Commitment Cards and Information Requests: some practical issues

Planning Groups must make two decisions in regard to the practicalities of giving out and receiving back commitment cards. The first is about distribution, the second is about worship.

Distribution
Decide on when the literature - the letter, brochure, commitment card and any reply envelope - is to be distributed to the congregation. There are two options:

• The first option is to distribute the literature in advance of the Annual Review Sunday. The intention here is that the commitment cards are returned on the Review Sunday. The problem with this is that the response is made before any preaching has taken place.
• The second option is to distribute the literature on the Review Sunday itself and request that the responses are returned at a later date (two Sundays later is a reasonable timescale). It is always important to have a clear date for returning the responses. Remember to state the correct return date on the commitment card.

Sunday Worship
The purpose of commitment cards is to enable a response from the whole congregation and not simply those requesting additional information. For many churches this will be accompanied by a liturgical action during Sunday worship. If the commitment cards are to be returned on the Review Sunday, the Methodist Covenant Service offers excellent content and a framework for the cards to be received within a worship context.

If the literature is distributed on the Review Sunday itself, the challenge is then to find a suitable subsequent Sunday at which to receive and offer up the returned commitment cards within the context of worship. Make use of the liturgical resources to find some accompanying prayer, or adapt sections of the Methodist Covenant Service.