personal announcements that the team will make, decide some marketing methods, will we distribute flyers in the neighborhood, will we boost an event, photos on social media, will we do something on the local TV of the city. I would suggest the first two, flyers (more to connect with people) and social media. Determine a type of perimeter where you will distribute the flyers. The idea I want to give is, from the church building 10 min max 15 minutes walk around it, let this be the "fishing pond" for your church, which will most likely be over 10 thousand people if you are us city or a few thousand if you are in the countryside.
2-The program must be of high quality. Make sure you have a good crowd, if you don't have enough get some "borrow" from other churches for that day. There should be artistic elements, video, a ribbon that is cut at the end, confetti... There should be someone with authority to greet, the leader of the movement, the donor, the leader of VUSH or anyone. BUT make sure that the message that day is shared by yourself, the pastor, the church planter, people should relate to you.
3-The time before and after the celebration, very warm hospitality, even several rows of hospitality, someone outside in the courtyard, another at the big door, another at the entrance of the hall, another in the hall that orients people. At the end there should be some kind of cocktail, drinks, something to eat or whatever, just so that people don't leave immediately, they stay a little longer with you and your team.
4-Don't forget the announcements because next Sunday you will meet at the church building. A small bag for each visitor would be ideal, with a business card detailing the church building, a new Tithe and something to eat or drink (a milkshake or a fizzy, energy drink...).
Finally, all this is to be summed up like this: Imagine an earthquake, which is scary, but don't imagine it in detail but in the good perspective), the earthquake has an epicenter (the place where you will meet) and there the shock is distributed in circular shape up to a certain area.
So let everyone in your "fishing pond" know that something is happening there, maybe they don't know how to explain in words what is happening, but everyone knows that there is something there. With the announcements that the team made, you made, they were made on social media, the special guests, in any way the people in the "fishing pond" got the news.
And I have not mentioned that at this time, the dedication in prayer should be as high as possible, yourself, your team, your friends. Let this time have both: Work hard as if everything depends on you, pray hard as if everything depends on God!
I hope it was of help to you. What would you add, take away from these details for the grand opening of a new church, ministry? If you were starting a new church today, what would you make sure to do?