Marketing for Struggling Churches
Why do some churches struggle and why do others strive? Is it at all related to one doing good marketing and the other doing poor marketing?
Well, marketing can be one of the reasons but I really think there is one element that needs to be healthy before a church does effective marketing…
I think it the success lies with leadership. Many churches struggle because they lack strong leadership. By saying this please understand that I am not pointing the finger solely at the pastor. Leadership does come from the pastor but it is supported and extended through the other leaders in the church. Strong leadership seeks clear spiritual vision and casts that vision and direction to the whole church. If the vision is compelling and people buy into it then the church moves in that direction with unity.
Churches that do not have strong leadership and a compelling vision for what mission they are on and where they are headed tend to struggle. They struggle because the people do not have a clear sense for what God is calling them as a church to do to represent Him in their community. In this case, marketing is of little help because it is hard to market a dis-jointed vision. Even if you do marketing in these situations, new people that come tend to get frustrated when they discover the lack of vision. Leaders tend to respect, attract, and partner with other leaders. If you church has poor leadership, new people who come that are leaders tend to run when they get frustrated by weak leadership.
So, the best thing a struggling church can do is train, equip, unite, and empower it’s leadership. Once the leadership is solidified then the can begin to strategize on how marketing can communicate the vision the leaders have for the mission of their church.
What are your thoughts? Does leadership in a church matter?
(Image by Tim Abbott from Flickr)
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