It’s not too late.

You can still follow up with those guests from Christmas Eve.

I know. The days between Christmas Eve and now are a blur. Pastors, staff, and volunteers pour their hearts into Christmas Eve worship. It is exhausting, and you need time to recover.

However, no matter if your Christmas Eve services were perfect, if they had a few hiccups, or your church experienced an epic meltdown in the midst of service, the Holy Spirit was at work. One of those faces in the pew or chair, a face you haven’t seen before or a face you haven’t seen in a while, heard something, felt something, experienced something.

“Communicate to them somehow that you are glad they came and that they are welcome to come back.”

They took one small step closer to God. And then they went home. And then they went back to work or school, and then they started going about their business. And they may be forgetting what they heard, felt, or experienced. But you can remind them. A simple, yet holy calling. Maybe it is a phone call, an email, a postcard. Communicate to them somehow that you are glad they came and that they are welcome to come back.

I invite you to revisit the last post in my Christmas Planning series. In addition to some ideas about reaching out to Christmas Eve guests, you will find some things to think about for next year. If you start planning now, you may be able to collect some more contact information so that you may reach more of those guests.

We often talk about guest follow-up as an essential strategy for church growth. It is. But more importantly, your contact might be the next in a series of nudges. God’s prevenient grace works in many ways, pulling up closer and closer to the one who made us. Wouldn’t it be cool to get to be a part of that with just an email or phone call?