Church Marketing Sucks

In the midst of all my “soul searching” rants of recent weeks, most notably the Bastards With Bibles series, I’m getting a decent amount of inquiries asking “How do we figure this stuff out? How do we identify who we are as church or organization?”

First of all, this is not easy stuff to figure out. No magic pill. No amazing web app. No special recipe or secret sauce. I’ve had the privilege of helping many groups through soul searching exercises, and every experience has been different. In addition to some serious seeking after God (prayer, fasting, silence, retreat, etc.), there is an activity that has helped to guide my thinking and conversation. It was a little tool developed by the Personality team. (Full disclosure: Personality is a company I started in 1998 and it is one of my day jobs.)

You’re welcome to try it out with your church or ministry. My wife and I used it with our home group earlier this year and after six hours of soul searching, we arrived at some really healthy understanding. I hope it can help you too.