Send out Follow-Up Letters

There are several ways to obtain a new student's address: You can offer a free Bible, youth group pen or T-shirt to any first-time visitor who turns in a visitor's card; you can hand out paper and ask everyone in the group to write a brief critique of your talk, including their names and addresses so you can respond if necessary. Hey, you can even say, "If you give me your address, I'll send you a letter." Whatever method you use, you must send first-time guests a letter—not an e-mail—the following week. Thank them for coming, ask them to come back, and invite them or their parents to call if they have any questions or concerns. Be sure to include your phone number and e-mail address, and be sure to personalize the note any way you can. You'd be surprised what a big difference that can make.

Explain What's Happening

Take 60 seconds right now and think through your next meeting. What part of the time is likely to surprise or confuse the non-church student who's walking through the doors for the first time? If you're a liturgical church, is it clear when folks should stand and when they should kneel? If you all repeat the Lord's Prayer or Apostle's Creed, are they available in print? If your group has an extended time of worship, will newcomers be thrown off by people raising their hands or an extended time of silence? You can avoid the confusion by offering brief explanations throughout the meeting.

"We're going to have a time of worship now. This is a chance to sing songs of thankfulness to God. The words are displayed up here on the overhead. You are free to participate in as much or as little as you'd like. You'll probably see some of your classmates raising their hands or closing their eyes, which you may not have ever seen before. These are outward signs of their love for God. We'll start standing; but if you want to sit, that's fine. The only thing we ask is that you don't talk, because this is a very important time for a lot of people here."

We're not suggesting these ideas will help you close the back door completely. After all, you could be such a gracious host that even Martha Stewart would start taking notes, and some people still would be offended by the gospel; but it's worth spending the time to make certain they're not dropping out because your youth ministry has become a clique that's hard to break into.

Who knew Billy Joel had so much to offer youth ministers?