If you’re a part of the Church Leader Insights (CLI) family, you probably have noticed that we don’t mind sending out an email or two.

And the vast majority of people who receive emails from me and CLI are encouraging and appreciative – even replying to share stories of how God is working in their churches.

But every once in a while… someone will call in or send a “less than polite” email to inform me that they don’t enjoy our chosen method of letting you know what’s available to you.

Now, please note that we don’t send “spam” or unsolicited emails – everyone we email has requested resources/training from CLI.

But I’d like you to know why we send as many emails as we do – plus, there’s a powerful lesson here for your church….

So today, I’d like to give you five reasons WHY we send so many emails:

1) We are passionate about equipping the local church for greater health and growth.

Jesus Christ and his church are the hope of the world – I believe that with all my heart.

For whatever reason, God has chosen to use the coaching, training materials, and events that we offer to help thousands of churches across the U.S. and beyond over the last several years (it’s very humbling).

We send emails sharing these proven principles, and offering resources and training opportunities because we want to equip you and your church to reach more people and make more disciples for Christ.

2) The more emails we send, the more people we can help.

Life is busy.  We all feel from time to time that there’s too much on our plate to handle (or even keep up).

So the truth is that most of us can’t (or won’t) carve out the time to go searching for the help we need to expand our leadership ability and upgrade our churches.

We send emails because we hear from pastors all the time who received “just the right resource” at “exactly when they needed it.”

3) We send regular (and often repeated) emails because you may need something today that you didn’t need yesterday.

When you got an email from me last week about Assimilation you weren’t thinking about it – in fact, you hadn’t seen a newcomer in weeks.

But this Sunday you had more first time guests than you’ve had all year, so getting those new people connected (through your Assimilation System) is suddenly a high priority.

We communicate the same message at different times because you are different now than you were last week… and who knows what you’ll be thinking about next week?

4) Email allows us to be good stewards of the resources that God provides.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but sending an email is pretty affordable these days.

We live in a powerful time in human history – a time that the early church couldn’t have even remotely imagined.  We can hop a plane and land virtually anywhere in the world in a matter of hours.

And even more amazing, we can fire up a computer and communicate in real-time with people around the world at little (or no) cost.

We send email because it allows us to communicate effectively and still afford to keep providing effective and impactful resources, tools and coaching.

5) We believe in what we have to offer (and the fact that it will help you lead your church).

I mentioned it already, but we have had the privilege of helping thousands of churches become healthier and reach more people over the last few years.

As we hear story after story from pastors and churches who have experienced God-honoring results, one of the best ways to honor God’s blessing is to continue trying to equip more.

In fact, we’d be doing people a disservice if we ever decided to stop telling you about the proven, practical training that’s available to you through CLI.

Now, here’s the question – how often do you email the people in your church?

At The Journey, we often send two emails a week to the people in our database.

Why?  Well, for very similar reasons I mentioned above:

1) We believe in the power of Jesus working through the local church to change lives (and He continues to prove that’s true)

2) The more emails we send, the more people we can help (by letting them know what’s going on and available at the church)

3) The people of our church are ready for different steps at different times (so we promote Baptism, membership classes, groups, etc. at multiple times)

4) Email is the most affordable medium available to us to keep our people updated

5) We believe in what God’s doing at The Journey (and the people He’s entrusted to us deserve to know)

I’m always amazed at how few churches take advantage of the powerful opportunity afforded to us by regular, consistent email communication.

So, here’s your assignment for the week:

Evaluate your church’s current communication schedule and decide whether you need to be sending more email!

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.