1) Most families in your community celebrate Christmas but don’t know Jesus.
Sad, but true. It’s hard to believe how so many could miss Christ in Christmas, but they do. Your church could help families learn why they’re celebrating!
2) Churches often struggle to engage busy young families.
Everywhere I go, men’s ministry leaders ask, “How can we reach these busy young dads?” Well, this is a great way to reach out to them with an invitation that everyone in the family will appreciate for various reasons. The kids love building something. Mom enjoys some time to herself while dad takes the kids, and dads love to be the hero! (But what about single moms or if dad’s not available? Glad you asked, check out a video here.)
3) The Manger Build® is a church event that doesn’t feel church-y.
Refer back to reason 1. Many families don’t connect Christmas with Christ or the church. When you host a Manger Build event you’re inviting families to do something fun, interactive and loud. It might be in a church but it doesn’t feel like church!
4) Christmas Eve is the best outreach opportunity of the year.
If unchurched folks are going to visit a church, they’re more likely to do it at Christmas than any other time of the year. In his article, Five Reasons a Christmas Eve Service Reaches the Unchurched, Thom Rainer shares that “…research points toward this singular day [Christmas Eve] as an opportunity to reach people churches may never reach otherwise.” So, host The Manger Build early in the month and invite families back to your Christmas Eve service to see a video of the event and pick up a framed photo of dad and the kids with the completed manger.
5) Young families value ‘experiences’ and are willing to pay for great ones.
Often we hear that $25 seems like too much to charge a family to do something like this. Remember, in many cases, we’re talking about folks who pay $5 for a cup of coffee and buy $12 movie tickets. The $25 price tag may be your issue, not theirs. (Now, you’ll want to be prepared to help families who truly can’t afford to participate, but most will not be deterred by the cost.)
6) Convenience is a key consideration.
In many cases these are folks who order meals to cook from Blue Apron and shop online. The idea of having everything ready for a dad to simply walk in with the kids and get going is a huge value! They’ll love it.
So, there you are; six great reasons to host The Manger Build at your church this Christmas. Keep in mind, we promote The Manger Build as A Tool for Building Men, this is a great way to build your men’s ministry team so get the gang involved and get started! Let us know how we can help.