Marketing Realities
Some years ago, I was consulting with a church that had an unusual problem. They were in an excellent location, had a great looking facility, a well-done Sunday morning experience, and a good marketing plan that they claimed drew as many as 30 first time visitors each week. So, what was the problem? Hardly any of the first-time visitors ever returned for a second visit and the church was in a slow decline. With all the positives they had going for them, the leadership just could not understand why no one came for a second experience at their church and why they had been in this multi-year decline.
After looking at their promotional materials and visiting their congregation on a Sunday, it became obvious to me what the problem was. What they were marketing was not what they were offering. For example, their promotional materials said their worship services were a mix of traditional hymns and contemporary songs, but their service was 100% contemporary. Now, there is nothing wrong with having only contemporary music, unless people show up expecting at least one old hymn in the mix because that is what you advertised, and then they are disappointed when there isn’t one. The church also promoted “a top-level Sunday School experience for all ages, even for parents.” But what they offered was a great nursery and preschool program, a mediocre children’s program, and chaos at the middle school and high school level. And the “parents” class was essentially 100 people sitting in the sanctuary listening to the pastor preach a “mini-sermon” before the main event started an hour later. While he was a fine preacher, the parents’ class was hardly the “top-notch Sunday School” for parents that was advertised. There were numerous other inconsistencies between their advertising and their reality as well, but I think you get the picture.
This church’s challenge was not so much that they did not offer something of significant value to their community, but it was that what they saying they were offering was different from what they were really offering. And sadly, they couldn’t see that challenge, because they wanted their perceived picture of themselves to be true so badly, they were willing to ignore the reality of what they really were.
Churches fall prey to this because they hear how another church is promoting themselves, and they try to imitate that, even if it is not who they really are. Pastors fall prey to this when they try to use someone else’s sermons and it just does not sound at all like the way they think or talk. Individuals fall prey to this when we try to create lives on our social media accounts that are different than reality. Let’s be honest, all of us are guilty of this to some degree, and it is not helpful.
“Each church needs to prayerfully consider who they are in Christ and if they find themselves lacking in something Christ wants them to have, then, change! But if, after prayerful consideration, they realize they are exactly what God has called them to be, then rejoice in what you are in Christ and change all your promotional materials and marketing to joyfully proclaim who you really are.”
My suggestion to the church was that they needed to make their promotional materials and their actual experience match. They either had to change the kind of church they were, or they had to change their promotional materials. But they could not continue pretending to be one thing while really being another. That is the very definition of hypocrisy, and no one wants to be part of a church like that.
Sometimes, our churches do need to change. And if so, then the BCNE has a team of trained consultants that can either help you or point you to an external partner who can help you.
Other times, our churches may not need to change, we may need to simply accept the reality of who we are as a church.
A small church in a rural community does not need to try to imitate a large church in an urban center. An inner-city church does not need to try to imitate a church in the suburbs. An ethnic church does not need to imitate an American church nearby. Each church needs to prayerfully consider who they are in Christ and if they find themselves lacking in something Christ wants them to have, then, change! But if, after prayerful consideration, they realize they are exactly what God has called them to be, then rejoice in what you are in Christ and change all your promotional materials and marketing to joyfully proclaim who you really are.
We must accept that every church is not going to have an amazing youth group, or a great addiction recovery ministry, or a professional style praise team. But every church, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, can do something amazing. The BCNE team can help your church figure out what that is, and then help your church be the best at it.
If your church really loves singing the old hymns, then find a way to sing them with great passion, instead of a sounding like a funeral dirge, and then sing away! And tell the world that is what you sing! Someone out there is interested in that, and they will show up, and keep coming. Likewise, if your church is going to use contemporary music, then make it the best it can be and don’t try to trick traditionalists into coming. Just be who you are and rejoice in the Lord. He will build your church. Don’t try to use marketing to say one thing if you really are something else. It is not helpful, no matter what our culture says.
Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves as the executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England.
