91% of Americans celebrate Christmas.
63% think Christmas should include attending church, according to a LifeWay study.
47% of Americans attend during Christmas week, compared to 18% most every other week. That’s 2.6 times higher than usual.
16% more say they are open to attending a service for Christmas Eve, although they don’t follow through.
Here are some ideas for improving Christmas attendance:
• Give regular attenders special cards to hand to friends. Personal invitations are still the most effective.
• Focus on the two weeks before and after Christmas; make the services special.
• Consider an Early Christmas Eve Service for travelers. Christmas Eve is on Sunday this year. How about a Friday night “Early Eve” before families leave for Grandma’s?
• Make it all Christmas all month. Everyone expects Christmas carols, even at the contemporary service. Leave the decorations up for December 31 and sing a few more carols.
• Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Take the guests a gift after Christmas.
• Start a new sermon series the Sunday after Christmas. Advertise it in the Christmas bulletins.
• Regular faces in their places. Make sure guests who come back right after Christmas see the same leaders in place.
• Advertise a Valentine’s event to the Christmas crowd. Repeat for Easter and Mother’s Day.
– Statistics from e-Church.com and LifeWay.com.