Commandment #8 – Be relevant to your community

CHURCH OUTREACH / CHURCH MARKETING

MAIN POINTS

  1. People are searching for answers to life’s problems on Google – are they finding the answer on your church website?
  2. Are you addressing the NEEDS of your community?  And talking about it?
  3. Be there for the people and they will show up in your church
  4. This is the hardest commandment, but the most important one

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?

Did you know an average of 9,900* people per month search Google for “What is the meaning of life?”  Have you seen the culture shift in your business, networking, church and family life?  This is the generation of Facebook, YouTube and Google.  These are three of the most popular websites on the web.  They are used daily by people of all ages to search for entertainment, news, product information and also the answers to life’s problems!

It is my strong belief that the CHURCH needs to step up and start providing answers to these questions on its websites.  Our church website shouldn’t just be about “hey our church is great”, “hey, come visit us”, “hey, come join us”… it should reflect the values that we have as Christians to meet people where THEY are.  We need to show people God’s Love, Jesus servanthood and the Power of the Holy Spirit, yes, even on our websites!

If someone in your community is looking for help with drug abuse (over 20,000* searches per month), alcohol abuse (over 10,000 searches) or depression (over 8,000 searches) can they find your church website as a resource?

I searched for help with these topics in a major city near us and found no churches listed on the homepage.  If your church has help for these or any other social / community problems, you need to highlight and optimize and perhaps even advertise for these ministries so you can be there to help your community as needed!

This is a longer term goal, and one that may require some soul searching and some focus on particular needs / ministries in your community.  ChurchBuzz can help you define and optimize these things on your church website.

Treat your website as a MINISTRY – and look to HELP your community meet God – this will help your church grow!