Church Marketing Sucks

It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., a time of giving thanks followed by excessive material consumption.

Despite the cultural whiplash, churches could use some thankfulness. Not only is it a good communication strategy year-round, but it’s an opportunity to find a moment of calm in the midst of Christmas chaos.

So let’s give thanks.

Here are just some of the things we can be thankful for:

1. We have a mission. We’re not selling widgets or contributing to all that excessive materialism. “We’re on a mission from God.” Literally. Our job is to tell the the greatest story ever told. How great is that?
2. We will overcome. No matter how bad things get—and sometimes it seems pretty bleak: depression, addiction, homelessness, war, terrorism, injustice, racism, death, suicide, and on and on—we have a faith that sustains us. God’s kingdom come, his will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Christmas is coming, that ray of hope in the midst of the darkness, bringing redemption and good news for all our weary souls (it’s easy to forget how radical the Christmas story is).
3. We’re not alone. Even if you feel like you’re always shot down in staff meetings or you’re the only church in your neighborhood trying to communicate better—you are not alone. There are groups of communicators getting together in person and online, all over the world. You don’t have to struggle alone.
4. Resources abound. You don’t have to figure everything out for yourself. There are so many resources available to help. When we started this site back in 2004 there weren’t nearly as many resources and it was harder to find them. Today if you can’t find help, you’re not looking hard enough.
5. Helpful books. While your pastor might balk at a website with ‘sucks’ in the title, these days there are tons of print books you can put in the hands of your leadership that will help them understand the power of marketing, social media and more. We’ve even published a few.
6. Training events. And if you prefer to do your learning in person, there are loads of events focused on church communication. Some have come and gone in the last decade (a moment of silence for Echo Conference), some have come back, some are online only and some offer an opportunity to go in-depth with small group help. We try to track them all in our events calendar.
7. Opportunities to give back. Serving in our churches is incredibly fulfilling, but sometimes we yearn to give back in a wider sense to the church communication community. And today there are so many opportunities. You can take a week and go on Creative Missions, you can join our Street Team, share your wisdom in our chats and discussions, volunteer with a local meetup and more.
8. Those who have gone before. There are so many heroes who have blazed the path before us. They’ve refined and defended the faith, spread the gospel, launched ministries and left an example for us.
9. People. The community of church communicators is an incredible thing. There are so many smart and helpful people out there willing to help. Thanks to social media, it’s easier than ever to get in touch with them. You can ask a question and get some help. That’s pretty great.
10. Changing attitudes. Not only have the resources and opportunities for help changed in the past decade, but so have the attitudes about church marketing. A decade ago we were defending the very notion of church marketing. These days we’re focused on telling people how to do it. ‘That’s how we’ve always done it,’ may still exist, but more and more churches are aware of their need to communicate to their neighbors—and communicate well.

So… thanks.

More:

• It’s never too late to remind your congregation to be thankful on social media. We’ve got a free graphic you can use.
• A round up of Thanksgiving links from a few years ago, including some Kid President.