How Do I Get Churches Involved in my Cause?

Have you ever set in church and looked around you and wondered ... "How do I get my church members to care about ...?" I have. I've been flustered by the lack of information and concern by Christians about moral and civic issues. Whether it's homelessness, poverty, addiction, abuse, or right-to-life issues (or any number of pressing concerns), the Church could be a powerful force for positive change if church members could be informed and activated.

Twenty years ago, I was a new volunteer in our local Right to Life chapter. Our chapter was getting nowhere fast. No volunteers + no presence in the community = no impact for our cause. I knew that church members, if we could only reach them, were our target audience. I had to come up with a plan.

I tried cold-calling churches. Didn’t work. In larger churches I talked to church secretaries (gatekeepers) who didn’t know me and had no reason to “open the gate” for me to the pastor. In smaller churches I left messages on answering machines, and rarely got a call-back.
I tried mailing information to churches. Didn’t work. I never knew if the information got to the pastor or any other appropriate staff-person or if it was ever used (or useful!).

After a couple of fruitless months, I figured out what didn’t work. And I began to develop ideas of what it would take to reach churches in an efficient and effective way.

I eventually developed a program (in 1989) that I called “Church Liaisons”. Over the next few months I refined the plan. At one point I had about 120 Church Liaisons working with me in our county. Needless to say, we were a powerful force in our county! After about a year, other chapters were asking me to help them set up Church Liaison programs in their area. I spoke at conventions and eventually put together a how-to notebook called Organized for Life.

The Church Liaison program is a link from your organization to church members. It can create a powerful and effective engine to activate churches for your cause. Keep reading along with me and I’ll share the tips and techniques I used.

I’m also eager to hear your stories – roadblocks, solutions, ideas – about reaching churches for your cause.