Marketing technology and
the stages of evangelism
By Boyd Pelley
When you give a company your email address , they use it to cultivate your interest in their product or service over time . If you like it , you read a subject line or even open an email once in a while . If you don ' t , you ignore it or unsubscribe . And guess what , it works .
What if you did the same thing to reach people in your community ? What might that process look like and what tools do you need to make it happen ?
After being a pastor for 18 years , I focused my attention on the software company I co-founded . Mostly we grew from friends telling friends , but eventually I knew we would have to learn how to market what we do . I knew that inbound marketing ( creating valuable content and experiences on the Internet ) was the way to go . So , I read , asked questions , tried things , failed , asked more questions , and finally began getting it . I did want to help Churchteams grow , but even more I wanted to learn how Churchteams can help churches become more effective in evangelism using marketing technology . If you ' ve studied evangelism , you ' ve likely heard about the
Engel ' s scale . It identifies a process of micro-steps people take from being an atheist to committing their life to Christ . To help churches reach people , I like to break down the Engel ' s scale into three stages of evangelism :
Stage one : Outreach — hurt people become curious . Stage two : Connection — curious people become willing . Stage three : Assimilation — willing people become committed .
Outreach : Instead of thinking about your website or social media presence as a digital bulletin for your people , think about it as a connecting point for hurting people . Use images and videos as well as text to identify with their hurt . Think about this as the introduction to a message . You are simply trying to get their attention . Use sermon introductions or testimonies to let people identify their anger , resentment , addiction , loneliness , etc . Don ' t jump to assuming they are willing to attend anything by inviting them to come to something in stage one . Instead , ask for their name and email in return for more information or free resources on the subject . The registration feature in Churchteams captures this basic information and puts respondents into a responsive workflow .
Connection : In this stage , you want to deliver a series of emails and texts that follow through on your promise for more information about the subject of their pain . The content of these emails , texts or videos are just short snippets from a sermon series or curriculum designed to meet their needs . Your goal is to cultivate their curiosity so that they might be willing to actually attend a group , ministry or sermon series when you invite them . It ' s okay to draw the content from the actual curriculum . Think of it like a trailer for a movie . The goal in this stage is to get curious people willing to come . The communication and workflow features in Churchteams build and executive this series of emails and texts for you . These can include a call-to-action in the form of a registration to attend something . This will include their mobile phone number .
Assimilation : Once people share their willingness to attend something , you now have permission to email , call or text them . Record these conversations using the notes feature in Churchteams and track their attendance with the attendance feature if / when they come . If they are slow to actually come , be sure to add follow up dates in the notes to remind you and / or others to follow up with another call , text , or email . By tracking conversations , you will see their progress from hesitant and unsure to familiar , motivated and open to committing to a significant change . By tracking consistency through attendance , you will discover the degree to which they have prioritized this training for their lives . This is a great sign that they are ready to give themselves to the gospel message and / or your church .
My guess is that content specialists ( aka pastors ) like this idea but aren ' t sure what technology tools to use . Technology specialists on church staff might want to do the same thing using multiple platforms . That ' s okay . Getting the word out is the goal ! But , if you want one software to help you streamline the full process , let us know . We ' d love to help . This is an idea for evangelism whose time has come .
18 CHURCH EXECUTIVE