C. Michael Johnson and Tom Bowers

After 30 years of experience with holistic church marketing and community outreach, working with churches and ministries across nearly 100 denominations, in every state and in many other countries. Drawing on that wide experience, this article outlines what they've learned to be the 12 most common mistakes churches make in Christmas outreach.
Church can takes active steps to avoid these mistakes and dramatically increase the effectiveness of their outreach. Christmas outreach done in the way described here will positively impact every other facet of a church's ministry, and many of the recommendations provide smarter ways to plan for the whole year.

Mistake #1: Not planning for something great.

Seth Godwin calls it the Purple Cow.
Tom Peters calls it the WOW principle.
George Lois calls it the Big Idea.

Seeking a change of scenery, you drive a new route through the countryside. The first cow you pass draws attention. If kids are along, they practice mooing and laugh. Everyone watches for the next cow. Yet after an hour of cruising along pasture fences, who notices anymore? Not that the cows have become any less effective at being cows. But to a passing motorist with passing interest, all those cows begin to seem familiar and ordinary and nearly invisible. The only thing that would get new attention and strong interest would be a purple cow. We live in a world of extraordinary things. The mistake often made is to settle for the ordinary, familiar....or safe. Familiarity does not always breed contempt. But settling for the ordinary and the all-too-familiar may breed something else.