Making Media Work for the Local Church

Bored? Buy a Mustang!

Need romance? Ultrabrite toothpaste will bring it your way!

Or, perhaps, it’s power you want? Then get yourself a Diner’s Club card.

And, if you’re still missing something-say a feeling of machismo-Marlboro cigarettes will make you master of all you survey.

All nonsense, of course, except that millions of people respond to such appeals to their basic needs. We may deplore the deception used in so much contemporary advertising and the “bromides” that are offered as solutions to genuine problems, but we have to admit one thing-Madison Avenue knows where it hurts.

In spite of such misuse of the media-or perhaps because of it-many of us long to put the media to work effectively, and for good cause, in the local church. Haven’t you ever wished you had the budget of the television preachers? Or wondered if you were confined forever to listing your sermon topics in the Saturday church page? Aren’t there any low-cost, effective ways you can use these God-given tools that dominate our everyday world?

Actually you can use mass media to attract people to Jesus Christ as well as to his church. You might not make as much noise as McDonald’s, Gillette, or General Mills, but if you understand a little about the process and dynamics of communication, then print and electronic media can help you.

Begin with people, not equipment

Jesus had no Saturday edition in which to buy a half-page ad, but he did know where and how to start communicating. He knew that the real need of his audience was to be reconciled to God. But he didn’t start there. He began with what we call “felt needs”-those deep-down hurting places that we keep covered from public view.

Contrast Jesus’ message with the sermon topics in a recent issue of the Los Angeles Times: “Theology and Medical Ethics,” “Jezebel,” “Faith of Our Mothers,” “Called to Be Saints.” If the church can’t offer any more than “Ten Proofs That Jesus Rose from the Dead,” it’s no wonder people buy Mustangs and smoke Marlboros to meet some deep-felt need. People who are hurting don’t need to hear about proofs of the Resurrection. They need to know how the Resurrection and the power of Jesus Christ can help them cope with their problems.

“People-first” communication, whether you’re speaking to one person or one thousand, begins with these three steps:

Define your audience-Identify specifically who you want to respond to your message. Unchurched people? Families? Community leaders? Believers?

Then go a little deeper than that. Are they mostly blue-collar workers? How do they spend their leisure time? For whom do they vote? What issues are important to them? Unemployment? Inflation? Nuclear disarmament? The environment? Gun control? Prayer in the schools? Family tensions?

Say you want to reach newly married couples. Where do they live-in high-rise apartments or small tract homes? Do they work during the daytime? Do they have children?

Communication is basically a relational process, and to relate to anyone you need to know that person. The more you know about your audience, the better you can relate to them.

Identify felt needs-Most unchurched parents, for example, want their children to have a knowledge of God, and they want them to absorb good values. People in a retirement community want to feel useful-and they are very often lonely. The average middle-aged couple with teenage children will probably have some communication problems.

For some people, these needs are very near the surface. They openly long for help or even for information. Some of these needs are hidden a little deeper, but when you touch them, people respond.

Define your objective-What do you want to accomplish? How do you want people to respond? And how will you know if you get the response you want?

Know very clearly in your own mind what you expect to happen as a result of your direct mail letter, radio or television spot, or program. You may want attendance on Sunday morning or at a special midweek film series. You may want registration for a Saturday seminar on family life. Or you may simply want a cognitive change-a better understanding of how your membership meets some of the social needs of the community. Before you begin your program of outreach to your community, set up specific criteria for what you want to accomplish. Then have the courage to measure the results.

These steps will help you select the most effective media to reach the people you want to reach, with the correct message, and with the least amount of money.

The limitations of mass media

We give mass media, especially the electronic media (and, more specifically, television), way too much credit. We expect them to accomplish too much. For instance, we expect television to be a strong medium for evangelism. But it isn’t. Television is a medium of communication.

We can use it to present the truths of the gospel, but it doesn’t allow a face-to-face, experience-to-experience relationship or dialogue. The problem is that the gospel demands that kind of relationship. It demands intimacy with people. It demands fellowship-what the Bible calls koinonia.

Recognizing this, a major research study said: “Mass media as a whole are not a very efficient means of bringing people to a decision about the church or any other involving personal commitment. They are efficient to raise money. They are efficient at reinforcing opinions already held, but not very efficient in changing opinions. Television particularly is not good at dealing with complex problems. Television is primarily an entertainment and advertising vehicle.”

What a mass medium does best

That report says a lot to us about the strategy of a local church in using electronic media for evangelism. More and more the evidence tells us that we should not look at media as anything more than pre-evangelism. We’ve got to lower our expectations of television, radio, direct mail, or space advertising.

However, though mass media don’t do a very good job of meeting felt needs, they can be used to make people aware of ways to satisfy their needs. In his book Why Churches Grow, Flavil Yeakley, Jr., lists five stages in the process of communication-awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, adoption. According to Yeakley, “A large body of research indicates that the mass media are most influential at the awareness and interest stages. The mass media have little influence at all in the evaluation and trial stages and only minor influence in the adoption stage.” In other words, mass media can start people on a search for an answer to their needs and can turn them toward the church for that answer.

Once we see mass media in that light, all types of possibilities surface. Then we can begin to use media efficiently, effectively, and with integrity.

Using mass media for effective outreach

A. Direct mail. Your church could have at least a quarterly direct mail outreach program to your community. One mailing could let recipients know that your church understands the pressures, stresses, and frequent heartaches of family life today. You could identify yourselves as a church of families who share the same struggles, but with the resources of a loving God who created and helps sustain the family.

Your mailing could offer a free book that focuses on family life. This offer should not be used as a means of getting names on a mailing list, but rather would have ministry value in itself. Further written encouragement to visit your church could accompany the book.

Another excellent opportunity for outreach is to send a letter offering a book to all parents who are not members of your church but who send their children to your Sunday school.

Still another mailing could speak to an area of broad felt need-the need for love and a sense of belonging in today’s impersonal society. The bottom line of the letter might state, “We’re here to share life-both its problems and the solutions we have discovered-with you.” The pastor could suggest that he is available for counsel by phone or personal visit at any time. The strategy here, of course, is to encourage the response of people who perceive a need in their lives. To do this, it’s important to provide a way for people to respond, yet to let them take the initiative.

Other mailings during the year might promote particular events. For instance, plan a three-day family seminar, Friday night through Sunday morning, and feature outside speakers or people from your church. Include workshops on parenting, husband and wife communication, family budgeting, living as a single parent, or preparing for retirement. Promote this with a series of two or three letters to the community at large.

Remember, you want to encourage people to respond as the first step in leading them toward a solution of their problems. Their real need-a relationship with Jesus Christ as the foundation of a healthy family life-can be presented in the context of the event.

A few years ago a large city church in the Midwest was struggling with the problem of reaching the anonymous dwellers in high-rise apartments surrounding the church. They decided on a direct mail program based on the theme “Games People Play.” They prepared a special tract with that title, wrote a letter to their neighbors, and packaged it attractively.

The heavy response completely surprised the church staff. In fact they had to slow down the mailings because they didn’t have the staff to handle all the leads the mailing generated.

That was, by the way, a perfect example of a church wanting to have a meaningful ministry to an unreached segment of their population and doing it by identifying a felt need.

B. Newspaper ads, radio and television spots. As an added outreach to a quarterly direct mail effort, use a few creative newspaper ads, as well as radio and television spots. In smaller communities radio and television are more cost-effective and within the reach of the local church. In large markets such as Los Angeles or Chicago, you have to buy the entire market, and the cost is generally prohibitive. However, cable television, with its smaller area coverage, will be increasingly more practical for a local church.

Use newspaper ads, radio, and television spots to address a specific felt need. You might offer a booklet on loneliness, or family life, or fear. Or you can use them to promote specific events at the church. In any case, they should present a caring message that says, “We’re here and we care about you.” For the greatest impact develop a special media campaign using integrated newspaper, radio, and television ads. Don’t forget to include a telephone number so people can call and talk to someone about the specific need you’ve addressed.

Several years ago the Presbyterian Church of La Canada, California, ran a series of ads in the local paper featuring catchy titles such as “The Mayor Has Been Fired,” or “Last Sunday Morning at 8:45, Stephen Screen Left Home.” The mayor, it turned out, was all fired up about the church, and the Stephen Screen ad went on to say: “It wasn’t the first time. It happens almost every week. You see, Stephen spends Sunday morning with about twenty other kids his own age at the Presbyterian Church. His parents don’t let Stephen go out by himself, so they go with him. Stephen loves every minute of it. And so do his mom and dad. Not just because of the way Stephen is growing up, but because of the way the church is helping the family stay close together. Maybe you should think about leaving home next Sunday morning. If you do, take the whole family.”

The ads spoke to felt needs such as keeping the family together and maintaining a happy home-and believe me, they got a much better response than “Called to Be Saints”!

A means, not an end

Although a few churches have used direct mail and newspapers creatively and effectively, very few have used radio and television following the principles I’ve outlined here. A few denominations have created radio and television spots along these lines, but it’s almost impossible to find good examples on a local level. Using the principles we’ve discussed, you can be one of the first.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ve “communicated” just because you bought broadcast time or advertising space. You have to understand the process to get the results. Identify your audience. Discover the felt needs of people. Define what you want to accomplish. Then select the media that will meet your objectives, and use them correctly. The results will be exciting. You’ll help put needy people in contact with caring people-person to person-and envelop them in the fellowship of the church.

-Russ Reid, president

Russ Reid Company

Pasadena, California