Outreach Inc. is promoting a new campaign: Back to Church Sunday - Sept 13th, 2009.

It's based on a simple statistic: 82 percent of un-churched people surveyed said that they’d be open to visit a church, if a friend or family member invited them.

Todd Rhoades wrote a review of the campaign, here are some highlights:

Inviting newcomers is only part of the campaign. The other part is getting the church ready for them to show up. Outreach has put together several tools to help churches prepare for visitors.

A free downloadable planning guide offers advice on everything from sermon planning to instructions for greeters. Churches are asked to plan for the program and to make sure their buildings are visitor friendly. They’re also encouraged to pay attention to small details--like clear signage and clean bathrooms–that are important to visitors

Along with the campaign planning guide and an interactive Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/backtochurch), Outreach has put together a “Rethink Church” booklet, addressing the 10 top reasons why people drop out of church, along with videos, articles and other resources. The booklet addresses common objections such as, “I don’t believe in organized religion,” “Church is boring,” and “Christians are judgmental and hypocritical.”

What do you think about this idea? Will you do it at your church? Would it be effective in your community?