So, what are church contacts? A church contact is someone who serves as a point of contact between their church and outside conservative political groups and activity.
They can help distribute critical and timely information, such as non-partisan voter guides, legislative alerts, legislative scorecards, leadership training, as well as other seasonal political information.
By initiating voter registration drives, petition drives, and offering time-sensitive information, church contacts can help mobilize a large bloc of conservatives to influence the political and legislative process.
The Primary Goals of Church Contacts Are:
1) Identify fellow conservatives in your church
Review a list of the members of your church (via a church directory) and identify those that you know to be conservatives. Use this information to create a database of identified conservatives for your church.
2) Register individuals in your church to vote
Most churches are little better than the general public when it comes to levels of voter registration. This makes voter registration a critical function of the church contact, since it’s impossible to be effective in the political system without being registered to vote.
Cross-reference the list of identified conservatives in your church with the county voter registration list to determine who needs to be registered.
3) Keep fellow church members informed
The more informed conservatives are the more effective they can be. Church contacts should work to provide information about lobbying opportunities, political candidates, ballot issues, petitions, opportunities to get involved in a local political party, as well as how they may be able to participate in other activities you may be planning.
Keep a calendar of important political dates for your area, such as party primaries, general elections, county council or school board meetings, political party meetings, or meetings of other conservative political organizations.
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Remember, politics is cyclical. Based on which elections are approaching, or what’s happening in Congress, your state legislature or local government, the type of activities a church contacts should focus on will vary.
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(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series”.)
