IDEAS THAT WORK - Christianity Today

Thrifty Visibility

Church-growth specialist Carl George tells the story of going to a consulting appointment in metropolitan New York and calling the pastor for directions. “I’m not going to tell you,” the minister said. “Just come to town and ask the first person you see how to find our church.”

Skeptical but curious, George drove into the city and stopped at the first gas station. “I don’t know anything about churches,” the attendant responded. Then he paused. “Unless you mean the one that’s always got something going on. I’ve seen their flyers, and here’s how to get there . . .”

His story convinced me that any church can find an affordable way to enhance its community image. The key is not necessarily big bucks (even our church could afford flyers!) but continual positive visibility.

The results touch the heart of why we exist as a church: the more positive publicity we do, the easier our friendship evangelism becomes (“Sure, I’ve heard of your church”) and, perhaps just as significantly, the more excited our people become about their church.

Over the last three years, our cash-strapped congregation has found several inexpensive but effective ways to help shape our community’s perception of us.

Streetside Signs

We’ve created a number of movable but professional-looking signs that we set up each Sunday along the curb at the place we rent for worship.

“Real” churches, who may sport gorgeous, permanently mounted signs, could profit by doing likewise since a new, catch-your-eye display often receives more notice than something that’s the same year-round.

We’ve made basic directional signs (“Newcomers always welcome at . . .”), seasonal signs (“Start over with God this Christmas Eve”), and special-event signs (“Join us for our annual Family Day at Community Park”). By themselves they draw few visitors, but we know they make a difference because of how many of our people’s acquaintances respond when told about our church, “I know-I’ve seen your signs.”

These top-quality signs cost us only about $10 each. How? First, our parish bulletin details a “do-you-have-in-your-garage?” list. Most churches, including ours, have pack rats who are happy to donate these materials.

We start with a scrap of 1/4″ or 3/8″ plywood (any grade as long as it’s relatively new). We cut it to about 3′ X 3′ so no one can say it’s too big to transport in their car! After sanding it, we apply primer-making certain to seal all edges-and two generous coats of high-gloss white enamel. Exterior trim paint works great.

Then, using a sign-making computer program (in even tiny churches someone will have access to the equivalent of “Print Shop”), we print our carefully planned message. With scissors, tape, and Liquid Paper, we arrange the wording until we have a sharp-looking miniature of our future sign. Next, we enlarge it on a photocopier until we have a group of 8 1/2″ X 11″ sheets that fit together into the exact size of our finished sign. Finally, we make transparencies of each sheet, place them on an overhead projector, trace them onto the prepared plywood and then paint our outlined lettering. Voila!

By planning far enough in advance, most or all of the above steps can be delegated to capable people in the congregation.

Free Newspaper Publicity

Our people used to get discouraged that our church finances could never afford even the tiniest newspaper advertisements. Then we found something that people notice more than ads: photos.

Most newspapers contain boring, dismal-looking religion pages because editors and pastors alike have other concerns that are far more urgent. Both of our local newspapers, however, are usually delighted to print (even adding their by-line!) a quality black-and-white photo and accompanying brief story about some current, interesting event in the life of our church.

What’s of public interest in the life of a church? Almost anything about the people: the graduating high school seniors whom we honored and prayed for one Sunday in church, the children who are in a mini-choir or who were recognized for Scripture memory, the person who’s retiring and was honored at a church reception.

It costs us an average of $5 a picture (assuming two usable prints for each roll of 24 shots we take), an amount we can usually squeeze in once per month.

If the photo is a good close-up of the person (don’t put the pastor or church building in it) and if the news blurb opens by talking about the person (not the times of the church services), then there’s a good chance the paper’s religion editor will run it for free-and that community people will see it and register the name of our particular church.

Newcomer-to-Town Mailings

Some of the most spiritually receptive people are those who have recently moved to the area. The unchurched are sometimes open to starting afresh with God. Gallup polls tell us that a significant percentage of the unchurched say they would visit a church if invited. Those who are already committed Christians will be looking for a new parish home.

Many companies specialize in providing lists of such address changes. They’re sold at monthly prices of $25-$100 per 5-digit ZIP code. The price range depends on how many people relocate to a given area each month.

This cost was too high for us, so we searched for similar lists that were free: from utility companies, real estate abstracters, county tax assessors, or chambers of commerce. We discovered that one of our local newspapers, in its Sunday real estate section, lists all new homeowners.

Every few weeks, then, we computer-generate personalized letters to these neighborhood newcomers. Although few new residents have followed through with a visit, our people feel good that their church, despite our very limited means, is on the cutting edge of making ourselves available as soon as someone moves to town.

Mass Mailings

Most churches immediately dismiss the idea of a community-wide mailing because they think they can’t afford the postage. We’ve discovered how to cut the standard first-class letter postage by some 80 percent, enabling us to do three mailings to more than 10,000 homes each. Even though the response rate is low (less than 1 percent), each mailing still translates into a handful of visitors and at least one eventual member!

How do we do it? The U.S. Postal Service’s bulk rate for non-profit groups is less than a penny per letter if the letters are pre-sorted by carrier routes (if, when we take our mailing to the post office, it’s organized so that each tray contains one mailman’s route alphabetized by street names). We obtain the listing of streets and route numbers from each local post office or by requesting multiple ZIP code areas (up to 8 are free) from the U.S. Postal Service National Address Information Center at 1-800-238-3150.

We generally involve 90 percent of the congregation in preparing our mailings. We make it easy and appealing by dividing the work into one-hour projects that can be picked up one Sunday from a centrally located table and returned the next. We place each hour-long step in a grocery bag. Most everyone can handle one bag; some take five or six. We do this for a month, and, if we’ve organized wisely, our coordinator can put it all together in a couple of evenings.

Our people have rallied behind these mailings because they feel like evangelists but in a way that doesn’t scare them or, frankly, doesn’t overly inconvenience them. After all, people can do much of the work while watching TV: hand-addressing, affixing return-address labels, sealing envelopes, alphabetizing streets, or licking stamps (we use pre-canceled stamps, which makes our literature seem less like junk mail than a printed indicia).

The content of our bulk mailings have ranged from formal invitations (to an Easter service) to postcards (regarding a Christmas Eve service). No recipients seem to notice that we use “junk mail” rates because our literature (outside and inside) seems high-quality and the content of our wording impresses them that we are a very personable fellowship.

Streetside signs, newspaper photos, newcomer letters, mass mailings-all this publicity has made a difference both in how our people feel about their own church and in how our community views us.

A good public image will never get anyone to heaven, but it sure gives us more of a chance to invite our neighborhood to experience the life-changing, good news of Jesus Christ. Yes, even on our still-very-limited budget!

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