Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

As a coach, I have noticed the churches with the most effective outreach are the ones who have the clearest sense of their vision and mission. When ministries fail to make impact it is often due to the fact that they don’t have an idea about what they are trying to accomplish.

Instead they are short-sighted, looking for program promotion success on a month-to-month basis. They want people coming to their event or involved in their church, but they don’t know where they are heading–they lack vision. They want to make headlines in their community, but don’t know why people should pay any attention to them.

Awaken Your Church Leadership to the Possibilities by Writing Tomorrow’s Headlines Today!

A great exercise that will help your ministry team develop a sense of mission and vision is to get them writing tomorrow’s headlines today. Give them some butcher paper and markers and ask them to develop a mock-up of a future newspaper (say 5-10 years from now) where all the stories are about your church.

Ask them to imagine a day in the future when they are reading a newspaper with stories about your church, what the morning headlines would read if they accomplished their mission?

Imagine the World in the Future…

• Church Baptized 500 People Last Year
• One Hundredth Church Planted by First Church, Any town, USA Since 2008
• Community Center Lowers Community Crime Rate
• Church Budget Surplus Used to Strengthen Other Churches
• Crisis Pregnancy Center Celebrates 1000th baby’s birth
• Church Commissions 100th Missionary
• Congregation Spearheads Healthy Marriage Initiative and Lowers Divorce Rate in Any Town, USA
• Church Transitions Ministry to Match Latino Community Needs
• Member Retention Increases to 95% in Last Five Years
• Biblical Literacy Rates Soar Among Youth in Church

I would love to see these headlines. Frankly, many churches will never see them because they don’t dream about the impact they could make.

“You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” –Yogi Berra

All churches have programs of one kind or another. But how many really know why they are doing what they are doing and where it all is leading them?

Instead of seeking and developing a clear sense of vision, many churches are content with running the programs their church has always offered. They attract new people. Staff members come and go. And over the course of years they make no real progress toward any particular end. In these churches, not much is going on that impacts the community or evangelizes the Lost.

If a ministry is going to grow it will need a clear vision from God that is clearly communicated to the people. That starts with the humble seeking of God. I am not one of those who tell people they need to drum up a vision to make their church grow. Instead, I believe they need to seek God, find out what He is doing and join Him. Ministers need to find the vision for reaching a specific people in the community.

Once they have the vision clear, they can uncover what they need to be doing in terms of next steps, mission. They have both the end and means in mind. In that context, ministry marketing has a lot to offer for improving communication.

Stop Going Through the Motions!

Here are the headlines of real things I have seen in too many churches. Writing these was kinda fun. Maybe you could have an ice breaker by writing some funny headlines too. Unfortunately, these headlines below are all too true.  I am sure none of these churches intended to write their future this way, but they did it by default in not having a clear sense of vision.

• Church Manages to Stay Plateaued for 20th Year Straight
• Leak Discovered After 4 Years Without Filling Baptistery
• Staff Delighted to Discover They Were First in Nation in Using New Ministry Buzz Word
• Congregation Dedicates 100th Memorial Plaque to Deceased Member
• Staff Attends Conference and Destroys Church Trying to Implement Mismatched Programs
• Church Moves Out of High Crime and Vagrancy Community to Middle Class Safer Suburbs
• Billboard Campaign Adds 50 New Members by Transfer from Other Churches
• After Long Debate Church Votes to Spend $5,000 on Shed to Park Riding Lawn Mower, Rust Problems Solved
• Vain Rich Guy in Church Appointed to Spiritual Awakening Committee Chairmanship
• Pastor and Staff Seek National Attention by Writing Books in Lieu of Doing Local Ministry
• Church Drops Denominational Affiliation in Name to Attract Hipper Crowd
• Church “Rainy Day” Fund Reserve Investments Yield Amazing ROI
• Elder Board Plans Third Ministry Staff Turn Over in Five Years