What About Pastors?

You might wonder why I’m not advising you to go the route of simply contacting pastors in order to get your message into churches.  It seems to be the obvious and logical place to start.  Like many things in life, unfortunately, the easy and obvious way is not the best way.


Why not?  Two main reasons:

• Pastors are busy people with many demands on their time.  They don’t need one more thing placed on their plate.
• Pastors can be a little turf-y, and this is understandable given the nature of their job.  They don’t really appreciate someone from outside the church coming in with an agenda and telling them what to do.  They have their own programs and projects.  They also feel an obligation to protect their congregation from potentially “odd” ideas.

But, understand this … pastors are the key!

• Pastors have an enormous sphere of influence.
• First, they will have the ability to “yea or nay” your plan in their own churches.  They have tremendous influence over their congregation, without him on your side, well, your program just won’t gain traction in the church.
• Second -- a pastor’s peer group is other pastors.  If you can win over one pastor, chances are very good that you’ll be able to reach others through his influence.
• And third – this is especially true for well-respected pastors of large churches --this influence can even extend to politicians and other elected officials.  Winning pastors over to backing your idea is fundamental.

The way to reach the pastor is through one of his church members.  Someone who is a faithful, trusted, and respected congregant can present your idea to the pastor in a non-threatening way.  This is someone who says, in effect, to the pastor:


“This is a concern, something our church can make a difference in, and I’m willing to come along beside you to help you. I’m not demanding that things be done just in one way.  I’ll present a ‘menu’ of ideas, totally for your approval.   You pick and choose where you’d like to start and I’ll implement.”


This attitude of being a helper puts the pastor immediately at ease.  He can look over the ideas a church member presents to him and not feel that a stranger (that he has no allegiance to) has barged into his office with unrealistic demands.


You need to create a plan – basically a marketing plan – to first win over pastors and through their support (active or passive), their church members.