People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Public Relations
by James W. Moss, Sr.Speaking of public relations at a church raises some eyebrows. Some indignantly say, "Public relations is a tool of Madison Avenue and has no place in the church." A congregation does not have an option whether or not to participate in public relations. The only option is whether the church does a good or a poor program of public relations.
I passed a church. The sign pronounced, "Happy Thanksgiving." That is nice except it was April. That church was participating in a program of public relations. Drove by another church. The grass was knee high. That church was participating in a program of public relations. I walked into another church. There were stacks of trash laying around. That church was participating in a program of public relations.
In simplest terms, public relations is the image a church projects to the community. It truly is an attempt to lift up Jesus so all people will be drawn to him. A program of quality public relations helps to build corporate self-esteem and make the church visible in the community.
This is an area of neglect. This failure plagues congregations. Two questions must follow whenever a congregation asks, "Why aren’t there more people here?"
1. How competently did the congregation promote the specific event that was poorly attended? Lack of promotion is an indicator of a lack of caring. The church did not care enough to let the church family and community know the event was taking place.
A series of meetings was held at Hope Church. Sufficient promotion had not been developed. It became quickly obvious that attendance would not be at the level of past events. The response was in direct proportion to the effort expended. What could the leaders say? There was no use to fault others for their own failure.
2. Was the event meeting needs? If sufficient promotion was developed and distributed, if the program was quality and still people did not attend, then the needs of the constituency were not being addressed or the date was not right. If the date was wrong, then try again. If needs had not be properly assessed, the program should be discarded. Other needs should be identified and met.
It has been difficult for me to communicate the value of public relations. Thus, it is difficult to encourage congregations to commit resources such as talent, time, energy, and money to the effort.
What is the price of community outreach? A specific percentage of the congregation’s budget such as 5% to 10% should be committed to community outreach. The return can be nearly immediate when a program of public relations is coupled with a program design that has created empty people spots.
Some congregations are proud of their commitments to missions around the world. Yet some of these same congregations have had difficulty understanding the same call to mission in the locality near their building. The Lord will not bless the hand that reaches halfway around the world and does not care about what happens to the soul of a neighbor.
A church does not have an option whether it wishes to participate in public relations or not. The only option is whether the program is of high quality or not. Public relations is the image projected to the community. The real question is, "Does the church care enough to reach out?"
Christian public relations is lifting up the church which is the body of Christ in the world. Jesus of Nazareth is lifted up in the process. Humanity will be drawn to Jesus when that happens.
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Additional Resources
 | Promoting a Special Event by Jim Moss, Sr. |
| Public Relations Kit: Help from a Hospitality Perspective by Kristen Leverton Helbert and Dick Benner |
| Where to Find What: Promotion and Public Relations - links to resources on the Internet |
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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August 14, 2001. Volume 4, Issue 9. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.