The Easter Checklist: 18 Factors That Can Really Impact Easter.
By C. Michael Johnson
For my part, I've invested just 30 years, but the churches we've partnered
with over those years have combined to invest a whole lot more into
the learning experiences that uncovered these marketing and ministry
success factors. I offer them here in this form to energize and inform
your planning. Any one of them could make a key difference in
your very next initiative. All of them...well, I can only imagine.
1 The Goal
Factor. Success begins with changing the way we measure it. All too
often, without knowing it, we plan for something we don't really want.
We plan for a crowd, we get empty chairs the next week. We
plan to reach the Unchurched, we get the recycled. We plan to
transform people, we get yawns. We plan to transform our community,
but we see little impact. First, it's important to be firmly
committed to our real goals, the outcomes you really want.
Write them down, put them on the mirror, etc. (you know the
routine). Next (imagine this), you actually measure in the short
term (daily-weekly-monthly, personally and with staff) the incremental
movement toward or away from these real goals. Now,
what was that again that you really wanted this Easter?
2 The Friend Factor.
Nothing replaces friendship as a primary
goal. While you're setting goals, don't get too clinical. What
the Kingdom is all about is friends.... finding friends, being a friend,
leading friends to be friends of God. Jesus measured success by turning
servants into friends, and creating a few enemies along the way (how
are you doing?). So if you want to infuse the friend-factor into every
ministry and outreach...plan for it and measure it. Measure
community impact, measure discipleship, but measure it mostly in terms
of friends. At its simplest, the goal of marketing is to develop conversations
which create friends. Even business is waking up to this fact
with Customer Relationship Management (or CRM)...but the Church should
know it by heart. We've created a little planning tool for evaluating,
setting up, and especially measuring your real goals. It incorporates
many of these factors. We've simply labeled it A7 RMC (for the Relationship-Managed Church), tracking seven key steps
in the friend-empowering process. It's just a start, but it does sort
of get to the heart of what most pastors really want, but seldom measure.
3 The Relevancy Factor. "I am the Unchurched...why should I give you
the time of day?" Sounds harsh, but we should frame these words and
put them on our desk. It would help keep us out of the kind of church-centric
myopia that dulls the cutting edges of most of our communication.
Effective media targets the needs felt, especially spiritual
needs (see Dream factor below) in a tasteful, sensitive way. For the
Unchurched (or anyone) there are no other needs. An overemphasis on
programs and features or 'us-us-us' will attract few 'them-them-them's.'
On a more immediate focus, use this Relevancy factor to evaluate your
plans and approach for Easter...and especially the creative content
of your promotions.
4 The Dream Factor.
Effective Christian communicators
ALWAYS tap into aspirations, knowing they represent our core, universal,
spiritual drives. God wired us that way, planting in each of
us unique dreams that call us to destiny. The language of dreams (purpose,
identity, passion, heart) defines the most relevant, responsive message
you can ever use to build lasting relationships with the unchurched.
Jesus wants to come into their heart, so that's precisely where
He wants to send you. The Holy Spirit has already been there for a
long time (nurturing, planting, calling) so you might want to work
together. Combine the Friend Goal with the Dream Goal and you have
the basis of what we call a 'Community of Dreams,' which is
a pretty good definition of a church, a community of friends nurturing
and releasing God's dreams into their transforming place in the world.
5 The
Media Factor. We
live in a media-driven world. We prefer it, we even love it.
Given the choice we'd all rather lurk in our favorite media,
and we'll be highly cautious and hesitant of any new relationship
you'd like to suggest. Putting the how-to-get-response question
aside for a moment, the only way to reach people today (other than
the holy grail of Word-of-Mouth, a challenge covered in Factor
# 8 below), and certainly to reach them in any significant number,
is through media. Which media is best? Every recent survey
shows people prefer to receive new information for choices via direct
mail, the Internet, and permission-given email. The latter two
require a means to get an introduction. In all our years of church
marketing we've found just two ways to consistently get a high number
of quality introductions, and a third that has enormous potential
but is not quite ready for prime time. More on that later.
6 The Unexpected Factor.
The prevailing mindset of people in a time-precious society
like ours is to ignore all those things that can be safely ignored.
Breakthrough communicators give them good reasons they can't.
Doing the unexpected is one way (sometimes referred to in marketing
as WOW, the Big Idea, or simply Remarkable). Let's face it,
if people are not responding in great numbers to your predictability
(if you are comfortably off their radar), why continue doing what
they would expect? Was there any person in Jesus' day that really
expected Him to do what he did...at any point? WWJD?...answer:
the unexpected. He even surprised his mom ...are you?
7 The Awareness Factor. You
can't reach people who are not aware of you. This can't be over-emphasized,
because it is so powerful and we always miss it. A good thing
to do at least once a month is to take a walk a few blocks from your
church and ask people you meet for directions to your church...what
do they say? In all the plans we make to assimilate and disciple
people we have to remember the starting point of that process is awareness.
And 'Remarkable Awareness,'
which is the subject of a recent Mindstorm, can positively impact
every other ministry area of your church. More on this here >
8 The Viral Factor.
Word-of-mouth (WOM) is
the holy grail of church marketing. Problem is, no one's yet figured
out how to make more of it...or have they? There are ways to nurture
it ...#6 and #7 above are two of the best. Another is to give people
tools to help them spread the word (what Seth Godin calls sneezing).
Much of this is emerging and in need of pioneers. Good viral campaigns
are built on a synergism of elements and are very fresh and specific
to each situation (if you'd like to talk about it, give me a call
or email).
9 The Experience Factor.
OK, now think about
the event you are inviting people to. Would you enjoy the experience
you plan to give them? Now, come on be real. Remember, we're taking
Mr. Unchurched away from his morning coffee and Sunday paper. Three
things to keep strongly in the mix (much more important than entertainment)
is Honor (humility, respect, courtesy), Community, and Affirmation
(not publicly but casually and personally). Unchurched people are
looking for them, they need to experience them in a way that only
the church can provide, they are exceedingly more important than "lights
and sound," and will be, long after the day of your event. On
the need for community and affirmation, intentionally plan to deliver
the experience of these the day of, and shortly after your event.
More on this, including a 'CARE Touch Points'
list to help your greeting team stay focused, here >
10 The Harvest Factor. Don't forget the all-important factor of follow-through
(not follow-up). I've visited churches, got my hand shook by
the pastor when I left, sometimes got a perfunctory call from a half-motivated
volunteer, or a form letter from the pastor. Now what's wrong
with this picture? Let's say I was the unchurched person you seek.
I made a considerable investment of time and emotional energy,
resisting my tendency to suspect new relationships, got the family
all dressed up, walked into a strange environment...all in the search
for (as discussed above) respect, community, affirmation, and friendship,
and all I get is a handshake and a form letter? This may be
follow up, but it's not follow-through. But don't people just
want to be left alone? If you think that, why did you try to
reach them in the first place? Done right, as 'withreach' (see #16
below), people want, love, even yearn for a quality, meaningful, relational
follow-through.
11 The Time Factor. Take
the long view. The goal is not attendance--it's a long-term relationship,
not membership--it's community and partnership. And, it's not
just conversion--it's authentic and complete transformation. So
plan each initiative toward the long term goal of community transformation.
Protect your most important asset: your community image and reputation.
Don't sacrifice it for short-term gain. Think like an
investor, compounding your impact, knowing that if you build right,
it will grow exponentially in due time. And even beyond that,
keep your eye on the legacy vision: what real difference can you make
for your grandchildren and theirs. You may ask, what does this have
to do with Easter just around the corner? Maybe a lot. With
key changes, your very next initiative, (even Easter as it a celebration
of new beginnings) can be the beginning of a remarkable community
image and impact.
12 The Development Factor.
Build and refine to achieve greater effectiveness
and excellence. Don't waste the learning potential derived from
each effort. Evaluate everything, what can be learned, how can
we do it better next time? A reverse positioning approach of
this is used for planning. What strategic steps, taken now will put
you in the best position to act down the road? Working backwards
from your real goals, the developmental question for planning is always
this: What needs to be in place for your big goal to happen, and prior
to that positioning what needs to be in place for it to happen? (and
so forth)
13 The Numbers Factor.
Simply put, you cannot expect numeric results
without initiating the corresponding scale those results require.
In other words, don't expect a visitor from distributing 50 doorhangers
or mailing 500 "impact" cards. Closely related to the exposure scale
is the need for continuity and repetition which are essential to build
community image and reach people at precisely the time they are open
or seeking. Also, because budget is always a concern, it's good to
plan for the absolute lowest unit costs, achieved through frequency
and the economies of scale, allowing you to reach more people. For
more on the Numbers Factor see the Law of Large Numbers
in the recent Mindstorm article, 12 Mistakes of Christmas Outreach.
14 The Synergy Factor.
There's a wonderful
compounding effect or synergy created with the right combination of
different media and people-based strategies. Think of it this way:
the right 1 can = 3, the right 1 + 1 can = 10, the right 1 + 1 + 1
can =100. Complementary and/or sequential media (like direct mail
+ Web + phone + neighborhood) can be extremely effective. Also,
factor in the developmental impact here too. There's a natural
synergism that comes from compounding community awareness and developing
image that helps every other area of ministry, including the culture
and self-identity of your own membership.
15 The Trust Factor.
Our strings are clearly showing.
Suspicion of our agenda has to be overcome. This is a blind
spot that plagues most people in even casual conversation, but it's
a severe and longstanding problem for churches, especially common
among growth-oriented, "type-A churches." We need to relax and
make friends with the unchurched, after all he's your neighbor. Then
we need to discover our unique voice (both personal voice and media
voice). An approach that's warm, engaging, and endearing, begins by
laying aside our impatience for attendance, swift conversions, and
memberships. It may require that we fully develop a sincere appreciation
(even wonder) for people as the treasures they are, along with a genuine
desire for deep friendship and the nurturing and release of their
God-given dreams. This ties in strongly with the Relevancy, Dream,
and Friend factors above, factors that form the basis of the Withreach
factor that follows.
16 The Withreach Factor. I'll
never be able to cover this huge factor in this brief space, but I
sincerely believe we would do well to so distance ourselves from the
typical practices and mindsets of outreach. For that reason, and to
enrich and discipline our creative thinking, we have found it productive
to use a new word. For a quick comparison see the Outreach / Withreach chart.
For an in-depth look at this cityreaching-paradigm watch your inbox
for a special upcoming Mindstorm or check our web site later next
week.
17 The Community Factor. Wouldn't
you like to have a place where everyone knew your name (and you knew
theirs)? Does God have a purpose for neighborhoods? The neighborhood
just may be the last mission field. It's certainly something we all
have in common -- we all live in a neighborhood -- but who are the
people in our neighborhood, really? Community transformation
will never happen without a withreach plan for our neighborhoods,
sensitive to the way people live (especially our own members), and
the desire for authentic, lasting relationships. Done right and over
time, it can and should be tied into every other ministry of the church,
especially media (though, to do so means some ministries and media
may need some withreach adjustment). To read a discussion about one
withreach neighborhood strategy that is up and running
and having profound impact, go here >
18 The
Body Factor. We need to begin to get a vision of the whole
Body of Christ reaching the whole city through the release of God's
'dreamers' into every sphere of life... where their dream can be matched
with the need they are called to meet. Start small, but begin somewhere.
For example, you could host a child evangelism summit and invite
a few other churches to dream with you in how you could work together
to empower children in your community, beginning this summer. Working
together you can do the research better, an analysis of best practices,
and brainstorm a wider mix of breakthrough ideas. Share your
ideas with us and we'll link you with churches doing something similar.
............................
Cityreach Partnerships for Community of Dreams
In the spirit of the Community of Dreams vision we are forming long-term
strategic partnerships in 500 cities using a Total Community Solutions
planning framework. We prefer to establish this closer relationship
with just one church in each city (or city part) but support each
Partner in their desire to network and partner with other churches
for greater impact.
Once the relationship is established, we essentially throw all development,
planning, creative content, ongoing coaching, and the resources of
our national partners into the mix. For your part, all we ask
is an agreement on some basic values and vision (see 21Q), a start-up
annual budget for a moderate level of media-based and volunteer-based
strategies, and a high enthusiasm and desire to really work as a partner
for a focused, sustained plan to reach your city.
The program is all about relationships, to form a national team with
the goal to collaborate and innovate together to produce effective,
holistic cityreaching plans, that once implemented and perfected will
emerge as transformational withreach models that will inform an exciting
future for all of us.
If you think you might be interested teaming up with us please call
or write (info below) to see if your city is open. If a partnership
is already established in your area we will certainly do all we can
to facilitate local collaboration.
National Partners:
Breakthrough Media (licensed
community media and city partnerships)
Neighborhood Connections (non-licensed neighborhood strategies)
Withreach and Community of Dreams Forums (moderated
forums)
If you would like more information or would like
to talk over strategies please find my complete contact information
below.
Have a great Easter!
C. Michael Johnson
President
Breakthrough Media
For The Glory Of God
And His Glory Purposed In You
20001 Glebe Lane
Charles City, VA 23030
www.Breakthroughchurch.com
Email: mike@breakthroughchurch.com