Making Invitations to Your Small Group
Announce your small group program to your St. Paul Street Evangelization Team, if they are not already aware of it. Your SPSE team members are the first ones in charge of making invitations to your small group. They have resources such as our Faith Sharing Cards to print times and locations for the small groups and hand them out to people on the street. This is the most effective means of reaching the most people because it includes a personal invitation, rather than depending on impersonal marketing through mailings or social media. Also, the people met through street evangelization are usually going to be your target audience; people who are interested in knowing the Lord, but are not yet connected with the Catholic Church through any particular parish.
In addition to your regular SPSE team, explain to your small group team that it is the responsibility of each team member to invite one person each month to the small group. Make sure that everyone understands who the group is designed to serve, and encourage regular conversations about when and where to look for people to invite.
The St. Paul Street Evangelization Team
The St. Paul Street Evangelization team is one of the most important ways to receive new members into your small group. They should be active at least once a month (though it is better for them to evangelize at least twice a month), and should be inviting people on the street to join the seeker small group at your parish. Know who the team leader is and ask that person to check in with you after each time they evangelize. They should provide you with the number of invitations that were made and how many people they expect to join the small group. SPSE teams will do their best to get the name and number (or email address) of people that they think will attend so you can introduce yourself. With all types of invitations they will try to give you as much information as they can about the person who is attending (Are they open? Skeptical? What is their faith background? Etc.)
St. Paul Street Evangelization resources for invitations
St. Paul Street Evangelization offers a number of resources to make invitations to your small group, including posters, postcards, pamphlets and flyers, free handouts with group information stamped on them, business card templates and more. Check the Members website for these resources and more information.
Door-to-door ministry
St. Paul Street Evangelization provides a door-to-door guide that was written with the help of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. You can use these door-to-door guides before the launch of your first small group meeting to invite people from the neighborhood to your small group. Any type of personal invitation will receive a better response than a standard postcard mailing. See the door-to-door guide for more information.
The pastor and parish communication channels
It is a good idea to ask the pastor to announce the availability of the small group during Mass announcements. Ask if you can set up a table after Mass to answer questions. We assume that everyone who is at Mass with us comes weekly and is already formed in their faith, but this is just not so. You do not want to neglect any opportunity to invite people to your group, and you may be able to find even a practicing Catholic who has little knowledge of their faith and Jesus, but who attends Mass occasionally out of habit. After Mass is also a good time to reach a mother who knows her adult son is searching for God and will want to connect him with your group. Be open to all possibilities, but also be prepared to redirect people who might more truly be served by a Bible study or other group that already exists. You do not want your group to be taken over by those who already know Jesus and will divert precious discussion time from people who are at the very beginning of their relationship with the Lord.
Try to get your small group information posted in the parish bulletin, the parish website and newsletters, through other parish social media channels like a blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can also inform the diocese of your seeker small group. If the diocesan faith formation and evangelization staff is aware of the availability they may recommend that other pastors send people to see what it is about.
Use social media
Take to social media yourself and create Facebook groups, event pages, emails, twitter announcements, and more to make invitations to your seeker small group. Invite all of your friends to join, and then ask your friends to invite their friends. If you aren’t sure how to do any of this consider asking someone on your team who has the skills to head up communication.
Making an invitation to a stranger
Whether you are a member of a street team yourself or simply feel called to make an invitation during the course of your day, don’t be afraid. The Holy Spirit will work within you to make the invitation through you. Even if the person says no, you kept your duty to God and fulfilled your role as an evangelist.
You might say something like, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. You know, I just wanted to throw this out there. I am part of a small group at my church. We meet once a week to hang out together, have a good time, eat good food, and then discuss a topic about life or faith. You seem like you might have questions about Catholicism/ faith/ God. I am hoping you’ll join us this week Tuesday at 6PM.”
You can make it clear that there is no pressure to come for any length of time. If they don’t like it you agree to ask one more time just to make sure, and that’s it. You won’t keep bothering them.
Making an invitation to someone you know
Most of the time we are more nervous making an invitation to someone that we know than someone we don’t know.
“Hey John, we’ve been coworkers for what, 5 years now? We’re both Notre Dame fans, we both have kids about the same age, and we’d both rather be fishing right now. I just wanted to throw out an invitation – I meet with a group of guys once a week on Tuesday evening for food and fellowship. It’s just a good time and we typically have a discussion about something to do with faith or life. I think you’d enjoy it. Can I plan on seeing you there this week?
Even if they say no, don’t be afraid to make repeat invitations. It often takes more than one invitation. We can’t tell you how often to make an invitation, but probably somewhere in between once a month and once a year.