How to Market a House Church

I was recently contacted by Jeff Zak in Nelson, BC with some questions on how to market a house church that he is going to plant in 2014.

In this article, I am going to write out some marketing ideas that are specific to Jeff's upcoming  H.O.P.E. International Church, but wanted to share these ideas in the form of a public blog for any other church planting pastors that might be in a similar situation.

How to Market a House Church

The first question to pop in my head when Jeff contacted me was: "What in the heck is a house church?" I've been going to a variety of churches all my life and didn't really even know this option existed. It seemed like more of a movement one might find in countries where Christianity isn't allowed.  Hopefully, my ignorance on this style of worship will serve as a good reminder that the idea of a house church might be completely foreign (and a bit scary!) to many people.

There are two key elements that come to my mind when developing a marketing plan this house church:

• Geography - Nelson, British Columbia is a small town of 10,000 people and is geographically isolated.  That means Jeff is going to have a much easier time ranking in the search engines then someone who lives in a major metropolitan area like Seattle or Vancouver, but also means he has a very small pool of people to draw from.
• Awareness - One of Jeff's biggest challenges is going to be to find ways to answer the "what the heck is a house church?" question so people feel comfortable with the setting, teachings, and people.

To get  H.O.P.E. International Church off the church, I am recommending a fairly lightweight marketing plan that involves:

• Blogging
• Social Media

Blogging

I believe that the marketing plan you lay out should always fall in line with your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. It should be a natural extension of who you are in order to sound authentic.

In my email interactions with Jeff, the first thing I noticed is that he would answer my questions with long, eloquent, and well thought out emails.  He obviously has a gift for expressing himself through writing so blogging is the number one area I would advise that he spend his marketing time.

Blogging as a house church pastor is really quite simple.  Any time somebody asks you a meaty question about your church, you should take the time to write it out in a blog post.  As an example, my first questions to Jeff were:

1. Is this biblically based?
2. This isn't some strange cult, is it?
3. Would I feel comfortable in a situation like this or are the people complete oddballs?

Jeff came back with wonderfully worded answers to my questions.  Translated into a blogging context, if Jeff also took the time to write those answers in the form of several blog posts on his website he would have an ongoing resource that can be:

1. Shared with others who ask those same questions in the future
2. Viewed by people visiting his website who aren't going to ask him directly
3. Digested by the search engines so his church ranks in the Google search results over time.  
4. Used as a resource by other house church planting pastors around the world

The time investment really isn't that much greater than what it takes to write an email and each thought can reach a far broader audience.

As for the technical mechanics, just about every website out there has an easy blog plug-in that you can use. Create this resource directly on your website to help build up SEO value.  For example, the website address would look like http://YourChurchWebsite.com/blog/WhatIsAHouseChurch.

Social Media

The second core marketing ingredient I would recommend in a situation like Jeff's is social media. Specifically:

• Facebook as a person - Yes
• Facebook church page - No
• Facebook group - No
• Twitter - Maybe (only if he enjoys Twitter)
• Pinterest - No
• LinkedIn - No
• Google+ - No
• YouTube - No

Jeff is planting a small church in a small community, so the smartest thing he can do is to use his personal profile on Facebook to really let people know who he is and to connect personally with as many people in the community as possible.  Building those initial relationships will give him the ability to mention his house church in person when the time is right.

From a "what to share" perspective, I would really focus on the personal stuff.  

• Pictures of the family doing fun things
• His hobbies
• Checking in at local events
• Pictures of his house church friends at a backyard BBQ
• Service projects he is involved in

Even more important than talking about himself is a focused effort to "friend" every person he meets in Nelson and engage on the things they post on Facebook. Leave a comment, "Like" what they say, etc. Facebook is a place where Jeff can show that he is a likable and normal guy.

On the flip side, if Jeff were to use his personal Facebook account for these kind of posts people are going to tune him out:

• Sharing political and religious articles, memes, statements, etc
• Promoting his blog posts
• Promoting his church ("Join us at 9am tomorrow morning..."

People aren't on Facebook to learn about your personal view points. They are there for some lightweight entertainment and to build personal connections with people.

Summary

The key to a good house church marketing plan is to get answers to people's questions prepared and shared. There is a passion and energy driving you towards taking the step of planting a house church that needs to find it's way out of your head and on to the internet!