Following is a short paper I wrote as part of my master’s class at
MARKETING AND OUTREACH
Who are we? What is our product? How do we effectively communicate this to our potential customers? These are questions any successful organization should ask. In the realm of the church it is not different. We must know who we are, what we are trying to “sell” and how to communicate this to others if we are going to be successful. In his article, Non-Profit Management: The Church Leader’s MBA: Marketing and Outreach, Dr. Bob Whitesel defines marketing (outreach) in 4 stages. This assignment will attempt to detail Stage 1, “Identifying the needs of people” (2), in relationship to my context as District Superintendent. I will discuss the concept and design a strategy for the pastors on my district to begin this process.
In the movie “Field of Dreams”, a very popular phrase became part of the vernacular of the American culture. It was, “If you build it they will come.” In other words, “build a baseball field here in the middle of the country, and the stars from the past will show up to play, and people will come to watch.” It may be true in the movies, but it is not a sure thing in the church world. Many who have built new facilities have realized that the buildings alone will not guarantee long term growth and success. We must have a plan in order to make the most of the opportunities God gives us in any given circumstance. A church may experience some “accidental” growth, but is much more likely to succeed if there is a plan to implement. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (KJV). Where there is no vision, purpose or plan, many attitudes can set in. One of the most dangerous, in my opinion, is a sense that, because we are the church, they, the sinner, outsider, etc., will come. If our buildings are nice, and our people are friendly, they will come. It is an attitude of WAITING instead of CREATING. The purpose of marketing and outreach is to clearly and honesty make ourselves and our product known to our potential customers. The previous statement is very businesslike, perhaps restated to fit the church we could say, “the purpose of outreach is to clearly and honestly make our church and the message of hope through Jesus Christ known to our town. This message must be sent in a way that those we are targeting will hear and understand it. C.S. Lewis said “If we are to convert our heathen neighbors, we must understand their culture.” (The Quotable Lewis, p.435, taken from Making Church Relevant, Dale Galloway, 1999, p. 62) Peter Drucker says, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” (Quotable Business, p. 146, taken from
A major concern I have as a District Superintendent is the perceived notion that a church will grow, or might I say, should grow, just because we are the church ,we have a good doctrine and we have nice people. The truth is, many of our churches are in decline, some of them seriously so. It seems apparent to me that what we are doing now is not working. We must re-evaluate ourselves and see what is wrong. Rick Warren tells the story of a Peanuts cartoon that he says describes the evangelistic strategy of many churches. He says “Charlie Brown was practicing archery in his backyard. Instead of aiming at a target, he would shoot an arrow at his fence and then walk over and draw a target around wherever the arrow stuck. Lucy walked up and said, ‘Why are you doing this, Charlie Brown?’ He replied without embarrassment, ‘This way I never miss!” (The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren, 1995, p. 155). This is contrary to the ministry of Christ. He was very aware of his culture, and had a specific plan in mind to reach them.
As mentioned in this paper’s abstract, Dr. Whitesel defines marketing in 4 stages. They are:
Stage 1: Identifying the needs of people.
Stage 2: Designing something, such as a ministry or program, to meet those needs.
Stage 3: Communicating information about those ministries and services to people who need them.
Stage 4: And evaluating satisfaction levels of those that receive the ministry and/or service.
I would like to address Stage 1 in this paper and design a basic strategy for the pastors on my district to use in developing an overall marketing plan.
I think it all starts with Dr. Whitsel’s question, “Who are we reaching out to?” (The Church Leaders MBA: Marketing and Outreach, Whitesel, 2004, p. 3) Every successful business, including the church, must address this question. We are of course writing this under the assumption that we know what our product is, the Gospel of Christ. So, who are we trying to reach with the gospel? This is our driving question, the place to start in developing a marketing strategy. I think we operate under some faulty assumptions in this area. This causes our results to be disappointing at times. Some of those faulty assumptions are:
- Most people know who we are
- Most people know where we are (location)
- Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the church and what it believes
- The world culture is not so unlike the church culture
- They know what we mean when we use “church-ese”
- They know who Jesus is and what he came to do
These are assumptions that will kill the outreach efforts of a church. Many, some of them our neighbors, know very little about us, what we believe, or even who Jesus is. So we must address our assumptions, even to the point of becoming very elementary in our presentations.
A PRACTICAL MARKETING STRATEGY
(Phase I)
Below are some suggestions I can make to the pastors on my district to assist them in developing a marketing strategy for their church. One assumption I make at this point is that each church will have conducted a S.W.O. T. analysis in accordance with previous discussions. Based on the conclusions of that study, the following can be developed.
SELF ANALYSIS
- Do we have any identifiable church illnesses? This information can be determined by studying the various “diseases” mentioned by Dr. Whitesel in Marketing and Outreach. (p.5) I love what Dr. Whilesel says in this article concerning discovering information about your church. In discussing focus groups designed to help you find the reality of your organization, he says, “Groups should be made up of those in your mission field.” (p.9) We must understand how the outsider sees us, this will give us a better picture of our health. At times, when we go to the doctor we say we feel fine. Upon further examination however, he may find some issues that need to be treated. We at times are blinded by our own opinions of ourselves. Many restaurants use “mystery shoppers” to visit their stores in order to give an unbiased opinion of the store. We can learn something from this approach. What if we ask someone to be a “mystery worshipper” for a Sunday or two, then report to us the findings?
- What “treatment” is needed to correct the above illness? What do WE need to change before we attempt to reach out to others? This step in the self-analysis may take several months to evaluate and correct. It is important to understand the need for a healthy environment to exist before unleashing a major marketing project. You don’t particularly want the lost to come into an environment where they will sense sickness and disease among the church people.
- Develop a concise mission statement that can be understood by the community. It must be readable, understandable, and clear in its message and information. The key challenge in communicating the vision is “Finding creative ways that enable the entire congregation to thoroughly understand God’s vision for their future and its implications.” (Leading Congregational Change, Herrington, Bonem, and Furr, 2000, p. 68)
- Explore the most effective ways to get this message to the most people. Is it written, TV, billboards, radio, or some other means? What is the most cost effective? Then plan to do what is most effective. Make it a part of the annual budget every year.
- Develop a plan of evaluation. How can we see if we are getting results from this plan? Remember, you must give it a minimum of 18 months before determining if it is successful or not. (Whitesel, p. 13).
In conclusion, I believe this is just a basic beginning point in developing an ongoing marketing and outreach plan. I think the church needs to take advantage of the many opportunities made available to us to share the good news of Jesus Christ. I understand that “if we build it” some will come. However, if we know who we are, know what our message is, and who needs it, then devise a plan to influence them, we can be much more effective in reaching people for Christ.
Reference Page
Whitesel, Bob, 2004, Non Profit Management
Galloway, Dale,1999, Making Church Relevant,
Warren, Rick, 1995, The Purpose Driven Church,
Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, James Furr, Leading Congregational Change,
