Church and Sunday school publicity; practical suggestions for using the printed word to extend the influence of the gospel

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Introduction 7

I Analyzing Church and Sunday School Publicity

Introduction

IETTERS from all parts of the country, by both i ministers and laymen, reveal interest in the use of the printed word as a means of extending the influence of Christianity. The two following show the trend of present church thought in a growing number of centers:

^'I am pastor of a small church in a town of 5000. How can I best use our weekly paper to get the message of the church before the people?"

''I am superintendent of the Sunday school here. I feel we ought to be more aggressive in reaching after pupils. What can you suggest for adequate publicity?"

This book is an effort to set forth a few of the principles of commercial advertising and to show their application to church work. Encouragement in its production was first given by Marion Lawrance, dean of Sunday-school workers, during a conversation at Conference Point in 1918, where the writer was lecturing to state Sunday-school secretaries on methods of obtaining publicity for their work. Upon learning that there was no book available as a text for such classes Mr. Lawrance suggested the writing of such a book. He thought that the Sunday-school field would welcome it.

Close association with pastors of many denominations in schools and conferences on church pubhcity has shown need for a book on local church publicity of a little different type than those available. Through his connection with the Department of Pubhcity of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., the writer has had opportunity to examine thousands of samples of church advertisements and other printed matter and has come to know what are the most vexing questions in local church publicity. Effort has been made to present the bases on which solutions of these problems may be worked out.

Of course, the subject is by no means exhausted here. There are thousands of examples of advertisements and printed matter fully as good as those reproduced, but a choice had to be made. Many pastors are doing excellent work with printer's ink. Others, because of lack of information and training, have been spending money which has not brought the largest possible results.

Several writers are offering ready-made church advertisements of merit. These are useful in union campaigns, although one such series has also been used by indi\ddual churches in nearly four hundred towns.

Theological seminaries are coming to see the advisabiUty of teaching men how to use the printed word as well as the spoken word for the advancement of the Church. The writer hopes that an increasing number of church and Sunday-school leaders will insist that the subject of rehgious publicity be included in convention programs. The International Sunday

INTRODUCTION

School Association has pointed the way by having courses on pubhcity at its summer training schools.

The viewpoint of the book is that of a newspaper man rather than that of a pastor. The first chapters deal with publicity within the church. Then follows some discussion of the value of news in the papers and paid advertising to reach those not now attendants. Help will be found for the smallest church or Sunday school in the most remote district, as well as for the fashionable church on the avenue which has not been successful in enlisting for its publicity the trained advertising men who may be in its congregation.

Business has discovered that personal salesmanship, although effective, is costly. The church knows that great efforts must be expended to move a small number of church members to work persistently for new attendants at church services. Why should not the church follow the lead of its business men and bring something of the gospel, and an invitation to hear more, to the attention of the pubHc? Why not move the people for righteousness in the same way in which they are induced to buy a new brand of bread or meat or shoes? They need the gospel more than they need food and clothing. The writer believes that they can be persuaded of that fact through the printed word.

Herbert H. Smith

156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Chapter I Analyzing Church And Sunday School Publicity Problems

TDUBLICITY for religious organizations as dis- -*■ cussed in this volume embraces all means, spoken, written, or printed, designed to deepen interest in Christianity and increase the number of its adherents. Pubhcity is a general word, embracing all forms of making an organization known, while advertising is limited loosely to those forms of pubhcity which cost money. Every time a Sunday-school teacher visits an absent pupil, every time the pastor announces the theme of his evening sermon, or sends an item to the newspaper, the church is given pubhcity.

Church work is done best if some rehable person is given direct and exclusive responsibihty. So with pubhcity. If some one in each church and Sunday school, and every other Church organization, is constantly seeking to answer the question, "How can I make this church and its work better known?'' the work of the organization ought to grow.

In a majority of churches and Sunday schools the pastor or superintendent will add the duties of publicity direction to his already overflowing load of responsibilities. Adequate management of pubhcity requires, however, more attention than can be given by a man whose main interest is distracted by a dozen duties and, if possible, some one person or a committee of three or five should have full responsibility. The Sunday school may well have a connmittee of its own.

The chairman will be more than an honorary member of the PubHcity Committee. He ought to be to the church what the managing editor is to a dail}^ paper. He must have the full cooperation of the pastor and be in intimate touch with all affairs. The members of his committee will act as reporters, artists, and messengers.

In a Presbyterian church in Trenton, New Jersey, the manager of a very successful publicity work is a layman who rides a church publicity hobby, to the good of the congregation and the town. He arranges for semiweekly signs in front of the church, takes charge of the pubUcation of the weekly bulletin, contracts for advertising space in the paper, and sees that reading matter about the church reaches the editor each week.

A smaller church does much of its advertising with the help of a duplicating machine. The pastor selected as the PubHcity Committee a young man who was taking a correspondence course in letter-writing and a young woman with some talent for drawing. Together they worked out a series of illustrated letters designed to boost the attendance.

One of the largest Presbyterian churches in Detroit has a publicity man with a keen sense for organization. He is office man in one of the automobile factories and without experience in advertising, but he deUghts in working out systems and he was eager to help in the church. This chairman has as other members of his committee a young man employed in an advertising agency as reporter for church activities, an older man who had previously organized the boys of the church to deliver printed matter to homes, and a young girl who with a clever brush and nimble fingers makes posters similar to those illustrated on page 54.

The Pubhcity Committee may also well include a member whose duty is to sohcit subscriptions for denominational periodicals and church papers and stimulate the reading of them by appropriate notices in the church calendar and by pinning upon the bulletin board pictures or other matter from current issues. This is a task which may well be assigned to a woman, possibly one who has little talent for leadership or pubhc speaking, but who is methodical and persistent.

Young people of the church may be enlisted as gatherers of information about organizations with which the chairman may not be in close touch. The chairman and pastor should also have an eye for the future and include some one on the committee who can be trained as the next chairman.

The methodical committee will, of course, make a program for the year, and make it well in advance. Conamercial advertisers make up at one time the series of ads they expect to run. They assemble the art work, the copy, have plates made, and ship electrotypes to publications many months in advance of the date of issue. The booklets, dealers' helps, and circular letters are all planned carefully. In much the same way the PubHcity Committee of a church or school will do well to plan far in advance. The very act of putting the plans on paper will stimulate early preparation, and consequently better results.

The Three Important Questions But no matter how the Publicity Committee is organized, these questions must be kept constantly to the fore :

^Vhathaveweto^^sell"?

Where can we ''sell" it?

How can we tell our ''possible market" about our goods?

The first two of these questions can be settled only by one who has a thorough knowledge of the church and the field it seeks to serve. Answer to the third question involves consideration of man}^ factors which many church workers have not carefully studied. Most of this volume is devoted to showing how various religious organizations have used publicity to inform their possible market, together with an analysis of the underlying principles which may be used to the same end by other organizations, whatever the size or situation.

What Has the Church to Advertise?

To a certain degree the measure of a church's service to the community will determine its advertising. Some writers on church advertising urge that the preacher be advertised all the time, comparing the preacher to the star performer in a theater. This advice may be right. If such advertising brings the people to chm*ch and to Christ, it is good advertising. Many churches have found, however, that overemphasis on the pastor and underemphasis on the message of the gospel has built up an audience rather than a congregation. (See Skeath, '^Building the Congregation.") The former leaves when the preacher does. The building of a stable congregation, active and energetic in the work of the Master, ought to be one large object of church advertising.

As the church stands first for the message of Christ and his love, so the advertising, representative of the church to the man outside, ought to stress the same note. It is my beUef that every church advertisement ought to contain something which when read will leave an uphfting thought. Seldom should an announcement paid for with the Lord's money be merely an invitation to attend a particular service. It should be that, but there should be linked with it some word of suggestion, a phrase or a statement which will help the unsaved and strengthen the tempted.

But how are we to break into advertisable parts the nub of the gospel and apply it to present conditions in language which non-churchgoers will read with interest, and still confine ourselves to half a dozen sentences or fewer? Answer to this involves analysis of what the church offers the community. The same analysis must be made before any successful campaign can be launched for a Sunday school, an organized class, a series of evangelistic meetings, or any other special feature.

Most of the ' 'things" which the church has for the community are intangible. The problem is to interpret these unseen elements in terms which the average man can understand. This was done in one advertisement relating to belief in an unseen God by asking telephone operators and telephone users if they had ever seen electricity. The effects of this force can be seen, but not the force itself; so it is with God. Chemists and doctors were appealed to in the same way in regard to the laws of chemical affinity. In some such manner laws of the spirit may be made inteUigible to the reader of newspaper or circular.

Among elements of the gospel, as interpreted through the church, which can be brought tangibly to the attention of possible attendants at any church, are the following :

Opportunity to help others

Salvation from sin

Inspiration for difficult tasks

Comfort in distress

Instruction in unselfishness

Happiness through service

Quiet and rest to vexed spirits

Bible study

Morality

Child-training

Character development

Community support (we would not live where there

are no churches) Companionship

Because the sermon is the big weekly task of the preacher, many pastors instinctively consider it the biggest drawing card. This seems to put a premium on catchy sermon titles. Interesting titles are to be commended, but some pastors have carried to extreme the desire to get sermon subjects which will draw hearers.

Good themes for advertising will grow out of the sermon content for a particular Sunday. ^'Golf or a Sermon" was the heading of an advertisement inviting attendance Sunday evening to hear a sermon on the Seventh Commandment. It preached to the town, whether or not the town came to the sermon. In a similar manner many good advertisements can be built from the main topic, not necessarily the title, of a sermon. (Further suggestions are given in Chapter XII.) Keep your eye fixed on the upbuilding of a stable body of people who go to chiu-ch as a regular part of their spiritual exercise. Help them to realize that prayer, hymns, and Bible-reading are worthy parts of the service.

Where Is the Possible Market?

Answer to this second highly important question needs more care than is indicated in an offhand answer that ^'my parish includes sixteen blocks" or ''three townships." A house-to-house survey is the only way adequately to know the "possible market" for the goods your church offers.

The pastor or the Publicity Committee should know what proportion of the people who may reasonably be supposed to attend a church or Sunday school are young, married, wage-earners, professional people. Where do they live? What are the means of transportation to the church? What is in competition to attendance? (Sunday auto rides, friends calling, babies to care for, Sunday newspapers, business, indifference, movies, parks, and the like.) This last question is important because much of the matter in letters, circulars, and advertisements should be planned in order positively to meet the competition. A survey will show what proportion of the '^possible market^' are automobile owners, how many families have young children, what proportion are foreign-speaking, and other facts.

Many pastors know answers to all these questions in a general way, but general answers are often as inaccurate as was the reply of the Sunday-school superintendent in a Chicago suburb who rejected the idea of a canvass because ' 'everybody goes to some Sunday school." A survey made soon after by a religious education board showed that only slightly more than half of the children in town were getting Sunday religious instruction. Be sure that you know the facts. Guesses are fatal to success in wellorganized church work. Carrying out these suggestions will take time, but careful survey of the community will bring the facts.

Knowing where the possible customers are, and something of their habits, the final question comes to the front: How can we get them to the church or Sunday school? But lest we forget the things nearest at hand, let us suggest at once that few churches are ready to advertise for more attendants until the leaders are sure the present membership is well organized, harmonious, and informed about its work. The next chapter will suggest some ways of advertising a church to itself.

How Shall the Church Reach Its Possible Market?

The third question, How to reach the possible consumers of what the church has to offer, depends for answer upon many conditions. If most of the people a church seeks to reach are foreigners, obviously advertisements in English newspapers will be of slight use. If the field is largely high-class apartments, the employment of cheap handbills scattered in hallways will be worse than useless. Each situation must be studied, and the survey made from the standpoint of what is to be "sold" and to whom.

The new pastor of a Methodist church in Brooklyn found that many Jews had moved into the neighborhood. Most of the constituents of the church lived some distance from the place of worship. A signboard was almost useless because of the side-street location of the church. The officials had, however, an up-to-date list of the Protestant families of the neighborhood not connected with any church. With these names and addresses the problem of advertising the church was the comparatively simple matter of sending the proper sort of literature to these families.

In a small Southern California town there was no newspaper. Most of the trading was in near-by San Diego. The points of contact between the people and the local pastor seemed few. But everyone went to the post office, and all passed certain corners. Signs of various sorts placed at these strategic points helped to attract attention to religious services.

Advertising as used in connection with churches means all sorts of methods of reaching people not now sufficiently interested in the organization to give it support. Paid advertising in newspapers may be the last thing your church should attempt. The following are a few of the means of carrying into the minds of men and women the message of the church or its services. The list is not meant to be exhaustive.

Painted wooden signs Booklet of sermons

Movable letter bulletin boards Blotters

Muslin banners Sunday-school papers and cards

Billboards Calendars

Printed signs on elevated railway Printed leaflets (bulletins)

Cards in street cars Parish papers

Handbills Catalogue of church activities

Post cards Parades

Circular letters Suppers

Folders Concerts

Tickets News in newspapers

Envelope stufifers Paid advertising in papers

Hangers Electric signs

The publicity to be adopted dei^ends on the results sought and where the people are. Let us consider several applications of church publicity. The most natural place to seek more members of a Sunday school is in the church congregation. Among the methods of reaching this ' 'market" are notices in the church calendar, or announcements from the pulpit (see page 37), homemade posters in the church vestibule, oral announcements in church by a school officer, letters to church members who are not affiliated with the school, postal reminders of the time of service and the empty chair near the door for newcomers, social events, special exercises as Children's Day and Rally Day — all of which ought to be looked upon as possessing good advertising possibilities for new members — telephone calls, personal visits, letters from friends urging attendance, news of the special effort in the papers, inclusion in the regular church advertisement of the statement about the opportunity to study the Bible, special sermon by the pastor, distribution of leaflets on rehgious education and Bible study from denominational headquarters, articles in the parish papers, and other means distinctly local as occasion offers.

Every church or Sunday school should have its possible advertising thus listed. Some items cost money, others do not; all cost brain power, and none will succeed long without some one who is definitely committed to giving the subject adequate attention.

Advertising an intangible thing, such as Christian stewardship, looks a httle more difficult than advertising a concrete object such as attendance at Sunday school. Here are some of the ways in which stewardship may be brought to the attention of a congregation: Special sermon by the pastor, testimony in three-minute talks by tithers at each service for a month, items in the church calendar of the benefits other individuals and churches have derived, brief statements of the advantages of regular versus hit-and-usually-miss method of giving to church support, Biblical authority coupled with not too much argument, posters made by a Sunday-school class (page 55), leaflets from denominational headquarters sent by mail or left in pew, circular letter from a member who has been a steward — not a bludgeon sort of communication, but setting forth the joy of giving. Other ways will occur to the thinking reader.

In this sort of propaganda keep the mind of the reader open to the relatively new idea and be careful not to antagonize him by bringing moral pressure to bear too soon. Give him plenty of information unaccompanied by persuasion. Permit the facts to work their way into his conscience. Use humor if possible. Many a man has been brought to the point of action against his former will when his risibles have been touched.

Both these examples have concerned persons already to some extent in the church organization. When the effort is to add new members to the Sunday school from those outside the present congregation, or to enlarge the size of the congregation, additional means must be employed. If a mailing list can be obtained of persons who would probably be interested in what you have for "sale" — interest in Bible study, child-training, character-building, and the like — then the path of the United States mail is open. The problem remaining is that of '^copy/' namely, the preparation of the material best adapted to reach their minds. The word of caution here is that it be written from the standpoint of the outside man, with a minimum of the language of Canaan.

If the mailing list cannot be obtained, appeal must be made to those means of publicity which the public generally sees — signboards, posters, newspaper advertising. Inquiry in many towns will show that per thousand persons reached, paid advertising in the newspapers is the cheapest medium. The questions of size of space to be used and what to put in it are discussed in Chapters XI and XII.

Chapter II Advertising The Church Or Sunday School To Itself

INFORMATION must precede interest. Com- -■■ mercial houses recognize this fundamental in their elaborate plans for house organs and similar means of maintaining the institutional morale. In the same way a church or Sunday school will be more interested in itself if it knows about itself. This creation of interest should precede definite efforts to obtain more members, and must continue while all such efforts are in progress. Many pastors have been following this idea for intrachurch advertising without attaching that label. There is considerable value in the further analysis and extension of the idea if the need of advertising the church to its members is not strongly felt.

In most forms of advertising, whether in the church or outside, facts are needed more than comment about facts. This distinction is vital to good advertising. We arouse enthusiasm in others, not so much by telling them that we are enthusiastic about a certain thing, as by presenting the facts which have aroused us to the point of intense interest. These facts may reasonably have the same influence upon others.

The giving of facts instead of opinions tends also to create the suggestive style of advertising rather than the argumentative. If the exhaustive tests of psychologists are to be accepted, the latter form is much more effective.

Come along with me And you shall see What a sweeping success Our social will be.

A Methodist church in a large New Jersey town used this as the cover of a small four-page folder of blue paper announcing a young people's social.

In small churches individuals know each other fairly well. They know when Mrs. Jones is sick and when Mr. Brown has been called to California on account of the death of his mother. Their children tell them that the Christian Endeavor is growing in interest and they observe that their Sunday school has a larger attendance than usual. In larger churches, however, such things often cannot be known unless some one takes the trouble to tell others. This can best be done through the church calendar, which is really a house organ of the congregation. (See Chapter IV.)

Pastors and publicity directors can assist local churches to get a vision of the work outside of their four walls if interesting facts concerning the denomination are given attractive publicity. Does your church know, for example, that there are 1181 congregations in Korea, all of which are entirely selfsupporting? Or suppose the following statement were chalked on a blackboard in the rear of the church, without comment, would not foreign missions be made more interesting?

There are 449 native preachers and teachers in Siam. Only one denomination is at work there.

How many members of your congregation know that they help support 83 churches among the Mexicans in the United States, or that they maintain 203G schools of all kinds in 16 different countries? Do you yourself know that there are 77 hospitals and 98 dispensaries in 9 foreign countries, all officered by physicians and nurses supported by you and 9078 other churches of your denomination in this country?

Put one of these facts (corrected for your church) each week in your church calendar or on a homemade poster or on a blackboard where church attendants can see it. If this plan is followed for six months, there ought to be a marked growth in mission interest. These and scores of other facts for any denomination may be obtained from annual reports of mission boards. The digging up of such material might be a helpful exercise for some class in the Sunday school or for the young people's society. Church magazines have similar items which may be tersely stated for easy absorption by church attendants.

Base Interest on Facts

Facts, as distinguished from comment, constitute the basis of interest, whether the effort be made through the ear or through the eye. The oral announcements of the superintendent of a Sunday school or of a department ought to have as many facts as possible. If the notices for a certain Sunday are put in writing and then analyzed closely from the standpoint of the percentage of facts to the number of words of appeal and persuasion, the officer who is not painstaking may make an interesting discovery. The form in which oral announcements may best be made so as to attract attention is discussed in the next chapter.

The annual reports of a church or Sunday school constitute an excellent opportunity to ^'sell" the organization to itself. The figures for the year should be given, but if they are interpreted in terms of flesh and blood instead of from the standpoint of the man who has spent hours making his accounts balance, the effect on the audience will be more stimulating. Seldom is a good accounting officer so constituted that he can interpret his bare figures in such a manner as to furnish the greatest possible amount of inspiration and enthusiasm.

Some churches use the stereopticon lantern to good advantage at the annual meeting. One city church has its meeting in January, and the pastor takes de- Hght in throwing upon the screen, between sHdes of figures setting forth the work of the year, unconventional poses of men and women prominent in the congregation. Pictures of the chairman of the board of trustees taken by a friend at Atlantic City, of a group of Camp Fire girls on a summer picnic, and of the president of the ladies' aid entering her automobile, added life to the meeting and helped to cement the bonds of good fellowship. Anything which will stimulate the feeling that each person is part of a big whole, and is needed in his place, adds to the sohdarity of the school or congregation.

Posters, the hpmemade sort described in Chapter V, ought to be used largely in selling the various organizations to themselves. The blackboard may be used to advantage in the same connection. The mere figures of the number of persons late to Sunday school, or the percentage on time, with a query as to the number who will be on time next week, has been enough in some schools to bring the pupils to school more nearly at the time of opening. A blackboard with plotted curves showing attendance this year and last also adds to the interest.

Printed or mimeographed post cards mailed to absentees or to certain groups help to keep interest at a high pitch. The arrangement of matter on such cards should follow the rules suggested in Chapters X and XII for similar material.

The chiu-ch or school will be an informed organization usually to the extent to which the pastor or

THURSDAY NIGHT keep

"Put

the Spirit

of

Youth

in

Everything"

a date with us on Thursday night

VV7E young folks at First Presbyterian CKurcK are nov* gathering every Thursday night at one of our homes. It is more convenient than Sunday night, and a lot more sociable, too. The sender of thifi card cordially invites you /o our next meeting. If you have already met vnth vs, let this be a gentle reminder of a pleasant evening you can help us have next Thursday night at the home of

Young People of the First Presbyterian Church

Portsmouth, Ohio

This was printed in brown and blue on a buff card and helped to interest the young people.

superintendent is himself informed about the facts of his denomination and the general mission trend of the Church universal. It is not enough to be enthusiastic and earnest. The leaders must know. Questions put to ministers and laymen alike at meetings in various parts of the country show that usually less than 10 per cent of the individuals present know simple facts about the number of foreign missionaries in the denomination, what is the per capita gift to missions of the congregation or the denomination and how that figure compares with the preceding year. These may not be the most important facts one should know about a church or Sunday school. But ignorance on these points usually indicates lack of information about other phases of the church's work. Without facts in the possession of the leaders the people cannot become informed. If you are a pastor or other chm-ch leader, search out the reports of your denomination, of your own congregation or Sunday school, and know what your own organization is doing. The more digging you do, the more interesting facts you are likely to uncover to stimulate the mental processes and enlist the interest of your congregation or school.