Marketing or Ministry

A new Barna Group study is out, and it continues a stream of gloomy reports. Only 4% of Americans hold a biblical worldview. Ninety-six percent of our fellow citizens turn to the world for their answers. And we know how that's been working out. But wait, surely the statistics are exponentially better among our brethren, right? Not really. Focusing on those who claim to be born-again, only 13% turn to the Bible for their answers. And that's down from 19% only two years ago. The world appears to be winning.

What's to be done? Surely something needs to change. Is the message not getting out to people, who are overcome by an avalanche of cultural crap that buries them daily? Do we need to speak louder or smarter?

IS THERE A SWEET SPOT BETWEEN MINISTRY AND MARKETING?

For example, take the "He Gets Us" $100 million marketing campaign. Maybe you saw their two spots during the Super Bowl broadcast. Funded by wealthy Christian families, it makes the points that "Jesus was a social justice activist, just like you," and "Jesus fought against corrupt political parties, just like you." I recently came across a statement from the campaign's marketing team leader who essentially said, "Our ultimate goal is inspiration, not conversion." They're not about proclaiming the Jesus who came to earth to save us by dying on the cross. To me, it looks like they're sacrificing ministry in an attempt to get quantity, not quality.

In my little city, there are about 70 churches of varying size. If they averaged 100 people each, which they definitely don't, then 7000 people would be going to church each Sunday. Nope, not happening in this city. Hardly anyone is out and about. Another point - Last month, there was a new start-up which was well-advertised. They have 300 in attendance already, but I know it's not the previously unreached. These are church-hoppers. I don't want church-hoppers, and neither does my pastor.

Remember the Casting Crowns song titled "Until The Whole World Hears?" Do you think missionaries believe that everyone will accept Jesus? Of course not, and neither do you. I also don't believe that all of the 28,000+ people in my city who don't know Jesus will accept Him. But...I do believe we should act on "Until the Whole City Hears."

I believe that we should prayerfully work on a city-wide marketing campaign that targets each demographic group within the next year with a tailored message. We need to get smart on how to reach each group, and as economically as possible.
Everyone needs to see His message and have an opportunity to accept Him or not.

And at the end of that year, our duty may be done. it's okay for the Rapture to happen then. But if it doesn't, then our duty is to continue to disciple those who did choose Him.

In case you're not aware of it, FaceBook advertising can be directed to a certain demographic in your local area. We're developing 2 different Easter ads, targeting those under 40 and those over 40. And that's about what a single ad costs...$40. A no-brainer for us. We tried a single ad last fall, promoting a family movie night. Un-churched families showed up.

A report on our Facebook Easter advertising, which we spent $100 on. Almost 8000 people saw it. The experts say that if 1 out of 1000 people actually click on the ad, then it's successful. We beat that by 400% with 33 going to our website. And of those, 5 were first-time visitors this morning.

I'm thinking we should advertise at least once a month. We can surely come up with a focused, eye-catching ad that often. Can I imagine 60 first-time visitors in a year? After everything that our church has gone through the last couple of COVID years, that would be a miracle from God.

Could this work for your church, too?

Interesting concept.

Can you tell us where to find your ad?

Have you seen any attendance, related to the ad?

Claymore wrote:Interesting concept. Can you tell us where to find your ad? Have you seen any attendance, related to the ad?

I think your device needs to be in my area for you to be able to see the ad. You can even tailor your ad buy to be sent to specific age ranges. Facebook sees all, knows all.

Our first-time visitor count was adjusted to 9. We'd have to personally ask them if the FB ad is what drew them. But I can tell you that for the last two Easters, we didn't have any visitors.

Well, congrats.

I just finished a Facebook conversation with my pastor, and actually copied your report of how your publicity program worked out.

He thinks that it is worth a try for our church, also. We have some "big-time" visiting preachers or musical groups come in, several times per year. We're going to try to plug in your Facebook idea before those events, and then see if we see any residual attendees in the following weeks.

My city has long been infested with aging NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) who have all but stopped growth for decades. Despite electing an all-liberal city council, they lost last night. A 172-unit subdivision was approved, 5-0, with the first phase being completed by January.

And all the residents will drive right by my church. What an opportunity.

joecool wrote:My city...all-liberal...

In the last couple of months, there have been drag queen shows, not in a library or anywhere public, but inside local businesses. However, out on the downtown sidewalks, there's a very public display of painted rainbow "certificates" on sidewalks in front of businesses that are gay/trans lifestyle-affirming. On Thursday, my pastor said that he feels led to conduct a "Pastor in the Park" event, which would include him reading a Bible story to kids. It wouldn't be an "in-your-face" protest with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, or anything like that. Just an opportunity to give people a choice to participate in something that's infinitely better for their souls.

I've previously mentioned the possibility of my writing an illustrated children's book. Now I'm thinking of tailoring it for this park event, and passing out copies to the kids so they can follow along. Time to meet with the pastor.

Just got back from visiting the marketing guy at our local newspaper. But he's much more than just that and he recommends that we skip the paper and just go with digital ads on various platforms. He's going to make a presentation to the leadership team next week on what works in our area. Do I trust him, or is he just another slick promoter?

Just before leaving our city 20 years ago to pursue his career, he attended a youth group...at my church! He's still a Christian and loves being back in Montana. And he hates what social media and the culture have done to our country. Yeah, he's one of us.

We've adopted a tagline to go with our marketing efforts. "Real Answers For Real Life." Facebook and USPS Direct Mail will be what we use for now. Both are inexpensive.

Yesterday, a HS teacher here committed suicide, thankfully not at school. But the community has been rocked. We'll try to address it with an ad: "Don't Give In, Don't Give Up. The Answers Are In Here." (picture of a Bible)

Did an in-depth study of my church's attendance for the past year, and here are the results. DO NOT add them all up...

1) Our average weekly attendance is 85.

2) There are 115 people who attend at least twice a month, whom I categorize as "Regular Attendees." If these 30 people tried to come every week, that would be a 35% gain, without actually bringing anyone new into church. And a church that has more bodies in the seats can encourage a visitor looking for a new church.

3) There are 155 people who attend at least once every two months. So, it appears that there are an additional 40 people who can be categorized as "Casual Attendees." It's possible that for them, church is not a high priority, and they come only when it's convenient.

Of course, numbers aren't everything. But two hours every two months isn't going to do the "40" much good. "Do not fail to assemble yourselves." Especially during these times, it pays to stay close to your church family, whose godly influence and support is infinitely better than the world's. We need to help them to see the value in staying close, and keep them from joining the ranks of the "unchurched."

The mission field appears to be growing at a faster rate than population growth. Fight the Cull-ture. It's cutting out more and more souls.

Last night, one of my church friends sent me a link to these witnessing cards that were jam-packed with information. One was the ABCs of salvation and the other was about the End Times/Rapture. He wanted to know if we should buy these for people in our church to hand out.

In my opinion, 99.9% of these would get tossed without a second look. The vast majority of unchurched people have absolutely no foundational knowledge on which we can build on. But they DO have problems, challenges and questions about life.

I suggested to him that we develop multiple cards for different situations. For example, you might know someone who is struggling with a family member's illness. Or someone who has lost faith in all the institutions that have failed us in recent years. You could pick up the appropriate card and then pass it on to whoever needs it.

"Real answers to real life." Hey, that just happens to be our church's new tag line.

joecool wrote:Did an in-depth study of my church's attendance for the past year, and here are the results.

1) Our average weekly attendance is 85.

2) There are 115 people who attend at least twice a month, whom I categorize as "Regular Attendees." If these 30 people tried to come every week, that would be a 35% gain, without actually bringing anyone new into church. And a church that has more bodies in the seats can encourage a visitor looking for a new church.

3) There are 155 people who attend at least once every two months. So, it appears that there are an additional 40 people who can be categorized as "Casual Attendees." It's possible that for them, church is not a high priority, and they come only when it's convenient.

Those numbers sound pretty good to me. For our church it would be

1) Our average weekly attendance is 12 (counting Pastor & his wife)

2) There are 13 people who attend at least twice a month

3) There are 14 people who attend at least once every two months.

I was invited to go to the next city to look at Christmas decorations last night. Our first stop was at a very big church, and along with hundreds of other vehicles, we drove into a field like a drive-in theater. For the next half-hour, we watched a computerized light show with 25,000 light bulbs and laser projections, synchronized to music on their very own FM frequency.

As the minutes went by, I realized I was far from enjoying the show. This isn't fair, I thought. How can little churches in town compete with this? On top of that, all the music was secular. There was even a rock song from the 70's that had nothing to do with Christmas at all.

Was this ministry? Maybe. Or was it marketing...to the lowest common denominator?

Someone told me that it's been nearly 25 years since our church did a live Nativity scene. Said the cars lined up for blocks to drive by it. I think it's time to bring it back next year, but with a twist for today's jaded audience.

A nativity scene, using Montana-specific animals. (bighorn, elk, grizzly, etc.) And the 3 wise men can be a mountain man, a cowboy, and a contemporary rancher.