Your Questions Answered: The I Can Only Imagine Church Campaign Kit

I Can Only Imagine is the bestselling Christian song of all time, with versions charting on Christian, secular, gospel, and country music charts. The excitement behind the movie release is a huge opportunity for churches to engage not only their congregation but the whole community.

We would like to take some time to answer some of the questions many of you are asking.  We’ve also provided previews of the 1st week for all of the components featured in the Church Campaign Kit. The I Can Only Imagine Church Campaign Kit offers everything a church needs to launch a campaign that emphasizes the key themes of hope, forgiveness, and redemption. Here is some helpful information:

Does my church have to see the movie before we can start the small group study or sermon series?

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While it is helpful, it’s not necessary to see the movie before beginning the campaign. In fact, we recommend starting your sermon series about two weeks before the movie comes out in theaters, which is on Friday, March 16, 2018. By starting before the film is released, you provide your church family with an outreach opportunity. The kit includes an optional introductory two-week series that will help prompt your congregation to invite unchurched friends. To the right, we’ve provided a couple of example timelines for how to incorporate Easter with your I Can Only Imagine Sermon Schedule.

What do I need for my small groups/Sunday school class to be able to do the I Can Only Imagine Study?

• Figure out how many groups you want to start and purchase one Small Group Study Kit for each of your groups.
• Determine if there will be more than one leader for any of your groups. If so, purchase additional Leader’s Guides. The I Can Only Imagine Leader’s Guide contains great discussion and facilitation questions for each week, along with helpful tips on leading a group.
• Determine how many participants will be in each group and purchase Journals (our participant’s guide/study guide) for each member. This beautifully designed 28-day Journal includes scripture, reflective questions, and prayer that will help produce real change in the participant.
• Please note: one copy of each of these items is included in the I Can Only Imagine Church Campaign Kit.

When does the movie release?

I Can Only Imagine releases in theaters on Friday, March 16, 2018. If your church is interested in doing an event earlier that week, opportunities are available and can be arranged here.

What are the themes for each of the 4 sermons?

The four sermons are titled: Imagine a loving father, Imagine forgiveness, Imagine redemption, and Imagine going home. Key themes include love, forgiveness, redemption, eternity, hope, the gospel, and the life of Jesus. Download a PDF overview of the key themes and biblical focuses.

Does the sermon series line up with the small group study series week by week?

Yes, we have created the sermons series and the small group study to mirror one another. If you preach the first sermon on the topic of “Imagine a loving father” over the weekend, then all small groups would follow up by watching Week One of the video Series during their meeting and completing Days 1-7 in their Journals throughout the week.

How many weeks are the sermon series and small group study?

The Sermon Series and Small Group Study are 4 weeks. There are 2 optional bonus sermons that can be added on the beginning of the sermon series to make it a 6-week option. These additional 2 sermons are designed to be used as an outreach tool to build excitement around your church campaign and focus on the themes of evangelism and hospitality.

Do you offer discount rates for bulk orders?

Yes, you can purchase any of our I Can Only Imagine resources in case-quantities (available soon on our website) and automatically receive 15% off regular prices. If you sign up to be a member of City on a Hill, you’ll receive an additional 10% off as well. The case quantities for the I Can Only Imagine resources consist of:

• 22 per case for Small Group Studies
• 40 per case for Journals
• 40 per case for Leader’s Guides
• 30 per case for Series DVDs

You can also contact Rebecca Bowen, our director of sales, directly via email or at 502-245-2425 extension 187 for special group rates of up to 35% off.

How does my church order group movie tickets?

Check out the I Can Only Imagine groups for information on taking your church to the movie when it releases in theatres and/or renting out a showtime for your church.

And finally, here are the samples that we promised to get you started:

Journal (Week 1) pdf
Leader’s Guide (Week 1) pdf
Video Series (Week 1) link
Sermon Series (Week 1) pdf
Children’s Curriculum (Week 1) pdf

We’d also like to mention that we’ve taken the time to prepare a planning guide that comes with the Church Campaign Kit. This will address more specific “how to” processes when it comes to launching the I Can Only Imagine campaign in your church.

We hope these help you to cast a vision for launching an I Can Only Imagine church campaign! If you have any further questions about these resources that were not answered in this post, please feel free to contact us via email and we will be happy to help! If you’re ready to purchase a Church Campaign Kit, follow the link below.

Buy the Church Campaign Kit