Purpose Driven Campaigning

7/29/2019 Purpose Driven Campaigning

1/14

1

PurposeDriven

Campaigning
http://makebelieve.me/


2/14

2

Make Believe is a unique strategy &communications company, tightly focused

on delivering cut-through social & politicalcampaigns.

Our team are specialists across strategy,creative, messaging, design and projectmanagement and have spent years workinginside respected change organisations.Together, we bring experience, strong values,diverse expertise and a vast network of personalcontacts to deliver projects for whos who of

non-profits, progressive political parties andsocially responsible businesses.

Most recently, we were the agency for AdamBandts successful election campaign for theseat of Melbourne, as well as for the National

& Victorian Greens campaigns at the federalelection. With every project, we seek to work

in partnership with our clients to leverage &expand their own internal capabilities.

Make Believe understands that eachorganisation and movement has its own theoryof change. We believe that the principles behindThe Purpose Driven Church can complement yourown theory of change and assist progressiveorganisations and movements to reach beyondyour already-converted core and instead focusoutward, on the broader community.

About Make Believewww.makebelieve.me
http://www.makebelieve.me/http://www.makebelieve.me/http://makebelieve.me/


3/14

3

Make Believe has prepared this 40-pointsummary of Pastor Rick Warrens best-

selling bookThe Purpose Driven Churchto assist our clients and friends workingtowards environmental & social change.

The resource is based on Rick Warrensexperience of growing his church, Saddleback,from scratch to 20,000 members attendingevery week. Saddleback is now the eighth biggestchurch in the United States.

Ultimately, we recommend you read the book

itself but here is a summary of the key lessonsthat the Make Believe team have identified astransferrable from building churches to buildingsustainable non-profit organisations and masssupport for progressive campaigns.

Purpose Driven Campaigning40 KEY PRINCIPLES FOR GROWING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS:Principles of Rick Warrens The Purpose Driven Church model for social change organising.
http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Church


4/14

4

Rick Warren focuses on five circles ofcommitment community, crowd,

congregation, committed and core, and arguethat its important to recognise where yoursupporters fall in these categories, and developprocesses to move them from the outside in.

The Circles of Commitment:The goal of your organisation is to move people from theouter circle (low commitment) to the inner circle (highcommitment).

Community Your starting point Hottest prospects

Crowd Everyone who shows up Believers and non-believers

Congregation Ocial members o your organisation Having more attendees than members means the

organisation is being eective in attracting theunconverted; similar to having more new peoplesigning an online petition than the existing listmembers.

Committed

Tey pray (act), give (donate), and are dedicated togrowing in discipleship (training). Tey are goodpeople but they have not yet gotten involved inministry (volunteer coordination).

Core

Without these people your organisation would come toa standstill.

Listen to the community and earn their trust:I wanted to listen rst to what they thought their most

pressing needs wereIve learned that most peoplecant hear until theyve rst been heard. People dont

care how much we know until they know how much wecare. Intelligent, caring conversation opens the door orevangelism aster than anything else Ive ever usedJesuswas able to ask or commitment rom the crowd only aerdemonstrating his love or them and earning their trust.

Growing from the outside in and avoiding asingle focus on the core:

Begin by moving the unconverted rom the community intothe crowd.

Te problem with an inside-out approach is that by thetime the organisation planter has discipled his core, theyhave oen lost contact with the community and are actuallyaraid o interacting with the unchurched.

Its easy to get what Peter Wagner called koinonitis developing such a close-knit ellowship that newcomers arearaid or unable to break into it.

oo oen, a core group planning a new organisationspends so long in the small group stage that they becomecomortable with it and lose their sense o mission. Te reo evangelism (recruiting new people) dies out.

Te problem with most small organisations is that they areall core and nothing else. Te same y people come toeverything the organisation does. Teyve all been convertedor so long they have ew, i any, unconverted riends to

convert.

Design programs for each group in the Circle ofCommitment:

For the community, ocus on bridge events. Designed to build a bridge between our organisation

and our community. Tey are usually quite large inorder to capture the attention o the entire community.

For the crowd, seeker services. (Services or peoplewho are open and seeking new ideas as opposed tothose already connected.)

For the congregation, small groups

For the committed, training

For the core, leadership development

1.Levels of commitment |from Community to Core


5/14

5

Go slow:

I can tell you how to build a balanced healthy organisation

but I cant tell you how to do it quickly. Do you want yourorganisation to be a mushroom (six hours to grow) or anOaktree (sixty years).

Te rst year, about all we tried to do was build a crowdand introduce them to Christ. Just as it takes an enormousamount o energy to move a rocket o a launch pad, itrequires an incredible amount o eort to gather a crowdout o nothing. Our ocus was very narrow.

Te second year I began turning the believers in the crowdinto a congregation continuing the ocus on reaching outto the community and increasing the size o the crowd, butalso adding a strong emphasis on building relationships. Weocused on converting attendees into members.

Te third year I instituted a plan to raise the commitmentlevel o our members. I added sta to assist me in leadingregular meetings or training.

Growing your crowd:

Create an atmosphere o acceptance. For your organisationto grow you must be nice to people when they show up.

Saddleback monitors its eectiveness on a weekly basis byasking rst-time visitors to give us their rank anonymous,

rst impressions.Oer something they cant get anywhere else.

Develop a seeker-sensitive service:

We must be willing to adjust our practices whenunconverted are present.

In reality the needs o believers and non-believers oenoverlap.

What really attracts people to an organisation is changedlives [added by Make Believe: personal narrative!]

Turning attendees into members:

Assimilation is the task o moving people rom an awareness

o your organisation to attendance at events to activemembership in your organisation.

Te community talks about that organisation. Te crowdtalks about this organisation. Te congregation talks aboutour organisation. Members have a sense o ownership they are contributors, not just consumers.

Beore people commit, they want to know: Will they make riends? Are they actually needed? What is the benet in joining to them? What is expected or required o them i they join?

Important to position the organisation as a amily/community rather than an institution. Since the 1960s,Americans have become increasingly anti-institutional yet people are also longing or a sense o amily andcommunity.

Te manner in which people join your organisation willdetermine their eectiveness as members or years to come.Having inductions is essential because it sets the tone andexpectation level or everything else that ollows. Te besttime to elicit a strong commitment rom your members isthe moment they join.

Make the members eel special.

Create opportunities to build relationships riendshipsare key to retaining members. People might join because oa leader, but they stay because o new riends. Saddlebacksweekend retreats have been the most eective tool orcultivating new riendships.

COMMUNITY

CROWD

CONGREGATION

COMMITTED

CORE


6/14

6

The books core premise is that you mustensure your organisation (and every

department, budget sheet and staff memberin it) is driven to achieve the core purpose ofthe organisation/ movement. Sounds easy andself-explanatory, right? Yes, but its harder toimplement than you think. Too many non-profits are being pulled in so many differentdirections that they arent really kicking goalsin their core purpose any more; and some canteven remember what that purpose was in the

first place!The importance of purpose:

Nothing precedes purpose. Te starting point or everyorganisation or movement should be the question Why dowe exist?

I you serve in an existing organisation that has plateaued, isdeclining or is simply discouraged your most important taskis to redene your purpose.

I the leadership cant even agree on why the organisationexists, confict and disagreement on everything else is

inevitable.A clear purpose builds morale.

A clear purpose not only denes what we do, it denes whatwe do not do. Once your purpose is set, decision makingbecomes ar easier and less rustrating.

Tere is no correlation between the size and the strength oyour organisation. An organisation can be big and strong, orbig and fabby. Big is not necessarily better better is better.

Share strategy:

A clear purpose attracts cooperation people want to join

an organisation that knows where it is going. When anorganisation clearly communicates its destination, peopleare eager to get onboard.

I you want your members to get excited about theorganisation, actively support it, and generously give to it,you must vividly explain up ront exactly where theorganisation is heading.

Clearly explain your strategy and structure- this willkeep people rom joining the membership with alseassumptions. Explaining your organisations purposes topeople beore they join will not only reduce confict anddisappointment in your organisation, it will also help somepeople realise they should join another organisation becauseo philosophy or taste.

Tis is especially important when going through change or when recruiting people who have been part o otherorganisations.

Focus:

Focused light has tremendous power. Diused light has nopower and all. Like a laser beam, the more ocused yourorganisation becomes, the more impact it will have onsociety.

Dont all or the trap o majoring in the minors. Tis iswhen your organisation becomes distracted by good,but less important agendas, crusades and purposes. Teenergy o the organisation is diused and then dissipated;the power is lost.

Most organisations try to do too much dabble in ortydierent things and miss being good at any o them.Te older an organisation gets, the truer this becomes programs and events continue to be added to the agendawithout ever cutting anything out.

Te question to ask is Would we begin this today i we werenot already doing it?

Restate purpose at least monthly:

It is amazing how quickly human beings and organisations lose their sense o purpose. Vision and purpose must be

restarted every twenty-six days to keep the organisationmoving in the right direction.

Tis is the oremost responsibility o leadership i youail to communicate your statement o purpose to yourmembers you may as well not have one.

2.Being Purpose-Driven


7/14

7

Te vision o any organisation always ades with timeunless it is reinorced. Tis is because people becomedistracted by other things. By continually anning thegure o your purposes you can overcome the tendency oyour organisation to become complacent or discouraged.

Ways to communicate vision and purpose:

Symbols

Slogans history has proven that a simple slogan,repeatedly shared with conviction, can motivate people todo things they would normally never do

Stories: Use stories to dramatise the purpose o your

organisation. Share actual testimonials or letters rom real people.

Organisational legends (historical within the org).

Specics

Always give practical clear, concrete action steps thatexplain exactly how your organisation intends to ullits purpose. Oer a detailed plan or implementingyour purpose. Remember nothing becomes dynamicuntil it becomes specic. When a vision is vagueit holds no attraction. Te more specic yourorganisations vision is, the more it will grab attentionand attract a commitment. Te most specic way to

communicate the purpose is to apply it personally tohow each member lives.

Personalise Member at the centre o the story.

Be purpose/mission driven. Dont be driven by:

radition

Te seven last words o an organisation are: Wevenever done it that way beore.

Personality

Where the agenda is determined more by the

background, needs and insecurities o the leader.Finances

Finances must never be the controlling issue.

Rick Warren notes that many churches are driven byaith in their early years and by nances in later years.Tis is applicable to non prots!

Programs

Oen the program-driven organisations goal subtlyshis rom developing people to just lling positions.I results rom a program diminish, the people blamethemselves or not working hard enough. No one everquestions i a program still works.

Buildings Te tail ends up wagging the dog

Events Meetings! What is the purpose behind them all? Attendance becomes the sole measurement o success.

Seekers Should be seeker (new recruit) sensitive, but not seeker

driven just like Labor lost its traditional base becauseit was too ocused on recruiting potential new voters inWestern Sydney.

Considering whether you are really achievingyour mission:

Are you being aithul to your mission i you insist oncommunicating in an outdated style? Are you being aithulto your mission i you insist on doing things in a way that

is comortable or you even though it doesnt produce anyresults?

We must be willing to say with unreserved commitment,Well do whatever it takes to reach people.

Apply purpose principles throughout theorganisation:

A purpose driven organisation must rigorously apply itspurposes to every part o the organisation programming,scheduling, budgeting, stang.

When thinking about nances, people give to vision.

PURPOSE

SYMBOLS

SLOGANS

STORIES

SPECIFICS

PERSONALISE


8/14

8

How in practice can you run an excellentorganisation that attracts, develops and retains

people and achieves its purpose? The Purpose-Driven Church model emphasises flexibility& being open to change, constant evaluation,asking for commitment from your people at anearly stage, focusing on people and processesrather than programs and finally not lettingcomplainers set the agenda.

Evaluate:

Generate a simple report. Rick Warrens church has areporting tool called Saddleback Snapshot. Te Snapshotshows how many people are currently in each Circleo Commitment and measures a number o other keyindicators o organisation health.

Te Snapshot orces us to take an honest look each monthat how well our organisation is ullling its purposes.Bottlenecks in the system become easier to spot.

Ask for commitment:

Rick Warren has ound that challenging people to a seriouscommitment actually attracts people rather than repels

them. Te greater the commitment we ask or, the greaterthe response we get.

I you dont ask people or commitment, you wont get it.And i you dont ask your members, you can be certainthat other groups will ask or it: civic groups, service clubs,political parties. Te question isnt whether or not people aregoing to be committed, but rather who is going to get theircommitment. I you dont ask or commitment, people willassume what the organisation is doing is not as important.

In asking or commitment:

Be specic. ell people exactly what is expected o them.

Explain the benets o commitment. Build on commitment rather than toward

commitment. It is important to start with whatevercommitment they are able to give, regardless o howweak it may seem.

Celebrate each time someone commits to moving orward.

Conviction:

Conviction is caught as much as it is taught. People acquire

it by being around other people who have it. Tis is a majorreason Saddleback emphasises small groups.

Be open to change:

Saddleback met or een years beore being able to buildtheir rst building. Tis one actor alone helped shape theirstrategy o reaching, retaining and growing believers. It kepttheir ocus on people and created a organisational culturevery open to change.

Some o their ideas were spectacular ailures but theylearnt rom them.

It is obvious that some methods that have worked in thepast are no longer eective. Tere is a time to keep, andthere is a time to throw away. Each generation o theorganisation or movement must decide which methods tokeep using and which should be thrown away because theyare no longer eective.

Be open to changing things (like the type o music youuse at events) and processes to attract new people. In theaverage organisation it is probably easier to change theorganisations theology than its order o service [added byMake Believe: easier to change an organisations policy thanits processes!]

Show leadership:

You cannot let whiners set the agenda or the organisation.Tat is an abdication o leadership. Unortunately thesmaller an organisation is, the more infuence the mostnegative member has.

Its about mobilising for action, not justmeeting:

Te honest reason many organisations do not have a crowd

is because they dont want one! Tey dont like having torelate to unbelievers and eel that attracting a crowd woulddisturb their comortable routine. Tis kind o selshnesskeeps a lot o organisations rom growing.

3.Organisational Culture & Management


9/14

9

Your community/crowd has everything you need:

Find out about, and use, the skills o your membership! Itis easy or talent to hide in the crowd. Unless they take theinitiative to reveal their giedness or expertise, talentedmembers could be sitting in your crowd and you have noidea what they are capable o doing.

Grow without poaching:

Saddlebacks growth has been by conversion not bytranserring Christians rom other churches. Tey dontwant transer growth (stealing members rom otherchurches) and openly discourage it.

Offer value & quality:

Attendance campaigns and advertising may bring people toyour organisation once, but they will not come back unless

your organisation delivers the goods.Quality leads to quantity i you design it to.

Be contemporary without compromising:

At Saddleback they dont expect unbelievers to act likebelievers until they are.

Some organisations retreat into isolation rom todaysculture e.g. the Amish. Rick Warren says: What I admireabout the Amish is at least they are honest about it. Teyreely admit that they have chosen to preserve the liestyleo the 1800s. In contrast organisations that try to perpetuate

the culture o the 1950s usually deny they are doing it.We must never become so enamoured with methods[tactics] that we lose sight o our mission and orget ourmessage.

Skill & Mistakes:

It takes more than dedication to lead an organisation togrow; it takes skill. ake the time to learn the skills youneed. Youll save time in the long run and be ar moresuccessul.

One time God told Joshua to stop praying about his ailure

and get up and correct the cause o it instead.Experiment & ocus on progress, not perection.

No silver bullets:

Tere is more than one way to grow an organisation.

It takes all kinds o organisations to reach all kinds o people.

Never criticise other approaches which are working justbecause they are dierent to yours.

Learn from others:

We dont have to be original at everything. We just have tobe eective.

Anytime Rick Warren sees a program working in anotherorganisation, he tries to extract the principle behind it andapply it in Saddleback.

You cant however copy your context, sta, or leadership.

Were here to learn rom each other; its fattering to haveyour methods copied. Remember were all on the sameteam.

Focus on people & process, not institutionalprogram growth:

Dont ocus on growing an organisation with programs;ocus on growingpeople with a process.

Saddleback brings people in, builds them up, trains them,and sends them out. Tats it their total ocus.

Our ultimate goal at Saddleback is to turn an audienceinto an army. You dont judge the strength o the army by

how many soldiers sit and eat in the mess hall but by howthey perorm on the ront line. Likewise, an organisationsstrength is not seen in how many show up or services (thecrowd) but how many serve in the core.

Streamline your structure:

Warren says that a major reason many church membersarent active in ministry (actually getting out in thecommunity doing stu & recruiting new people) is becausethe organisation takes up too much o their time doing lessimportant things. One o the reasons church membersdont witness to their neighbours is because they dont know

them - they are too busy at the church, attending meetings!

each people the dierence between maintenance andministry (actually getting out in the community doing stu& recruiting new people). Te more you involve people inmaintenance (budgets, buildings, organisational structuresand so orth) the more you waste their time.

Every organisation must eventually decide whether it isstructured or growth or or control.

In war, Warren says, you always nd the highest morale andsense o camaraderie among those serving on the ront line.You dont have time to argue and complain when youre

dodging bullets. en miles back, however, the soldiers inthe rear echelon grumble about the ood, the showers andthe lack o entertainment. Te biggest complainers in anyorganisation are usually committee members with nothingto do.

Dont elect people to positions. You avoid a personalitycontest. You avoid public spotlight on something that needstime to develop. You allow people to get involved morequickly. You avoid attracting people who just want power. Ithey ail, you can remove them more easily. You can developnew areas more quickly.

Establish minimum standards and guidelines or volunteers.

Help people realise theyare the organisation. Peoplerespond to responsibility. Tey thrive and grow when youtrust them.


10/14

10

Recruitment is key for churches, socialmovements and non-profit organisations.

Rick Warrens church has recruited tens ofthousands of people; so his tips are basedin sound experience. He emphasises theimportance of good messaging & framing,

figuring out who youre targeting to join, andhaving a solid recruitment strategy.

Messaging

Framing messages in a way that disarms peoples prejudicesand objections to being part o the movement.

Starting where people are and move them to where youwant them to be.

Ask yoursel, Do people delight in your messages?

We should not be araid o being interesting. ruth poorlydelivered is ignored.

Use stories: Stories hold our attention. Stories stir our emotions. Stories help us remember.

Advertising is necessary in the first year thenyou can rely more on viral growth:

We also used a lot o advertising that rst year because wedidnt have enough relationships to rely on word o mouthto build a crowd. oday with thousands o members invitingriends to our organisation, advertising is unnecessary.

Identifying your target:

In a small organisation with limited resources, it is vitalthat you make the most o what youve got. Focus yourresources on reaching the people your organisation can best

communicate with. Small organisations must also make

choices on tough issues. Changing styles randomly to appealto dierent demographics will produce the same eect as aradio station with a mixed ormat. No one will listen.

Figure out who your organisation is best capable oreaching, then go aer those people. When we plan aneort we always have a specic target in mind. Te Bibledetermines our message, but our target determines when,where and how we communicate it.

How do you dene your target?

Geographically. Demographically: i you are serious about having your

organisation make an impact, become an expert onyour community. Organisers should know more abouttheir community than everyone else.

Culturally.- We dont have to agree with our culture, but we

must understand it.- One o the major barriers to organisation growth

is people blindness being unaware o social andcultural dierences. Te best way to nd out theculture, mindset and liestyle o people is to talk tothem personally. ake your own survey. Listen ortheir hurts, interests, and ears.

Spiritually (level o commitment to issue).Use surveys & research

It is amazing to me that organisations oen spendthousands o dollars on projects without rst askingthe people they intend to reach i they think theprograms will work.

Personalise your arget

At Saddleback they named their composite proleSaddleback Sam. Most o their members would haveno problem describing Sam.

Know who you can best reach:

I believe the most eective evangelistic strategy is to rst tryto reach those with whom you already have something incommon. Go aer those you are most likely to reach:

People similar to those who already attend i visitorsnd other people in your organisation that seemsimilar to them, they are much more likely to comeback again.

4.Communication & Recruitment


11/14

11

People similar to the leaders - leaders cast longshadows. Sometimes the wisest thing a leader cando is admit that he doesnt match the organisation orcommunity and move somewhere else.

o change your organisations prole:- Dont try and be something youre not. Strengthen

what you already are and dont worry about whatyou cant do.

- Reinvent your congregation. Much easier i you area small organisation.

- Start a new congregation.

Recruitment strategy:Too many organisations have a lazy attitude towards fish-ing for new recruits. They dont take the time to under-stand the people they want to reach, and they dont havea strategy.

Know what youre shing or.

Go where the sh are biting (we arent supposed to pick thegreen ruit, but to nd the ripe ruit and harvest it).

Learn to think like a sh. Te problem is, the longer youare a believer the less you think like an unbeliever. I youlook at Church advertising, its obvious that it was writtenrom a believers viewpoint. One o the greatest barriers toevangelism is that most believers spend all their time with

other Christians. Tey dont have any non-believing riends. Survey them e.g.:

- What do you think the greatest need in this area is?- Are you actively attending any community

organisation?- Why do you think most people arent involved?- I you were to look or a community organisation to

join, what kind o things would you look or? Four basic complaints that come through the survey:

- Te church (organisation) is boring.- Church members are unriendly to visitors (the

greatest emotion new people eel when theyattend a service is ear, they dont know the inside

terminology, rituals, songs and eel oolish).

- Te church is more interested in my money than me.- We worry about the quality o the churchs

childcare.

Dont assume the problems people have will betheological (or policy oriented!) What seemed mostinteresting to me about our survey was that none othe complaints rom the unchurched in our area weretheological. I didnt meet a single person who saidI dont go to church because I dont believe in God.[Added by Make Believe: dont assume that the barrier isconvincing people on the strength of your policies or thatclimate change is real.]

Read the deence.

Understand and anticipate the objections unbelieverswill have beore they voice them.

Catch sh on their terms.

People dont voluntarily jump into your boat. You mustpenetrate their culture. o penetrate any culture youmust be willing to make small concessions in matterso style in order to gain a hearing.

Use more than one hook:

It is not pandering to consumerism to oer multipleprojects or ways o involvement.

Te goal is not to make it as dicult as possible butto make it as easy as possible or people to get involved.

Money spent on recruiting new members is never an

expense its always an investment. When nances gettight in an organisation, oen the rst thing cut is theadvertising budget. Tat is the last thing you shouldcut. It is the source o new blood and lie or yourorganisation.


12/14

12


13/14

13

If youre interested in talking about how thelessons from The Purpose Driven Church can

apply to your own organisation or socialmovement, give us a call on +61 2 9699 8690,email [email protected] or just look us upat makebelieve.me.

Weve already helped several non-profits workthe lessons from the book into their ownrecruitment plans and organisational strategies.Remember: the first step is to clearly define yourpurpose.

We highly recommend you read the whole book.If youre based in Sydney we can lend you acopy, or you can order your own from The BookDepository (USA) with free delivery.

Happy reading!

Further information
mailto:nick%40makebelieve.me?subject=Inquiry%20about%20Purpose%20Driven%20Churchhttp://makebelieve.me/http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Churchhttp://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Churchhttp://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Churchhttp://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Churchhttp://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780310201069/The-Purpose-Driven-Churchhttp://makebelieve.me/mailto:nick%40makebelieve.me?subject=Inquiry%20about%20Purpose%20Driven%20Church


14/14

14
http://makebelieve.me/http://makebelieve.me/mailto:nick%40makebelieve.me?subject=Inquiry%20about%20Purpose%20Driven%20Churchhttp://makebelieve.me/

Purpose Driven Campaigning

Documents

Transcript of Purpose Driven Campaigning