23 churches report 907 Dec. 24 visitors

66% attend worship
with UMs for first time
during Christmas Eve

Two of three Christmas Eve visitors to Home for Christmas churches were worshiping with those congregations for the first time.
That was one result from follow-up reports on last month’s Home for Christmas public witness and outreach campaign.
Twenty-three of the 98 participating congregations submitted information about Christmas Eve attendance to the Communications and Public Witness Office by Jan. 5.
Those 23 congregations reported welcoming 907 visitors to Christmas Eve candlelight services. Of that number, 601—or 66 percent—were first-time visitors.
“Most of our attendees were visitors,” reported Debra Bradley, membership chair for Leakey UMC. The 185-member congregation drew 112 worshipers to candlelight services last month—14 more than for Christmas Eve 2005.
“Many of the individuals who attended (Christmas Eve) were not our Sunday regulars,” said the Rev. Douglas Hinchcliff, pastor of First UMC, George West. “Many of them were out of town. Thus our (23 percent attendance) increase (from Christmas Eve 2005) was dramatic.”
Total worship attendance at the 23 reporting churches Dec. 24 was 5,073. That total was 679 more than had worshiped in those congregations Christmas Eve 2005. The figure was 55 percent higher than average Sunday worship attendance for those 23 congregations.
“For 2004 we had nine attendees—before we followed the Home for Christmas campaign,” said Bonnie Millican, Home for Christmas team leader at Bend UMC. “For 2005 we had 45 attendees, and for 2006 we had 37 attendees.
“Two of last year’s visitors attended as members this year and brought seven visitors with them.”
Bend plans to expand its Home for Christmas team for 2007 to contact more unchurched people personally, Millican said.
“We will also be contacting the visitors who attended this year, who live in our community and do not attend church regularly, on a recurring basis throughout the year,” she said.
Besides Bend, three other congregations reported slight Christmas Eve attendance decreases last month.
“Our attendance was down 2 percent because of bad weather,” said the Rev. Warren G. Hornung, senior pastor of First UMC, Kerrville.
Nevertheless, the Kerrville congregation reported the largest number of Christmas Eve visitors—602—and first-time visitors—348.
Home for Christmas planners in Kerrville, led by Bob Molder, increased newspaper and TV advertising for Christmas Eve, put up more posters than in the past and sent out more invitation postcards, Hornung said.
Eleven of the 23 congregations said they followed the step-by-step eight-week Home for Christmas timetable for 2006. That plan is outlined in a 146-page Igniting Ministry Campaign Workbook for the Southwest Texas Conference.
The workbook calls for a foundation of prayer and specific invitational, promotional and follow-up activities.
Fourteen of the 23 congregations included prayer as part of their Home for Christmas activities.
Prayer makes Home for Christmas distinctive, said the Rev. Damon E. Relder, pastor of Wesley UMC, Corpus Christi, and chair of the Board of Discipleship.
“Without the prayer element, all you have is an advertising campaign,” he said.
The Board of Discipleship has sponsored the Home for Christmas campaign since 2000.
The 98 congregations in the 2006 Home for Christmas campaign was down from 138 in 2005 but up from 34 in 2004, 31 in 2003 and 64 in 2002.
In 2000, the first Home for Christmas year in Southwest Texas, 142 congregations took part. Ninety-nine participated in 2001.
Twelve of the 23 reporting congregations sent direct-mail invitations to unchurched people in their communities. Thirteen churches either mailed or hand-delivered special Home for Christmas postcards to neighbors and friends who didn’t usually attend church.
Twelve of the 23 reporting churches said they ran local newspaper ads inviting people to Christmas Eve worship. Another eight put up posters, and seven used yard signs. Two used radio commercials, and one ran TV ads.
Home for Christmas is one way the Southwest Texas Conference tries to empower ministries in local congregations so they can offer Christ to all.
The Communications and Public Witness Office bought ads Dec. 22 or 23 in five regional daily newspapers. Those ads listed Christmas Eve worship times at participating Home for Christmas congregations.
The conference also bought commercials on radio stations in Falfurrias, Fredericksburg, Liberty, LaGrange, San Antonio, Schulenburg and Yoakum to invite listeners to United Methodist churches.
The radio ads, which aired from Dec. 11 to Dec. 22, said, “If you’re searching for meaning in life at Christmas, meet us at The United Methodist Church.”
The 60-second commercials closed by directing listeners to www.umcswtx.org to find a United Methodist congregation near them.
Home for Christmas outreach efforts coincided with a national United Methodist TV advertising campaign. The General Commission on Communication in Nashville, Tenn., ran commercials on 15 cable TV networks from Dec. 10 through 24.
The 30-second commercials ended with the line: “Open hearts, open minds, open doors—the people of The United Methodist Church.”
The TV spots were part of the Igniting Ministry hospitality and image campaign.
Home for Christmas is one way the Southwest Texas Conference tries to empower ministries in local congregations so they can offer Christ to all.