Getting the Word Out?

by Joe Thorn on September 18, 2006

How do you get the word out about your church: Yellow Pages, newspaper, direct mail, door-to-door, street preaching, block-party, service projects? Most churches want their communities to know they exist and get a certain impression of them. We covered some of this in Basic Training and the Nehemiah Project of the SBC, but I want to hear from you guys and hopefully get some new ideas. My question more specifically is, What are some good ideas for getting the word out about your church on the cheap?

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • Rob Freire

    I’m looking forward to seeing how folks respond to this query. It’s been on my mind a lot lately. This morning, a couple of people from a local church were handing out postcards at my bus stop. The card, which was accompanied by a pack of Big Red gum, said, “Here’s a reminder that God loves you.” My first reaction was, “So God loves me so much he wants me to have fresh, cinnamony breath?” My second reaction was to think about the small sacrifice made be these folks to get to this busy bus stop early in the morning and show a bit of kindness, smiles and all. In any case, I’m not sure this is a great idea, but I pass it on for your consideration.

  • http://www.buzzardblog.typepad.com Justin Buzzard

    Recently at CPC we’ve found it really effective to buy in bulk these pink bookmarks that our local Christian bookstore sells. They’re a lighter shade of pink, with a soft glossy feel . They’re printed with an image of Jesus wearing sea-shell strapped sandals and sitting cross legged on the beach in a contemplative mood. In his hand is a journal with a heart on it and he’s journaling about his 10 life purposes. When you look closely at the journal, you can see that his 10th life purpose is for many people to come and check out our church. We love passing these bookmarks out, either door to door or at community gatherings.
    Just kidding. Recently, I’ve found two new ways that have gotten the word out and directed at least a few people to our church: 1) my blog has directed some attention to CPC and 2) playing basketball with the dudes at the park across the street from our church. When they realize they’re posting and getting schooled by a pastor from across the street, they get curious.

  • http://wmson.wordpress.com Pete Williamson

    your comments totally made my morning, Justin…thanks.

  • http://www.firstnorfolk.org Eric Thomas

    We have the opportunity to use media outlets (radio is the most cost-effective of media outlets IMO, but we also do TV, yellow pages, and very little newspaper). We use direct-mail for special events. These are beneficial, but not the focus of our communication strategy.

    The most effective means of getting the word out is through person to person interaction in the community. We use as many strategies as possible to encourage our people to share with their neighbors and with strangers.

    Encouraging our members to talk to others on “their” turf is a big deal with us. Just to talk to them. Eventually, if you can talk long enough, church may come up in the conversation. Business cards printed in bulk with our logo and church info is a tool we place in their hands.

    “Buy a meal” approach encourages our members to pay for someone’s meal. More often than not, they have the opportunity to share a good word about the church with the “server” who wants to know why they would do it. Our people are not encouraged to give church info to the person for whose meal they bought unless approached by the recipient.

    We live in a beach community. Going to the boardwalk and handing out bottle of water usually gives our members an opportunity to share about the church.

    We have also rented a kiosk at one of the malls (not as expensive as I thought it would be). For example, we took several weeks focusing on the family. We gathered and wrote some resources. We rented a kiosk to hand out those resources. We had our members take shifts at the kiosk, just talking to people.

    These are a few ideas.

  • http://www.founders.org/blog tom ascol

    Joe:

    I have written op-ed pieces for our local newspapers over the years. These have generated an awareness in the community of the church. I have found that in the last few years especially, as newspapers compete with the internet as a source of information, that our papers have focused more and more on local matters. Editors love to have material that does not take a lot of work for them to get into shape, is not pedantic, is thoughtful and relevant…sort of like what you post here on your blog regularly! You ought to try submitting some articles and see what happens. We also take advantage of the free publicity that one paper gives to churches every Saturday to promote their ministries. So many churches around here have been doing the Purpose-Driven Life stuff, that I began calling my sermon series through Jeremiah the “Prophet-Driven Life,” with blurbs each week about the upcoming sermon on Sunday. We try to be involved in helping needy families and children in local schools. Just Friday a principal from a school called one of our members with a crisis situation because she “didn’t know who else to call,” and we were able to help out. I am glad that school thinks of GBC when a need arises. One other thing we have done that has been helpful simply to let our presence be known is hand out fliers to our VBS in the elementary schools on the last day of class before summer break. We never thought we would be allowed to do this…until we asked. Now we have given out 8-10,000 fliers with church info on them for the last several years. In years past we have distributed nice, frameable prints of the 10 Commandments door to door.

    The one effort that has produced more “bang for the buck” in recent years has been our church website. It’s not very fancy, but it is always there, and people have found out about us by looking at it.

  • http://ctlillies.blogspot.com/ Josh Kidwell

    Wow, these are all great ideas. I’d like to add that at our church several folks are teachers as well as volunteers at the local elementary school (yes “the”, small town and all). We also have a Wednesday night supper right before TeamKid. You’d be surprised how many kids show up for supper but stay for the bible study–hungry on both counts.

    Regarding the business card idea, I saw one once that was a bi-fold with church info on the front and a map on the inside and a spot for a very short note on the back. I also had a pastor who challenged his deacons to take a NT or a copy of God’s Promises to the home of each guest on Sunday afternoon. Just a quick stop to leave a gift and ask if they needed anything. We’d buy them by the case and he would jot a note in each one and sign it. That was awhile ago so I don’t know if it’d work or not these days.

    Hey Joe I’ve really enjoyed listening to some of the sermons I’ve heard from you and some others online. Since podcast seems to be the new radio have you considered doing that? I recall my first church was heavily involved in a radio ministry at one time and most of the older generation (I mean from the 1950′s) in the church had been reached at least in part by that ministry. You could get that set up and put the information on whatever paper you hand out.

    Or you could get these cd-rom business cards in bulk–they’ll hold about 40mb or so (I got ten or twenty good hits on the first page of a google search). It looks like they’re running somewhat less than a buck apiece. You could easily fit a homily on the benefits of the Word and church AND some code–maybe a browser page with some hotlinks to your church website. Heck, with 40mb you could probably even fit a copy of the text version of the KJV on there. I think thats public domain.

    Much Grace
    Josh

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Thanks for the responses! I was hoping we’d have more participation on this one, but all of your thoughts are helpful. Thanks a lot!

    Josh – I have been working on a podcast concept, but in a different direction. Something local though, for community and Kingdom, sounds very intriguing. I will be brainstorming about that. Thanks man.

    Joe

  • http://www.partofthestory.com Mike Edwards

    I’m pretty sure we need to be throwing parties and being hospitable. I’m pretty sure we also need to serve in our community. However, I don’t know that we need to all wear t-shirts that day that advertise our church, etc…I think people see through that. Whatever method you choose, it is primarily through relationship(s) that people are going to hear about, see lived out, and be moved by Jesus. Grace doesn’t come in a vacuum.

    Jesus really gives a great plan for getting the word out:
    “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

  • http://ctlillies.blogspot.com/ Josh Kidwell

    Yeah that brings up a good point. Why Joe?

    If its because someone said, “Pastor how come you’re not doing more to grow this church?” thats a problem. (Of course, I’ve been force fed church growth strategy instead of doctrine until its “coming out my nose” so I may be biased.)

    Just curious
    Josh

  • http://www.michaelfoster.typepad.com Michael Foster

    We shave our church url into the sides of stray dogs and cats.

  • Aaron Kirchhefer

    We are trying a community BBQ this Saturday. Everything is free. Everyone is convinced, except the pastor and his wife, that a Southern Gospel music group would be well received. I figure they are trying to reach out to the community so let’s try it.

    A church in PA does this every year and have had about 4 families find Christ in the past 3 years.

    I would agree with Mike, Relationships are the key.

  • Josh M

    Aaron, we’re in Wisconsin so we threw a big brat fry at a local park and charged a nickel for brats. Gave us a little gimmick with the “Nickel Brats”. We built all kinds of carnival-type games (obstacle course, Big Wheel bike course, dunk tank, Matchbox car pinewood derby, water balloon trebuchet, and the old standbys – coins in the sandbox, inflatable bounce room, etc.) Our church is about 50 people, but we had between 300 and 400 people show up. Great way to get the word out. We haven’t grown as a church, but our name is known in the community as the church that does nice things for free … er, a nickel.

    We didn’t have a Southern Gospel band, though. Maybe that would have pumped it up to 500. :-)

  • Aaron Kirchhefer

    Josh the Southern Gospel band, er uh group, did a concert, er uh sing, back in March. (We don’t have bands and don’t do concerts out here. Why? I don’t know.) My musically trained wife ‘loved’ them. She can’t wait to hear them again. ;)

    I am just excited to see the church members, the ones who really know the area and the people doing something. It all starts somewhere, and if it takes nickel-brats to build some relationships then let’s go.

  • http://gunny93.blogspot.com/ Gunny Hartman

    We do a lot of the things mentioned above, but I was asked to be on the reader advisory board for a local paper that is free with 100% distribution. Through that connection, I’m able to get us a lot of free pub.

    I got that and other things from being seen and known in the community. Like Ron Burgundy … I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal. People know me.

    Not only do I have many leather-bound books and an apartment mahogany scented, I try to show up (with the family) at as many community events as I can (e.g., block parties, neighborhood deals, city Independence Day celebrations, Santa party, etc.). I’m not sure how effective it is in getting rears in seats, but I figure if I’m even giving a positive impression regarding the church or Christ, then I’m pleased.

    We also advertise with the local schools. They typically send home a monthly deal to parents where the PTA defrays costs with ads and they also do a student directory that contains all the information about the kids (e.g., names, grades, addresses, parents, etc.). Parents use that a lot and see our propaganda from time to time throughout the year.

    We don’t do anything special with the yellow pages since it seems nobody uses it anymore. However, that is how I found a new church one time, because of it’s tagline: “The Bible as it is for men as they are.”

    We’re also ramping up an ESL program and we get our folks involved at fundraising events for the local crisis pregnancy center.

    Some good ideas shared here and in general we try to do good in such a way that the heathen see as good, so that God will be praised.

    Thanks,
    Gunny

  • Courtney Joseph

    I’m getting in on this one late and I have typed about most of this before but I’ll do it again because God has blessed our church mightily through these outreach ministries.

    Our church has done carnivals, free car washes using a drug store’s parking lot for four consecutive weekends, gift wrapping in the front of Kmart for the four weekends leading up to Christmas, gift wrapping and free assembly of toys (like bikes for single moms) at our church, and blood drives. We also do random acts of kindness by going into a neighborhood and knocking on doors and offering to rake leaves or shovel snow.

    We run a crisis pregnancy center that is in a motor home – we park it on the Akron University Campus. We purchased an ultra sound machine and give out free ultra sounds to pregnant women. Once they see that baby they usually decide to keep it! We also provide clothes and diapers etc. for the new moms along with meeting their spiritual needs through Bible studies and classes on how to mother according to God’s word.

    Tonight at the church we are having our hunting outreach. It’s called the Big Game Dinner and there will be Hunting Tips and Amazing Survival Stories. There’s some prizes like a 10-Point Crossbow. It costs $7.50 per person for the first ticket and $5 for each of your guests.

    In October we take a Saturday and have a Touchdown Classic (flag football). Each team has 4-8 players, it’s $10 (that includes lunch), the Grand Prize is tickets to see the Cleveland Browns take on the Kansas City Chiefs from the Dawg Pound. Rosters must include non-members/unbelievers.

    We do the same type of outreaches using volleyball, golf and softball also. The gospel message is always given at these events.

    We’ve also rented out the local YMCA for a superbowl party/family night. We just asked church members to bring food and unbelievers and there was plenty of both.

    Finally, a huge ministry that has brought in over a hundred new members is our urban connection ministry. We bought a cheap school bus and painted it blue and every Sunday morning it picks up over 40 children from one project in Akron. As a result we have parents attending. We have begun direct ministries in their neighborhood from parenting and family classes done in their homes to after school tudoring and kid/teen mentorships. This has required a TON of time and commitment from our members of our church and it has changed the face of our church – both racially and spiritually. That has brought it’s challenges.

    I know I am leaving out some of the ways we have gotten the word out about our church in the area to people but I hope that the most important thing you see from this list is… the leaders plan the events but it is up to the members to attend, bring an unsaved friend or family member, wash a car, serve some cookies with a Bible at the blood drive, wrap a present, donate baby items, ride a bus into the projects, give us a Saturday to rake some leaves, mentor a teen, tutor a child, etc.

    The entire body serves together with their own spiritual gifts and the power of God is displayed in it and we can’t help but to shine in a dark community. Get your believers serving their bot bots off (if they won’t you have a spiritual issue and it needs to be addressed!) – they will grow closer to one another and love being used by God! It’s so exciting!

    Ps. Our growth did not happen overnight – we have remained consistent for 10 years with these events and slowly year after year we see the lasting impacts. It takes some time.

    Courtney
    Maranatha Bible Church
    Akron, Ohio

  • sam

    Hey everyone,

    I have found the best way to share Christ with people is to get out among them. A good way to do this is using a paint board in busy areas, like Michigan Ave and painting a gospel message and preach the message while painting it. Many people are out on the street trying to earn money through street performances, why not share the gospel for free? Many people stop and are curios what you are painting, after a crowd is drawn you began with a natural story and lead it into the spiritual. Also one to one’s are great ways to share the gospel. In Chicago they have so many fests throughout the year, get out and get among them and use some great gospel tracts to start conversations. I do this weekly and have seen many people come to Christ and plant many seeds. Obviously relationships are very important. Check out http://www.livingwaters.com it has the best resources on evangelism I have seen yet.

  • http://www.byfarthersteps.com Tim Etherington

    These are some really good ideas. They’ll stick.

    There is a man at my current church who teaches a Philosophy of Religion class and a World Religion class at the local community college. He sees it as pre-evangelism. There are some in the class who have their position and that’s it. There are some who have never been exposed to any worldview other than evolution and they’re fascinated. Jonathan makes sure that he covers the material, but he also engages the church to pray and invities some folks from the church to speak in the class. He has seen fruit from this ministry.

    Yea, I know, it isn’t about getting the church publicized but I don’t think it is too far removed! :)

  • http://www.hunterbeaumont.typepad.com Hunter Beaumont

    I’m a latecomer to this conversation. As a church plant, the best thing we’ve done is host several “seminars and open forums” in local coffee shops on spiritual questions that many people are curious about, even if they’d never ask a Christian directly. For example: we’ve done two seminars on “who was this man?” (historical Jesus) and one on “the story” of the Bible. We work with the shop owners to let us fill the shop either during business hours or after-hours. The seminars are promoted via word of mouth and via postcards we put in coffee shops and bookstores around town (most have a bulletin board for community events). All the verbage is very welcoming of all viewpoints and we emphasize that it will be a seminar AND “all questions welcome” open forum.

    We actually don’t put the church’s name on the seminar…just the presenter (who is one of the pastors). We tell people right up front that we’re Christians, but other than that we don’t push it. They always end up asking for more info about the church and a handful of them come and check it out.

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