Marketing Your Church = Building New Relationships (part 2)

This is a continuation of my previous post, Marketing Your Church = Building New Relationships.


Step #2: Know Us
If your church makes a good first impression on someone, they will want to get to know you better. They'll want to know what you think and talk about, what's important to you and what you're passionate about.

 
Step #3: Trust Us
Think about the people in your life who you trust—I mean really trust. Doing a trust-fall exercise on a teambuilding retreat is great, but just because someone didn't drop you on the ground doesn't necessarily mean you're going to trust them to always have your best interest in mind.

One of the keys to developing trust is simply time. The more time we spend with people, the more we see what they are really made of. We see their character and values in action. People need time to see what your church is all about, to see if you are consistent in what you say and do, to believe that you really care about them, and to build trust.

This is especially true for many people who have been burned by church in the past. Unfortunately there are a lot of "de-churched" people out there who have been victims of church politics, gossip or disingenuous leaders. Building—or rebuilding—trust and changing their opinions about church can take some time.

 
Step #4: Join Us
Ultimately, your goal is for people to decide to make your church their home—to integrate into a community that loves each other, serves each other and supports each other through life's highs and lows. But getting to this decision is the result of a relationship, not a transaction. And healthy relationships are a progressive process of discovery. So what can you do from a practical standpoint to help more people get to know your church?

I'm glad you asked. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Scott]

RE: Step #4
You keep them with what you caught them with.

We learned the hard way that catering to a consumerist mindset (e.g. come see us, we have the best dog and pony show in town) and then trying to create a deep community from that was next to impossible.

Embracing a consumer gratifying approach led to a frustrating stream of “buyer” dissatisfaction - a self-centered church experience rather than an others focused community.

Consumers v. community