Commitment to the church begins by helping confused congregants find clear guidance and purpose. Jesus built His ministry by creating clarity and connection, something churches can follow by mapping out the journey for their members. A clear ministry vision inspires deeper commitment and engagement.
Many church leaders unintentionally create confusion and frustration in their audience which reduces their commitment to the church.
When your audience is frustrated and confused, it obstructs their commitment to the church and makes it more difficult for you to connect with them in the future.
In this article, we will be discussing the #1 church engagement strategy that will increase clarity and reduce frustration in the audience.
Let’s create your churchgoer journey.
What Causes Confused Congregants?
Church leaders can unintentionally frustrate and confuse their audience by asking them to do too many things at the same time.
What does that look like?
The other day I reviewed a church’s website with my marketing team.
Side note: A church’s website is a reflection of the ministry’s overall clarity.
The website we reviewed had 30 different calls to action on the homepage alone.
These calls to action included invitations to:
- The men’s brunch
- The women’s brunch
- All night prayer
- “Encounter” – first-time viewers don’t know what this is.
- Like us on Facebook
- Subscribe to us on Youtube
- Follow us on Instagram
- Get The App – Apple
- Get the App – Google Play
- Apply to the Christian school for growth
- Physical locations (6 options)
- Sermon live streams
- The Christian school – learn more
- The Christian school – foundations (what does this mean?)
- Call us
- Giving
- Store
- Plan a visit
- Review COVID-19 safety information and guidelines
If you were a new visitor to the church website described above, what would your next step be?
…we’re not really sure either.
If this church’s ministry is anything like their website, then it is easy to see why their congregation may be confused or frustrated.
To learn more about creating clarity and church engagement with your audience, check out our article on effective calls to action: #1 Church Marketing Strategy: Get Your Audience To Take Action Now [2022]
Lack of clarity isn’t unique to this particular church and its website, in fact, it is a problem that the majority of ministries face.
You may even be thinking that this sounds a lot like your church website.
So what is the solution to this common church communications mistake?
Claim your ministry marketing strategy session today!
We Review Your Marketing Efforts & Show You Areas To Improve.
How Jesus Built a Clear Ministry
We learn the most effective way to create church engagement by looking at how Jesus did it.
In contrast to the church website mentioned above, Jesus only gave His followers one clear call to action.
Now, that doesn’t mean that He never gave them any more calls to action. In fact, over the course of His time with the disciples, He gave them many different calls to action, but the fact stands that He only gave them one call to action during each step of their journey.
When He first met some of His disciples in their hometown, He gave them this call to action: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)
After the disciples had spent more time with Jesus and committed themselves to serve Him, He gave them a new call to action. He told them to minister to the lost sheep of Israel, but not to take any money or extra supplies along. (Matthew 10:5-15)
As His ministry continued, Jesus prepared the disciples for the ultimate call to action: to be strong enough to face persecution (like He did) for the salvation of others.
Notice how the difficulty of the call to action increases as the disciples go farther into their journey with Jesus.
If Jesus had asked His disciples to face torture and even death to share His message right when He first met them, they would have been scared off and never gotten to experience what they did.
But because He took the disciples on a journey, giving them a new (and more difficult) call to action every step of the way to keep them growing, they were eventually willing to accept His call to suffer for the gospel.
Similarly, every member of your congregation has a journey to go on – and you are the person leading the way.
*If you like this article and want to know more about church growth, check out our post, 10 Most Powerful Church Growth Strategies.
Building a Clear Ministry with a Churchgoer’s Journey
It begins when they first learn about your church, but that doesn’t mean that it ends once you get them into the front door. Visiting your church is just the first step in a person’s journey. Becoming a consistent member of your congregation is another step. Participating in ministries is another step.
The end goal is to get the churchgoer to contribute to the vision God has set for your church, but there are no quick ways to get them to that point.
If you’d like to learn more about attracting new visitors to your church, check out our article about a common church marketing mistake you may be making here: 1 Mistake Costing You Church Visitors
The churchgoer’s journey is an ongoing process, and overwhelming new visitors at an early stage will only cause it to stop short. Instead of bombarding visitors with many options from the start, give them one clear call to action that challenges them to take the next step.
This first call of action should be simple and unintimidating, which is fitting for a stage where you don’t have much of a relationship with the visitor. You can do this by inviting those who have high online church engagement and social media engagement into your physical church.
Claim your ministry marketing strategy session today!
We Review Your Marketing Efforts & Show You Areas To Improve.
You can also do this with a lead magnet strategy.
A lead magnet is any free content you give out to the public to draw people into your service. It is important for a lead magnet to offer lots of value in exchange for very little commitment in the eyes of the new visitor.
On our website Clickmill, we offer a 100+ page ebook on Ministry Marketing which you can find for free at the bottom of this page. The strategy here is that when people read the book and find that it adds value to their lives, they will come back and be willing to make a bigger commitment for more value.
Similarly, your church can put out lead magnets in the form of video sermons, ebooks, and so much more. The goal of your lead magnet is to start the relationship off right by building trust with your new visitor.
Gradually growing your relationship with your congregation as you take them along a journey is key to boosting their engagement in church and church commitment.
In order to effectively shepherd your congregation towards the goals God set for your ministry, you must follow Jesus’ example and take things one step at a time, providing clear calls to action along the way. Doing this will prevent your congregation from becoming confused Christians, and increase their commitment in the church.
And that about wraps it up for this article on your churchgoer’s journey.
Don’t forget to check out our video covering this topic linked below!
Commitment To The Church FAQS
Confusion and reduced commitment can arise when church leaders unintentionally overwhelm their audience with too many calls to action or unclear messaging. This can happen when a church’s website or communications include too many options or lack a clear, singular focus.
Churches can increase clarity and reduce frustration by simplifying their messaging and focusing on one clear call to action at a time. This approach helps congregants understand what is expected of them and how they can engage with the church’s activities and mission.
Jesus’ ministry exemplifies giving followers one clear call to action at each step of their journey. This method ensures that the level of challenge and commitment increases gradually, allowing followers to grow in their faith and commitment without feeling overwhelmed.
A churchgoer’s journey is the process of gradually guiding congregants from initial awareness about the church to deeper involvement and commitment. This journey involves providing clear and appropriate calls to action at each stage, helping congregants grow in their relationship with the church and their faith.
Lead magnets, like free ebooks or video sermons, can be used to start building a relationship with new visitors by offering high value with low commitment. This strategy helps in building trust and gradually increasing engagement and commitment to the church.
Comment on how you will implement a churchgoer’s journey and how you think it will increase your congregation’s commitment to the church.
Responses
[…] Learn more about this principle and how it can grow your outreach ministry by reading our other article: Commitment To The Church: Best Church Engagement Plan […]
[…] Having too many unrelated ministries will cause confusion and reduce the effectiveness of those ministries. If you’d like to learn more about the cause of confusion and frustration in church, check out our other article here: https://clickmill.co/commitment-to-the-church/ […]
[…] Getting people engaged online is one thing, but getting people to engage in your ministry can be much more difficult. Check out our article on church engagement here to learn how to involve your congregation in ministry: Commitment To The Church: Top Church Engagement Strategy [2022] […]