Wish Me A Merry Christmas - Ideas For Churches

You love the Wish Me A Merry Christmas Campaign, but maybe you aren't sure how to practically implement your church's involvement, right? Well here are some ideas to get everyone on board, in a short amount of time, and maybe even raise some money for a special ministry in the process. These ideas are from churches around the country who participated with the Wish Me A Merry Christmas Campaign in 2007.

And remember, this Campaign has been designed specifically with churches in mind. If you haven't told your pastor about us, please do! Your pastor can request an information packet by clicking here, but most of the information is available on our website too. The ideas below can be combined in any number of ways to make your church's participation an effective community outreach.

• If you don't have the money up front for a full scale fundraiser, then consider doing a "Pre-Sale Sunday" where people can pre-order their buttons. Since in bulk the buttons cost half of their resale price ($1.50 vs. $3.00), if you can pre-sell 100 buttons for $3.00 each, you could fund the purchase of 200 buttons, and use the 100 extra buttons for a fundraiser in the community.
  
  
• Challenge your church members to purchase buttons to give away to friends or strangers. Last year, a number of participants bought enough to send out in their Christmas cards!
  
  
• By ordering 200 buttons, you qualify to become a Community Impact Church. That means, we'll help you get the word out into your community about your fundraiser by sending out press releases to your local media, in order to hopefully generate a news story. A newspaper article would then point interested people in the community, not just to your fundraiser event, but more importantly to your church for Christmas celebrations.
  
  
• Consider asking a local grocery store or mall, if your youth group could sell the buttons in front of their store for a few hours on a Saturday in November or December. Particularly if you have a retail business owner in your congregation, then ask if it would be possible to sell in front of that store. Ask for volunteers from the congregation to do the "leg work" for you to find such locations.
  
  
• Challenge your congregation to "sponsor the Campaign's presence at your church." Ask if there might be 10 families (depending on the size of your church, perhaps 25 families) or business owners that would each sponsor the purchase of 50 buttons (a $75 donation) that could then either be resold in a fundraiser (for $3.00 each), or distributed to the congregation as give-aways to strangers, with an invitation to a Christmas outreach.
  
  
• Find a sister church and partner with that church to achieve a more community wide effect. If that church can distribute in some way 100 buttons, and your church can distribute 100 buttons, then voila, you have 200 buttons around the community.
  
  
• Is your church doing a Christmas pageant or Christmas concert? Consider purchasing buttons to give away to people from the community who come that evening... Or, use the buttons as an outreach tool. Ask members to purchase 10 a piece (you could offer them at price) in order to give them to people when they invite them to the Christmas outreach event. If someone has been given a gift that has tangible value, they are more likely to take the time to come to your event.
  
  
• Consider offering your buttons for a suggested donation, or minimum donation, and perhaps you will be blessed by someone's Christmas-inspired generosity. Consider doing this even if you're having a fundraiser in front of a retail store!
  
  
• Try not selling the buttons individually, but requiring a minimum order of 5 buttons for $15. That way people give them to their friends, and it only takes 20 orders of 5 to sell 100 buttons or 40 orders of 5 to sell 200 buttons.
  
  
• Ask the pastor if you can show part of our PowerPoint presentation in a church service to raise the congregation's awareness about the attack that is taking place on Christmas. The first two minutes are all you'd need to show!
  
  
• Encourage your church members to envision the impact that one church can have on the whole community. Consider asking church volunteers to blitz the store managers in your town, where you all shop, with a letter explaining the Campaign and your church's involvement. In a town or locality of 40,000 people, a few hundred buttons, worn diligently can make a significant impact along with a news story (see Community Impact Church benefits). Store managers will see that they can gain locally by changing the music they play or decorating their store differently or by instructing their employees to greet people with "Merry Christmas".
  
  
• Challenge business owners in the congregation to consider purchasing buttons to give away in their stores, or resell with the proceeds going to your church- perhaps an upcoming youth missions trip- or to give away to clients.
  
  
• Last year, one philanthropist purchased over 2000 buttons to personally give away to everyone she came into contact with while she was out and about in December. Perhaps there is a church member you could inspire to do the same!
  
  
• Educate yourself and your congregation with stories of what has transpired in other communities and with retailers by reading our "In the News" section of the Attack on Christmas.

If you would like to discuss any of these ideas, or ask for more ideas, please contact us at 800-487-7137. Merry Christmas!

Order buttons and car magnets here.