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Viral Marketing, Church Planting, and "I Love You Too"
by Dave Travis, Leadership Network
Apparently the virus hit almost 90% of the corporations in the US with email systems. This virus slipped right under most virus detection programs. What made this virus so insidious is the fact that (a) it came from someone you knew and (b) it came with a friendly message. This idea collided with a conversation I had with two groups back in March. Both groups involved church planters. You may not know this, but most of the senior management of Leadership Network has been very involved in church planting efforts. Our president helped plant two churches as a pastor. Carol Childress and I worked to plant churches from a denominational position. Jason Mitchell, our Young Leader Manager, came straight to us after planting a church for five years. And Warren Schuh, our Large Church manager, served a church that sponsored new churches. So we are very sympathetic to church planting efforts. The question that came to me was a version of the following: "Okay, so you planted a lot of churches in the past. What would you do differently now than you would five years ago?" I thought about that question for a long time. There are probably a lot of things. But one of the things I mentioned not only applies to church planters but to other churches and ministries starting new programs. Back when we were starting a lot of churches, I advised church planters to gather names, addresses and phone numbers of persons who might be interested in pioneering a new church. That way we could mail them a card, letter, brochure and other information on a regular basis about the new church start. With the slim budgets we had to work with, we couldn't do a lot of mailing. We usually did broad mailings before special days such as Easter, Mother's Day, the first service and such. For a limited core we mailed more regularly. But the change I would make is to ask people for only their email and I would be a maniac about it. First, it is much more likely that someone will have an email address now than it was five years ago. Sure, there are some communities that are less likely to have email addresses, but through work, schools and the ubiquitous free email services, more and more people have one. In fact, I am surprised when people don't have one. Secondly, it is easy to ask for someone's email. "Hey, do you have an email address? I'll keep you posted on our progress." This is much less threatening than asking someone for their phone number (because they think someone might actually call them) or a mailing address (because someone might actually visit them.) A person can always hit the delete key or ignore an email if they don't want to read it. Thirdly, it is an inexpensive medium. If you have an email client program that supports lists where subscribers are known to you but anonymous to the list (like this update), then they don't know how big the list is. In addition there are services such as lyris or exactis that do cost some dollars but are fairly inexpensive. The "do-it-yourself" way will cost some time so decide which way is best for you. Fourthly, it is a responsive medium. If you send out an email with a topic you can ask for feedback by telling recipients to hit the "reply" button. WARNING: If you ask for feedback, be ready to respond. Dialogue and conversations you can use to build trust and momentum for the vision of the new start. Why not use a web site? If you give someone the address to your web site, a person has to take the initiative to go there. Additionally, it takes more time to set up and maintain a site. Email is push. You might want to use the email to drive folks to your site to see schedules more news, directions but if you send email, you know they have the basics. If you do have a web site, make sure it has a way for outsiders to subscribe to the regular email. So what should be in the email? Something those recipients would forward to their friends. The "I Love You" Virus was programmed to launch to everyone in your address book. The email you send should have a tone and information that recipients would want to forward to friends. If I were starting a church I would make it a tone and subject matter that the recipient could relate to. It may have some helpful information but not be preachy. I would tell stories. It would refer to what is coming up at the new church, but only in passing. You are using this medium to set the tone and direction. You are using it to help those who are interested and eager to help in the new church become evangelists for it. Tell the core group members to forward the email to their friends with a personal message like: "Here is the new church I am connected with. Thought you might like to see this." Make it regular. Every week or every other week. Consider how many persons this could reach if it was forwarded a few times. The new technologies are creating new communication methods and strategies that communicators of the gospel should capitalize on. Make sure you put in every email how someone can respond or subscribe to get it regularly. Make sure there is a way for a recipient to receive more information. I know more and more churches are using the email medium to deliver the weekly news and updates of their church. It essentially moves their newsletter online. But the focus of this email is not to make all the announcements, but to cast vision, attract new people, and create evangelists of those that like it enough to pass it on. I have a friend who is planting a church in Philadelphia. His email goes to his prayer partners in this ministry. It always has a great story about what is going on in the new church. It tells of his passion and his struggles. It then tells how we should pray for him and his wife in the coming two weeks. It captures me every time. As I said above, I think the same methodology can be used to create some new ministries within an existing church. A regular update that casts vision and encourages participation will improve the launch of other ministries besides new churches. ________________________ From the "Church Champions Update," a weekly e-mail newsletter edited by Dave Travis. May 5, 2000, edition. Used by permission. You may visit the Church Champions web site at www.churchchamp.org. © 2000 Leadership Network. Used by permission. Permission to reproduce for local church use only is granted as long as this copyright notice is included. Provided by New Life Ministries, 6404 S Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46807, through its web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org
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