Want to Reach New People? Change How You Communicate!
Photo by William White on Unsplash
What if your church was positioned to meet the deepest needs of your community? In the age of declining church attendance and affiliation, it might seem like that’s not the case but what if a small change in the way you communicate could help motivate more and more people to engage with your church?
First, we’ve got to be clear about what the needs, desires, and challenges of our society are. If you’re not clear or haven’t asked recently, that’s always a good first step. Poll people on social media, ask school teachers or doctors or therapists in the area, or strike up a conversation with folks in line at the grocery store or at a brewery.
The recent “Parting Prescription for America” by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy offers a profound insight into the needs of our society. As I briefly glanced at the Instagram post announcing the document, I noticed Dr. Murthy’s remedy to the pain and disconnection we are experiencing as a society: “relationships, service, and purpose.”
I don’t know about you but when I read those three words my first thought was, “Wow, the church has a great opening here! We can be part of the antidote to this challenge!”
Now perhaps that wasn’t your first thought but I live at the intersection of faith and marketing. I’m a Lutheran pastor and I run a marketing agency called Common Good Creative. We work with churches and non-profits all over the country to help them clarify their message, breakthrough distraction, and inspire people to join their cause.
We constantly are working with our clients to help them speak to the needs, desires, and challenges of the people they are trying to reach. So often churches just tell people about the events and programs that are going on…but they don’t connect the dots as to how those things can change the lives of their intended audience. In order to effectively communicate with folks, we have to speak to the challenges, dreams, pains, and desires of our audience.
For example, in light of these needs laid out by Dr. Murthy, instead of saying, “Our Lenten Midweek Soup Suppers and Small Groups are starting on March 6. Join us!” it would be better to say something like, “Looking for a place to connect…and enjoy a good home cooked meal in the middle of a busy week? Spirit of Joy Church is starting new, short term small groups this winter to explore faith and life all around a tasty bowl of soup. You don’t have to go through life alone—come join us.”
Yes, the first one gives you the basic information, but it doesn’t offer the hook as to why someone should consider engaging. It centers your church and not the person you’re trying to reach. Don’t assume people can fill in the gaps and see how what your church is up to can change their lives.
Back to the Surgeon General’s report highlighting relationships, service, and purpose as key antidotes to combat the challenges and speak to the dreams of our society. Check out this diagram that is included in the report:
Source: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/my-parting-prescription-for-america.pdf
What do you notice? The words around the outside edge caught my attention! There is a deep spirituality to this framework. It reminds me of the three-dimensional living that Jesus calls us to: a relationship with God, a relationship in community with others, and a relationship serving the world around us.
I believe the church is uniquely positioned to bring this “triad of fulfillment” to life and it shouldn’t mean launching huge new programs or initiatives…don’t get me wrong there are things that need to change…but the foundation should be there! It just might mean making some subtle shifts in the way we communicate and how our existing ministries and activities function and what gets the majority of our attention in light of the needs, desires, and challenges of our society.
In a world of disconnection and loneliness, in a culture that stresses performance and production over purpose, and in a very self-serving and consumeristic age, our congregations can become places where people experience a beautiful and needed alternative: true connection, spiritual grounding, and a deep sense of purpose.
Let’s explore what it might look like to shift our communications and our focus in the direction of the triad of fulfillment:
Focus on Relationships: Cultivating Authentic Community
Check out this line from Dr. Murthy’s Prescription,
"To build community requires love. Love not as sentimentality, but as a commanding force with the power to build, strengthen, and heal."
Reminds me of the love that is the central part of the Gospel and our message as the church that the Apostle Paul spoke of,
“love…bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NRSV)
Many of the churches I work with get this love and authentic community thing. “All are welcome, no exceptions” is a tagline for a number of churches. The church gathers in community all the time, too! But are we constantly making room for those who are new? Are we putting their interests and priorities first? Are we intentionally and genuinely wanting to get to know people who might show up for the first time on a Sunday morning or do we gravitate to chatting with our friends?
My own experience in the Twin Cities as an introverted seminary student was eye-opening in this regard. I went to 5 or 6 well-known churches of all types looking for a place to belong but I came and went without anyone ever talking to me. Only when I showed up in an elementary school auditorium where a young church plant named Mill City Church was meeting did I have a conversation with someone. And that didn’t happen by chance. Mill City’s leaders were intentional and built a conversation time into their service. It might seem hokey but it opened a door and made an impact. It was my church home while I was in the Twin Cities.
Dr. Murthy shares what can happen when we are seen and known and loved:
“Healthy relationships, where we feel seen and where we can be ourselves, can be a powerful source of joy and support and can be buffers to stress."
In a culture often marked by isolation, the church can be a sanctuary where people find belonging.
Action Steps To Consider:
How can you add moments and spaces for connection and community? Maybe add a discussion question into a sermon (you can keep it fun and light-hearted!). Leave room in meetings and activities to check-in (sharing highs and lows is not just for youth group, y’all!).
Be intentional about creating a welcoming culture: Train greeters to be on the lookout for new folks. Don’t overwhelm them but make sure they feel welcomed. My dad (also a pastor) encouraged one of his congregations to “take 3” after every service: take 3 minutes to talk to someone they didn’t know before connecting with their friends.
Make your connection pathway clear. Make sure you have a plan your visit page on your website that preps first-time guests on what to expect and answers frequently asked questions. Also, make sure you have a good system to get contact information so you can keep in touch with guests (we love donating to a local non-profit if guests share their contact information instead of offering pens or gift cards or knickknacks people don’t really need.) Take a big-picture view and understand it might take multiple connectional points before someone is willing to get more fully engaged in the life of your church. What does your connection pathway look like?
Focus on Service: Living Out Our Faith
While Christians have long known that serving others is both a moral imperative and central to our call as disciples of Jesus Christ, the scientific community has also discovered the emotional and physical health benefits to serving others. As Dr. Murthy notes,
“Service comprises the actions we take that benefit others. Even though service is defined as benefiting others, filling one’s life with service can have profound benefits to the person rendering the service.”
I know most churches are very involved in the community through various drives and partnerships and life-changing work. You likely don’t need to start anything new but perhaps you could tell a few more stories. Celebrate the amazing work your church is already doing. If your church is anything like the ones we work with, you are busy planning the weekly worship service and promoting upcoming events and filling volunteer roles. It is tough to find time to tell stories, too. But those stories can have such a profound effect on inspiring engagement and helping others pay attention to ways they might get involved.
Action Steps To Consider:
Tell stories (again and again): Don’t just have someone tell their story about serving at the local soup kitchen in worship but take a picture of them and share a key quote or the text of their whole story on your social media and in your monthly newsletter or weekly email. Make it a blog on your website to increase search engine ranking. We often share a story in one place and then think it shouldn’t be told again. Chances are half the people in worship weren’t paying attention or didn’t hear the whole thing. Tell it again…and again…
Invest in Partnerships: Don’t recreate the wheel and duplicate efforts. There is likely someone in your community already doing the thing you feel needs to be done. Collaborate with local nonprofits. Follow existing energy. If there truly isn’t something, look for partners to help you.
Always take photos: Of everything. Always. A picture is worth a thousand words and is way more likely to stop someone from scrolling on social than words by themselves.
Make Everyday Service Sacred: Encourage members to see their daily lives as opportunities to serve—whether through kind words, acts of generosity, or simply listening. This is how lasting change truly happens.
Focus on Purpose: Discovering Our God-Given Calling
Purpose is about more than what we do; it’s about why we do it. One last quote from Dr. Murthy: “Purpose is the feeling of having an overarching life aim that guides and prioritizes our decisions and actions.” For Christians, this purpose is rooted in our identity as children of God. If we serve without being locked into our purpose, without being connected to a bigger story, without being connected to a power greater than ourselves, I don’t believe the serving will last and it likely won’t have as big of an impact. The same goes for our community. If we make community without being tied into the deeper purpose of building a bigger table not taller walls, it can be easy for us to remain in our little divided echo chambers.
As I thought about the shifts in our communications and the refocusing that our ministries might need to undertake to tap into this desire for purpose and to truly unlock the passions and desires deep within all of us, I thought of a project I recently came across called “One Thousand Sacred Listeners.” On the homepage of the project’s website, this line stood out to me:
“In a world filled with noise, listening stands out as a radical act of care.”
Perhaps what our churches can provide to folks in our communities is not another place to hear more teaching and talking about purpose and calling but rather a place to be heard. Discernment is a sacred act with a long history within the church but, too often, it is reserved for folks discerning a call to ministry. How might the church listen more effectively and provide a space for deep, spiritual, and non-judgmental listening in order to help people discover their purpose and calling in life?
How might we be better listeners, inviting people into conversations and giving them a place to share? How might we inspire more storytelling and give more space to storytelling (and maybe less space to polished, scripted sermons)? How might we give people a greater imagination to see how the ordinary, everyday aspects of their life and work are actually divine, beautiful, and part of a bigger thing unfolding in and around us?
One additional step that matters greatly in this pursuit of listening is this: we must fully embrace the priesthood of all believers and understand that the Spirit is not just present in a church building or in the traditional spiritual structures we have created (worship, bible study, etc.). We have got to start seeing and celebrating the divine all around us: In an online worshiping community? God is there. In your 9-5 job as an accountant? She’s there. As you walk with a friend or mentor a young person. Right there.
Action Steps To Consider:
Practice the art of sacred listening: You might start by engaging the 30 Days of Sacred Listening resource that the One Thousand Sacred Listeners project provides on their website. It’s a great resource for journaling and reflecting as we begin the new year.
Reflect on calling as a congregation: As we approach Lent, a natural time of reflection and deeper spiritual listening, explore some of the resources the Nourishing Vocation project has on their website, specifically their VOCARE tool to reflect on calling and vocation and purpose.
Start asking more questions: Remember, don’t assume people can fill in the gaps and see how God’s story might intersect with their own. As my friend Bryan Wilkom encourages, practice “abundant curiosity.”
Center the gifts and passions of your members: Find ways to connect them with others who have a similar passion. Give their passion some purpose: Book clubs. Beer church. Faith and fitness. Gardening. Everything is spiritual because the Spirit is everywhere.
As we enter into this new year I hope you are encouraged by Dr. Murthy’s concepts and can find a way to connect the dots between the work God is already up to in your communities and the needs, desires, and challenges of the people you are trying to reach. The gap is smaller than you might think and God knows our nation desperately needs the courage and hope and grace and kindness and generosity that can be found in Jesus as we connect in community, find our center, and serve others.
