Christmas is just a few days and organizing a Christmas carol service is part of the sacred tradition.
Many people look forward to the carol service, even those that don’t appear in church all through the year. How ready are you for this year’s carol service?
We know how tedious it is to prepare for such occasions. This is why we have put together this post to help you plan better. Check out our 5 tips to help you plan your Christmas Carol Service below.
Planning your Christmas Carol Service
There is a lot to decide on from your theme to the stage decoration and the type of music. As you put all of this into consideration, here are some tips to help you out.
Be creative
Creativity is an essential aspect of planning programs like this. First of all, you’d be making a lot of music, drama, and a host of other activities. You don’t want it to look like what you’ve always had. Add a touch of creativity to how songs are delivered, your stage decoration, and even the check-in of guests.
You can even work with a Livestream for people that can’t make it to the physical venue. The whole idea is to step out of the normal and come with different ideas to spice up the event. Do this, and you can rest assured of growing your congregation and the attendance at your next event.
Advertise your carol service
Church communication is essential, especially when it comes to organizing events like a carol service. Ensure that you advertise the date of the service as well as the time. You can take advantage of products on ChurchPad to spread the word better.
But you aren’t expecting only members of your congregation to turn up for your carol service. This is why you need to make use of several channels as well. One very potent channel is social media. Run ads via your different social media accounts and encourage your members to help share such posts.
Build anticipation on social media and your church website by running a countdown to the date of the service. If you are bringing in any special guests, you can have interviews with them and post such on social media. You can even run live interview sessions via Instagram or Facebook and invite congregants and followers to participate.
Recruit volunteers
To enjoy success at your carol service, you need the help of volunteers. The workload is most likely going to be too much for your workforce since you are expecting more people. It is necessary to start advertising the different roles that people can handle long before the carol service.
Some examples are ushers and protocol officers, sound and technical volunteers, and sanitation volunteers. Make sure that you allow your workforce to handle the more technical work while the volunteers can focus on simpler tasks. Create ample time to train your volunteers before the event so that they can deliver excellently.
Before you even recruit volunteers, you should decide how many volunteers you need. Also, figure out if they will be wearing special attire or uniform and making use of special equipment. All of this will help you improve your strategy towards getting a memorable carol service.
Treat your visitors well.
Like we stated above, some individuals never show up in church except on special occasions like Christmas. Others, have never attended your church before now, so you need to make a great first impression. You must know that there is no second chance at making a first impression so always make it count.
Work with your church workers and volunteers to create a favorable environment for your visitors. This is a huge responsibility, and it requires a lot of tact. You need to make them feel welcome from when they check-in to when they leave the church.
This means that your sitting arrangements must be perfect. Make sure that you give your visitors preferential treatment. Work out your parking lot arrangement to suit your visitors as well. Ensure that you have a mechanism in place for children check-in for those coming with kids.
Station some individuals at the entrance as greeters to welcome your visitors. This adds to the overall experience and warms them up before they get into your church auditorium.
Ensure social distancing and COVID-19 protocols
This year has brought with it a new normal because of the new coronavirus. You can’t afford to let your guard down even though the lockdown has been eased in your location. Ensure that you abide by all COVID-19 protocols, especially using facemasks, social distancing, and sanitizers.
Doing this even shows your visitors and congregants how much you care about their welfare. Make sure that you have embedded Livestream of the carol service on your website as well. This way, individuals that can’t make it down for the service can follow via Livestream.
Bonus tip: Work on your theme and music
What is a Christmas carol service without a theme and music to go along? We gather at Christmas carol services to sing carols so your music must be at the highest level possible. Ensure that your choir and invitees know the theme for your carol service beforehand so that they can prepare adequately. If you need to, get more hands to work with your music team to produce quality music.
Conclusion
We all look forward to Christmas carol services to add spice to our celebration. In this post, we have outlined a few ways for you to plan the best Christmas carol service ever. Don’t forget, ChurchPad will help you spread the word easily. Check to see our array of products that you can use.
