Most students haven't stepped inside a church before, at least not on a Sunday. A #TryChurch freshers stand creates a platform to connect with thousands of freshers and invite them to #TryChurch; dare them to experience something life changing, to discover community, discover home and discover Jesus.
Key things to bear in mind...
- #TryChurch is banner under which churches can collectively share the invite to try church, we want to be an example of church unity.
- This could be the only invite some students will ever get to #TryChurch so do it well, this isn’t marketing, this is mission.
- Booking a stand can be pricey at some unis but it is so worth it!
How to
Before you do anything, check in with us at Fusion, there may be a #TryChurch stand happening in your city. We don't want to double up on admin and cost and we would LOVE to work with you on this!
If you need to arrange your own stand follow these steps:
- Start by getting in touch with the uni for a quote and dates. You won't find this on the uni website, give the SU a call and they will be able to signpost you to the right person. This can take a good few phone calls, be persistent, you will get the info you need!
- Once you have a quote, a date and the go ahead to book on, gather the student churches in your city and split the cost between you.
- As soon as you know the dates let us know so we can assign a Fusion team member to your stand and send you #TryChurch and Student Linkup banners, and resources to you.
- When you have been sent timings for the day make a rota; try and have a mix of different churches on the stand at any given time.
- Try and chat every single student that walks past
- Block out time at the end of the day to get messaging on the App. Follow up is key here! Try and send a message to every student that linked up as soon as you can. The power of the invite is huge!
Top tips
- Only have one action point, Linkup now! To get the most out of the stand on the day, direct every student to the Linkup App. This sounds cut throat as we all love a good flyer with our church on but it will most likely end up in a bag with 400 other flyers never to be seen again.
- Using just the App gives you scope to ping them a message straight away, straight to their phones.
- Not all churches will have the capacity to be there on the day but they may want to contribute to the cost of the stand.It’s worth an ask.
- Get your students on the stand, it’s great for students to start the academic year connecting with students & talking about Jesus.
- Keep energy levels high, two hour slots are best when making a rota.
- Don’t miss link ups. Even if you have issues with wifi, help students to Link Up on your phone or Ipad and send them away with a beer mat or Fuse magazine as a reminder to download the app on their own device later.
