Has anyone used www.meetup.com to invite new people to your cell group? We have one couple in our church who has literally birthed a cell of 15-20 people through this website. John and Janet live approximately 15-20 minutes from our celebration venue. Janet said to me, “I became desperate for communication with young mothers who were experiencing similar struggles and joys of raising young children. So I began to search on the internet and discovered meetup.com. I posted that I was starting a group for young mothers and now I have 36 mothers registered.”

As a result of the mother’s group, John and Janet started a family cell group on Monday night for those who wanted to learn more about Jesus. They now have 15-20 people coming. They also post their Monday night cell group on meetup.com.

Meetup.com is not a Christian site. Every kind of group imaginable is listed. Yet, it might be a great way to attract pre-Christian people to your small group. The service is only free for the first 30 days. After that, it costs $12.00 per month for a minimum of six months ($19.00 if you just use it one month at a time).

I haven’t tried it but I think I will. Why? At least in CA it’s not attractive to go door to door. And fliers rarely work. Yet, people are on the Internet 24-7. It seems like an effective way to advertize the cell group to unchurched/pre-Christian people in the area. Janet told met that when people respond to the invitation, it’s wise to first set up a phone call with the person to make sure it’s the right fit (e.g., you don’t want to attract evangelicals from other churches to your cell). Granted, nothing can replace friendship evangelism. Yet, meetup.com might be an effective tool to add to your evangelism arsenol.

Has anyone on this blog tried meetup.com? Do you have suggestions or ideas?

Other comments?

Joel Comiskey