Church Focus Groups
Know Your Audience's Heart
Church Focus Groups (Listening Groups)
DISCOVER THEIR HEARTS
Effective communication (and leadership) rises and falls on how well you know your audience. As a result, Church Focus Groups help you listen to discover an honest opinion!
Focus groups are the easiest way to hear the heart of your congregation (and community). Get their honest and candid ideas. Engage with us:
- Professional church listening groups
- Conducted by a Pastor of Communication
- Exceptional church focus group experience
- Afterward, learn from age-graded reports
Mark MacDonald, bestselling author, and communication specialist has conducted church focus groups for 3 decades.
Finally, Be Known for Something® is now offering church focus groups as a standalone service and is still part of our award-winning complete church branding system.
NOTE:
3 Focus Groups are part of the complete Church Branding System
You Need Church Listening Groups. Here's When:
- Before hiring a Pastor
- Launching New Leadership
- Part of Ministry Relaunch
- Starting a Church Branding project
- Closing your church’s backdoor
- Showing you care about them
- For congregation assessment
- To identify problems and solutions
You’ll Discover:
- What brought them to the church?
- Things that keep them
- What is your church known for?
- Would they improve anything?
- What keeps them from attending?
- Why are people leaving?
- Are you communicating enough?
- Is the church missing something?
Focus Groups
PASTOR, IMAGINE WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH THIS INFORMATION!
Hear hearts; adapt ministry.
Package of 3 Focus Groups
Includes:
- Leadership Interview
- ChMS Analysis
- Demographic Recommendations
- 3 Generational 1-Hr Focus Groups
- Church Focus Group Report
- Ministry Recommendations
- Optional Church-wide Survey
- Optional Community Groups
In-Person Groups
Focus groups conducted at your location
Virtual Groups Available
Conducted on Zoom
if you like
AVAILABLE IN A
COACHING PACKAGE TOO!
We can coach you how to do them.
Focus Group Package Pricing
Includes: Initial Meeting, Recommendations for Groups, Digital Invitation for Participants, Focus Group Meetings, Comparison Report, and Recommendations
Free Download
12 DISCOVERIES FROM UNCHURCHED FOCUS GROUPS (PDF)
After decades of listening to (unchurched) community focus groups, the Be Known for Something team compiled 12 EYEOPENING DISCOVERIES that every church needs to hear.
Preparation for Church Focus Groups
Invite Your Focus Groups:
If you’re part of the Be Known For Something® Church Branding System, you get 3 listening groups (but more are available). For most areas of the US, and for most churches, we recommend:
From your congregation:
- GROUP 1: Only Millennials (born 1982-2001)
- GROUP 2: Only Survivors (born 1961 – 1981)
- GROUP 3: Only Boomers (born 1943 – 1960)
Optional community groups (not connected to your church and preferably any church). We get interesting demographic insights from them. It helps when trying to communicate to your community. Well worth the $950 extra/group:
- GROUP 4: Only Millennials (born 1982-2001)
- And any other group you’d like to listen to (to get a church perspective from)
Requirements for each Focus Group:
- Each group needs 8-10/session
- Each session will last 1-hr
- Allow 30-min between sessions
- Randomly choose people. Don’t cherry-pick people
- No church leadership should be present in the group (to encourage conversation)
- Someone from the church leadership should welcome people, endorse the meeting, and introduce Mark MacDonald (the moderator)
- It’s good to have snacks/drinks (or light food if it’s near a meal time)
Room Requirements:
We want people to feel comfortable. So have the focus group in a quiet location (it can be in the church or off-site).
- No tables are necessary. Arrange chairs in a circle (or around a table).
- Moderator needs to be sitting in the circle and will need a power cord at/near that location
- The group will be recorded. Not for the church, but for Be Known For Something notetaking. This is why we need a quiet location.
- No person in the group will be personally associated with what is said.
Inviting people:
We’ve heard phone calls work better than emails. And hear too, it’s difficult to assemble these groups. Start early and followup near group time.
Sometimes the church chooses to give gift cards as an incentive or a thank you. It’s always nice to send a thank you note afterward. It’s entirely up to you.
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Sample email/Phone script to get people to attend (make it your own):
***Congregation Script:
***Community Script: