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Rev. Derek Elphick

Article from Winter 2006 Issue of Outreach Magazine

This is an excerpt from a paper presented by Rev. Derek Elphick at the General Church Council of the Clergy 2006. Read on to find the two sections on seven principles of professional marketing and marketing principles applied to the New Church. The original article is an excellent discussion and reflection on the New Church and marketing. If you are interested in reading the article in its entirety, you may download it as a Microsoft Word document:
Marketing the Church.

Introduction

We’ve had a long and rich history of evangelizing, of trying this–and–that, sometimes with success, sometimes not. The common thread in many of our evangelization efforts is that they tend to fizzle out either because the person leading the charge moves on or because the particular model or program ended up having a short shelf-life. Either way we're often left scratching our heads, wondering what went wrong.

I firmly believe the motivation for the work of evangelization in the General Church has always been of the noblest kind: we’ve done it because we care. We’ve done it because we care very deeply about getting the message of the Lord’s Second Advent out to all who thirst and hunger after righteousness.

I think that the General Church has not been idle either. We’ve learned a lot of things about evangelization both from within and outside our ranks.

So where does this leave us? We have the call to “sound the trumpet,” to declare “the truth about the Lord, about His Coming, and about the things of which He is the author, namely the things that belong to salvation and eternal life,” (Arcana Coelestia 9925). Yet every time we deliver this call there is the ever-present frustration of not having an effective and orderly system which gets this New Revelation out to the people who need and want it.

My Testimony

My current pastorate has all the necessary ingredients to fully engage the public in a meaningful dialogue, namely a spacious, welcoming building, the right mixture of assets, people power, expertise and a growing confidence to “tell our story.” I liken our congregation to many other General Church congregations—a “sleeping giant” waking up. Of course, nothing will replace my greatest professional joy—teaching and preaching the Word of God, tending my flock—but marketing the church has become a close second.

My congregation invited a set of outside eyes to come observe us, and it was probably one of the best things we could have done as a congregation because it helped us see ourselves in a way we couldn’t have done on our own. We’re taught that self-examination becomes second-nature to those who make it a habit, but it is extremely difficult for those who do it infrequently or not at all. We found the process of opening ourselves up to criticism to be very difficult at first. Yet the more we made it a habit, the easier it became. There’s also a deep sense of satisfaction in knowing why you’re doing it —you’re doing it to so that you can better serve the Lord and your neighbor.

The Principles of Professional Marketing

I want to be very clear about my intentions in this section and the next, so permit me to share the following disclaimers. First, I am not in a position to give you a crash course on marketing—I leave that to the professionals. Second, I do not claim to be living proof of what happens when you use these professional marketing principles in the Church. Third, I freely admit that I do not have the same level of experience or expertise in the work of evangelization as some of my colleagues. I say these things because I don’t wish to appear as a know-it-all or offend those who work so hard at this use and who may be doing the very things I’m saying we’re not doing!

Having said this, I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking over the shoulder of a very talented professional marketer and here is what I’ve learned:

Professional Marketing is:
• Needs based
• Alert to opportunities
• Invites collaboration
• Disciplined
• Systematic
• Focused on measuring customer feedback

These are the basic principles of marketing. In a moment I’ll explain why I think these principles can be applied to the Church almost seamlessly, but let’s talk first about the goal of professional marketing.

The goal is to communicate value. If this goal isn’t achieved, the marketing failed. The customer has a need, and the provider or manufacturer must respond to that customer by communicating value. It’s that simple. In the case of products it’s cost, quality, warranty, etc., which determine the value. In the case of the service sector, value is determined by a more complex mix of factors, but it all comes down to whether or not the needs of the customer are being understood and met. With products this isn’t such a big deal—you buy a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste, and if you don’t like it you throw it away because your investment wasn’t significant in the first place. But when it comes to the service sector and, whether we like it or not, churches are part of the service sector, the seeker is going to take his or her time evaluating the service because the investment is so much bigger! Only when real value is clearly communicated (and received) will the seeker take the huge step of switching churches. It is huge because it often means rejecting Mom and Dad’s church, close friends and family or making other painful decisions! This explains why the work of evangelization is hard. A whole lot of things need to happen at the same time over a long period of time before people are ready to "make the switch." Simply announcing our existence or running a few advertisements in the paper won’t work, partly because we’re fighting an uphill battle (people are reluctant to try something new, especially when they haven’t heard anyone else talk about it), but mostly because these kinds of random techniques—what I’ve called unprofessional (bad) marketing—fail to understand the context of people’s lives. So, if we wish to make a stronger impact on the lives of people inside and outside the Church, we will need a more orderly, deliberate, purposeful system (methodology) to reach them.

Marketing Principles Applied to the Church

What I would like to do in this section is apply the principles of professional marketing to the General Church and not to individual congregations (although the principles have the same application in both settings). I do this because I don’t presume to know what’s going on in other people’s congregations, but mostly because the central offices of the General Church are in the unique position of being able to provide to individual congregations the necessary coordination, support, tools, training and resources. How much pressure the central offices ought to exert upon individual congregations is a point of debate. How hard should the administration "push" individual congregations to comply with set standards and procedures? I don’t know. All I can say is that the work of professional marketing assumes that the principle players (i.e. the administration, ministers and congregations) will work together to accomplish a common goal. This poses a problem if the players involved work independently of each other. No one can deny that the General Church clergy is a fiercely independent group of individuals. Obviously, we wouldn’t want to see that independent spirit taken away, but if independent also means doing your own thing it becomes a liability in that we, the General Church, cannot realistically expect to get much traction on the ground (public recognition) since individualism will trump collaboration every time.

In any case, let’s consider how professional marketing principles might apply to the General Church.

(Author’s note: the numbering sequence in the following sections reflect the progression of ideas, not the order of importance)

Principle 1: The Church Considers the Needs of People First

Have we been doing this? An outside professional will tell you our literature and online presence make it seem as if we rank our ideas, history and philosophy higher than that of actually helping people. This gives the unfortunate and unintended impression that we’re more interested in being understood, correctly and fully, than in wanting to help. This reflects directly on whether the Church communicates value or not. In other words, if we haven’t worked to identify the needs of our own people and seekers, it’s unlikely we’ll be offering them anything of value. Why? It’s probably because we’re not talking their language.

But what about our teachings, these truths of the Second Advent; they communicate priceless value, don’t they? Yes, of course, but have we found a way to communicate these truths within the context of people’s lives, within the context of their needs? Are we willing to "come down" to their level and talk about the things that are going on in their lives? And, perhaps more importantly, are we willing to address the needs of people who aren’t living exemplary lives? We live in a spiritual age in which the "member of the church of the present day" finds the mere mention of spiritual good and truth "a bore" and "turns away from it" (Arcana Coelestia 4093). Unless we can find a way to talk to people at their level (and move them from that level to higher truths) we’re going to have a very difficult time connecting with them. Therefore, our ability to communicate effectively rests upon our ability to understand our market. This is especially important when dealing with people who know virtually nothing about us. We must start with something they know, not with something they don’t know.

Principle 2: The Church Is Alert to Opportunities

One of the most important ways to remain relevant in this fast–paced world is to stay alert and awake to opportunities. The quickest way the General Church can gain widespread recognition and credibility is to step onto the world stage of public opinion. Think of the debates and issues which consume the interest and lives of millions and millions of people around the world: Intelligent Design, abortion, prayer (God) in schools, the afterlife, natural disasters, war, terrorism, marriage and family, internet pornography, gambling, drugs.

Why doesn’t the General Church offer a public opinion about these debates and issues? We don’t just have opinions on these issues; we have Truths that will heal, Truths that will solve these problems from the inside out! Should this job be left to individual congregations to figure out and do on their own, or should there be some kind of coordination and leadership from the central office? Which would be more effective, random efforts or coordinated ones?

I’ve heard people say that even if we were ready to enter the fray, who would take us seriously? Who would invite us to speak on the Network News or one of the Cable channels? And how would we handle the inevitable back–lash of new wine bursting old wineskins?

These questions and fears are a little hard to answer since we don’t have much experience to base an opinion on one way or the other. I say try it and see what we learn; do a "pilot program" and test the waters. It’s not as difficult or as costly as we might think. In fact, it’s already being done on a small scale, locally, with letters being written to the editors of local newspapers putting forward New Church ideas on debates like Intelligent Design and other current events. It has also been pointed out that something as simple as writing more New Church blogs on the Internet, with links to the General Church website, will increase the "chances" (Providence in human action, really) of us making a breakthrough in one area of the public psyche.

Another way the Church can stay alert to opportunities is by responding to the life–changing events that occur in our local communities: a death in the family, a crisis in the home, marital crises, job loss, parenting difficulties, a terminal illness, retirement, old age. We obviously have a lot to offer.

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