The next step is a lu-lu! This may turn out to be the easiest to do and yet the most effective one. We’ve given it some serious thought and testing to ensure it’s 1) easy to teach and do, 2) something that will be a real “lead measurement”, and 3) an effective outreach tool. We call it…
ICEBREAKERS!
An Ice Breaker is a simple statement that anybody can make to anyone else. It can be at work, the grocery store, to your neighbor, or anyone anywhere… it goes something like this:
“You know, it’s like we all went through a Covid Exile where we were all separated from our church or temple, and ever since we’ve come back…we don’t know how to be a community again.”
That’s all there is to it. That’s one (1) Ice Breaker.
In our testing, this was enough to get the other person immediately talking. We have tested it in door-to-door conversations, in small groups, and with random strangers where there was a little conversation going on.
When you say the Ice Breaker, you shut up and just let them talk. Love them and listen. In most every case, the Holy Spirit opens an opportunity for you to say something like, “our church, Beth Sar Shalom, is doing something about it. Why not come by next Saturday morning at 10:00 am for bagels and coffee and see what’s going on?”
This simple sentence, one Ice Breaker, is something we can all do a few times each week—it’s easy even for the shyest person. We're going to ask people to make a commitment to do that – say that one Ice Breaker to 3 different people each week (not at church) and measure what the reaction is.
We'll come up with easy to count reactions like: interest, indifference, or indignation. Let's talk about it next Shabbat over a bagel and coffee!
