As far as the eye can see...people are packed in.

Most stand in line, shuffling forward every 15 seconds, some even braving the cold as the line goes out the door.

They're tired from a long day at work and chauffeuring the kids around, but they're still there. They wouldn't dream of missing it.

All for a 5-second interaction.

No, it's not a celebrity sighting or the release of the newest iPhone — it's to get a smear of dirt on their heads.

Ash Wednesday is in less than a month, the exact moment we all talk about longingly in staff meetings but don't realize we actually have:

"If only we could get them here!"

("Them" being those who aren't regularly coming to our church.)

And we get so caught up in do we have enough ashes and someone showing up riiiiiight after we just finished cleaning off our thumbs...

...that we miss the huge evangelization opportunity we have in Ash Wednesday.

It's one of a few days a year where the people we want to impact literally come to us, which makes our job SO MUCH EASIER...if we know how to capitalize on the moment.

Because besides all your regulars, who is this person is who only shows up on major feast days?

• They don't hate Catholicism so deeply that they don't want to be associated with it; in fact, they're willing to wear a really visible (and to a secular eye, super weird) sign around that they are Catholic.
• There is some sort of tie still holding them to the faith — maybe cultural, perhaps familial, or just a sense of belonging and "this is what we do."
• But they either a) don't have such a strong connection that it outweighs their busyness or boredom to attend regularly, or b) they haven't had a deep encounter with Jesus and so there doesn't seem to be a point.

But these people have raised raised their hands (or foreheads) that they are at least slightly interested in the faith.

And it's our job to respond to that interest.

So the question I want you to ask yourself is: "What could we do to move someone who is at least slightly interested in faith to the next level?"

As much as we might want to, we can't just jump in and assume we can get someone from halfheartedly going to an Ash Wednesday service to regularly going to Sunday Mass.

So what is the next level of faith commitment? Participating in a Lenten practice? Coming to a church event? Attending a "seeker" event? Personal prayer?

We always have to ask ourselves, "What is the next step for a person at this stage of their faith journey?" and then explicitly tell them what that next step is, because we can't assume they know.

So, let's build out your "how to capitalize on Ash Wednesday" marketing plan right here. ⬇

(This will take a few minutes, but if you do this, your Ash Wednesday impact will be so much greater.)

1. Who are you trying to convince?

Your first task is to take 3 minutes right now and pray/think about the kind of person who might be attending Ash Wednesday services and what their needs are.

(Bonus points if you do this in Adoration and invite the Lord to show you who He's called you to reach!)

Here are some questions to ask:

• Where is this person in their personal prayer life?
• Would they describe themselves as spiritual or religious? Do they have a relationship with Jesus or an interest in one?
• What are some reasons they aren't showing up for Mass regularly? (Don't understand it, too busy, bored, frustration with Church teaching, etc.)
• What is their level of catechesis? Did they retain it? Did they have an example of faith growing up?
• Did they ever attend regularly in the past and have just gotten out of the habit?
• What is one spiritual problem they have that you can solve? (Lack of faith, feeling abandoned by God, don't know what they don't know, angry with Church teachings, etc.)

Remember, it's okay to pray/guess about the answers. It's just to get you in the headspace of knowing how to help people in this category in general because you can more easily get to their feelings this way.

2. Decide the next step for them.

Next, let's break down what some common next steps might be for that audience you've pictured:

• Have a good/better impression of the Church
• Help them feel like they belong/are missed
• Encourage them to grow deeper in personal prayer
• Have them read the Bible and "meet" Jesus
• Invite them to a Lenten series/mission
• Invite them to a "seeker" event/series: Alpha, The Search, etc.
• Invite them to the next Sunday Mass.

3. How will you communicate that next step?

Now that you know what you want them to do, how are you going to tell them to do it?

The ideas below are basically summed up in: have a seeker-focused event either attached to or soon after Ash Wednesday, offer a welcoming environment and opportunities for prayer, and consider giving away something (besides just ashes!) that will help them in grow in their faith this Lent.

But to help cut down on the indecision and 15 more things to do, here's what I would prioritize based on the goal you selected in step 2:

➡️ Have a good/better impression of the Church​
I used to tell my college students, "Sometimes, our purpose in evangelization is to get people to think that not all Catholics are so bad." If that is the case, you're going to focus on the welcoming experience. Make sure you have friendly greeters on hand and good flow in the lines/parking lot. Try to make sure newcomers get seats. Have all the priests on hand to say hi to everyone as the come in/leave. Go a step further with having prayer teams set up or a place to collect prayer intentions. Even if they don't engage, they'll still leave with a positive impression.

➡️ Help them feel like they belong/are missed.
​The communication here is similar to the above, but really try to connect with people individually. If you happen to know someone who hasn't been in a while, express how good it is to see them. Compliment someone on their shirt or jewelry. Ask their name. Consider even having a (meatless!) fellowship event after an evening Mass.

➡️ Encourage them to grow deeper in personal prayer.
​For this goal, the problem is likely that people don't know how to pray versus they aren't interested in prayer. I think the most incredible way to do this would be to hold an event directly after the evening Ash Wednesday service with a meatless meal and a speaker about the foundations of prayer, especially non-rote prayers like Imaginative Prayer or Lectio Divina. Other options include handing out a Lenten devotional or book on prayer (this is my new favorite!), getting everyone a subscription to something like Hallow or Formed, or even just inviting them to stay for Adoration or quiet prayer time in the church after the distribution of ashes.

➡️ Have them read the Bible and "meet" Jesus.
​To grow in their relationship with Jesus, they have to know who He is first. You can encourage this in a number of ways: Getting everyone a "pocket" book with just the Gospels, offering a Bible reading challenge with a daily or weekly reflection send out via email on a particular Gospel throughout Lent (bonus points if you can tie it into a homily series for Lent), or have a "Bible study for beginners" — consider even offering it over Zoom so there is less of a commitment to show up and participate.

➡️ Invite them to a Lenten series/mission.
​This one is pretty straightforward — invite them! — but make sure that it is A) soon after Ash Wednesday (ideally less than two weeks, because you don't want them to lose the momentum and motivation to go), B) not too lofty, but very beginner focused, C) named well so that it would appeal to this group, and D) you get some reason for them to give you their email address — for reminders, for a reflection guide to go along with it, something — so that they don't forget in the meantime and you can remind them.

➡️ Invite them to a "seeker" event/series: Alpha, The Search, etc.
​This one means that you need to have one of these series available, but you definitely have your target audience right there if you do! Even if you don't have a full 8-week experience coming up, could you plan and host a one night event that would pique people's interest for an upcoming program?

➡️ Invite them to the next Sunday Mass.
​If you want to go right for the "big ask" of inviting them back for Sunday Mass, ask yourself why — why should they come back? The "because you should" kind of invite hasn't worked, so what might convince them to attend? Do you have a homily series for Lent that answers a specific need this audience might have? How does attending Mass answer a specific need in their life right now? The biggest thing is to simply invite them; even better is to give them a reason why. If you think the reason they aren't attending is because they don't understand the Mass, consider giving them a simple Mass explanation (Perfect Sense Pamphlet is fantastic for this!) or hosting an event about the Mass (CLARITAS Ministries has a great turn-key option!).

Remember, in all of this, we have to pay attention to the problem we're solving for this audience and using their language to explain how this will help them. Why, not what!!

(If you need a refresher on this, go watch the replay from my recent How to Market Your Parish Like Jesus webinar where I go into more detail on how to practically do this.)

The final step is making sure everyone goes home with something physically to help them live the faith beyond Ash Wednesday...but we'll talk about that next week because this is already a super long newsletter!

So go answer those three questions now, and next week I'll share an easy way to have them bring home more than just a dirty forehead on Ash Wednesday.

For His greater glory,

Emily