Ben Wachstein’s Post

“You get to choose how you do the holidays,” said lawyer and author Emily Amick (@Emilyinyourphone) in her latest missive on Substack. And we agree. Here are some pieces of guidance she shared: 1. Food is a wonderful basis for gathering, providing us opportunities to create “public squares”- places where friends and strangers alike can congregate and connect.  2. Take time to practice gratitude.  3. As our friends at BetterWorld Partners also say, lean into empathy and curiosity.  4. “Civic engagement can be a form of self-care.” 5. And, finally- ”Hope is a civic value (!): taking actions that are rooted in your personal values is the antidote to despair.“ (Check out her Thanksgiving Civic Gratitude Worksheet). A particularly lovely action item she shares is to “take one thing you’re grateful for in your community and research how it’s funded or maintained. For example, who keeps the library open, and what challenges do they face?” Check out the whole essay here for more action items and reflections:  https://lnkd.in/gtdchbkr. We are thankful to Emily for sharing her wisdom and the invitation to reframe and reconsider! 

Every visitor to your church is a gift from God.How well is your church stewarding this gift? At my last church, we revamped our visitor follow-up process and saw retention jump from less than 10% to over 25%! In our latest video, I share the exact steps we took to achieve these results. Learn how to transform your follow-up strategy and connect more deeply with your community >>> >>> https://lnkd.in/ehKkE8VF

🎄 Leverage Your Holiday Events for Real Connection If you’re planning holiday events like a Fall Festival, Trunk or Treat, or Christmas bazaar, it’s time to make them count for more. My ask is simple—get contact information from your visitors. Whether it’s names, emails, or phone numbers, gather it all. Then, follow up to build relationships that last. One of the pastors in my Growing Church Network did just that and collected information from over 400 households! They used an enticing door prize 🎁 and made sure to follow up with personal invitations to every holiday event. The secret to success is consistent follow-up—from invitations to handwritten notes. This intentional step can transform how your church connects with the community. Let me know how it goes! 🙏 #effectivechurch #churchgrowth #pastors #church #HolidayOutreach #CommunityConnection #ChurchInvitations

🎄 Leverage Your Holiday Events for Real Connection If you’re planning holiday events like a Fall Festival, Trunk or Treat, or Christmas bazaar, it’s time to make them count for more. My ask is simple—get contact information from your visitors. Whether it’s names, emails, or phone numbers, gather it all. Then, follow up to build relationships that last. One of the pastors in my Growing Church Network did just that and collected information from over 400 households! They used an enticing door prize 🎁 and made sure to follow up with personal invitations to every holiday event. The secret to success is consistent follow-up—from invitations to handwritten notes. This intentional step can transform how your church connects with the community. Let me know how it goes! 🙏 #effectivechurch #churchgrowth #pastors #church #HolidayOutreach #CommunityConnection #ChurchInvitations

Summer can be a challenging time for churches to maintain momentum, especially as people have many competing activities such as sports, vacations, and nice weather. However, there are still many opportunities for the Church to engage people through the digital platform beyond the Sunday service. Here are five ideas we gathered from church leaders to help you combat the dreaded Summer Slump! 1. Pivot the goal from being about how many people watched the sermon to instead being about how we can make the gospel part of people’s everyday lives through the local church. 2. Use your digital platform to create daily discipleship and engagement by taking your weekly sermon and developing daily prayers or challenges that can be sent to your church community. 3. Use your app to send parents a daily question for them to discuss with their kids at the dinner table based on what the kids are learning in children’s ministry. 4. Develop a digital prayer community where people can send in prayers any day of the week, knowing that someone is praying for them. 5. Create off-time gatherings that are not Sunday service-centric to engage people throughout the week that are available to both church members and non-church members in the community. These are just a few ideas to help you keep the momentum going throughout the summer months. If you are listening to this and feel like you may not have the strategy or the right tools or technology, we would love to have a conversation to see how we can help you in any way. Get started here: https://lnkd.in/eSBwM5A2

National Good Neighbor Day is September 28th! Here are some ways to build your community year-round! • Help out when inclement weather strikes. Offer to pick up debris, plow or shovel snow, and provide tools to help with clean-up efforts. • Start a monthly club to share meals, discuss books, watch movies or play games. A regularly scheduled get-together will help promote deeper relationships.  • Help your elderly neighbors to decorate for different holidays. Set a time for everyone to walk around and view the decorations. End the night with light refreshments at your home. • Organize a group gift to honor significant life events, such as a new baby or the passing of a loved one. • Create a dedicated, neighborhood social media group. Share information or ask questions. Include a directory with contact information and share updates as needed. If you are looking for the perfect neighborhood, please contact me! I've got all the resources to assist you in finding your next home! 😉

Is Your Community as Healthy & Happy as it Can Be?🤔 Our communities are like our bodies - they thrive when we take care of them! But where do you even begin? This blog post explores 12 powerful ways YOU can contribute to a healthier, happier place for everyone to live, work, and play. From community gardens to dance parties, there's something for everyone! 🌍 Ready to be the change you want to see? Head over to the blog and discover how YOU can make a difference! ➡️https://q.uick.team/N7Rj

Back when I (Sam) was running the Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP), I never knew how to talk about Memorial Day. Should I be solemn and reflective to honor the dead, or celebratory to honor the fact we’re still alive? In reality, there was no right answer. Memorial Day Weekend can be a time of solemn remembrance for some, a time to celebrate the unofficial start of summer for others, or a time of solemn remembrance and summer celebration for others still. For this week’s newsletter, we fall squarely in that last camp. We start by sharing a moving reflection on Memorial Day, and then explore three features on the intersection of summer, community, and connection: - Memorial Day: What do we owe those who have perished in our generation’s mismanaged wars? - Summer Violence Interruption: How can communities create social outlets to prevent spikes in violence during the summer months?   - Neighborhood Heat Islands: Why are some neighborhoods up to 20 degrees hotter during the summer compared to others just blocks away? - American Exchange Project: Is a summertime domestic exchange program for high school students the key to facilitating connection across geographic difference? This was admittedly a broad theme, so we’re curious: when you think of summer and community, what comes to mind?  Feel free to respond with links in the comments or email us: theconnectivetissue@gmail.com. https://lnkd.in/gvFwd8ju

Skip the line and save time with precheck for families! ☑️ Households can avoid the hustle and bustle of check-in by using precheck in Church Center before arrival, and then scanning their kids in once there. And now with new features and updates, precheck will keep your congregation moving through the doors like never before. Learn more on the blog!