When I first got into church planting I heard and read a lot about how you need to be super creative in your approach to marketing so you can get as many people to come as possible. The idea was that you didn't want to preach anything too overtly Biblical the first Sunday following a marketing piece because you might scare people off who were interested in church, but not so much in studying the Bible. I took this advice and wrestled with it for over a year. There were several times I got into heated debates with people in my church planting management circle because I kept stating that I think people are sincerely interested in learning about Jesus. Eventually I decided to try it their way out of respect for them and an awareness of my own stubbornness.
Our first marketing pieces had monkeys on them. We were so creative and over the top that we actually scared several of the people who received them. We had people come who had a great sense of humor, but who were not all that interested in growing in Christ. (Free principle for you - you can overthink yourself and be too creative at times.) We still preached Biblical themes the first series we preached, but they were more topical in nature and we were very aware of not being to exegetical (teaching straight from a passage). We had an okay response. But what we found was we had people who stayed who liked the topical feel and were not all that interested more intense Biblical teaching. We also saw that some of the people that were interested in specific Biblical teaching, but not the topical stuff went to look elsewhere for a church. We ended up with a very young church that struggles at times with personal growth and authority.
With this new marketing campaign that we are currenlty doing we have decided to start it off with a series on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Our thinking is if we are marketing a church to a community we want to draw in and retain people who are interested in learning about Jesus and the Bible. We want the lost to come, but not at the expense of helping them actually growing to know Jesus and walking with Him. We want those who follow Jesus to come and to be fed so they can go back out and help other people find their way back to Jesus. (Another free principle - no matter what anyone tells you, you keep people with what you won them with. If you win them without the strategies you want you will struggle to ever get them to buy into those values. Be wise in what you are at first, because it determines who you will most likely be from then on.)
So, I guess the things I would like to share is that 1) I beleive that people are sincerely interested in understanding the things of the Bible so they can decide whether or not to follow Jesus. I think most people avoid church because it is churchy. They are looking for a place where they can learn and have a good time. Be the church like Jesus envisioned it and you will never lack a crowd to preach to. 2) You get the exact crowd you market to. If you market to people who do not like church that is the kind of church you are going to end up with. If you market to traditional people who do not like change that is who you are going to get. There are a lot of different kinds of church and that is okay. Just make sure when you market that you consider carefully who you are inviting to become the core of your community. 3) Monkeys are funny, but maybe a little over the top for your first big mailing. 4) The Bible is an incredibly inspiring, powerful, humorous book that leads to real life-change. Do the hard work to understand the Scriptures so you can teach them in a way that draws in the hearts and minds of the modern audience. If you study the Word you will never lack something to say to the lost and saved alike.
Now go out there, have a blast and help people meet Jesus. Now that would be the best life ever.
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