It seems like everyone I talk to loves our church. I’ve heard so many people say, “It’s like I’m home.” It makes me so excited to hear that, because that’s how I feel as well. I’m not just saying that because I’m the pastor; I really do appreciate what God is doing through us. I echo so many people who have said, “I feel like God’s getting ready to do something big.” My heart years to see people embrace the goodness of God and take hold of the life that He desires for them. If our church can be an instrument of that work, then to God be the glory.
Of course, we have a challenge. We’re tucked back in the middle of a neighborhood, where people won’t find us unless they’re really looking for us. I’ve been praying about that for a long time. I would love for people looking for a church home to at least come and give us a visit. I realize we’re not the church for everyone, but maybe someone will be blessed and moved to join us in our journey to be the church God is building.
As I’ve prayed about this, I believe that the Lord has given me some ideas to help us in reaching out to the local communities. Because this plan costs more than our allotted outreach budget, the Elders are bringing this before the members for a vote on Sunday, July 29th immediately following the service. Here is a brief overview of the outreach plan. Please pray about this and see if this is something you feel the Lord is telling us to do.
1) Signage – about $1000
One easy way to let the neighbors know that we’re here is to put up signs around the neighborhood. These would be signs that would be put up Sunday morning and taken down Sunday after church. We would have one large two-sided vinyl sign on College Parkway in the median at the intersection with Jones Station Rd. (not at the light in front of College Pkwy). We would also like to put up a number of directional signs on Jones Station Rd., especially at the intersection of Mago Vista Rd. Other signs would go up on Broadwater Rd. We have some signs that we’ve used in that past that we can repurpose for this project.
Depending on the money left over from the directional signs, the next priority would be to have some campus signs. This includes a sign on the light post by the stairs to the parking lot and some feather signs. We’d also like to replace our Purpose Driven Church banners with banners that reiterate Jesus’ mission statements (John 10:10, Luke 19:10, Luke 4:18).
2) Direct Mailing – about $850
Since summer is generally a time where people move, we want to target new families in our area beginning in September with direct mail. This would involve getting the names and addresses of new families in zip codes 21122, 21146, 21012, 21409, 21401. In the mailing would be a brochure and a letter. The brochure is something that would be created in-house, and something we could also use for people visiting our congregation. The cost for the mailing would be the fee for getting the names and addresses, the cost for printing the brochure, and postage.
3) Facebook Cost-Per-Click – about $900
Facebook ads appear on the side of everyone’s Facebook page. These work by Facebook using the information individuals put in their profile, status updates, and page likes. It then uses this information by targeting ads that would pertain to the individual (location, age, gender, interests, work, etc.). Because of this, we can target very specific people with ads.
The way cost-per-click works is we would bid for the ad space based on what we’re willing to pay if someone clicks on the ad. There’s a lot of guess work, and it may take some adjusting. If we bid too low, then our ad may not appear at all. However, we pay only when someone clicks on the link (which would take us to our website). We would set the maximum amount per day that we’re willing to pay. After that money is used, the ad would no longer appear that day.
Judging by Facebook’s suggestions for our particular market, we should bid somewhere around $.80 – $1.00/click. I think we should set a maximum of $10/day. If we hit that maximum every day, that would be $300/month. I propose we give this a shot for 3 months and make adjustments along the way. We may use all the money here, or it’s quite possible we may not. It all depends on a variety of factors.
Evaluation
We are going to judge the effectiveness of this plan by new visitors to the church. We are going to emphasize filling out the visitor card and especially telling us how they heard about the church. Everyone can help us with this by talking with visitors and telling one of the leaders about the new visitor and how they found out about the church (in case we don’t get a chance to talk with them). Hopefully, they’ll come back and become a regular part of our fellowship.
Because of our analytics technology, we’re able to track visitors to our website. We can tell where they’re coming from, their IP address (which will give us a rough mailing address), and we can send follow up mail to them as well.
Next Steps
The total estimate for this plan is $2750 with the goal to get moving on this project right away. Our hope is to have everything in place at the beginning of September. The Elders are in support of this plan and are proposing this to the church members for a vote. The vote will take place on Sunday, July 29th immediately following the service.
Unfortunately, I will not be there this Sunday, so please email me if you have any questions.
Blessings,
Justin
You are absolutely right that our church is tucked away in a neighborhood and needs some better exposure. Having some new signs is a great idea. We need to especially make sure that the signs communicate what time our service is.
The Children’s Carnival is on Sept 15th which is a great opportunity for outreach too.