Believe me when I say that your church has a reputation. You may not know what it is, but your church has a reputation. Think of any business or restaurant in your community that you have never visited. What do you know about it? In some cases, you might have heard good things. In other cases you may have heard bad things. In many cases, you may have heard nothing at all and not know anything about it or that it even existed. In all three scenarios, you discovered their reputation.
Churches can have bad reputations. They may not be warranted or true, but churches can get negative reputations in the community. Some churches can be labelled “the crazy Pentecostal church”, others can be labelled the “pastor eating church” due to the many pastors that church has had. Some get negative reputations because of past events or parishioners with a bad witness. It’s important to understand that a negative reputation is a barrier that people have to get over in order to come to your church. A bad reputation isn’t a “mark of honor”, it’s an inhibitor to people coming to Christ. You don’t want a bad reputation in your community. It’s not something to be proud of.
Churches can have neutral reputations. This is where people have no idea the church exists or what they do or what they’re about. They couldn’t tell you who goes there and they really couldn’t describe any community building activity that the church does. The best they could do is describe the location but other than that, the people in your community do not know you exist. A neutral reputation is not a helpful one. Jesus says you are to let your light shine. A church with a neutral reputation in their community is doing the opposite of that.
A church should have a positive reputation in the community. A church should be known by what they’re for and what they do. A church should be seen as a pillar of the community even if people don’t go there. A church with a positive reputation will hear things like, “oh you’re the church that helps poor people at Christmas” or “you’re from the church with the daycare”. A church with a positive reputation works tirelessly to communicate to non-church goers that “God loves you and so do we!”. Congregation members of these churches have no problems talking about their church and even inviting their co-workers to join them for a Sunday morning or for a special event. If your church members don’t do this, you may not have as positive reputation as you think.
Here are a few ways you can assess the reputation of your church.
1. Talk to your church members and ask them, “what do people think about our church?” Hopefully you’ll get some honest answers.
2. Talk to community leaders (Mayor, council, social services, school principle) and ask them what they know about your church or what they hear about it. Take the opportunity to build relationships with them while you’re at it.
3. Have an out-of-towner approach businesses looking for directions to your church. You’ll find out very quickly if people are aware of your church.
4. Do your church members regularly invite their non-Christian neighbors or co-workers. If they don’t, find out why. If they do, find out what the response was.
5. Google your church. You heard me. Google your church and look for any mentions or any reviews.
6. Do a community needs assessment. Go to 25 homes around your church and ask 2 questions: “What do you love about living here?” and “What is the biggest need in our community?”. You’ll meet your neighbours and introduce yourself. You’ll get a sense of what people think or know of your church by that brief visit.
7. Ask newcomers “how did you hear about us?” The people that come to your church came from somewhere. As you get to know them, ask them about what they heard about the church before they came. This will help you get some fresh eyes on your church. If you have no newcomers, there’s a good chance you have a negative or neutral reputation.
We don’t want to create any barriers for people to come to Jesus Christ and we want to do our best to be a church that is in the community and for the community. Looking at the reputation will help steer your ministry decisions in such a way that it will positively affect the people who are not yet a part of your church. Imagine if people who didn’t even attend any church, recommended your church to people. Now that’s a great reputation!
Jeremiah works as an Effectiveness Coach with the ABNWT District of the PAOC. He is a passionate and creative leader who believes that the church is the hope of the world. He uses collaboration, innovation, and inspiration to challenge churches and their leadership to engage in the only mission Jesus ever sent his church on: making disciples.