It has been said, that most evangelical churches are competing for the same 30% of the population. Those are the people who have been churched- that is, they are preconditioned to attend church on Sunday mornings.

Some of them are born-again Christians. Some of them are not. Our advertising on the church page, and in the yellow pages is geared toward them. They are the people who think about church when things get difficult. Even if they are not attending church regularly, they feel that it is a good thing to do, and may even feel guilty that they are not going to church.

There is another 70% of the population which does not consider church as an important element of life. They do not naturally seek spiritual services when times get tough. Many of them would consider themselves to be "Christians" of some sort. Many of them would not, and may not even care to consider anything they cannot see, touch, or hear. The idea of living our lives based upon faith in an unseen God, may seem silly to them. It is not likely, that they will turn to the church page in the newspaper, or the listings in the yellow pages.

Advertising to reach those people who are not preconditioned to accept church as a way of life, is a more expensive endeavor. Advertising in the sports section is more expensive than the church page, and inserts can be even more costly. But, there is a way to reach this 70% with free advertising which is available to every church. It is a form of advertising which is very personal, and can be tailor -made to fit each individual. This advertising can be sent through close friends, and respected community members. It has a higher percentage of success than any other form of advertising, and it was even employed by Jesus Himself. This form of advertising is called, "word of mouth."

Unfortunately, word of mouth can work against us, just as easily as it can work for us. That is the problem many of us have with this advertising model.

A very little wrong can go a long way. When our services appear unprofessional, we may not lose the congregation over this problem, but they may feel embarrassed to invite others to the services. As a result, they do not actively share their faith, or invite people to church, because they feel that somehow church is not professional enough.

Church never will be professional enough. We can try hard to look professional, but somehow we still come across as a little hokey. The problem is that we are using people, and we ourselves, who are the leaders of the congregation, are human as well. Humanity has a problem with "hokey-ness."

If we can bring people to the understanding that professionalism, and coolness does not save people, that only the working of the Spirit of God is sufficient to save souls, then they just may begin to use word of mouth effectively, even in the midst of our hokey-ness. God has "chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise," and His message is still perfect, despite the fact that the form of advertising He has chosen is chocked-full of peculiarities.

Yes, church can be hokey. Often, the smaller the church, the greater the hokey-ness. That's because it takes money to cover up our blemishes with glossy professionalism. So, let's resign ourselves to the fact that God meant for church to be a gathering of hokey people, and let's believe that by word of mouth, the unreached 70% of our population will be touched by "the foolish things of this world."

Word of mouth will work. It is the only form of advertising, which is unprofessional enough, to recognize that God is totally in control of the results, and this is why it is still the best form of advertising today.