The first thing that I share with people when they’re thinking about how to reach millennials is that reaching millennials is impossible. What I mean by that is, if you think of millennials as a homogeneous group of people that have a certain type of thinking, then you’ve completely lost the fact that, within that generation, spans people that are in their lower twenties all the way to people that are in their late thirties. There are people that are married with five children to singles. People that have no college education to people that have doctorates and masters degrees. People that are literally living in their parents’ basement to people that actually have 12,000 square foot homes.

So, when you say “Millennial,” you’re talking about a wide range of people. At the end of the day, when you really want to be effective in targeting, you have to know which Millennial you’re trying to reach. Who is it most likely that you’re going to resonate with? Where are they at socioeconomically? Where are they at in life?

If you don’t understand them and know how to speak to them right where they’re at, then you’re never going to reach them. At the end of the day, the idea of trying to reach every Millennial at the same time is really like trying to boil the ocean. The real key in all of this is understanding the unique characteristics of the people you feel called to reach.

One of the things that’s important to understand is that our role in the consulting process is to reveal things and help churches see things that they’ve never seen before. But we have to do it in an encouraging and supporting way.

One of the ways that I reference that is that I go back to the 7th grade—and who doesn’t remember the 7th grade? It’s like the worst time in your life. So much is changing in your life and you don’t know which way is up. I literally remember being in the 7th grade and I’m sitting in the front row of the class—not because I’m a front of the class student, but because I’m a back of the class student who gets in trouble and is forced to sit in the front of the class.

So I’m sitting in the front of the class and the girl sitting to the right of me—there’s probably about 30 people in the class—she looks at me and starts laughing. And she turns to the guy behind her and whispers and he looks at me and starts laughing. He turns to the guy behind him and does the same thing. All of a sudden, 30 people, including the teacher, are looking at me and laughing. And the teacher looks over at me, shakes her head, and says, “Richard… Oh, Richard.” And I’m like, “What?! What is this?!” The teacher looks at me and taps her nose. So, I reach up to touch my nose and sure enough… in the 7th grade, I had a booger right there on the end of my nose.

I had no idea how it happened, but the reality of it was that, in that moment, I was devastated and crushed… because it’s the 7th grade! In that moment, I knew that the girl sitting next to me wasn’t my friend. Because a true friend lovingly tells you when you’ve got something on your nose.

And that’s really the spirit of what we’re doing when we’re going in and visiting a church. We’re helping them understand what they’re great at, but we’re also there to, in love, help them understand how to be better. In order to do that, we actually have to tell them the truth about what they don’t see.

I was recently speaking to a group about the dynamic between generations. Really, I was talking to a bunch of Boomers. I asked them what they think about Millennials and it was funny because they started to say things like, “Oh they’re entitled,” and “They’re snowflakes!” They were using all these terms, somewhat in mockery, of this next generation. And I just asked, “Well, what did your parents think about you?”

What’s funny is that these Boomers were hippies! They were pot smokers! You know what I mean? They were “peace and love.” The irony is that they don’t even know how to appreciate the next generation because they’ve gotten to that place in life where they’ve forgotten who they were when they were that age.

So part of how we’re helping churches cross the generational divide is helping them to see the gold in the generation that’s following them. Because when they can begin to see the gold in it, then they can invest in it. And they can begin to pull it out of younger people. Because that’s really what they were hoping that their parents would do for them and often never did.

One of the biggest disconnects we have in the church is that, as leaders, we often forget what it was like to go to church for the very first time. The intimidation factor for a lone visitor in a new church is simply huge. But it is nowhere close to the stress and vulnerability that is put on a churchgoer who invites a visitor. All inviters put their reputations on the line every time they invite someone to church. You can rest assured that your church members will not invite someone if they do not expect a positive outcome. And most of the time, that's why one church isn't growing and the church around the corner is. It has led us to say that "Most Christians are not ashamed of Christ, they are ashamed of their church." Ouch!

I asked a young friend how he was enjoying his church; he admitted that he loved it but was bothered by the fact that the church wasn't growing. I asked him why it wasn't growing; he acted bewildered and said, "I have no idea."

"Yes, you do," I challenged him. "You know why it's not growing."

After a silence, I asked, "When was the last time you invited someone?"

"Well, it's been a long time," he said ashamedly.
"Why don't you invite people?"

He shuffled his feet and said, "I don't know."

"Yes, you do," I said. "The reason you don't invite people is the same reason why your church is not growing."

I could tell that bells went off on the inside. He responded, "Yeah, I know why." He had known it all along. He just had never connected the dots between the challenges of inviting people and overall church growth.

It might be simple. A congregant might be embarrassed about the church decorations, the deep-end-of-the-pool worship, the inexplicably deep or dry sermons or the pastor telling jokes about his wife. The harder it is to invite people, the more challenging church growth is.

You see, I knew my friend loved God and wanted others to experience Christ's love. Unfortunately, most people are not intimidated about being Christians; they are intimidated about inviting people to their church.

The simple truth is that if an invitation is hard to make, for whatever reason, fewer people will be invited. The battle for growth is first fought in the hearts of churchgoers who want to better the lives of those around them. This is actually the desire of the vast majority of churchgoers.

I cannot say this emphatically enough-all true Christians want other people to become Christians. It is planted in them when Christ is planted in them. This means if your church has to beg, push, cajole, offer incentives, or even just remind people to invite others, it is a telltale sign that, for whatever reason, they do not believe the ministry that takes place will make a successful connection with the people they would invite.

This is where the rubber hits the road. Is your church connecting with your community? The main link is through your congregation, and if they think you're not connecting, you won't.

It is no wonder Paul challenged us in advance to "become as one to win one." The ability to relate to our communities and church growth go hand in hand. When a ministry can successfully relate to the people in its congregation in a way that reassures them that their guests will be connected with, the churchgoers will be willing to invite others because they know it will relate to those they invite.

By analyzing the temptations and challenges associated with inviting people to church, we found the following to be true. If a churchgoer can answer these questions positively, then inviting friends and family will not only be easy, it will become a lifestyle. The church will explode with growth! As a side note, my guess is that none of these topics would ever show up on a visitor survey. They require us to look closely in the mirror, as even our closest allies would have a hard time advising us of some of these issues.

1. Will my friend feel welcomed?
   Principle: Hospitality-The atmosphere, nomenclature, and style of service should be inviting and not intimidating to the unchurched.
2. Will my friend fit in?
   Principle: Comfort and Compatibility-Like it or not, invitations and visitor comfort decrease when social or cultural gaps exist.
3. Can I feel confident that I know how the service will turn out?
   Principle: Consistency-People need to know what to expect, because they will invite accordingly.
4. Will my friend get something out of it?
   Principle: Relevance-The message should be relevant and powerful for people at all spiritual levels.
5. Will my friend understand it?
   Principle: Understanding-Jesus taught through practical illustrations. The songs and message should be understandable for people at all spiritual levels.
6. Will anything that could seem strange to the unchurched be explained through Scripture?
   Principle: Sensitivity-Scriptural actions should be carried out with clarity and considerate explanation.

Having said all this, I am convinced of one thing. If members walk out of your service saying, "I wish my unchurched friend had been here," they will start to think about inviting their friend. If a member walks out of your service three weeks in a row and says every time, "I wish my unchurched friend would have heard that," nothing will stop that member from dragging that friend through your doors. The challenging thing is that often, when members walk out of churches, the only thing they can say is, "I wish my other church friends would have heard that."
It's time to evaluate. Are we creating an atmosphere that fosters growth or are we just ministering unto ourselves?

Not sure if your church is engaging? Get your Free Total Engagement Score to see where your church stands.

In order to fully understand God’s will for your church, it helps to be exposed to what He’s doing in other congregations. This helps each church see the role it can more effectively play in the bigger picture of what God is doing.

If under-exposure is your default, make a point to visit churches that do not match your flavor. Visit growing churches and struggling ones. Do not judge them. Ask yourself, "Why do these church-goers like this? Why is this church successful (or not)? Who is not attending this church and why?" In order to get away from your own church on a Sunday, some pastors might have to commit hard to taking a break. It is difficult to take a break if you and your church are not in the habit. Let me challenge you that every church leader needs an exposure break—an opportunity to see others fighting the same "good fight" they are fighting. Stepping out of the pulpit and stepping into someone else's back row will enhance your perspective in so many ways.

The other side of the ditch is the church that is overexposed. This church tends to chase whoever they feel is the most exciting at the moment. They follow trailblazing churches and often change what they do to match what they think the most innovative churches are doing. The end result is that these overexposed churches never really gain a sense of who "they" are and don’t fully understand that God's calling cannot be borrowed or imitated from someone else. They often read tons of blogs and listen to tons of podcasts.

Overexposed churches are often unconsciously looking for the "silver-bullet" that’s going to take their success to another level. They can end up becoming puppets to church fads—and while they can spout out a who's who list of popular Christianity, they less frequently take a hard, inward look at who they are and let God show them how to commit to who they are supposed to be for their community.

It is critical that we as church leaders get exposure to what God’s doing in other churches. But it’s also critical after seeing what God’s doing in other churches to come back and ask the question, “who are we and how can we learn from this exposure to execute better on who God has uniquely called us to be?” As a result we can use exposure to understand ourselves better, communicate our DNA more effectively, and become more deliberate—instead of constantly reinventing ourselves.

Perhaps an approach that might work best is to pre-define seasons of exposure—moving inbetween months or years where you are pursuing exposure deliberately, followed by extended periods of head-down execution of what God is showing you. 

As you think back on whether you have been over or underexposed, what next season do you need to step into? 

As we have dug into this time and time again, one clear trend appears...

People gravitate to the worship style in which they experienced their high-water-mark with God.

I do not care if it was banjo-led worship. If that is what you experienced your closest connection to God with, you will long to hear the banjo played like this yet again.

Our love for our favorite genre of music is a heart's attempt to reach back to these special times. For example, older folks like older songs, but not simply because the songs are older. To these people, to any people, the worship style they like the most tends to be the style in which they felt closest to God (I am partial to some Rich Mullins myself). 

We were working with a church recently that was struggling with this change. By listening, we picked up on some interesting undertones. It led us to propose that if someone wants the songs sung today like they were thirty years ago, this person is more than likely struggling with two things when someone tries to bring about change:

1) Their greatest moments with God were in their past (instead of looking to find fresh times with God in their future). This is an area where we, as leaders, have a responsibility to guide them to search out their future close moments with God.

2) Their inability to learn all the words to all the new songs that we do in our A.D.D. song rotations (and small "very cool" overhead text) just makes them want to give up.

With this in mind, we worked with the leadership to cast vision for fresh experiences with God and to teach them a short list of new songs over several months. When we arrived back at the church 7 months later, the over 70 crowd were as much or more engaged in modern worship than the twenty-somethings were.

It would have been easy to write the older crowd off or to give them their own service with their own style. It took courageous leadership to look past their initial complaints and take them to a new place in worship. But isn't that what leadership is all about? Leadership is about taking people to a place they should go in spite of where they want to go.

What it created in this church's older crowd was a longing for new places with God, instead of just a pursuit of past places. That is a beautiful thing. As leaders, what are we pursuing and where are we taking those we lead? Are we allowing them to camp out in their past, or are we challenging them to pursue God afresh today.

Where is your congregation? Maybe it is time to... "Sing to the Lord a new song." Psalms 96:1A

Great branding is inspiring. It is easy to recognize. When we do not have great branding, it can even haunt us. It can lead us to feel that it is the one thing that is holding back our growth. The challenge is that rebranding is not always a quick-fix for our “growing” concerns. It can actually do more harm than good.

A friend of mine who speaks at a lot of churches recently shared about a small church he spoke at. The pastor mentioned to him some concerns about their lack of growth. My friend immediately called out that the church name and website both did not fit the community. He was right. He shared his plan to tell the pastor to go through a rebranding that would “fix” it.

Here is the challenge with his advice. This church had not grown in 8 years in spite of its prime location in a thriving community. It had already changed its name and done a rebranding 3 years ago. If this church rebranded again, it would spend tens of thousands to implement the change. Do we think it would get different results?

Just think: How would you react to a restaurant that keeps changing its name but has the same menu and service? The first rebranding might inspire you to give a disappointing restaurant a second chance. However, if you have a second disappointing experience, you will likely never return. And what’s worse, you might tell all your friends about it.

It was true that this church was dealing with poor branding—but it had a much deeper problem. A problem with what we call “connectivity.” Connectivity is about passing the people test. If we do not learn how to pass the people test, branding cannot help us win. As a matter of fact, branding often only reveals the gravity of our disconnect.

Branding is a visual promise that we make about an experience people will have with us. When we don’t deliver on this promise, we risk increasing the amount of visitors who never return. Rebranding when we are not ready can effectively increase our “burn rate.” It can cause more and more of the community to count us out entirely.

If visitors are not coming back, it is flawed to think that branding is the core issue. I have never heard someone say, “I did not like the worship or the pastor, but their website is so great—I think I will join the church.”

Branding goes much deeper than a logo and paint swatches. True branding is a bridge from the core of who you are to the people God has called you to reach. It is a promise you deliver on in all you do. It reveals itself on the surface as your communication, design, identity, or image.

If we are not connecting with people that come through our doors, no amount of branding can solve our problem. But, if we are connecting with people, the right branding can be a catalyst to new levels of growth.

It is time to diagnose. Do we have a branding or a connectivity problem?

Branding cannot secure what a church with poor connectivity cannot reach.

Looking to increase your connectivity in order to rebrand?

To learn more about connectivity, visit artistrylabs.com/consulting. 

Sorry for being so direct, but as institutions that have been given a mandate for providing direction to a lost world, churches lag dramatically behind when it comes to providing direction within their four walls. Many churches have defaulted to expecting visitors to ask for directions or to find their way to an information booth. There is only one problem with that: the average un-churched visitor is suffering from complete anxiety about being there in the first place. You might as well put a spot light on them and announce their presence via loudspeaker.

Great signage is about welcoming.
Visitors are not supposed to feel like an imposition. They are our guests. They deserve our forethought, our care and direction. Greeters are important but can never replace a sign that gives direction to the restroom from someone exiting the service. Signage is a part of your fundamental infrastructure for acclimating people, helping them feel comfortable and at home.

When you walk in Starbucks and see their latest graphic on the iron stand, or when you see the light-post banners lining the entry at Disney World, two things are happening that you are likely to miss. One, your expectation level for what is being offered goes up, and two, subconsciously, you are ascribed value by them and you begin to feel all the more welcomed. Just like the "happy birthday" sign strung across your living room doorframe, or the "welcome home" signs at the airport for the soldiers returning from war, signage tells people they are valuable. It is a deep thing that you rarely recognize, but once you notice it, is it any wonder you are polarized to be a part of it and want to make it a part of you? Great signage simply does that.

Ask yourself, "Is my church built to make visitors feel as if you thought of everything for them, or does it make them feel as if they are an afterthought; uninvited to the party?"

Great signage is about branding.
Gone are the days of white letters etched in brown plastic. I was recently in a meeting with a church of about 10,000 members when the Director of Marketing asked me to describe my take on the style of the church's interior. We were fast friends so I tongue-and-cheek replied, "historic contemporary", and moved on. It took a second to sink in and as I talked on in another direction the Media Coordinator burst out laughing. "Historic contemporary is about right!" We all had a good laugh and we knew what our obstacle was. The décor was reminiscent of a decade gone by. It was a reminder of the time in which that style was contemporary, but everyone knew that time had passed. Guess what the major perpetrator was? The signage.

It is not sufficient to just have signage. Signage, and anything else overtly visible for that matter, indicates the era in which you are most highly invested. If it is not contemporary, it simply indicates that today is not as important to your church as yesterday was. The style and
quality of your signage are value indicators. Are they boring or colorful? Are they busy or simple? Are they respectable or "cool"? The answer goes a long way to telling a visitor what you value as a church.

What that means is that smart signage solutions will have to be able to adapt to changes in style. Furthermore, smart churches will use their signage to reinforce the growing spirit of their brands: the essence of who they are as a church. It ultimately becomes part of your intangible asset list that makes visitors all the more respect you, and regulars inherently more proud to belong to your church. Let's face it; it is hard to lead a team these days with poster-board and magic markers. There was a day we could do that as a church and get results. The challenge is simply that low standards equate to low vision. The standards by which you communicate tell the world about the worth of what you offer as a church; challenge is, the world has pretty high standards for communication.

Ask yourself, "What does our signage tell the world about us? What does it indicate about our values?"

Before you make a signage change.
Understand that signage is an investment in both the welcoming of visitors and in the sense of belonging of regulars. If you are not able to do it right, wait until you can or do it rightly piece by piece. Signage belongs everywhere a visitor or a regular might be entering, standing, or simply wondering, "Where is the??" It belongs on the outside of your church welcoming us in. It belongs in the entryway. It belongs at the base of every check-in line. It creates flow. It removes anxiety. If you make it professional and consistent, it creates positive intangibles.

Another major factor to consider before you blanket the church is modality. Smart signage can grow with you and adjust to you over time. It should be an investment that you can carry to a new facility. It should be updateable so you can grow as a church and turn the "Pre-K" classroom door sign into a "4 Year Olds" sign as you break into multiple classes. It should allow for adaptations to your branding efforts and create a single investment point that yields many years of migrating design style.

A client recently called me to share the effect of a recent signage overhaul. He laughed, "I have had more people come up to me and tell me they were excited about what was going on at the church than I can remember. I even have had some people step up and make major financial commitments towards the vision. This all within the last two weeks and all we changed was some paint and our signage."

My friends, signage welcomes, it enhances a sense of belonging and it indicates the standards of your vision. It is an intangible with great effect. Your vision is in your signage. "Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by." Habakkuk 2:2 (Amplified)

Truth is, if we get 2 out of these 11, we have done well—and if we expect them to do more, we might be sorely disappointed. If, by a long shot, you get 3 or more, you better look out—someone else knows it and they could be hired away.

For Many Churches... 

Our tendency will be to expect more out of a hire than they could ever give us. This leads to frustration with their output and a likelihood of overworking them.

We have to start by knowing that these talent sets are not common in one person. Great accountants are not usually great sales people and great designers are not usually great project managers—it takes a team. There is often a greater need for planning, management and coordination than we initially consider on the journey from high level strategy to high quality execution.

Seriously consider what it looks like to partner with a team that has this talent set and a passion to work with churches. The right team can even help you be more deliberate in all you do. The right team will understand your heart and challenge you to be an even better church—taking your ministry to a new level.

Depending on your need, you might get all 11 of the above for less than what you would pay for a single full time person.  

For Many Communications Directors... 

We are often facing an uphill battle. Those that hired us meant well, they simply are not aware of the complexity of our work—and the time it takes to have truly aligned strategy as well as high-quality, branded design execution. How do you help them understand? Strike up a conversation by getting Church Marketing 101 into your leadership's hands. Take it further by talking with us to help your church put a strategy together that we can work with you on that is powerfully deliberate and truly culture-shaping. Strategic transformation starts here.