The Sunday School or small group unit is a crucial component of church life. In a larger church it is easy to slip under the radar, to avoid accountability, or to neglect the edification that fellowship produces. Small groups of Christians, meeting for regular times of worship, Bible Study, and prayer can be a major catalyst for growth and change.
With this powerful means for sanctification is the need for a powerful medium of communication–something beyond the weekly interaction or group meeting. It is important to use e-mail effectively in order to inform the group, engage their participation, and maintain regular contact. E-mail is easy, instant, virtually free, and enables you to contact many people at once.
In upcoming posts, we will discuss best practices for how to use e-mail to the greatest possible advantage, but before we discuss the how-to of effective e-mail, we need to step back and figure out how to get started.
You Need E-Mail Addresses.
You can do nothing without the e-mail addresses of your small group membership. If you do not have an existing church directory that contains the contact informaiton of church attendeees, here are some ways to collect those addresses.
- Distribute a sign-up sheet. Perhaps the simplest way to go about it is handing around a clipboard in your next meeting, with blanks for people to fill in their name and e-mail address. Just make sure that they write legibly.
- Start a Facebook group. Want to go to a bit of extra effort? Try starting a Facebook group. Just about everyone is on Facebook, and usually those who are connected as friends can see one another’s e-mail addresses or exchange messages.
- Share your e-mail address. Have the small group leader, Sunday School teacher, or Bible study facilitator distribute his e-mail address. Simply pass around a card or paper with this information, and request that they send an e-mail to that address.
You Need a Way to Organize Your E-mail.
Once you have the e-mail addresses, you need a way to organize the addresses and maintain successful e-mail contact. One of the best ways to do so is with a program called Constant Contact–packe
d with features and enhancements specifically designed with the church in mind. It is low-cost, easy to use, and complete with powerful tools that you will come to depend on for your e-mail needs. You can click here to get started and to find out more.