November 12, 2009

Other Churches Suck: How Not to Market Your Church

We've covered plenty of churches who are trying to be edgy, stay relevant and communicate in a way that's never been done before.

• Satan hates [insert church here]
• The 30-day sex challenge
• Che Guevara Baby Jesus
• Church sucks
• Church advertising sucks

Adam Metzger tried to go that route, and he ended up with a big headache.

He wrote to us to tell us about his campaign and see if we had any insight into what went wrong:

I used the phrase "church sucks" in an advertising campaign two weeks ago, and I sort of regret it. It was to advertise the launch of our church. Totally underestimated the continued stigma of that word. Massive feedback (Bad feedback. People called and yelled, threatened to "investigate" and turn me in to Fox News, etc.) from the Christian community (which I expected). However, zero feedback at all from the unchurched (which was the whole point). Church launched with fewer than anticipated--probably from a bad campaign message planned by me…

Continue reading "Other Churches Suck: How Not to Market Your Church"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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September 10, 2009

Helping People Find a Church: 25 Fair Warnings for Visitors

Scott McClellan over at Collide magazine talks about the coolest thing he's seen on a church web site. What is it? A feature that helps visitors find a church by linking to other local churches they might want to try.

That's pretty cool. After all, we're not in competition with the church down the street. If people come to Jesus, everybody wins.

Fair Warning
But what if we took the idea of helping people find a church to the next level? What if instead of just pointing to other churches, we were honest about what people would find at our church? What if we acknowledged our flaws up front so visitors could find out now instead of after six months of pew-warming? What if we gave visitors fair warning about our flaws, issues and firm convictions?

Continue reading "Helping People Find a Church: 25 Fair Warnings for Visitors"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:48 PM
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July 27, 2009

More Church Traffic Jams

National Community Church pastor Mark Batterson visited Woodlands Church in Texas this weekend and shared this perspective:

"When I got to Woodlands Church I couldn't believe how many cars were in the turn lane. And I had this thought: how cool that a church is causing a traffic jam. We need a few more traffic jam churches."

Maybe traffic jams are indicative of everything wrong with megachurches, but you've got to love Batterson's underlying point: lots of people coming to church is worth celebrating.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:22 AM
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June 3, 2009

Ed Young: The Cussing Pastor

Fellowship Church's Ed Young sparked a conversation about pastors using profanity in this video. Before you get completely shocked, his definition of profanity is pretty broad, including words like "crap," "screwed," "hell" and presumably milder but still scatological (bathroom humor) words like "stinks" and "poopyhead." Oh, and of course, "sucks."

Now we've explained why we use "sucks" before and I've even offered my own personal philosophy of profanity (emphasis on personal--that's my own opinion, not CFCC's). I'm not sure it's helpful for us to rehash that debate. You can watch Ed Young, read our take and decide for yourself.

What I do think is interesting is that Ed starts the video by accusing pastors who "swear" of doing it because they're "chasing cool." They're swearing in order to be cool or relevant or hip. I find that hard to believe. I think it's more likely that younger pastors are using what Ed considers profanity because for their younger generation it's no longer considered profanity. That's my two cents.

But what's really important is this accusation of chasing cool. It's somewhat ironic that the pastor behind a seven-day sex challenge where the congregation was encouraged to have sex every day for a week is accusing others of trying to be cool. The fact is, one person's cool is another person's relevant. One person's relevant is another person's reality. One person's reality is another person's damnation.

Continue reading "Ed Young: The Cussing Pastor"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:41 AM
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May 7, 2009

Churches Should Learn to Shut Up Too

The Harvard Business Blog recently published an article entitled When to Keep Your Mouth Shut, taking a look at the high cost of over-communicating. They give some examples: continuing to describe product features after you've convinced your audience, starting with an apology for a lack of preparedness or a pilot letting passengers know over the intercom that they'll have enough gas to reach their destination.

It's these moments, where nothing needs to be said, that someone tries to fill the space and ends up losing momentum, or worse, trust.

So I tried to think up some instances of when the church over-communicates and loses focus:

• The prayers that start and end the announcements after the pastor just ended the message with a prayer. Heck, announcements after the message in general.
  
• Long-winded pulpit explanations that most Sundays aren't like this week (usually because you're talking about church finances or structure).
  
• The lead singer who can't help but give a mini-sermon at the start of each song.
  
• Apologizing for the typo on the screen, the error in lighting, the misplaced set item, etc.

Sometimes it is just better to keep your mouth shut and let your actions do the talking. Sometimes it is just better to keep your mouth shut and not draw attention to things that wouldn't garner attention in the first place.

So what do you think, what are some times churches ought to just shut up?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:29 AM
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April 21, 2009

The Gated Community Church

Rick Warren's Saddleback megachurch opened a new campus in time for Easter--in a gated community where you can only get in if you're a resident or escorted by a resident. A gated community church?

The move has raised all kinds of questions, forcing Saddleback to issue an apology and retract a previous statement that the general public would be able to attend services at the new campus in the Laguna Woods retirement community.

Saddleback defends the move by noting the number of current members and small groups in the community who wanted the new campus. With an average age of 78 in Laguna Woods, this could be seen as an attempt to bring church to the people.

What do you think? Should churches ever be in a position to allow exclusive membership, or is this a good way to reach an exclusive community?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:56 AM
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March 27, 2009

Worthy is the...Labrador?

Here's another one for the "And We Wonder Why We're Hated" conversation...

Matthew Paul Turner, the recovering churched boy, wrote a post earlier this week about an imaginary conversation between mother and child as they both gaze upon this picture.

"Mommy, what is that?"

"Oh, Sweetie, that's a picture of how much God loves the world! He loved the world so much that he took a cross made of 4X4s and penetrated the vital organs of a sheep-looking creature just for you, Baby. Doesn't seeing it make you feel loved and hope-filled?"

"Mommy, is that the same sheep that Jesus left the other 99 to go find?"

"No, Baby, I'm sure that's a different sheep."

If we're going to continue making banners like this and communicating rich theology and deep doctrine through mediums that contort the meaningful message of the Gospel, we're going to keep having books written like this.

What say you?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:10 AM
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February 26, 2009

Lessons from a Mosque: Dealing with Negative Stereotypes

In Minnesota, the heavily Muslim Somali community has been rocked by recent terrorist associations. In October, Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali man from Minneapolis, returned to Somalia and killed himself in a suicide attack. The FBI claims Ahmed was indoctrinated in extremist beliefs while living in Minnesota. Ahmed attended the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center, which has received a barrage of nasty voice mail messages and accusations that the mosque is a recruitment center for terrorists.

So what does a religious institution under attack do? Abubakar officials threw the doors open last night and invited the community. The mosque sought to embrace neighbors, educate the curious about Islam and dispel rumors.

"If people don't know one another, they may think something is not good," said Abdirahman Sheikh Omar, president of the mosque. "We are part of the Minnesota community. We are good citizens. We are taxpayers working for the good of Minnesota society. We are not here to harm anybody."

My first thought was good for them. It seemed like a good way to respond and I was about to move on when I came across this paragraph:

John Ratigan and his wife, Kristin Green, who is eight months pregnant, were thrilled with the center's open house invitation and brought along their 5-year-old daughter, Tona Ratigan Green. "There are a lot of bad stereotypes out there," Green said. "I came here to say I don't share those. ... The people here are real friendly to let all these strangers in here. Our church has never done this." (emphasis mine)

Continue reading "Lessons from a Mosque: Dealing with Negative Stereotypes"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:33 PM
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January 28, 2009

Dealing With Your Church's Bad Drivers

We've talked before about rep'in your church with pride. But sometimes, the people in your church didn't even do anything that bad. Other people are just too doggone picky.

Take this guy for example, who became angry that a lady put on some makeup at the gas station. Then, he saw her Lifechurch.tv license plate cover, and a hilarious voicemail ensued.

So what's a church to do? Order people to keep their membership secret? Provide common courtesy classes? Send out a pre-offense apology letter to the community for anyone who might offend them?

Some marketing problems just don't have good solutions.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:59 AM
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November 19, 2008

Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson

"The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing."

That's a quote that Mark Batterson repeats again and again, and he lives by it. But that's not all he has to say about marketing. He has three terms that represent ideas he really loves to drive home, and if you haven't been exposed to them, you should. So today, we have an exhaustive dictionary of Mark Batterson marketing terms, although the terms did not necessarily originate with him:

Trojan horse (n.)
Etymology: The idea appears to have originated with Mark Batterson and has been communicated by him on numerous occasions.
Definition: A method used to bypass the innate and learned defenses of individuals, specifically in regards to their tendency to use defense mechanisms when faced by the local church.
Examples: Servant evangelism, more comfortable locations for services, use of familiar technology or creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Continue reading "Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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November 11, 2008

Making Churches Safe

If you do something as simple as watch the news for a few minutes, you'll see that this world isn't 100% safe.

Watch for a few weeks, and you'll probably see a story about how even being at church isn't 100% safe. And churches are taking measures to fight against this.

St. John United Church of Christ in Robinson, Texas, is now locking its doors during services on Sunday mornings.

Some churches are going a step further. They are using armed guards to keep watch at their church services. One particularly interesting idea from this article was that "In states where people are allowed to carry concealed weapons, volunteers have become a cost-effective means of providing the security that some churches have come to rely on."

So what's a church to do? Well, like any good reader of this blog, they should consider the message they are communicating with these actions.

Are you marketing fear? If you sat down and asked yourself about your local area, are you sure that it is so fundamentally unsafe that you need to take drastic measures, or are your fears being exaggerated by the fact that the news has to selectively report the scary stories? I would guess most areas aren't actually as dangerous as we think they are based on the stories we hear and the news we see.

Continue reading "Making Churches Safe"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:02 AM
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November 6, 2008

The Power of Story: Compassion Bloggers

Last February we talked about the Compassion International blogger trip to Uganda. This week they're doing it again, taking eight bloggers and a photographer to the Dominican Republic to see firsthand the work of Compassion's child sponsorship efforts that help families overcome poverty and discover Jesus.

I love this idea because it's all about the power of story. Compassion International has an incredible story: Sponsor a kid and save them from poverty. But too often those sponsorship pitches feel like guilt trips. One way to overcome that problem is to tell stories. Instead of focusing on the $32 per month and how easy it is to do, you focus on the actual children and families receiving the help. It creates a connection and the immediate question becomes how can I help.

This year it's a smaller group of bloggers and they had the unfortunate timing of traveling during the presidential election. But three kids are along for the ride, including 8-year-old Nick Challies who is blogging his experience and two sisters who described meeting the kids they sponsor. Powerful stories.

What kind of stories is your church creating?

And are you telling them?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:15 AM
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November 4, 2008

What Churches Can Learn from Election Marketing

Nearly two years of election mania comes to a climax today. Get out and vote and celebrate the end of election year marketing (or start prepping for 2012). This has been an incredible year for election marketing and the church could learn a thing or two.

While churches can learn a lot from the pricey presidential campaigns, they may find more in common with the low budget local campaigners. Either way, see if your church can glean a few lessons from the political marketers:

• Marketing lessons from the U.S. election by marketing guru Seth Godin.
• McCain vs. Obama on the Web.
• Yours truly looks at specific campaigns and determines that Election Marketing Sucks.
• Marketing pundits have been hailing the Obama campaign machine for months, so here are two quick examples: Why the Obama Brand is Working and Obama's Viral Marketing.
• And for added fun, MTV points out freebies for voters (though it's illegal in some places).

And don't forget to vote!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:55 AM
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October 28, 2008

The Mystery Worshipper Phenomenon

Mystery shoppers for churches seem to be the latest rage. There was the recent Wall Street Journal article, we mentioned it last week, the Tennessean covered it Sunday and Anne Jackson blogged about it yesterday.

Of course you can't talk about Mystery Worshippers without mentioning the UK site Ship of Fools. They practically started the trend and have reviewed more than 1,600 churches in the past decade:

"We all need to remember what it is to be an outsider in an environment in which we are comfortable and secure," [one of the site's founders, Simon] Goddard said.

"Mystery worshipper can be a wake-up call for the smug and self-satisfied."

Of course they're not selling it as a marketing service.

Continue reading "The Mystery Worshipper Phenomenon"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:19 AM
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October 27, 2008

The Illusion of Community, Part 2

This is part two in a series about the illusion of community. Part one was about online community networks. Today, let's talk about how we're doing at building community in our weekend gatherings. Yet again, not as good as we should be.

Based on part one, you already know I take issue with the 'Christian' bubble. So it's no surprise to see that so many weekend church gatherings are not conducive to building community. We park, we play, we pray, we partake and we say peace out before heading to lunch. I know small groups have been struggling to answer this community-building challenge facing churches, but in general, it all seems very insulating and isolating from the very people who need community with God and with others.

You're Invited
I have visited a lot of churches throughout my short life, and in the last 10 years, I can recall only once when a couple I did not know came up to me after a service and invited me and my wife to a meal with them. Even more appalling, I have never once invited someone I didn't know to a meal after a service. And that's the problem folks. It's not that I think church leadership lacks ideas or commitment to getting people to connect outside of a service, it's that we as the church are not being the church.

Continue reading "The Illusion of Community, Part 2"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:54 AM
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September 5, 2008

And We Wonder Why We're Hated

Havens Corners Church in Blacklick, Ohio (just outside of Columbus) is getting a little flack for their sign out front. Borrowing from Katy Perry's hit song "I Kissed A Girl," the sign reads:

I KISSED A GIRL
AND I LIKED IT
THEN I WENT TO HELL

Dave Allison, pastor of Havens Corners, thinks the sign is a "loving warning to teens." He told The Columbus Dispatch that "The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue."

It appears that Dave is forgetting that the Scriptures are also not ambiguous on how you're supposed to treat people. Last time I checked, there were more references in the Bible on how to love your neighbor than on how not to love them.

Posted by Brad Abare at 12:01 PM
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September 3, 2008

Why I've Run From Churches

by Bob Lotich, Guest Blogger

Let me start by saying that I have been planted in my current church for over 10 years. I deeply believe in the value of staying in the church that God plants you in rather than just leaving as soon as you get offended. That said, I have lived in a few different cities and have visited quite a few churches in each one when trying to find out where to land. I have seen some wonderful things and I have seen some things that made me want to run for the doors. These are the things that caused me to run for the door:

Everything was mediocre.
Mediocrity has been too prevalent in the church today. Be it marketing, music, teaching, evangelism or anything else, it should be excellent. Just a few hundred years ago the greatest music, paintings, literature, etc. were glorifying God. It offends me that the word "Christian" is used as an adjective that is synonymous with mediocre by some non-Christians. It should not be.

Continue reading "Why I've Run From Churches"

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May 28, 2008

Rep'in Your Church With Pride

Here's a little story for you.

The other day, I was in my local FedEx-Kinko's, where I spend a lot of time. Bruce was helping me ship some packages, and then an unnamed man came in, sporting a polo with a company logo. It's a big-time company that I do business with regularly, but I had never seen this man before.

He proceeded to hassle Bruce while he was helping me, and then he loudly complained that it would cost $7 to ship his package. This went on for probably 15 minutes as he loudly moved things around, sighed for an audience and complained some more. All in all, he made himself look like an idiot and was a jerk to Bruce from FedEx.

I'll never shop at my local [company where he worked] store. I will go out of my way to do business with them online or in the next town, and I will probably let whoever I deal with at the company know how he acted.

All that to say this: the things you do when you wear your church logo, write from an @yourchurch.org email account or say after letting people know what church you go to matter (OK, all that stuff matters period). That is church marketing, and you're going to fight an uphill battle if you don't represent your church proudly in your community.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 2:29 PM
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May 22, 2008

Church and High Gas Prices

Here's a thought: Maybe more folks will be in town over the summer for church because of the spike in gas prices.

At least that's what the Minneapolis Star Tribune is positing. Less road trips and flights due to high gas prices might mean more people around on Sunday mornings for services. So how will you reach folks who are feeling the pinch of high gas prices?

Well, some churches might consider raffling away gas. The church in the Star Tribune article encouraged folks to bike to church and added bike racks. Others have paid gas stations the difference to have volunteers pump gas at a discounted cost (and give a car wash to boot!). Some churches have even given away free gas (back when it was approaching $3/gallon).

Or you could preach a sermon about how expensive gas is, but we should fill up our souls at Heaven's pump for free.

At the very least, don't tone down your marketing efforts for the summer. Create experiences for the people who can't normally leave town; give them family activities to do without taking the long drive. Churches have a big opportunity as gas prices go up, how will your church use it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:06 AM
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May 15, 2008

Little Tweaks, Big Gains

Tiny adjustments can make a big difference. Sometimes if you just slow down a little bit, you'll see big gains:

• American Airlines is saving $4 million by having their planes taxi with only one engine on.
• Southwest slowed its flights by one to three minutes and is saving $42 million.
• Con-Way Fright shaved 3 mph off the top speed of their trucks and saved $13.3 million and are only adding 20-30 minutes to shipments.

The obvious application for churches might be to drive the church bus slower, but I'm thinking bigger picture. Instead of focusing all your energy and effort on the big splash, focus on the little things. This should be encouraging advice for cash-, volunteer- and time-strapped churches that can't pull of the big splash. It's OK if you can't.

Instead, focus on the little things. Communicate consistently. Double-check your work. Greet people with a smile. These small steps will have a much bigger impact with less effort than any massive initiative you could launch. (links via 37Signals & thoughts)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:19 PM
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January 29, 2008

Lessons Learned: Being Banned From Church

by Brian Gaffney, Guest Blogger

The article "Banned from church" appeared on the front page of the "Weekend Journal" section of a recent Wall Street Journal. The piece is about churches that are reviving the "ancient" practice of shunning, or expelling members who are believed to be in deliberate conflict with the laws and leadership of their local church.

While I take issue with the story's tone that suggests that the church is more intimidating than inviting, when I looked more closely, I also found some useful lessons for becoming a more effective communicator for Christ:

Continue reading "Lessons Learned: Being Banned From Church"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:34 AM
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January 25, 2008

Seth Godin on Church Marketing

Scott Magdalein had the opportunity to ask blog marketing god Seth Godin three questions. Two of them were about church marketing. Although the questions and answers are somewhat basic and baseline, it's always interesting to get a peak inside the minds of "outsiders" with lots of wisdom.

Posted by Brad Abare at 11:28 AM
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January 22, 2008

(Not) Celebrating MLK Day

This is an open question to local churches everywhere, specifically predominantly-white congregations: Where were the MLK Day celebrations?

Firsthand, I heard of none*. A news search led me to the celebration of Willow Creek Community Church and Salem Baptist Church. The largely white Willow Creek and the largely black Salem Baptist joined together to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to promote unity.

This seems like a wonderful day to move towards breaking the "white church/black church" stereotype, and I'm not quite sure why more historically-white churches didn't follow suit with Willow Creek.

It provides great occasion to ask ourselves, what message are we sending to others not like ourselves?

Continue reading "(Not) Celebrating MLK Day"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 8:49 AM
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January 21, 2008

Jesus Billboard is an Eyesore

This is fun: A Minnesota newspaper does a story about the city cracking down on "eyesores" and the accompanying front-page photo features a billboard for a local church with "Jesus" in giant letters. The photo was meant to show the various billboards crowding Highway 22 (and it does--you can see six separate billboards in the photo), but more than a few folks took offense to Jesus being described as an eyesore.

So class, a few questions for discussion:

• Is this billboard an eyesore?
• Are billboards generally eyesores?
• Can a billboard be redeemed by Jesus? (Does putting Jesus on an ugly billboard make it less ugly?)
• How come no one complained about the cropping of the photo which rendered the url as: "www.jesusass"?
• Could your church's billboards (or bulletins or web sites or whatever) be labeled as eyesores (whether the medium or the design earns the label)?
• How would your church respond? (Not sure if Jesus Assembly of God has or will responded, but at least their billboard matches their web site and apparently their building.)
• How come none of these letters to the editor (save one) address church marketing issues? And what is all their complaining accomplishing? Is that the message of Christ--that we're easily offended? (As one blogger put it, "Let's get it straight: Defending the honor of a billboard that says 'Jesus' in eight-foot-high letters is more important than, well, gosh, just about anything else." Ouch.)

More than a few angles here, from a specific church doing marketing to how the Christian community responds. Break into groups and discuss. (link via Eyeteeth)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:12 PM
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October 22, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: Looking Back

Many of you were with us through our entire series on Church From a Visitor's Perspective. Others of you haven't checked it out yet. For those of you who missed it, here's what we've been looking at the past few weeks.

Church from a Visitor's Perspective
A Visitor's Perspective: An Embarrassing Problem
A Visitor's Perspective: The Welcoming Paradox
A Visitor's Perspective: Watch your Language!
A Visitor's Perspective: Verbose Nomenclature
A Visitor's Perspective: I Must Be in the Front Row!
A Visitor's Perspective: One is the Loneliest Number
A Visitor's Perspective: A Visit from the Mystery Worshipper
A Visitor's Perspective: The Strangers Among Us

David Zimmerman, our guest blogger who penned this series, had some great lessons for us. As always, so did you, our readers. Here are a few of the many comments you guys added to the discussion ...

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: Looking Back"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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October 12, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: The Strangers Among Us

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 9 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

After all these articles on visiting churches, I have to confess what is probably obvious--I want to go to church, I love Jesus and I want to worship him with his people. Because of this bias I am much more forgiving when I attend a church than someone who is still investigating the gospel.

There is another perspective available to you, however. A couple months ago an independent Seattle newspaper (The Stranger) sent 31 reporters to different churches (OK, they weren’t all churches but they didn’t make the distinction). This article is an excellent read as we talk about church from a visitor’s perspective (although if you are offended by the “sucks” on this site, watch out!). It is one thing to hear my opinions as a visitor to a church but it’s a completely different perspective to hear it from self-avowed atheists.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: The Strangers Among Us"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:56 AM
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October 8, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: A Visit from the Mystery Worshipper

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 8 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

I don’t know if any of you share my experience, but I was introduced to Church Marketing Sucks from my favorite magazine--The Wittenberg Door. This magazine keeps me grounded in reality and reminds me that the church and I desperately need Jesus because we are so messed up. This same thing is true about another web site I heard about from The Door--Ship of Fools.

Whenever I visit the site, after checking the daily percent of rapture and shopping through the Gadgets for God, I make my way to the Mystery Worshipper. The Mystery Worshipper is a secret team of church-reviewers who visit churches all over the world. They have a standard set of questions that they ask of each church service--questions that I think all churches should constantly be asking of themselves. After all, most visitors will be asking these questions too.

How full was the building? If you’ve ever shown up early to a church with only a few members or shown up late to a church with too many people you know how the capacity of the building can make you feel about the service.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: A Visit from the Mystery Worshipper"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:33 AM
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October 4, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: One is the Loneliest Number

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 7 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

In my last article we left our church visitor trying to figure out where to sit. So far they have overcome the basic intimidation of coming to church in the first place and the apprehension of meeting a bunch of new people. If we can make it easier for them to find a good seat in our worship service, we will be doing them a favor by giving them one less thing to stress about.

If our visitor is lucky enough to arrive early they will have a good choice of seats, but the dilemma will not be any easier. Where will everyone else sit? You don’t want to be the only person sitting in a particular section. If you choose the wrong seat and everyone is sitting everywhere else, you will be immediately pointed out as a visitor--which is the kind of embarrassing situation you are trying to avoid in the first place.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: One is the Loneliest Number"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:00 AM
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October 1, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: I Must Be in the Front Row!

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 6 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

Imagine, if you will, entering the doors to a new church. Your apprehension is not calmed after being greeted by someone with a nametag designating them as a “greeter” and being handed a bulletin. You hesitate as you walk through the door--and for a moment consider bolting. By the grace of God you enter the room where the service will be and look over a sea of chairs. Which one will you pick?

For those of us who regularly attend church, this is no dilemma. We know where people sit and where they don’t. For someone who rarely attends church, this can make an already intimidating event downright scary.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: I Must Be in the Front Row!"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:24 AM
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September 25, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: Verbose Nomenclature

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 5 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

Besides ancient language we also exclude visitors with our Christian-ese. These are words almost exclusively used in Christian circles. These can include theological terms, religious words and various other words that are not found in our everyday vernacular.

Sometimes we are well meaning, but we use pious words that might exclude people by making them feel less righteous. “Bless” is one of those words. I am still shocked when someone tells me, “Have a blessed day.” I guess it feels like they are pointing out to me how good of a Christian they are--and implying that I am less pious than they.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: Verbose Nomenclature"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:17 AM
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September 20, 2007

What if Church was Fast, Fun & Friendly?

Brenton Balvin recently went to work for Target and noted that Target strives to be a 'fast, fun and friendly place to work and shop' and maybe churches need to be fast, fun and friendly.

In the light of our current series on church visitors these are great concepts to keep in mind:

• Fast - You'll probably accuse me of being too consumerist, but how many visitors can sit through a 45-minute sermon? I know I can't.
• Fun - Has church ever been fun? And would an outsider consider it fun?
• Friendly - We all think we're incredibly warm and friendly, but that's because you know everybody.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:53 AM
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September 19, 2007

A Visitor’s Perspective: Watch your Language!

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 4 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

Within a week or so of moving to the South, I had a flat tire. My roommate, who was from India, took me to a local garage to get the tire patched. Out of the shop walks a character right out of your strongest stereotype. In order to get at the screw piercing my tire the mechanic proceeded to bark some directions at me in a language I couldn’t understand. By the contorted expression on my face he concluded that I didn’t understand him, so he added some confusing gestures to his drawl. Only after my Indian roommate translated (English being his sixth language, not counting Southern Drawl) could I follow his directions. At that point I realized I was an outsider.

Few things make people feel like an outsider more than the language used around them. If this is true, how does the language we use in church make our visitors feel? To avoid excluding people we have to pay attention to verbose nomenclature that we use in our worship service--since this is the way most people are introduced to our church.

Continue reading "A Visitor’s Perspective: Watch your Language!"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:48 AM
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September 17, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: The Welcoming Paradox

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 3 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post here to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

There’s a paradox when it comes to welcoming a visitor: on one hand, they want to anonymously investigate the church without pressure; on the other hand they don’t want to be ignored.

My wife and I were enjoying a church we had been visiting for a couple of weeks. Over that time the church allowed us to visit freely without making us standout as visitors. However, the only time anyone said “Hello” to us was when the whole church stood up to “pass the peace.” When we eventually tried to find a Sunday School class (or something) to connect with some other people, we couldn’t find anyone to ask. We eventually found a table in the lobby with a sign declaring it to be the “Welcome Table” but no one ever showed up. Even though we liked the church, we never returned.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: The Welcoming Paradox"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 1:19 PM
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September 13, 2007

A Visitor's Perspective: An Embarrassing Problem

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 2 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective. You can read the original post to get a better understanding of David's experience visiting churches for the first time.

What do you think is the most pressing issue for a first time visitor to your church? The doctrine? Now I am a doctrinal stickler, but I’m realistic enough to realize that most visitors don’t care much about this. The music style? Good music can give a great first impression--whether traditional or contemporary--but most visitors will just sing along with whatever you have. The sermon? While a sermon could definitely cause people to leave a church, I don’t think this is the most pressing issue for a first-time visitor. First-time visitors care most about not embarrassing themselves.

Continue reading "A Visitor's Perspective: An Embarrassing Problem"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 5:24 AM
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September 11, 2007

Church from a Visitor's Perspective

by David Zimmerman, Guest Blogger

This is part 1 of a 9-part series on attending church from a visitor’s perspective.

Here's a little of my back-story: I was a church planter for a number of years, trying to plant a rather contemporary church for a very traditional denomination. After a couple of years of hard work and a shift in the powers that be, my mother church decided to close my work down.

After this I found myself in an unusual position--for the first time in years I was being welcomed into a church rather than welcoming people into church. Unable to shake my church-planting mentality, I was particularly sensitive to the way churches approached visitors. After visiting a few different churches, I started to realize something: many churches have forgotten what it's like to go to a church for the first time.

Continue reading "Church from a Visitor's Perspective"

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September 5, 2007

Skipping Summer Sundays?

An interesting story came to me via Slice of Laodicea about how one church handles their summer services.

For June, July and August, the San Francisco Journey moved to a once-monthly service schedule. You've told us before that there's no momentum at your church in the summer. Do you think switching to a monthly service schedule would help? Would it build momentum and excitement, or would it just afford an opportunity for people to fall away?

Overall, I just wanted to point out how one church deals with creating summer momentum. Some do more church, others do different ways of church, and someone thinks less church is the way to go. Hey, I'll bet their September 23rd kickoff will be pretty buzzworthy. What do you think, church marketers?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:39 PM
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July 13, 2007

Contagious Joy, Use It

"When hundreds of you come flooding out of the church after services every weekend, your heads are high, your shoulders are back and your enthusiasm is obvious. Take that same joy and energy and put it into the community."

These were the words spoken by a member of the local city council in the community where our church is located. The small group my wife Jamaica and I are a part of attended last night's city council meeting to present a preliminary proposal for portable shower stations that could be strategically placed around the city as a courtesy to the local homeless population; a city with one of the highest concentration of homeless in Los Angeles county.

Continue reading "Contagious Joy, Use It"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:40 AM
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June 20, 2007

8 (Or So) Questions About Your Church Signage

by Brenton Balvin, Guest Blogger

When I was 10 years old there was a song by Tesla that was rocking the airwaves called "Signs." All my friends and I loved the song. You are probably thinking of the chorus right now...

Signs Signs everywhere there's signs Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind Do this, don't do that, Can't you read the sign

Continue reading "8 (Or So) Questions About Your Church Signage"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 9:50 AM
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June 11, 2007

Making A Good Impression

In lieu of a strikingly original and intensely thought-provoking original work of art, I wanted to give a little link love to an interesting post from Todd Rhoades at Monday Morning Insight. He discusses first impressions in the realm of both web visits and brick-and-mortar visits.

Continue reading "Making A Good Impression"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:11 AM
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April 12, 2007

WikiChurch

There's been a little experiment going on over at the Swerve blog. They advertised a project to improve Wikipedia's article on church planting. This was of particular interest to me.

I've been frustrated for awhile at the lack of quality in church Wikipedia articles. Essentially, Church Wikipedia-ing Sucks. (Hmm ... sister site?) I'd checked out the quality of Wikipedia articles for various well-known churches in my area and in the states as a whole. It's not pretty. So I thought I'd outline a few things from a Wikipedia amateur that your church can think about.

Continue reading "WikiChurch"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:29 AM
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April 2, 2007

Understanding Attack Blogs

by Bill Seaver, Guest Blogger

There's a new and unfortunate trend in church disputes that you've likely heard of by now: the attack blog. Attack blogs are most commonly established by members within the church who take issue with some aspect of the church leadership or direction. In some cases, the attacks come from outside the church, like in Mark Driscoll's case last fall, but the majority of cases seem to be from within.

I personally know of four churches that are dealing with this to some degree right now. Here are two examples from Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, Tenn. (these are not blogs in the purest sense of the word but are text-only web sites that serve the same purpose).

The issues that prompt the attacks vary, but in each case the church is under fire from a small group of individuals who disagree with the leadership (either the pastor himself or the leadership as a whole). Also, in every case the churches had no idea what hit them.

Continue reading "Understanding Attack Blogs"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:53 AM
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March 28, 2007

The Problem with Potlucks

The potluck dinner is a staple in many churches, but that doesn't mean it's good. A longtime friend of mine (we bonded over Petra) has been blogging about food and condemned the potluck, pointing to the message it sends:

If food is relational what are we saying to our friends and neighbors when we invite them to church and offer them overdone Mostacholi à la bland with a side of 15 layer Jell-o dessert? Are there no cooks in the House, are we without culinary prowess?

Check out his entries on food being relational and spiritual for a little more context.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:38 AM
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February 28, 2007

Battling Frumpiness in the Pulpit

She could have called the site Church Fashion Sucks. But Beauty Tips for Ministers works, too. Victoria Weinstein, a Unitarian Universalist minister who goes by the handle PeaceBang, launched the fashion blog to encourage the "defrumpification of the American clergy."

Weinstein makes it clear in a recent Boston Globe story that fashion isn't the greatest concern for clergy, but it still matters:

"Anyone who is in a position of leadership has to consider what image they're projecting, and that goes for clergy too," she said. "The problem with frumpiness isn't so much aesthetic as it is a problem of looking as though you are not paying attention to the world and that you are not part of today's world ... They will not be willing to hear us in the same way if we look like we walked out of 1972."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:50 AM
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January 25, 2007

First Impressions: Presentation vs. Promotion

by Brenton Balvin, Guest Blogger

A friend from church has been sporadically carrying on a conversation with me about first impressions. He knows that I am a big first impressions guy and he positions himself somewhat antagonistically as someone who cares more about what is happening in the hearts of the people at church than what happens in the parking lot or with the font on the church bulletin. Unfortunately we can't seem to come to any reconciliation despite my contention that good first impressions and the authenticity of church attenders are complementary and not contradictory.

Bob Franquiz seems to echo my convictions in his book review of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

Continue reading "First Impressions: Presentation vs. Promotion"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 2:25 PM
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September 14, 2006

When Church Signs Suck

by Joel Bezaire, Guest Blogger

One of the first impressions that a church gives a passer-by is its church sign or marquee. In recent years, it has become chic for churches to quote presumably pithy sayings on these church signs. It is my assessment that most of these church signs "suck" (by CMS' definition of the word), especially when taking the "Church Marketing" perspective. What follows, then, is a Top Ten List (of sorts) that outlines when church signs suck.

1. When a church sign makes its author seem smarter than or superior to the reader, it sucks. What potentially new parishioner wants to attend a church that humiliates those that read its sign? Example: "It's a new year, why don't you do something new: go to church."

Continue reading "When Church Signs Suck"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:02 AM
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August 9, 2006

What's Broken in Church?

Watch Seth Godin riff on what's broken (watching a Seth Godin riff is as good as reading one!). It all comes from the site This is Broken, which has loads more great examples. Seth offers up a few reasons why things may be broken:

1. Not my job - It wasn't someone's job to fix it, so they didn't.
2. I didn't know - Someone didn't know it was even broken, which is probably the scariest (do you use your own stuff?).
3. I'm not a fish - The person who designed it never uses it.
4. Broken on purpose - This is kind of the odd category for something that's supposed to be broken.

So what's broken in church?

Continue reading "What's Broken in Church?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:16 PM
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August 25, 2005

Attracting a Crowd to Your Church

The latest issue of Rev magazine has an article from Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan of Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. adapted from their book Simply Strategic Growth. The article includes a number of ideas for drawing crowds to your church, including:

• Address specific needs. Like marriages, raising families, money, fulfillment, etc.
• Entertain people. I can hear the gasps at this one, but they make a good argument.
• Make children a priority. Granger is well known for their incredible children's ministry. Sponge Bob would be jealous.
• Raise the energy level of worship. Though I have to disagree with their suggestion to turn up the volume. Background music that's too loud puts me on edge and hinders my ability to converse.
• Give people hope. Grace, not condemnation. People should leave challenged, but encouraged.

And the idea I find most intersting: offer multiple services regardless of how full your church is.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:39 AM
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August 12, 2005

Integrating Visitors into Your Church

There's been plenty of discussion on our Reasons to Use Direct Mail post. One of the comments hinted at some research about visitors and I followed up with the commenter, Alex, to get the stats. He sent me the link to an Assimilation Study done by Mission Portland. (I hate the word assimilation. It just reminds me of the Borg. I prefer integration.) The study looked at 15 Portland area churches in 2000 that combined account for nearly 10% of the worship service attendance in Portland. It's a fascinating read, but here's a few of the juicy bits:

• Over 70% of visitors come to church because of a personal invitation. We've heard similar stats before, but it's always good to hear it again.
• Only 12% of first-time visitors will return the following week and eventually become members. This stat is from Herb Miller's 1997 book, How to Build a Magnetic Church. The study suggests that some congregations can get to 20 or 25% retention.
• Being intentional. It's obvious, but if you want to integrate new people into the life of your church you have to be intentional. You have to be intentionally bringing in new visitors, you have to make them feel welcome, and you have to follow-up. It takes a lot of effort, and if you do a halfway approach, it just won't work.
• Relational. People usually stuck with a church because they formed relationships. By far one of the best ministries for fostering relationships were small groups.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:59 AM
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June 29, 2005

I Want to Be With Your Spouse

This sounds ridiculous, but I don't think I have ever seen my pastor's wife with him in any service I have attended. I've been going for nearly three years. I have seen her, and I know what she looks like (I think), but I never see them together, not to mention brought up to say hi, greet people every once in a while, or stand next to him during worship.

I understand shy spouses, protective pastors and schedule conflicts. (I know my pastor's wife is the main church administrator so she is behind-the-scenes a lot.)

Regardless, your spouse should be seen—and recognized as being with you—if not regularly, occasionally. I don't have any fancy research to back this opinion up, but I think it would go a long way in promoting and fostering community.

Posted by Brad Abare at 10:43 AM
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June 17, 2005

Church Bulletins That Don't Suck

Church Central has an article about getting the most out of your church bulletins. Is your church bulletin just another chance to spread the word about upcoming events? Does it communicate something about your church? Does it relate to the theme of the service?

The article is the tip of the church bulletin iceberg. The simple fact is the weekly bulletin is the one thing almost everybody who comes to your church will see and have an opportunity to take home. Are you using that to full effect? Does your bulletin reinforce your church's brand? If a random stranger found a stray bulletin would they think about visiting your church? A while back Ryan Hartsock sent us some samples of church bulletin designs and talked about trying to do more with them.

The church bulletin is no easy design task. They have to serve a practical purpose (guiding people through the service), notify and inform, and invite and welcome. But they can also do more. What does your church bulletin do?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:52 AM
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June 3, 2005

Cardiff, U.K. Church Offers WiFi

When St. John's Church in Cardiff, Wales realized the city-wide wireless wasn't getting through the church's thick walls, they went the extra step to install an extra node and bring the wireless Internet connection inside the church.

"The church is a sanctuary for everyone, including business people with laptops and mobiles who may want to find a quiet area without lots of noise and loud music to sit in peace and do some work or just send an e-mail," said Rev. Keith Kimber.

I was a bit skeptical at congregations surfing on wireless laptops during the sermon, but that doesn't seem to be the point. It's more about making the church a welcoming place, and that's always a good idea.

"All we ask is that they respect the church environment and do not to use loud mobile ring tones or play music on their computers, especially when a service is in progress," said Kimber.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:33 AM
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April 4, 2005

Skipping Church

Canadian blogger and pastor Jordon Cooper skipped church yesterday prompting an entry about the Sunday morning competition churches face. For some folks Sunday is the only day off, and getting dressed up (or feeling like you should) to attend an unfamiliar church is just too intimidating. Cooper also noted how church services are geared towards those who work regular 9-5, Monday-Friday jobs, making it difficult for those who have to work on Sundays.

His post also prompted some criticism for skipping church, and Cooper responded by talking about the obstacles involved in checking out a church. For him the church next door was a possibility, but feeling like he'd have to get dressed up, his inability to find any info about the services, and his negative experience with the pastor all conspired to keep him from going.

When a pastor realizes how hard it is to go to church, we've got some work to do.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:56 PM
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April 3, 2005

The Week After Easter

My fears were confirmed this week when I went to church.

Just seven days ago, I was enthralled in the excitement of a spectacular Easter celebration service. The choir was lively, the music was grand, the message was direct, and the congregation showed up in record numbers (we had to add a fourth service). Smiles were everywhere as I was greeted, visitors were abundant, and from the look of the giant games and activities in the parking lot, the kids' church appeared to be competing with Disney Land.

Welcome to the week after Easter. Not only was the church empty (more than usual), there was NO choir, NO band (it was a fill-in worship leader with a guitar), and the speaker was not the main pastor (nor will it be for the next five weeks!). The mood was as if Good Friday was supposed to come after Easter! Come on!

Continue reading "The Week After Easter"

Posted by Brad Abare at 4:05 PM
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March 28, 2005

He Is Risen, Now What?

With the Easter weekend behind us, many pastors will be taking today off (some for the whole week) as a well-deserved break from the intensity of all things Easter. In my own church, the pastor decided to involuntarily take off before the weekend ever began as a result of his voice going out—poor guy. (I felt even more sorry for the assistant pastor who finds out he's doing all four services for one of the church's best attended events of the year!)

The one thought I kept repeating over and over in my mind the whole time I was in service yesterday was why can't we do church this way every weekend?

• Why can't the praise/worship (and choir) be this lively every weekend?
• Why can't kid's church always have this much to do?
• Why can't we always have this many greeters to smile at me when I walk in?
• Why can't the video supplements always be this relevant and engaging?
• Why can't food always be a part of your church community?
• Why can't the Gospel message be this clear and direct every weekend?

I wonder if the reason we can't hold on to some of the spike in Easter weekend attendance is due to this very fact. We make a decent first impression but follow it up with a more sustainable pattern in the weeks and months after Easter (of course until we ramp up again for Christmas).

While I certainly understand the uniqueness of the big three services each year (Easter, Mother's Day, Christmas), and I do realize that out-of-the-ordinary services result in out-of-the-ordinary attendance, there still seems to be a disconnect.

What did you do this weekend—that worked—that you could continue doing every weekend?

What did you do this weekend—that didn't work—that you should discontinue doing every weekend?

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:46 AM
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March 24, 2005

Finding a Church

You can bet finding a church is no easy task, as the Indianapolis Star points out. And you better believe marketing has a lot to do with whether or not people find your church. The article is packed with examples of marketing at work in the world of first impressions, including web sites, greeters, and yes, even the doctrine a church holds.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:13 PM
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March 22, 2005

How Does Your Church Rank?

As many as 100 incognito church reviewers will descend on London churches on April 24. It's part of the "Mystery Worshipper" series by online magazine ShipofFools.com.

Where would your church stand if judged by an anonymous visitor's first impression?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:48 AM
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February 9, 2005

Different... ahem... Strokes

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

Murray Qualitative Research (MQR), a marketing research and consulting service, has just released the results of a study that show how women and men respond differently, in terms of romance, to the exact same ad. Yes, we're getting near Valentine's Day. Yes, we already knew than men and women have very different ideas about what constitutes "romance." And, yes, releasing this study now is good PR for MQR (which is another mini-marketing lesson for you). It is, however, a great example of how you need to think about different audiences for your marketing. Because the exact same marketing program may have drastically different effects, depending on whom it reaches.

Continue reading "Different... ahem... Strokes"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:38 AM
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January 20, 2005

Being Present in Life's Transitions

Funerals and weddings are the rare event when the unchurched soul will suddenly find themselves entering a church of their own free will. Some churches cater to that fact, swinging their doors open regardless of membership or faith for the chance to be a faith-filled presence during that time.

It seems callous to call it marketing, but offering hope and solace during a funeral or love and encouragement during a wedding is what the church does best. It’s a service to the community and an invitation to put our faith in action.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:31 AM
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January 6, 2005

We All Drink From the Same Cup?

For the past several years I've attended an Episcopalian church where communion is served from a single cup (actually two, one for each side of the congregation). This always prompts wrinkled brows and exclamations from visitors about the health risks of drinking from the same cup. It happened when my parents (multi-cup Baptists) visited and even last month at a wedding from unchurched guests.

An article in the Los Angeles Times explores the issue, concluding that there's little if any risk. But what does this have to do with marketing?

Many aspects of church can cause visitors to squirm, scratch their heads and sometimes feel downright uncomfortable. The potential health risk in sharing the communion cup is only one example. Churches need to communicate to visitors exactly what is happening and why, letting them know what's expected of them.

A simple paragraph in the bulletin could do wonders to calm fears and ease social discomfort, making it easier for a visitor to concentrate on the actual church service.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:06 AM
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December 9, 2004

Meet Matt: He Keeps Bringing Me Back

About every other week, for the past few months, I've been going to the same restaurant before heading to an evening class after work. The restaurant is one of those soup and salad places with a salad bar, soup bar and assorted breads section. It's quick, easy and it gives me a little time to prepare/read-up for the class.

Because of the format of the restaurant, there are no waiters or waitresses. There are, however, the people who keep tables cleaned, trays removed, etc.

Say hello to Matt.

Matt is the table cleaner, tray remover, 30-something tall and slender "busboy" who is there every time I am. From the beginning, Matt greeted me with a smile and made sure I was taken care of. He goes above and beyond by asking if he can refill my drink, even offering coffee "on the house." One time he brought me warm chocolate chip cookies that usually cost extra.

Continue reading "Meet Matt: He Keeps Bringing Me Back"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:41 AM
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December 6, 2004

Visiting a Mega-Church

One of the Twin Cities' alternative weeklies went to church last week, offering an article exploring the mega-church after an election supposedly decided by moral values. The author visited Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie and the piece gives an 'Alice in Wonderland' experience (complete with illustrations) of the bewildering mega-church movement. The piece also closes with plenty of fair questions but no room for real answers.

But the perspective alone is what's interesting. In a sense, this is what church looks like to the ousider. One of the hardest things for churches to do is understand what it's like for a newcomer.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:32 AM
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December 1, 2004

An Oasis of Giving

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

In the world of retail marketing, the day after Thanksgiving is called "Black Friday." Why? It begins the busiest, scariest, nastiest time of the year: the holiday season. In many retail industries, 50% or more of your business gets done between that day and January 2. The poor salespeople get hit a bit worse than us marketing folk, but in the 10 years I was in retail I usually got strep or bronchitis (and one year, pneumonia) from the 60 hour weeks, mad levels of stress, etc. So, for the last few years, one thing I've been thankful for in late November is to be out of retail.

Continue reading "An Oasis of Giving"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 2:55 PM
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October 6, 2004

O Pastor, Where Art Thou?

Growing up all over the USA and being involved and committed to numerous churches, I have become increasingly aware of the benefit to having some sort of relationship or at least face-to-face communication with the leaders of the church I attend. In particular, the senior pastor. Unfortunately, at the church I am a part of now, this is not the case. Over the last year and half I have interacted with some of the pastoral staff but not once have I ever been within 10 feet of the senior pastor (my wife and I are not front row kind of people).

I realize this is just as much my problem as anybody else's, but I don't like it. The church I attend is rather large and it is easy to fade into the big crowds. This was a blessing at first because my wife and I had just finished helping a church plant for 18 months and we needed some breathing room before diving back into "ministry." But now, I believe my need for connection is necessary to my health spiritually.

How does this relate to church marketing? I'm glad you asked. If I was a customer, the pastors would be the salesmen. It's their job to sell me, hook me, and make me want more every week. (Excuse the harsh comparison, I'm going somewhere with this.)

Continue reading "O Pastor, Where Art Thou?"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:34 AM
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September 24, 2004

Sunday Morning Dress Code

The Ann Arbor News has a balanced article about the casual trend in church attire. The piece includes both the pragmatic and anti-legalism pro that God cares more about the heart, as well as the traditional con that dressing up shows respect for God and is a carry-over from more formal days gone by.

What you wear to church seems like a pretty silly issues, but it's caused many Sunday morning fights as families struggle to get out the door.

Continue reading "Sunday Morning Dress Code"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:35 AM
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September 22, 2004

Church Shopping

Fall is back to school time, but it's also back to church time, according to an article in The Christian Science Monitor, as more people tend to return to church or start shopping around. Apparently more and more churches are accepting the idea of church shopping, deciding they'd rather see members find a church they can stick with than fall away.

But church shopping does have a downside. 1 in 4 church attendees started coming to their current congregation in the last five years. Of those newbies, only 7 percent are entirely new to church. That means a whole lot of folks are church hopping.

Continue reading "Church Shopping"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:27 AM
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August 18, 2004

"Have a Nice Day" at a Church Near You

Churches should adopt the 'meet and greet' style hospitality of the commercial world to welcome new visitors, according to Rev. Alison Gilchrist, a Church of England priest and her book Creating a Culture of Welcome.

But not everyone agrees. For some the thought of a plastic welcome is all too similar to a high pressure sales pitch. But the underlying idea rings true:

"Protestant or Catholic, traditionalist or trendy, the harsh truth is that the survival of a congregation hinges less on the doctrines it espouses than the professionalism with which it spreads its good news."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:47 PM
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July 26, 2004

God Can't Come to the Phone Right Now

In 55% of Protestant churches a human does not answer the phone.

In 19% of Protestant churches the phone goes unanswered, either by a person or a machine.

Ouch. If someone calls your church looking for service times, a good youth group, or God, what will they find? Maybe having a person answer the phone 24/7 is unrealistic, but does your church at least make basic information available on voice mail? Giving Sunday morning service times, basic directions, and a welcoming message are a must, and it wouldn't hurt to throw out a web site for more info. And we shouldn't have to to tell you to return those calls. (Source: The Barna Group, January 26, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:18 AM
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July 22, 2004

Establishing a Visitor Philosophy

I love well-written pieces. The article by Michael V. Copeland, in the July issue of Business 2.0 titled “Best Buy’s Selling Machine,” is one of the best company write-ups I’ve read in a while. From start to finish I couldn’t put it down. Even the ending had my hopes escalating toward a conclusion that left me smiling.

Continue reading "Establishing a Visitor Philosophy"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:49 PM
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