Ever watch the old martial arts movies and wonder, "How can those guys kick so high?" Some of the things they do seem impossible, yet they can complete some amazing moves. None of the black belts in those movies were able to do what they do overnight. They built up to it through flexibility exercise training. If you want a "black belt" in ministry outreach, you'll have to do the same thing.

Flexibility may not sound like a marketing tool. At the same time, learning to be flexible can be a key to marketing your ministry.

By learning to be flexible and thinking about your ministry in different ways you will see opportunities you never noticed before. You will also help your ministry speak more meaningfully to the people you want to reach. Someone once said, "If you don't like change you're really going to hate irrelevance." Having the ability to be flexible on non-essential things to the faith will help you become more creative than you've ever been.

Avoid the trap called "routine"

Many times ministries are so locked in to doing things the same old way they become resistant to trying anything new. They are so inflexible and unchanging they soon become irrelevant. Churches are among the most rigid when it comes to accepting change. It's been said that the last seven words of the church will be, "We never did it that way before." Ministers may like to think of themselves as change agents who are not as bound by tradition as some of their members. Often, however, they also resist changes that could improve their ministry.

Many of the principles you can learn from marketing will take you into new territory. You will find you need develop new habits and learn new skills. Do yourself a favor. Be more flexible when it comes to the ways you think about doing ministry communication. Opportunities are out there to help you reach more people. But you will have to change.

Strive to be flexible

Think of the definition someone gave for insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." That should never be true of you and your ministry. If you want to become good at ministry marketing and outreach to your community you're going to have to become more flexible and willing to accept change.

One way to do that is to break the routine you normally have throughout the week. For instance, you might want to choose a different route home. Maybe read a book on a topic that is completely unrelated to your normal interests. The point is, try to break routine and do things differently to develop the flexibility you need for an effective ministry marketing mindset.