Some Keys to Making a Community Outreach Successful

Several things will help make your outreach successful.

Begin early. Planning ahead, careful organization, involving many people, and continual prayer are all important for the success of your outreach.

Offer a children's program. When you care for children, you minister to the whole family. Parents are blessed by the care you give.

Advertise well. Create a flier and give it to your people to pass out, put up, and otherwise distribute to neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Send fliers to all the preschools, private schools, counselors, newspapers, and radio stations in your area to let them know what you are doing. Also approach the local school districts to gain permission to send the flier home with the children or put it into the next parent newsletter. It's amazing how many parents hear about the class from preschools. Fully exhaust this step. You won't be sorry.

Have people register in advance. This not only gives you a head count and a list of names and addresses for future classes, it also raises the level of importance of this class in people's minds. They know that a space is reserved for them and so they are more likely to see this class as a commitment instead of an optional activity.

Send out a confirmation letter. One week before the class, send out a letter of confirmation listing the family members who will be coming and asking them to correct any wrong information. This letter serves to remind the participants of their commitment and again raises the felt level of importance of the class. Include class times, location, and directions.

Streamline the registration process. At the event have several registration lines so people don't have to wait. Check people off when they arrive so you know who has missed the class. Also be prepared to get names and addresses from those who show up without having preregistered.

Emphasize hospitality. Have several greeters, registrars, hosts, and hostesses. Have adequate signs to direct people to the class and to the children's rooms. Offer light refreshments. This not only sets a positive atmosphere but it also gives people opportunity just to talk with others. Those informal conversations may contain the most important things said that evening.

Recruit lots of volunteers. One of the benefits of this outreach is the opportunity for the church to work together as a team to reach out to their community. Establish teams of people to pray, put up fliers, setup, take down, register, do mailings, make refreshments, greet, cut out crafts for the children's program, and work with children at the event. Offer free tapes of the presentation to all those who volunteer.

Follow up. Send a follow up letter after the class is over to all who registered, inviting them to participate in other family programs the church offers like Sunday School and the Sunday worship service.

Following these guidelines produces a great class. The church benefits from working together, many families attend, and people who come to find help for family life discover even more. Examples of letters and forms are available from Effective Parenting. If you decide to use parenting classes as an outreach, let us know and we'll send you a packet of sample materials you might use.

If you'd like more insight and step by step guidelines for making your Parenting Seminar Outreach a success, order the manual from Effective Parenting entitled, "How to Run a Community Outreach Using Parenting Seminars."