Create New Units
by Chris Forbes
Free tips for getting the word out about your church from the Ministry Marketing Coach
A great marketing tip to help your church reach out to your community naturally is to create new units. What is a unit? It’s a funny word to use in a church.
But it’s not meant to be impersonal. Instead it is a technical way of thinking about the groups that meet together in your church. A unit is simply a group or gathering in your church.
Your church is a larger group that is composed of several smaller units. You may have several small groups for adults, a few for children, a group for youth, etc. You also have groups that meet for specialized reasons, such as a Ladies Bible Study, a Missions Group, or a ministry group for men. Each one of the small groups in your church contributes in some way to the growth and outreach of your church. If you can create new groups, or cause the ones you have to grow, your church will also grow in outreach.
For example, imagine your church has a Sunday school class or a Bible study that has grown large. Perhaps there are 25 people in the group. If you can take that group and grow it into two groups, often you will find that the two groups will grow more that than when the group was a single unit of 25 members.
Consider it almost as a law of nature that when a new unit is created it starts growing faster than one that’s been around for a long time. Growing smaller groups are geared for outreach. Members in new groups naturally want to get the word out about their group. People like to be a part of something that is growing. Many times members will take new outreach initiatives when they are involved in a smaller new group than they would in a larger and older group.
In a larger group, people unconsciously feel there is little need for outreach. After all, the entire group is large. Adding more people would only make it harder to manage and get to know others. It is important for your ministry marketing to be ready to start new units as your marketing begins to draw in new faces to your church. When you create a new unit, you are helping your church naturally become growth oriented. New units also give new people a place to fit in. It is much easier and more natural to find a "place" in a new group than an old one.
Action Point!
Are you holding your church back by letting the units become too large? Make a commitment to making a new unit in the next 30 to 60 days out of one of your Sunday school classes, Bible studies, or ministry groups.
