Making an effort to understand how people perceive what you are saying when you communicate with them seems like a “no brainer”. But surprisingly, few ministries have a clear concept of how they are perceived by the people they hope to reach. They also have not taken time to outline how they wish to be perceived by the people they want to reach.
Don’t believe me? Ask the members of your church staff/team to independently write down on a slip of paper 10 words that describe your church. Also, ask them to write down 10 words that would describe what they feel people who don’t attend your church would think about the church. Not only will the list be different between what the staff thinks and what they think the community thinks, chances are high, no two staff members will have the same opinions for either list.
If you took this exercise outside the walls of your church and got a few people in the community to make a list, you might have a real awakening. This shows how random we can be in Christian communication. We rarely intentionally think about what others are thinking, yet we are always trying to change their perceptions. Go figure!
In secular marketing, you can bet marketing teams are on the same page about their products. And when tested, the marketplace is generally on the same page as well. This doesn’t happen by accident. Positioning takes careful planning and concise communication. How do they do it? First, these marketers have researched how customers perceive their products. Secondly, they have meticulously worked to get all their marketing to portray particular messages and product values. Thirdly, they have a keen understanding of who their competition is in the market.
You don’t have to adopt the secular positioning tactics of marketers to benefit from positioning in your ministry. If your ministry team would simply make more effort to understand what the unchurched in your community think and spend quality time talking about what values and messages your ministry wants to represent in your town, you would be miles ahead in improving your communication. If you knew more about what unchurched people were doing with their time and energy, you would also tap into a ton of new ministry ideas for your church.
Understanding the Competition
Positioning is a valuable tool for taking your message into a competitive environment. On the mission field, if you are going to get your ideas across, you know you need to understand your competition as best as you can. That’s why missionaries spend so much time learning about the people they want to reach before they launch out with outreach campaigns. They know they need to connect with people at the heart level if they are going to bring them to an awareness of Christ.
Competition is not the church down the street it is about competing with everything else that is competing for the attention of the people you want to reach. Most of the unfortunate things that happen in church marketing come from people who leverage communication to put their church in a better light in contrast to another church.
My personal take is if you have to put down other churches and cast them as being boring, irrelevant or greedy, you are doing more of a disservice to the Kingdom of Heaven. Sure you may connect with a few people by using these positioning tactics, but you will also help turn off many more to going to church in general.
The better use of positioning is to go up against all kinds of boring, irrelevant, or greedy experiences–not to call out another congregation (or type of church) and position your church openly against them. Just outshine them all with interesting, relevant and humble ministry.
If you are trying to reach the unchurched, then other churches are not your competition anyway! Find out what it taking up people’s time and attention and find a way to meet the needs of the people you want to reach.
Positioning a Message in the Bible?
The Apostle Paul was a consummate communicator. He had the ability to speak to people right where they were without ever compromising his message. You can also see he had a firm grasp on what is competition was when he preached to the crowds. In one case in Athens, Paul spoke to the people in that city in a way that penetrated their prejudices toward him and gave him a perfect platform for communicating the gospel. Paul used positioning to make his message more effective.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17:16-23)
No doubt about it, Paul knew who he was addressing and he understood the competition he was up against. In the Synagogue it was the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, an internal audience. In the marketplace a whole other set of communication circumstances. You had the Epicureans, the Stoics plus all the leaders in the Areopagus.
Paul also understood that to get the people’s attention he needed to speak to their needs. You could say the needs of the Athenians affected the communication approach of Paul. Though Paul was greatly disturbed by the idolatry he saw in Athens, he didn’t not make his feelings about idolatry the starting point for his communications.
Instead Paul spoke to them based on their perceptions and needs. He even affirmed them a bit when he said they were “religious” people. He spoke to them as people who might be interested in learning a bit more about the “Unknown God”
Getting on the Grid
I like to imagine Paul heading into the communication encounter with positioning in mind. We don’t know how he planned his communication. I feel sure he didn’t have a grid like the one I am using. But imagine the four possibilities based on this positioning grid (see also Perceptual Mapping). Marketing positioning is actually based on grids like the one below that seek to illustrate the marketer’s understanding of their marketplace and evaluate their options based on the perceived values and attributes of their product in light of their competition. If Paul were doing a positioning study today, his grid might look like this.
“I proclaim to you a new unknown idea”
Paul could have biblically preached the message of salvation through faith in Christ as a completely new idea. He would have had a great sermon, but he might not have connected with his audience. The Bible says “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” Paul would have a lot more competition from other people who wanted to talk about their ideas” If Paul had used this approach, they might have told him, “Yeah, take a number Buddy, that’s all we do all day!”
“I proclaim to you an old known idea”
If the Apostle had wished, he could have leveraged his great insights into Greek philosophy in a dynamic sermon. In several places in the New Testament we see Paul knew about Greek philosophers, in fact in his presentation to the Greeks in Athens, he even quotes one of them. I have no doubt Paul could have taken on the Epicureans and Stoics in a philosophical debate and would have never compromised the message of salvation. But the Athenians were more engaged with new ideas. If Paul had taken this approach, he might have seemed like an old-fashioned person trying to hearken back to the good old days. He may also have lost the possible connection with the younger crowd who were not interested in philosophy at all. If Paul had tried this approach they might have told him, “Yawn, been there, done that!”
“I proclaim what you are now talking about the newest ideas”
Paul could have tried to set himself up as the most relevant of all the speakers. I believe had Paul wanted he could have really shown all the people his considerable skills while talking about the latest and greatest ideas. He would have given them some real meaning for the first time in their lives. I think Paul’s choice not to go this route is one many (not all) churches need to make. All the attempts to be seen as relevant has made far too many churches go chasing after the latest fad. Some churches don’t know what to preach until they see the fall television schedules in TV Guide. The Athenians didn’t perceive Paul as an insider to the latest trends. In fact, in the Greek they called him a “Hick” in so many words. If Paul had tried this approach, they might have told him, “You? The Babbler, yeah right!”
“What you are worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you!”
As you consider all the options, you see that Paul could have preached biblically from any position, but he may not have been as effective with each approach given the audience he was speaking to. Paul also understood the competition for ideas, he understood his audience and he captured them by surprise with a speech about the old idea everyone seems to have overlooked. Athenians used the ‘unknown god’ as a placeholder for any new or inconceived of gods. Like saying, “God what’s his name”. When Paul spoke of him, they may have thought he was just being clever at first. But he had a deeper message, when he used this approach people paid attention and said, “You are bringing strange things to our ears and we want to know more!”
You can use positioning in your ministry too. Here are a few helps
Positioning is a valuable tool for all kinds of communication. As you become more aware of how to use it, your ministry communications will improve as you take dead aim at the misconceptions and barriers to reaching people at the heart level. Here are a few ways to get started
- Train yourself to see things from the perspective of the people you want to reach
- Test your ideas with real live people from your target audience
- Get everyone in your ministry team on the same page about your church’s values and communication brand
- Develop a plan to communicate your values through communication, ministry planning and evaluation so your walk consistently looks like your talk
- Understand your competition, what are people looking for that attracts them to other activities
- Choose the position that best reaches your target and is most consistent with your church’s reputation (or brand)
- Use your understanding of positioning for good and don’t take the rookie approach of (even highly celebrated ministries) and use it to try to attract people who already are involved in church.
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