Advent in the Catholic tradition is always a time for new beginnings and renewal. In fact, this first Sunday after Thanksgiving, is the beginning of our Catholic New Year. Our year begins not on January 1st but with the First Sunday of Advent.

With new beginnings, we are given three tremendous gifts and opportunities:

1. Enhance existing relationships
2. Repair frayed relationships
3. Build new relationships

These gifts and opportunities may seem to be available to us all year long, but they are uniquely available to us beginning in Advent and extending into the Christmas season. We are more present with each other in our homes and our Churches than at any other time of the year which makes this a perfect time to say thank you and build on current relationships, to work on reconciling relationships that have been hurt over time and to invite those who are new to become more engaged.

We should be aware that we need to be critically aware of four key principles.

1. Expressing gratitude: The more thankful we are for an individual's real presence and gifts the more likely we are to create successful relationships. In fact our research shows that 68% of people will be more engaged by even a single thank you.
2. Expressing invitation: We learn so much from an invitation because it gives the other the opportunity to say “no,” But it also gives them the opportunity to say “yes.” If you have even 50-100 visitors invited to say “yes” during Advent & Christmas, what would it mean to you and your community if even 5-10 said “yes.” What is amazing is that they will say yes.
3. Begin Personal: We are 15x more likely to be engaged when someone takes the time to know their name. There are very easy ways to make our communication and engagement personal.
4. Making It Easy: From the moment someone wants to say “yes” to become engaged and make a gift, we have 15 seconds. That may be surprising but it's true. We only have 15 seconds. After that time, more than 75% of people will change their mind. We need to be ready for those moments and take advantage of this amazing but brief opportunity.

How much effort will this take? And what can be the impact of working on these opportunities and paying attention to these principles?

1. What does it take? Anything good requires some effort. In this case, to do this well, you would need to commit 1-2 hours of time. Ideally 1 hour of someone's time to look at communications and 1 hour to help provide critical reporting.
2. What can this mean? For a community of at least 500 active members, this can mean at a minimum an increase of 5-10 new members, an increase in holiday giving of 5-10 percent and an increase in recurring giving of at least $20,000-$40,000.
3. What else does it mean? Our community can become even more inviting and stronger. We create greater opportunity for grace to be felt and conversion to happen. Our invitation and engagement can make it easier for this mystery of Grace.

What do I need to do to succeed? Before I answer this question, what I share below will be critical to follow precisely. You may want to edit this process but PLEASE!!!i don't change or edit this process until you have followed through with this exact process at least 3 times.

What do I need to do to succeed? There are only two must do's….

1. Send Personalized Smart Communications via Email: These communications are automated within GiveCentral. Everyone gets a personal communication, with a personal invitation and ask. Anyone who wants to become more engaged or make a gift can do this in 15 seconds or less. Please send this communication at least 10 days before Christmas. We have seen parishes increase giving by as much as 40%--Time required 60-90 minutes.
2. Use Engagement Cards with SmartQR in your Churches : Just having these Cards present makes it easy for your community to learn more, join, share a prayer request and make a gift all in less than 15 seconds. Have these cards available in all of your pews. You can even print a poster. We have pre-build templates to make it easy--Time required 10-20 minutes
• Some active parishioners won't like the idea of engagement cards but these cards aren't for them!. They are for everyone who isn't as engaged but is open to the possibility of beginning a conversation whether that begins with a question, a prayer or a gift.

You may wonder why there are only two must do's. There are only two because you can achieve dramatic success with just these simple actions using GiveCentral.

What if we have extra time? Can we get bonus credit? Yes!

1. Send a thank you email: On the day after Christms send a thank you email to everyone in your community. Include a picture from your Christmas service. Thank everyone for their participation, prayers, presence and gifts. This communication can be scheduled. We have already built templates to help with this. Time required 15 minutes.
2. Send a Christmas text and/or What's app note: Consider a brief note wishing everyone a blessed holiday. We have automated functionality that makes this possible. Time required 15 minutes.
3. Ask for help before the liturgy? Share your text number. Invite everyone present to share their email address so that we can be better at communicating. You can ask your visitors and students present to share their email address. Those present can also share a prayer request or other need. We have automated tools to help make this engagement simple. Time required 2 minutes.
4. Encourage grace before meals: Send a special note before the Feast of the Holy Family which is the Sunday after Christmas. Children of families that say grace before meals are 50% more likely to continue with their faith when they pray before meals together. Even better, also encourage the family to come to liturgy together for the Feast of the Holy Family. Faith retention increases to more than 80%. We have templates available that make this communication easy. Time required 15 minutes.
5. Lent & Easter are Coming: We will ask to send a personalized email and use engagement cares again for Lent and Easter.