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By what means should the church promote herself?

Just as a church's limited promotional resources help provide a focus for media efforts, this limitation also helps us determine the means of promotion. We must steward specific media and strategies to use our resources wisely.

Church promotion should be web-centered. The internet is the central hub for communication for the North American church. It is immediate--very little time is required to get information online. It is inexpensive compared with other forms of media like print or video. Within our sphere of influence it has become nearly universal--everybody has it.

For these reasons it makes sense for us to put resources into websites, e-newsletters and a reliable and safe computer network. Our desire through the internet is to further the cause of Christ by sharing information with as many people as possible. The web makes this fast, easy and affordable. While some churches are still centered on print media--newsletters, bulletins and mailouts--I believe the best stewardship is to make online promotion a launching point for other forms of media.

A church website should be comprehesive, containing a complete listing and details for all ministries, and ways to interact with them through email, social media and online registration. It can be loaded with useful resources like training information, frequently used teaching tools and downloadable messages. And it can give a constant picture of ongoing ministry at church through updated information and testimonies, photos and video clips.

Church promotion should be member-mobilizing. The best means of promotion is for the church herself, through her members, to involve and disciple non-Christians and lead them toward Christ. The congregation should be up-to-date on all that is happening within the church, and be provided with clear and simple ways to get involved.

A member-focused strategy allows the church to use her congregation as an arm of ongoing outreach, enlisting volunteers to do the leg-work of communicating her message to the community. Many churches enlist promotional firms and spend thousands for print and mail campaigns, often to the detriment of accessing an ongoing and steady stream of free volunteer labor to build relationships as they spread the word. Never forget that the church herself is the most powerful and practical promotional avenue available to advance ministry.

Church promotion should be tool-based. Because a church's promotional focus is her members, it follows that she buys primarily simple promotional tools versus mass media. Secular marketing is often done by purchasing print, television or radio ads, but with the limited resources of a church a ministry can only rarely do this. Instead, provide simple tools for members and attenders to use to learn about their available ministries and disciple others.

Flyers, tickets and other simple printed media work great. Occasional ad-specialty items can be a fun attention-getter or reinforce a stated goal or principle. T-shirts are great advertisements and relatively inexpensive--I have often created them for events and ministries. And there are additional online tools, like specialized websites, social group pages or email blasts for specific ministries and events.

Remember that a tool of any kind tends to be simple and perform one function very well. Often the tendency is to cram many functions into one promotional push or campaign. Success is more often found in focusing on a single task--like sharing worship times, or getting a website address to the masses--and doing it wholeheartedly.

Church promotion must be Christ-honoring. I would define "Christ-honoring" as a conservative and tasteful approach to communication that speaks to the character of the God we serve and the Savior we boast of. Also, focus on true stories of what God is doing in the lives of believers and in and through the church and ministries. This combination of an uplifting image and uplifting experiences point the way to Christ and draw people not toward men, but toward Him.

Often this means avoiding "edgy" communications in favor of straightforward approaches. I believe that it is a privilege to be used by God to tell His message and share His gospel in my community. This is definitely a separator in comparison to many of the cutting-edge--and often outwardly successful--efforts of the North American evangelical church today.

Lastly, tell the real stories of God at work in people's lives. Often the circumstances are not positive (illness, loss of a family member, challenges at work, relationship issues), but the working of God is always instructive and inspirational. Because experience cannot be argued with, true-life stories form a body of evidence of God at work in the life of the church. As listeners identify with these stories, they are drawn toward a God who cares enough to involve Himself in our affairs as He molds and shapes us according to His character. This, ultimately, is our aim--to be more like Him, and in so doing, to lead others to do the same.