The First Six Weeks: making your ministry known

The countdown for the First Six Weeks continues!

Think carefully about your ministry's publicity situation. If a Freshmen were to step on campus, who didn't know anyone and didn't know if there was a Christian group on campus, would he or she be able to find your ministry? Do the nonbelievers on your campus even know there is a Christian movement on their campus? You must make yourselves visible for new and returning students.

At all times, every day of the school year, we want to have posters up around campus. This is so essential. You can plan great meetings and outreaches but if no one knows you exist or how to find you, no one will come.

Some essentials to keep in mind in making up your flyer:

• your ministry's name
• day of your weekly meeting/Bible study
• time you meet
• room you meet in
• Easy to read from a distance (If they have to get right on top of it to read it, most likely it won't be effective.)
• Bright paper
• Posted in high traffic areas
• Keep it simple (so it will be easier to read)

If you want to communicate some sort of message about your group on the poster, try to focus on something to do with: love, friendship, acceptance, and community. You want people to be attracted to your group not put off by it.

At your first few meetings, it is great to pass around a sign up sheet asking for people's names, addresses, phone #s and email addresses. Create an email distribution list and keep people updated on coming events, announcements and reminders. Try to keep it free from forwards, they clutter up the inbox and if there are so many non important emails from members of your ministry, people are less likely to read the important ones.

Publicity is pretty simple to do, it doesn't take that much time or effort but for whatever reason we tend to neglect it quite a bit.

So, let this be the semester that everyone knows how to find you! Check out http://www.godsquad.com/posters/index.htm and http://everystudentpromotion.com for more publicity ideas and poster downloads.

John & Melissa Mitchell