What To Do Before You Plan Another Church-Wide Campaign

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As you might imagine, I talk with church leaders almost every day about church-wide campaigns.  Home runs and whiffs.  What worked and what didn’t work.  What was great and what was absolutely terrible.

If you’re planning a church-wide campaign (or even thinking about planning one), can I give you a short list of things to do first?

Hold an autopsy without blame of your last campaign.  Whatever else you do, don’t plan your next campaign without thoroughly evaluating your last campaign.  That makes it essential to evaluate how it went last time and then make changes in your strategy that reflect your learnings.  See also, Top 10 Reasons Church-Wide Campaigns Miss Their Mark.

Key to Remember:

Albert Einstein was right when he said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results.”

Carefully determine what you hope to accomplish with your next campaign.  This is a critical step.  Miss this step and you will almost always be the person that climbs the ladder to the top and then realizes it was leaning against the wrong wall.  What you hope to accomplish should determine the campaign you choose and how you prepare for it.

Some examples of what you hope to accomplish might be:

  • Unify your congregation
  • Connect as many unconnected members and attendees as possible
  • Help your congregation connect with their neighbors
  • Deepen the prayer lives of your congregation
  • Etc.

Key to Remember: It rarely works to choose more than one thing you’d like to accomplish.  Why?  The campaign you choose to unify your congregation or deepen the prayer lives of your congregation won’t be the topic that will appeal to the crowd or community.  See also, Three Keys to Connecting Beyond the Core and Committed and Your Church-Wide Campaign Topic Determines Two Huge Outcomes.

Commit to do the things that make a church-wide campaign a win.  If you choose to do a campaign, commit to doing your campaign the way that will accomplish what you hope to accomplish.

Key to Remember: Like any of the Apollo missions, just a degree or two off course took the rocket on an entirely different trajectory.  Have a destination you hope to reach?  Do the things that lead to a win.  See also, Build Crowd to Core Flow in Advance

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

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