In 9 days, the unthinkable will happen:

Every day, your church offers people the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

And your pews are sparse.

But one day a year, you offer people blessed dirt, and suddenly you're at max capacity.

I know Ash Wednesday is a busy day and the start of a busy season.

I know that by the end of the day, you'll have distributed so many ashes that you'll mash up the two formulas into: "Repent and believe to dust you shall return."

But we have an opportunity here, one we might not get for another 364 days, that we can't waste.

For 10 minutes, we have people who never step foot in church suddenly willingly waiting in line to publicly identify themselves as Catholic.

And the challenge is: Can we evangelize them in just 10 minutes?

Not without a plan. Here's what you can do this week to create an Ash Wednesday marketing plan that might get them to return before Palm Sunday:

Think about the audience.

It's a fact: More people come to receive ashes than normally attend church throughout the year.

Those CAPE (Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Easter) folks are your target audience for Ash Wednesday. Spend 10 minutes writing down everything you can think of about this audience.

• Why are they coming just these few days? Why AREN'T they coming the rest of the year?
• What is their biggest faith struggle/question?
• Where are they in their faith journey?

​Click here for more questions you can ask get to know this group.​

You might be guessing at the answers, and that's okay. It's better if you can get some real data from past OCIA folks/reverts, but even guessing is better than nothing, because it will get you out of "marketing to devout Catholics" mindset and into "marketing to people who barely identify as Catholic" mindset.

And once you have them in mind, you can evangelize them a lot better.

(Side note: How would this group know what time the ashes are distributed? It's not from the bulletin or your pulpit announcement, so likely digital channels your website or social media.

With that in mind, schedule 15 minutes this week to make sure

A) your ash distribution schedule is listed on your website/social media and

B) link to any natural next step resources you might have at the bottom of the page with the schedule — seeker pages, I'm New, receiving sacraments/OCIA, etc. so that if they're so led, they can start to dive a little deeper right then.)

Have something else for them to do while they're there.

What they're expecting is to walk in, get some dirt smudged on their forehead, and walk out.

But this might be the only experience of church (and Jesus) they have all year.

Let's make it memorable.

At the very least, we want to make sure that we go all out: friendliest greeters on hand, everything cleaned and well labeled for where to go, etc. Those little details make a big impression.

But what if we could not just touch their foreheads, but also their souls?

Here's a few suggestions of other things you can attach to an Ash Wednesday service that helps them go just a little bit deeper:

• Have someone give a short witness talk before or after (ideally a revert and bonus points if it's someone well-known in the local community)
• Have prayer teams on hand to pray for people
• Come up with a few Lenten-themed faith reflection questions that would resonate with this audience, post them on big signs around the church, and invite people to walk around and pray and reflect in the quiet church after
• Offer confessions or anointing of the sick before or after
• Have Adoration directly before or after (literally bringing them to Jesus!)

Figure out what they'll do next, and invite them to do it.

Coming to Mass is probably a bit of a stretch for this group. So what is the logical next step, one incremental baby step they can take towards increased faith/participation?

Maybe it's prayer. Maybe it's doing some sort of simple Lenten practice. Maybe it's as simple as exploring and asking some of those questions they normally just ignore.

Then, create a flyer that can get handed out inviting them to take that next step!

​(I started one for you for free here.)​

• Invite them to an event. I know, they're not coming to Mass, why would they go to an event? Mass might feel intimidating, but maybe a Lenten mission, praise and worship night, or even a fish fry would be less so. Go back to what you brainstormed about this audience, and figure out if you could offer something to this group that would help them advance on where they are in their faith journey (likely a few steps further back than your most engaged parishioners, and that's okay!). Note: This group might not be ready to commit to a multi-week series like Alpha or The Search. Aim to hold something like that after Easter, and use the time in between to help them even start asking those questions, maybe with a one-night program that might fit into a busy schedule a bit easier.
• Give something away they can do at home. This could be something you already have (a parish code for Formed or Hallow — if you do that, definitely include a suggested list of what they should watch/listen to first so that it's not overwhelming!), a Lenten devotional, a list of meatless Friday meals, Lenten activities for families, a guide on how to pray when you haven't prayed in a while, etc.
• Make a connection to come back. Ideally, we want to bridge something they do at Ash Wednesday to be a reason they return again. This can be as simple as starting an intriguing, relevant-to-this-audience homily series that starts on Ash Wednesday and continues the following Sunday. Or it can be more elaborate with, say, a question box at Ash Wednesday services where people can ask any faith question they want, and one of the priests will answer them at the fish fry the following Friday. (If you can, try to keep the window between Ash Wednesday and the next connection point as short as possible so you don't lose their interest.)

Get their info.

Ideally, we want to get their contact information so we can continue marketing to them even after Ash Wednesday. That's what will help us make that 10-minute encounter more lasting.

If you're following the "giving something away" suggestion above, especially if it's digital, have them submit their email in a form so you can email it to them after and then continue to follow up (be sure to disclose that you'll also be adding them to your list too and follow all anti-spam laws).

If you're holding an event, ask them to register, but give a specific reason why (reserving their seat at a table with friends, so you can send them a reflection to look over first, etc.). People are not great at RSVPing for RSVPing's sake, but if they are getting something out of registering, you have a better shot of it. (And you don't need to make registration required either if it's a stumbling block.)

Then, use that information! Send a quick note with whatever you're giving away inviting them to return, follow up on prayer requests, share information about any seeker-oriented programs you have coming up or some popular groups at your parish, etc.

Whatever you do, don't ghost them: If you want them to follow up with you by returning, you have to follow up with them to build that relationship and trust.

Prep your communications.

Finally, prep your communications to help you!

First, if you have any seeker-focused communications already (parish overview brochures, sacramental information, guides answering common faith questions), this is the time to pull them out.

Place them strategically in the pews.

Put them in racks in the narthex or outside the bathroom (or literally post them in the bathroom).

Hang up signs everywhere there's a free space in high traffic areas (don't forget the parking lot!).

Then, add in flyers for whatever you've decided you want them to do next.

​(I created one here last year that you can use as a starting point for free.)​

There should be stacks in the pews, by the doors, and in the hands of ushers on the way out.

There's one final piece to this plan that I personally think is the most important.

But I don't want to give you too much to try to fit in this week because then none of it will happen. (Been there.)

So set aside an hour this week to prep the above, and then next Monday, I'll share my favorite Ash Wednesday evangelization tip that takes zero minutes to prepare but makes the absolute biggest impact.

For His greater glory,

Emily

Want even more Ash Wednesday ideas? Last year, I broke out each step of this marketing plan individually with suggestions for each stage; follow this if you want a more detailed guide! Read article

Free Ash Wednesday flyer template You're busy enough this week; you don't need to spend 10 hours on Canva trying to make something from scratch. Grab my free Ash Wednesday flyer template to get you started in promoting your "next step!" Grab the free template