Advertising the church?
Some may wonder why we stick ads in the paper, leisure guide or visitor guide. Some may think we are sell outs. Some may think we are cheapening the gospel. And I understand that. But what some think doesn't really matter to us.
The way we look at it is that there are too many people that aren't connected to Jesus who used to be or never were. And these people are searching. The only problem is that the church isn't coming to them. Now I'm not saying that putting an ad in the paper is "going to them" by any means, but it at least gives them starting point, an option of where they could start their journey of discovery.
We aren't in the least bit interested in attracting people from other churches. So far we've been able to avoid this for the most part. Even though this does make it quite a bit harder to get stuff off the ground (because everyone is so new to everything...not just church but who Jesus is), we are solely about connecting the disconnected/disillusioned to/back to Jesus.
The other reason for our ads is for the new people moving to Mission. We are at the beginning of a massive surge of new residents and if they were looking for a new church, where would they go? If they have friends here, they'd probably go with them. If they got a recommendation from someone they trust, they'd probably go there. If they have a certain denomination or allegiance, they'd probably go to a church they "fits" them. But we stick the ads in the paper for the people who just show up. Perhaps they work in Vancouver and live here. They are looking for something to get connected into and if our ad can be of any help, it's served it's purpose.
So far, this has been incredibly valuable for us. We've had a good percentage of our first time guests hear about us in the paper. This was a risk because it's not cheap and I figured that no-one read the paper. But after hearing people tell me that residents in Mission read the MCR, we gave it a shot. If it stops working in the future, we'll pull out. We aren't stuck on it but if it helps us accomplish our mission of connecting the disconnected, I'm all over it
The way we look at it is that there are too many people that aren't connected to Jesus who used to be or never were. And these people are searching. The only problem is that the church isn't coming to them. Now I'm not saying that putting an ad in the paper is "going to them" by any means, but it at least gives them starting point, an option of where they could start their journey of discovery.
We aren't in the least bit interested in attracting people from other churches. So far we've been able to avoid this for the most part. Even though this does make it quite a bit harder to get stuff off the ground (because everyone is so new to everything...not just church but who Jesus is), we are solely about connecting the disconnected/disillusioned to/back to Jesus.
The other reason for our ads is for the new people moving to Mission. We are at the beginning of a massive surge of new residents and if they were looking for a new church, where would they go? If they have friends here, they'd probably go with them. If they got a recommendation from someone they trust, they'd probably go there. If they have a certain denomination or allegiance, they'd probably go to a church they "fits" them. But we stick the ads in the paper for the people who just show up. Perhaps they work in Vancouver and live here. They are looking for something to get connected into and if our ad can be of any help, it's served it's purpose.
So far, this has been incredibly valuable for us. We've had a good percentage of our first time guests hear about us in the paper. This was a risk because it's not cheap and I figured that no-one read the paper. But after hearing people tell me that residents in Mission read the MCR, we gave it a shot. If it stops working in the future, we'll pull out. We aren't stuck on it but if it helps us accomplish our mission of connecting the disconnected, I'm all over it
