GETTING TO YOUR MARKET PLACE
Of the many ways to make a church known to a community, what works best?
Charles Warnock III
July 1, 1989
For years I thought the ideal church would be one I founded. I'd envisioned every detail: we'd publicize our services, meet in rented space until we could afford to build, and finally construct a beautiful, functional building. It would be a dream come true.
Then one day it happened; I founded a church that met in the Marriott Hotel ballroom in Greensboro. As Toyota says, "Who could ask for anything more?"
I could.
We didn't attract new people like I'd hoped. The first few weeks, we explained our lack of visitors by saying it would take time for word to get around. But after almost two months, even our most optimistic members were beginning to wonder, "Will we ever attract newcomers?"
In my enthusiasm, I'd failed to ask an important question: Who are we going after? What's our target constituency, our "market"? Everybody wasn't a good answer. We began with a core of about forty families; our money and man-hours were limited. We needed to use resources where they would do the most good if we were to be effective, even in our rapidly growing part of town.
We recognized at least two major problems.
Problem number one: No building. Previously I thought that would be an asset. I soon realized that when you meet in a building that looks like a Marriott Hotel, nobody can tell a church meets there. We decided we'd have to compensate for our lack of an easily identifiable location.
Problem number two took longer to identify; it sort of crept up on us. But eventually we realized that not only were we missing a building; we had no community. The hotel was at the airport, so we weren't exactly the church at the crossroads. No one lived within a mile and a half of us. If you weren't going to the airport, you didn't go by the Marriott.
We'd said ...
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