We hear it from pastors all the time about church attendance…
“Our worship team does a fantastic job – the music is so powerful!”
“Our greeters are so warm and welcoming. New people never go unnoticed!”
“I prepped for months on that sermon, and I felt great about it”
“But…”
There it is. The ever-present “but” that lingers in so many churches.
“Our church attendance week over week is declining.”
“New guests aren’t coming back.”
“It feels like we are missing the mark.”
We have worked with thousands of pastors who have experienced the same struggle. And while it is incredibly important to make sure Sunday morning is well prepared for and engaging to guests and members alike, we are fighting more than just music style preferences to keep people in church.
Think about it. Many people who visit your church for the first time have months, years, or maybe even their whole life of NOT going to church on Sunday morning. Even your members who are committed to your church and its mission have kids, vacations, sickness, a hard week at work - you name it! We are competing with the everyday hustle and bustle of busy families’ lives.
That is what inspired the Sermon Series Bump! With the help of pastors all over the country, we developed a text message strategy to communicate before and during a new sermon series to boost church attendance in-person and online, and incredible success has come out of it. In fact, churches are reporting back a 10-15% bump in weekly attendance!
The Sermon Series Bump is essentially three intentionally timed and crafted text messages. That’s right, all you need are THREE simple text messages and a new sermon series!
I’m going to share WHAT each message should say, WHEN to send it, and WHY it works so you can start engaging your members right away.
Before you begin, you will need to choose if you want to send these messages to your whole congregation or if you have a group of people that have been slipping away that you would like to target specifically.
Ready? Let’s get started! Learn More...
Send the first text on the Wednesday before your new sermon series will start. Send it around lunchtime so members are reminded to invite their friends when they are with their co-workers. This is a simple reminder that a new sermon series is starting and that you’re excited about it!
Start the text message by addressing them by their first name to make the message feel personal. Keep the rest of the message simple and laid back. Not only is this a good reminder for the upcoming series, but it’s a great talking point for people. Imagine the person sitting in the breakroom at work. Their phone goes off and they get this text. It’s so easy for them to say, “Oh, my pastor just texted me about a new series at church. Sounds interesting, you should check it out.”
Here is an example of what your text message could say:
Hi, Tyler! Looking forward to our new sermon series this weekend, I “HOPE” you enjoy it! Make sure to invite your friends! - Pastor Joe
Including what your new sermon series is about or including a question about the sermon topic can pique their interest.
Is Wednesday a busy day for you? That’s fine! Schedule the texts ahead of time to ensure they go out exactly when you want! (You can do that with Text In Church!)
Start a FREE trial of Text In Church so you have the confidence knowing the right message will be sent to the right person at the right time.
Send the second text message on the Saturday morning before between 9 and 10am. Timing is critical here because you want to catch people while they are talking through their plans for the rest of the weekend!
Again, keep it simple with a note of excitement, and mentioning coffee and donuts doesn’t hurt. :)
Text Message Example:
So excited for the new sermon series that starts tomorrow! See you at 10 am. The coffee will be hot! - Pastor Joe
You could also preview the sermon topic here or ask a simple question like, “See you there?”
This helps keep the church at the forefront of people’s minds. Pastors are fighting the busyness of life to get people in the door on Sunday mornings, so don’t be afraid to remind them.
Let me re-emphasize this point: Don’t be afraid to remind people about church! It’s not being annoying or pushy. Its being genuinely invested in the spiritual growth of your community. The world has no problem fighting for people’s attention. We have to get comfortable asking and reminding a bit more often.
Finally, send the third text the Tuesday after the first Sunday of the new sermon series or as soon as you upload the sermon for people to view or listen to it in case they missed Sunday and to remind them what’s coming next week.
Speaking in a sermon series can be great because it generates buzz around multiple Sunday messages, but it can also be hard when someone misses the first sermon in the series and decides to just “catch the next series”.
Text Message Example:
Hey Tyler, we just posted the sermon from Sunday. Take a listen! Hope you can join us for week 2 of this powerful series. (You’ll also want to include the link right to the sermon in this message.)
Including the link to your last sermon can help them feel prepared for the next week, and encourage them to show up. This is simply giving them access to the information they missed and eliminating the fear or excuse that missing the first week should keep them from coming for the remainder of the sermon series.
For more text message examples to use for the Sermon Series Bump, plus 9 more texting strategies with copy and paste text messages, download our FREE Text Messaging Playbook!
With the Sermon Series Bump, you are building excitement, giving them a reason to show up, and the reminders are helping them to build a habit of coming to church consistently. And if they end up inviting a friend or co-worker, that’s an extra bonus!
Take it from the thousands of success stories from other churches using this simple method to boost attendance by 10% or more. It is as easy as 1, 2, 3 (text messages)!
Related Content:
Implementing the Sermon Series Bump at Your Church [YouTube Tutorial]
