What do many of today’s churches have in common with Wal Mart? According to J. Clif Christopher in his new book, Whose Offering Plate Is It? New Strategies for Financial Stewardship, “the church has found itself much like the Mom and Pop grocery that suddenly finds itself up against a big national chain” - Wal Mart.
Christopher refers to the increased number of nonprofits that are soliciting for people’s money, and in a way, are in competition with the church. Like Wal Mart, nonprofits have done the research, and have the necessary skills and marketing savvy to attract people. All the while, the church hasn’t been in the business of selling itself.
The difficult part, according to Christopher, is that ”donors have gotten spoiled by seeing what effective communication looks like and feels like.”
Christopher’s book suggests that simply communicating that there is a budget shortfall is no longer enough to gain support for the church. People are conditioned to see measurable results. In addition, they have many more choices for giving, including faith based organizations other than the local church.
The 20th annual study by Empty Tomb Inc. reaffirms the trend that church giving is down while donations to religious organizations overall increased.
“The 2008 data suggests it’s possible that fewer people are seeing churches as the primary conduit for meeting the larger need,” said Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of the nonprofit that released the Empty Tomb Study. The study, released this past October, analyzed data about U.S. church giving through 2008 from about one-third of U.S. churches.
This message is a sobering wake-up call for churches, and also an opportunity. With the problem identified, churches see trends of shifting motivation for giving, and must tailor the message accordingly. Leadership can and must focus on better communication first and foremost.
Some tips on improved communication include:
- Focus on God’s ability. Pray for His guidance to reveal the larger need that your church will accomplish with support. Take the focus off of the current limitations and onto what can be accomplished. That is your goal and your message.
- Make a plan and work the plan. It will serve as a deliberate road map. The plan should include the goal, the audience, the message tailored to the audience, the desired response, a time-line, and evaluation.
- Say it, and then say it again. Effective communication doesn’t happen with one sermon, or one line in the weekly bulletin. It is communicating and repeating the message in every medium available to your church. Bulletins, offering envelopes, your web site - there are multiple places to share, and you need to use them all.
- Make your message intentional, relevant and unique to your church. Your church isn’t a building, its people and relationships. An effective message is one that appeals to relationships and building the hearts of people rather than brick and mortar
Most churches aren’t “Wal Mart”, nor are they supposed to be big box marketers. Churches are as, if not more, valuable to God than any store. However, in today’s culture of information overload, churches must take a cue from effective marketing.
For more ideas on how to improve communications, contact AmericanChurch, Inc at 1-800-446-3035
