Read A Chapter:  Advertise Your Church

 “Mums the word.” “I’ve got a secret.” “I’m not sharing what I have with anybody.” Scriptural instructions regarding the gospel? Hardly, In fact, Jesus told us to do just the opposite: we are to proclaim the Good News. “Go ye into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16). Can there be any stronger injunction than the fact that eternal souls will be condemned to hell if we fail to do our job?

God’s Gift of Salvation

There are lots of ways to proclaim the good news. People shout it from rooftops and from soap boxes. Some share it one-on-one while others share it in group testimonies.

And then, there is advertising -- the paid-for, commercial message. If it’s anything more than promoting a musical concert or listing a sermon topic, does the idea of advertising strike terror in your heart? Do you get a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? What about the other people in your church? What’s the mindset of your church board? Do they believe that any portion of church funds should be invested in promotion?

Advertising, in its root meaning, is proclaiming something. Another synonym for advertising is touting. Perhaps the verb, to tout, is a four-letter word that Christians want to steer away from. But to proclaim something almost sounds scriptural, doesn’t it. Good. We’re going to discuss how you can proclaim your church, and what it stands for; we’re going to discuss how you can proclaim Jesus, and what He stands for. So relax. This is a good book, written to help you understand new ways to share your love for the Lord.

Advertising, that is, proclaiming, can be paid for or it can be free. When you tell a friend about your church, or more importantly, about Jesus Christ, you have advertised. It’s free. Every Christian, every congregation bent on sharing the good news of salvation, advertises. The only difference between this and a commercial ad is the cost. Should the fact that commercial advertisements cost money stop Christians from using a means that may very well be an excellent way of spreading the good news?

There is a great big world full of non-believers out there, and your job is to get their attention. What’s your plan for accomplishing this? How are you going to compete for their time? Knock on doors? Call them on the phone? Those approaches bear occasional fruit, but for the most part, they are regarded as invasions of privacy and a nuisance. That’s advertising the gospel message with a negative flavor. Advertising on billboards, or public transit, or radios, or newspapers has a totally different impact. It makes a completely different statement. Such advertising does not invade an individual’s privacy and it’s not considered a nuisance. If your ad is clever enough, it may tell the world that your church has substance, spunk, and that you are serious about the Lord. Such an ad may gain their respect and admiration, and every once in a while, it may bring someone to your doorstep.

You say you’ve never seen a church ad that was clever, yet had substance? You’re not alone. Let’s face it: there’s nothing duller than the typical church newspaper ad: “Next week’s sermon will be . . .” This may be informative for your existing membership, but it’s not much of a draw for those in search of a church home. “That’s all well and good,” you may say, “but the only other things that can be promoted are special events, and they don’t occur every week.” I don’t agree. There is much that can be said, much that can be shared, and I’m here to tell you that all of it can be presented in a manner that will cause people to stop and pay attention.

Consider the following scene: You’re reading the local newspaper. You come to the religion section. Inside are several church ads, routinely placed with the hope that you’ll see something that will cause you to come visit. All of a sudden, the words, “Who In Hell Cares?” virtually leap off the page. You’ve got to be kidding!! “Martha, come look at this blasphemy!” you bellow to your wife (or Martha calls out, “Ralph, come here and read this!”). You wonder, who sponsored this big, black ad? It’s a local church. So, you read the rest of the copy to find out what they are saying. In its entirety, the ad says: “Who In Hell Cares? No one in Hell cares. That’s the whole point. But God cares. Think about it.” Hey, that’s not blasphemy, that’s truth! And you rightly wonder what else that church has to share. For people who are struggling with life’s questions, this ad is very often enough to cause them to come to church in hopes that the answers might be found there.

OK, But Can We Afford Advertising?

Think for a moment about the role of your church. Can you afford to be unrecognized in your community? Can you afford anonymity? Does your community know what your church stands for, and what its strengths are? Do your neighbors know of your youth programs, your Bible schools, your VBS program? Do they know about your programs for singles and for seniors? Do they know that you are a friendly church, that your message is relevant, that you have a life-saving message of peace and joy and hope for them?

The better question to ask is, “Can you afford not to advertise?” What is a life worth? God knows; it cost Him His Son. (Sounds like good material for an ad!) It is my contention that the day your ads bring an unsaved person through your church doors to hear the life-saving message of God’s Word, is the day your ads will be paid for.

Since 1973, I have been creating ads that have met with very favorable community response and have been yielding a high number of first-time visitors each Sunday. Initially, the copyrighted ads were for the exclusive use of my home church in Kirkland, Washington, but as word spread on their effectiveness, other churches came to me for copies. Today, more than 300 churches throughout the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad/Tobago, and Bermuda are using the ads with enthusiastic results. These ads apply proven marketing techniques to the assignment that Jesus gave us: to tell the world about Him. My approach is to carry out that assignment with modern techniques to a modern world.

Most newspapers have a very favorable “church and non-profit” rate, so you should be able to negotiate a rate less than that of commercial accounts. You may also receive a discount (2 to 3 percent) for your prompt payment. To get all the details, ask for your newspaper’s current advertising rates and data. You’ll not only find out how much your ads will cost, but will also discover what special services they offer (such as market research, layout advice, and art work), ad closing times, mechanical specifications, etc.

There is a price you must pay to advertise. And there is a price you will pay if you don’t. Being unknown may cost you more than what you’ll spend in “getting the Word out.” The choice is yours to make. This book seeks to help you make the right choice for your church.

Introducing Yourself To Your Community

Begin your advertising campaign with an introduction. New church, old church, it doesn’t matter. Unless you have been in the news for some reason, your church is probably unknown to all but a few in your community. If you are seeking to change that fact and improve your image, advertising can help.

Having a name recognizable to the community is simply a matter of putting your name before them, repeatedly, as in over and over and over and over again. The church I attend is called “Eastside Christian Church.” If we wanted name recognition alone, all we would have to do is run a small ad that said, “Eastside Christian Church.” Nothing else, just the name. In time, there would be name recognition. The community would know, or at least assume, that somewhere in the immediate area there was a church called, “Eastside Christian Church.” They wouldn’t know where we were, what we believed, or what kind of services we offered, but they would know our name.

Obviously, you will want to introduce more than just your church name to your community. While you have their attention, you will want to make a positional statement -- a statement that will let the reader know who you are, where you stand, and how you differ from other churches in the community. (If there is no difference, they might rightly question why you exist.) There is no point in tricking people through your doors with false pretenses of what you are (or are not). If the conservative nature of your congregation makes you uncomfortable with the charismatic approach to worship, don’t profess a “full gospel” program, even though that is what you truly believe you offer. Those words have come to mean “charismatic,” and that word itself has taken a new meaning recently. Hopefully, every church has “a special, magnetic charm or appeal,” but not every church displays the “extraordinary powers of the Holy Spirit” within their worship services. On the other hand, if your church does not speak in tongues or hold healing services, you need to tell people so they’ll know what to expect.

If you decide that there are differences between your church and others in your community that you must clarify, I recommend that you do so without presenting any form of challenge. God’s people don’t need to be fighting. On the other hand, you may need to make a statement that draws a clear line between you and a cult. Don’t shy away from that kind of battle line. That’s precisely what Satan would have you do.

Do you preach from the Bible only? Do you observe Communion each Sunday? Do you practice full-immersion baptism? Do you believe that God’s Word is inspired . . that it is to be followed with precision and exactness? Let your community know.

“Where the Bible speaks, we speak,” is an example of a positional statement. Another example of a headline for a positional statement ad might be, “Who Are We?” Then, in one short paragraph, summarize who your church is and what you believe. This may be easier for some than it is for others. Some churches are complex in their structure, their creed, and/or their theology. Others are quite simple. Eastside Christian Church, for example, fits into the simple category. Therefore, wecan make a statement like: “Our beliefs are basic and Bible-centered.” Examine the positional ads shown on the surrounding pages. In each case, the reader gets a pretty good idea if visiting our church is to be a part of next Sunday’s agenda, because compatibility, or lack thereof, can be discerned from the ad.

These ads won’t tell the reader if there’s warmth, or friendliness, or love, or attractive surroundings, or excellent teaching, or any of a myriad of things that may be true about your church, but they will got down to the bottom line. Eventually, people must get down to this line before deciding whether or not they will visit your church.

It is, by no means, necessary to make positional statements about your church in every ad. In fact, you may find that once you get past a few basic points, there is not much more to say. You might even decide to produce one ad that states your position clearly, and intersperse it among others once every six months or so. There are many other types of ads, some that are much more exciting and attention-getting, but few can be more important.

Why They Should Visit Your Church

Now that the community knows your basic position of faith, let them know what else they can expect to find when visiting your congregation. I have found that churches in a community tend to meet different needs. The needs you meet become your strong points. These strong points might also be ways in which you differ from other churches in your community, and will therefore serve to draw community members with these needs into your congregation. Are you known to be a friendly congregation? Is your church alive and growing? Do you have active programs for singles and for seniors? An excellent way to share these facts with your community is with testimonial ads -- with photographs of people in your congregation.

Our eyes are naturally drawn to photographs, particularly in a newspaper. If the photo is of someone you know, you’ll definitely stop to find out why he or she is in the news. If the photo is of someone you don’t know at all, but has an interesting caption, you’ll probably stop to read what it’s all about. And, we all have a tendency to trust what “someone just like us” says to us. That, in a nutshell, is the value of a testimonial ad.

The sample testimonial ads in Chapter Four could each be an answer to the question, “Why should I come to your church?” Hopefully, every member of your congregation will have a ready answer to that question, and all of their statements can be worked into ads. I’ll have more to say about testimonial ads in Chapter Four, but first, I want to touch on some more “strong points.”

God’s Features and Benefits

What is the ultimate reason why any non-Christian in your community should come to church? To become a Christian, of course. To come to know Jesus, to receive the gift of eternal life. Christians know this is true, but before the “features” and “benefits” of being a Christian can be used as ad material, we must translate Christian terminology into words that mean something to the non-Christian. For example, “salvation” is a feature of Christianity. The benefit of that feature is that the person who is saved will live forever with God in heaven. As Christians, we tend to think of the benefits of Christianity -- love, joy, peace, patience, forgiveness, salvation, etc., in terms that mean much more to us than they do to the unbeliever. That’s why we must convert God’s features into man’s benefits before we can convert man into sons of God. We must use words that mean something to the unbeliever.

A third obvious way to appeal to your community is with special events. Throughout the year, most churches have special events such as musicals, guest speakers, and vacation Bible schools. These events are natural topics for publicity. More times than not, musical groups and well-known speakers will have news releases already prepared. Some even have ad slicks that you can use without modification (except for adding your name, address and service time). A news release can easily be reworked into advertising copy. Hopefully, you will be able to combine the copy with a photo to enhance the overall appeal of your ad. If you’re starting from scratch, you still have an easy ad to write.

Perhaps you are convinced by now that your church needs to advertise. Good! The rest of this book will take you step-by-step through the process. Church growth will not be an automatic result -- too much depends on what the visitors see and hear when they come. Not is advertising a panacea for a dying church. Less than two percent of new church members come directly because of advertising. In contrast, 86 percent come because someone invited them. But ads do make impressions, and spark interest, and create awareness, so the next time you invite a friend to your church, you’re more likely to hear, “Oh yes, I’ve heard good things about that church! Sure, I’ll come with you.”