For most people, marketing makes perfect sense for a business, but what about a church? Churches do evangelism, right? Not marketing. Well, that’s half right.
Certainly, churches should be engaged in evangelism. How can believe if they have not heard? (Romans 10:14b) Similarly, you could ask, how can show up if they cannot find you?
Brian Schmidgall of MiddleTree Church in St. Louis, MO has embraced both of these ideas. Brian is bringing the message of Jesus Christ to a divided and hurting area of St. Louis both by starting MiddleTree Church right in the middle of the area and by reaching out to people online. Why don’t I let Brian tell you a little more about it.
MiddleTree Church and a City Divided:
“MiddleTree Church is a multicultural, multigenerational church within the city of St Louis. St Louis is a city divided culturally along racial and socio-economic lines. We are a church looking to bring life among the division through Jesus Christ.“
Here’s a great video from MiddleTree Church about their mission and vision:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDZ5oSKqB7o
Reaching Out Online:
In addition to joining the community, the members of MiddleTree Church decided to be present online with a website, social media, and search marketing. Though their website is new and they had no listing in Google or Bing just a few months ago, MiddleTree Church is already becoming a major presence in the search engines with over 600 top ten rankings, including being in the top 5 for “church in St. Louis”.
Brian writes, “We made the decision to go with Ourchurch’s SEO over paying for ad space because of the long term payoff. We’re a church that is less than a year old that is in a big city and getting recognized in online searches was going to be a challenge. As I’m writing this, we’re eight months old and have had many guests attend who found us by searching for churches in St Louis. It’s been a great investment. “
It’s been a great joy for me to know that people’s lives are being changed through the ministry at MiddleTree Church and that God has used the church’s visibility in the search engines to bring people into the church. Thank you Brian for allowing OurChurch.Com to be a part of your ministry.
I hope you will consider how SEO can help your church. And, if you happen to be in the St. Louis area, be sure to visit MiddleTree Church.
Is your church reaching out to people online?
- What is your church doing to reach people online?
- What have you found to be effective that you can share to help other churches reach more people for Christ?
OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services
Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.
He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.