2024 BTCS Blogs
5 steps for making your Back To Church Sunday first impressions irresistible
Most visitors are already deciding whether they want to come back to your church within the first 10 seconds of arriving at your church. Since none of them have ever attended your church before, they will be evaluating their experience based on questions like: How...
5 Ways to Create an Invitational Culture in Your Church
As a pastor or church leader, you have a passion for seeing the lost and hurting come to your church to find Jesus. However, many pastors find it challenging to encourage their members to invite others to church. It's not that members don’t care about seeing people...
Get a Handle on Back to Church: 5 Tools to Use
Have you ever tried carrying a heavy box that didn’t have any handles for you to grasp? I remember helping a pastor friend move and I was helping carry several boxes of books into his garage. Some of the boxes didn’t have handles which made it pretty difficult to...
2023 BTCS Blogs
Preparing Your Church to Welcome Back Visitors
As the summer vacations come to an end, churches have a unique opportunity to welcome back their congregations and extend a warm invitation to visitors. By taking these steps churches can lay a strong foundation for an inclusive and vibrant community. Let us strive to create an environment that fosters fellowship, support and spiritual growth.
Embracing Community Connection: Why Your Church Should Plan Now for a Big September Outreach
It’s hard to grab and keep people’s attention these days, which can make effectively reaching the lost and connecting them to your church even more difficult. That’s why planning special events and timing them well can play a huge role in church growth. Click here to see why having a September event is a big deal…
Hot Sermon Resources for Summer
The temps are heating up and everyone else is on vacation, but there is no need to stress about your weekend service plans, check out these complete, customizable sermon kit downloads to make summer (and fall) sermon planning a breeze!
Time to Plant – Back to Church Sunday Season is Coming!
Every Spring, as the weather warms, trees bud and flowers pop up I get in the mood to garden. I think about how great it would be to plant a few tomatoes, some peppers, some herbs, maybe an onion - I would love to have fresh salsa from my own garden. Yet each year, I...
Bring a Friend This Sunday! 3 Reasons To Invite
We are not meant to live life alone. God has designed us to be in a physical community with family and friends where we support each other and share life together. Think about it: It’s more fun to share experiences with friends - everything from going to the movies,...
2022 BTCS Blogs
Using PSA’s and Press Releases to Promote Your Church Events.
As a church, you likely have a lot of great events and initiatives happening throughout the year, including community service events, National Back to Church Sunday or special guest speakers. But how do you make sure that your local community is aware of all the good work your church is doing? Use these tools to get more media attention, here’s how….
8 Reasons Pastors Love Back to Church Sunday
Why Pastors Love Back to Church Sunday Every year after the National Back to Church Sunday (BTCS) celebration we reach out to participating pastors and ministry leaders for feedback. We send out a survey to learn how churches have leveraged BTCS to increase the...
2021 BTCS Blogs
3 Final Tips for Your Back to Church Sunday Celebration
So much preparation has gone into this opportunity to mobilize your people and reach your community, and you are almost there! But for maximum impact, we recommend taking action on these final tips as you inch closer to your Back To Church Sunday celebration weekend:...
What’s the Next Step for Your BTCS Guests?
Always Be Thinking About The Next Opportunity to Connect As you are planning your Back to Church Sunday (BTCS) celebration, you want to be sure you are thinking strategically about what is next for those who attend? What will that next connection point be? How...
Connecting Guests into the Life of Your Church: A 4 Bucket Approach
In a world of Google reviews, Facebook pages, websites, YouTube channels, and online services, your church’s front door is no longer just your physical, church building door. Your church’s online presence is your new front door. People can “church shop” from home....
Getting Your Church Ready for A Big Event: A How To Guide
Fall is just around the corner and depending on where you're located, your church may be planning lots of activities for this busy season: Back to Church, harvest festivals, trunk or treat and more. While the Delta variant may be putting a damper on some plans, with...
17 Tips for Planning a Powerful Back to Church Event
What a year this has been! Our country has closed and reopened, gotten vaccines and changed tiers, and everything in between. So, whether you’re celebrating Back to Church Sunday in-person, online, or some sort of hybrid this year, here’s what you need to know to...
Back to Church Sunday: A Prayer for The Church
A year ago we had hoped that COVID-19 numbers would come down and that life would return to “normal” by the 2020 National Back to Church Sunday celebration. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite happen. And now as we get closer to September 19, 2021 new concerns have...
Tips for Promoting Back to Church Sunday
With National Back to Church Sunday just a few weeks away, it’s important to start promoting your event to your members and out in the community! There are so many ways to engage your congregation and make them a vital part of your invitation strategy. When you pair...
Preparing For a Great Back to Church Sunday
The big day is less than two months away now, so it’s time to ramp up your preparations for National Back to Church Sunday. Executive Director Pastor Jason Daye, recently shared some key preparation tips that can help you and your church make the most of this...
7 Ways to Build Recognition Before BTCS
Is your community getting out and about again? Your church needs to be right out there with them! After a year of isolation, people are ready to engage with community again. They are signing their kids up for sports again. They are taking vacations again. They are...
2020 BTCS Blogs
13 Specifics that will Grow your Outdoor Church Service
Grow your Outdoor Church Service by working on the logistics. We didn’t imagine being in this position. Our building is off limits for church, and the parking lot is the center of ministry. Here’s something else we never imagined: we like outdoor church better than...
3 Quick Tips to Maximize Your Back to Church Sunday Celebration
You have been praying and preparing, and Back to Church Sunday is almost here! If you want to make the most out of your celebration this year, here are three helpful tips that you do not want to miss: Invite Your People to Invite Their PeopleBe Ready to Welcome Your...
Grow your Outdoor Church Service by working on the logistics.
This is part 2 of a 2 part series - read Part 1 "How to Hold an Outdoor Service That People Love" here. We didn’t imagine being in this position. Our building is off limits for church, and the parking lot is the center of ministry. Here’s something else we never...
7 Ways to Make Your Visitors Feel Safe and Welcome This Fall!
September is here and Back to Church Sunday is just a couple weeks away. No matter how you plan to host your visitors, in person or online, you should be prepared to help them feel welcome visiting your church or online page. Here are 7 ways to ensure your church...
5 Ideas for Fall Ministry Impact
Planning an effective outreach into your community during a pandemic is pretty challenging! The usual fall activities with large crowds are not an option this year. So what will fall ministry look like this year? How can you reach and re-engage your church attenders,...
Using Digital Resources to Plan a Powerful Event
Don’t let a small budget, time restrictions or online-only services stop you from planning a powerful Back to Church Sunday event, most of the items you need are right there in the free digital resources download and the 2020 Stronger Together church kit download. So...
How to Hold an Outdoor Service That People Love
Here’s why we’re loving our outdoor church service and what we’re doing to make it work. We held our first coronavirus-inspired parking lot church service on May 31st, just as California was emerging from our stay-at-home lockdown. Now, two months later, we’re loving...
18 Tips for Planning an Online Back to Church Event By Jason Daye
National Back to Church Sunday is next month! Wow, how the time has flown! With all of the uncertainty about how the next month will play out, it is wise to prepare your church for celebrating Back to Church Sunday online this year. Don’t know where to start? No...
Community Outreach In the New Normal
During this new normal our team at Back to Church Sunday understands that outreach and ministry looks different than it did before. To help you as a church leader leverage your outreach opportunities, we are offering a FREE 4-part webinar series: Leveraging Back to...
Older BTCS Blogs
3 Important Tasks for the Week Leading Up to Your Back to Church Sunday Celebration
As you are counting down to Back to Church Sunday and making sure final preparations are in place for your church’s celebration, here are three important tasks that you do not want to overlook: Encouraging Your People to Take the Plunge Last Minute Prep for Guests...
8 Last Minute Planning Tips!
National Back to Church Sunday is just 10 days away! Here are a few last minute things you can still do that will help you see more visitors and connect with them when they come to your church! Update Your Church Website and Announce Your Plans. Be sure to include...
10 of the Best Ways to Make Visitors Feel Welcome at Church
Visiting a new church for the first time tends to be intimidating -- there’s a lot for visitors to figure out! You want to welcome visitors to church and make them feel at home and at ease once they arrive, but how can you make that happen? Here are 10 ways to make...
5 Ways NOT to Welcome Guests this Fall
As you gear up to welcome visitors to your church for Back to Church Sunday and other fall events, consider how your church can greet them, and make them feel comfortable and welcome so they will want to return. And while we all would like to think we’re good at...
Taking it to the Streets: 5 Ways to Evangelize Your Community
It’s probably not a surprise that recent surveys and studies show that secularism is on the rise and church attendance is on the decline. But what may come as a surprise is that in our digitally-connected society, recent studies show that “social media” can be...
Resources & Tips to Engage The Kids This Back to Church Sunday
National Back to Church Sunday is not just for adults, but for people of all ages. Church is supposed to be a community, and we want families to come and experience Jesus together. Part of getting families to come to church is having a strong children’s and youth...
How the “Together” Sermon Series Can Launch Your Fall the Right Way!
The summer is flying by and before we know it, it will be fall and Back to Church Sunday! We are gearing up for Back to Church Sunday and hope that you are busy praying and planning for September 15th! The heart of this event is to reach people who do not regularly...
3 Ways to Use Video to Create Excitement
You’ve added your church to the map and are excited about participating in Back to Church Sunday... but you need a memorable, relateable and practical way to get your church excited about inviting. By getting your congregation excited about Back to Church Sunday, you...
Together We Can Reach Our Cities for Jesus
Every church is the local expression of the Body of Christ. As such, every church has the capacity to passionately address the issues of brokenness and loneliness that pervade our society. The Church, as messy as it might be, is a beautiful place where people can...