Check out the Healthy Creative ministry mentor group on Skool
In addition to community and group mentorship, you'll gain access to the Healthy Creative Ministry Blueprint, and exclusive use of the Creative Ministry Thought Partner GPT. This tool, trained on my book, Watch Your Language! and the course, guides you step-by-step through the process of creating a promotional plan tailored to your ministry's needs and mission.
In order to make each category easier to understand, I created a phrase that puts these concepts into common language. If you follow this model but deviate from the examples shown here, make sure you include an easy to understand hook for those implicated by the decision, but not privy to all the work that went into it.
The type of event that gets Low Promotion is one that “allows us to be who we are”. These events are valuable to the life of the church, but aren’t events that prepare us to live our our mission, nor are they a full expression of our mission.
There’s a practical side of this, too. This category often includes events that have a very high entry point like a short term missions trip, or things that are beneficial for everyone to know about even if they don't actively participate like Sanctity of Life weekend.
Because these events allow us to be who we are as a church, we do want to communicate them to the congregation, but we don't want to overshadow everything else happening at the church.
Events that get a Medium Promotion are drivers of the mission. These are the events that prepare your congregation to accomplish the mission of the church.
When you approach your Promotional Plan through the lens of mission, you may be surprised at what shows up in this tier of promotion. For many churches classes, discipleship events, and trainings should be getting more promotion than they are.
This is why building your Promotional Plan around the mission is so impactful–it helps you focus your communication horsepower on the events and ministry that actually drive the mission of your church.
The events that should get High Promotion are events that shout “this is who we are”. These events that show your mission in the biggest way possible.
If your church is all about evangelism, this is your outreach event (VBS, Trunk or Treat, etc).
If your church is all about personal evangelism, these are your most invite-friendly events (Christmas, comedy night, concerts).
If your church is all about discipleship, these are your enrichment events (retreats, challenging guest speakers, conferences).
Three different churches can have all the same events on their calendar each year, but the mission of the church should lead each church to promote promote differently.
As you can see, every decision made on what to promote or communicate is tied to what is most important to your church (based on the mission). But making decisions in ministry is never as clear as this document would lead you to believe. There will always be something that comes up that seemingly "breaks" the strategy.
That’s where the + 1 comes in.
Note: if you share your promotional plan with staff, which I recommend, I wouldn’t include the + 1 strategies for everyone. I only include them for the ministry they are for.
The simplest way to understand the benefit of the + 1 is this: if you know plans are often subject to change, you might as well plan for it!
The + 1 can be a specific promotional plan for major ministry-specific events that tax your communications ministry, common curve balls from leadership, or even things that need to get some of the High Promotion communication channels, but not all of them (like baptism, membership, etc). When you make a plan for the common surprises, your Promotional Plan stays in tact, and you can respond strategically.
You can, but you shouldn't!
The best promotional plan isn't one you copy–it’s one created specifically for your ministry.
The most effective promotional strategy is one that merges the mission of your church with the behavior of your congregation. To have the most impact, you really need to consider the people you are ministering too and their needs and challenges.
If you want a more in depth approach to building a promotional plan for your ministry, check out The Healthy Communications Ministry Blueprint.
Owner of Lunchtime Heroes
Matt Curtis has been using creativity for ministry since 2002. After two years promoting missions and 16 years on church staff—in roles ranging from graphic designer to Creative Minister—Matt shifted from serving one church to equipping many.
In 2022, Matt launched Lunchtime Heroes to help churches effectively leverage creativity for ministry. Through branding, design, coaching, and consulting, Lunchtime Heroes has partnered with churches to build healthy and effective creative ministries across the country.
Outside of ministry work, Matt enjoys content creation, BBQ, roasting (and drinking) coffee, and gaming with friends.
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