When starting a new church or wanting to impact a community for Christ through evangelism, scattering seeds should be one of your primary missions. On Church Planter reports we ask for the # of contacts made each month. No coincidence that often the church plant with the most salvations & baptisms is also the one with the most contacts made in the community over the course of the year. That’s not always the case at first, because some communities will take more of the spiritual work of cultivating the ground through prayer & serving before seeds can be planted & harvest gathered. But if a church planter aggressively devises a strategy of seed scattering & planting, eventually a harvest can be expected (Psalm 126:6).

What is scattering seed for a church planter? Seed scattering is any activity that intersects believers &/or the gospel with the lives of people in the community. The more directly evangelistic the better. But considering that it probably takes 20 touches for someone to become a Christian, plan for activity that cultivates, plants, & draws the harvest.

Here’s 5 Proven Ways to increase your contacts & seeds planted in your church plant:

1. Invite Cards – Always have something to invite people to & a card with the time & place with you. Print hundreds at a time & make sure your core team & congregation take a stack with them to give out or place on community bulletin boards as they go each week.

2. Direct Mail – Direct mail can be done on a small, affordable scale. You’ll need a Bulk Mail permit & someone who can do at least basic graphic design. Keep it simple. It’s the two color postcards that stick out in today’s mail boxes. Get to know Vista Print & Outreach.com for affordable starting points. Even better, get to know a local printer & include seed scattering to building relationships in the community. Also, check out the Mapping Center for Evangelism to get your communities addresses plus much more.

3. Facebook Page – likes & shares. Facebook is a great tool for spreading seeds about the gospel & your church. Start a Page, post regularly, & encourage your core team to like & share, which spreads the message to their network. Love what the Church at Addis did with Facebook. They found out one of the biggest needs in their community was help with blended families & they started a Facebook Page called Blended Family Help to connect Gospel resources with the need in peoples lives.

4. Facebook Ads – for $5 you can get your message to 1,000’s of people in a small town or neighborhood. Facebook Ads are easy to use, simple as posting about an event, then hitting a button to “boost” it & make sure it gets out there with a little bit of cash. Check out this helpful post from Outreach Mag on 6 steps to a Facebook Ad.

5. School Newsletters – Few people subscribe to newspapers anymore, everybody hates spammy email advertising, direct mail is a low % read for most. How can I get into the home of almost every young family in my community? Consider an ad in the local elementary & Jr. High newsletter. Goes home with every student. Even if it reaches no one, you’ve  done something that  supports the local school & administrators won’t forget you for that. Our local schools allow a business card size ad for about $25 per issue.

What are some other ways that you scatter seeds in your community? I’ll share 5 more next week.