Marketing for Baptist, Bible and Evangelical Free Churches
For Southern Baptist and independent Baptist churches, Evangelical Free congregations, Bible and small nondenominational churches, and Assemblies of God fellowships.
Ambrose Marketing helps self-governing evangelical churches tell their neighbors what they believe, when they meet and how to take a first step, from the website and Google listing to the Vacation Bible School sign-up and the Sunday livestream.
No convention, district or headquarters buys marketing for your church. Your members, your deacons or elders and your pastor decide, often by a vote. We plan every project so the people who must approve it can see exactly what they are approving, and so the work still runs after the volunteer who requested it steps down.
What our clients are saying…
SEE THE RESULTS
Why Autonomous Evangelical Churches Plan Their Own Outreach
Baptists were 12.0% of US adults in 2023-24, down from 17.2% in 2007, while nondenominational Protestants rose from 4.5% to 7.1%, the only Protestant family Pew found growing (Pew Research Center). Many people who grew up Baptist now attend a church with no label on the sign, and many seekers do not know the difference.
Inside the Southern Baptist Convention the picture is mixed in an instructive way. The 2025 Annual Church Profile, figures that churches report themselves and that Lifeway (an SBC entity) compiles, shows membership down more than 3% for a 19th straight year, while weekly attendance rose 3.63% and baptisms rose 4.96%. About 61% of SBC churches reported (Lifeway Research). Rolls and pews are moving in opposite directions. Marketing should serve the people actually walking in.
Those people decide quickly. Among Protestant church switchers, 71% decided to attend regularly after three or fewer visits, and 37% of active searchers used church websites while looking (Lifeway Research). The website and listing set up the first visit; the welcome on Sunday does the rest.
Congregational polity shapes the work. Each church is its own buyer, the budget often goes before the members, and committee chairs rotate. A plan that needs a new login every year or a staff designer to maintain will not survive a bivocational pastor and a volunteer media team.
We are a woman-owned creative agency in Naples, Florida, with an office in Manhattan, working with organizations across the United States. We have not served a church before, and this page does not pretend otherwise. Rules that apply to every tradition, including receipts and Ad Grants, sit on our church marketing agency page.
Where Your Church Should Put Its Next Effort
Choose the result your pastor and leadership want most, then tell us how the church is staffed today. You will get a suggested starting point and the Ambrose service behind it.
Data Behind Baptist and Evangelical Church Marketing
These numbers come from Pew, Lifeway's Southern Baptist reporting and denominational publications. Where a body reports its own totals, we say so.
Southern Baptists: fewer members, more worshipers
The SBC's own Annual Church Profile, self-reported by about 61% of its churches, counted 46,608 churches and 12,331,954 members in 2025, with weekly attendance of 4,460,910, 263,075 baptisms and 765 additional multisite campuses (Lifeway Research). In Pew's independent survey, 4.4% of US adults identify with the SBC, still the largest Protestant denomination (Pew Research Center).
Growth is uneven church by church
A Lifeway analysis of 2024 profiles found that over five years 21% of SBC churches grew in membership, 39% plateaued and 40% declined, based on the churches' own reports (Lifeway Research). National trends say little about your street. Your own attendance and visitor cards say more.
Nondenominational churches are now the largest group
The 2020 US Religion Census counted 44,319 nondenominational congregations and an estimated 21 million adherents (Christianity Today). Most congregations are small: the median US congregation of any faith had 65 weekly worshipers in 2020 (Baptist News Global).
Assemblies of God: self-reported growth, Hispanic strength
The Assemblies of God reports 12,651 US churches and 3,102,546 adherents (Assemblies of God), and its Hispanic Relations office reports that 23.0% of adherents were Hispanic in 2023 (AG Hispanic Relations). Both are the denomination's own figures. Pew's self-identification share for the AG fell from 1.4% to 1.1%, so we do not describe it as growing without that caveat.
One Evangelical Label, Many Kinds of Church
Congregational churches share a calendar and a governance habit, but their identity markers differ. Here is how the plan changes for each.
- Southern Baptist churchesCooperating with the convention while fully self-governing. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is usually the beliefs reference, and a growing number of churches run more than one campus (Lifeway Research).
- Independent Baptist churchesUnaffiliated with any convention by conviction (Wikipedia). There is no reliable national count, so we never cite one. Identity markers vary by church, and we take them from your pastor, not a stereotype.
- Evangelical Free Church of AmericaSelf-governing congregations in a fellowship whose national conference is advisory (Wikipedia). The EFCA reports more than 1,600 congregations in 17 districts (EFCA), and its own figure of more than 370,000 weekly attenders (EFCA).
- Bible and small nondenominational churchesNo denominational name for searchers to type, so local search, a clear beliefs page and photos of the actual room and people carry the load.
- Assemblies of God fellowshipsPentecostal worship, Spirit baptism and Pentecost Sunday are part of the identity. Many fellowships worship in Spanish or in two languages; our Hispanic church marketing page covers bilingual sites.
- National Baptist and other historically Black Baptist churchesBaptist autonomy with a distinct history, calendar and voice. We treat them on their own page: historically Black church marketing.
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Marketing Services for Congregational Churches
We size the plan to the church that has to run it. Most autonomous churches need a few things done well, owned by the congregation and simple enough for volunteers to keep current.
A website built around the first visit
Service times, address and parking, what to expect, children's ministry check-in and a short beliefs summary on the first screen a newcomer sees, with sermons and events a tap away. Built on a platform your volunteers can edit, on a domain the church owns.
Google Business Profile and local search
A complete, accurate listing with the right category, service hours and recent photos, plus pages written around the way people search for a Baptist church, a Bible church or simply a church nearby.
VBS, revival and summer event promotion
Registration pages, reminders, volunteer sign-ups and follow-up for Vacation Bible School, revival services, camps and any homecoming Sunday your church keeps, so a week of effort turns into families who come back in the fall.
Livestream to living room to pew
Stream titles and descriptions people can find, a short invitation at the end of each service, and a welcome email series for viewers who share an address. Online attendance is a front door, not a substitute for the welcome team.
Brand refresh with members on board
A logo, type and color update that keeps the church's history visible, presented to the congregation with clear reasons, so a members' meeting can approve it without surprise.
Giving pages that fit your platform
We work around the tools you already use, such as Planning Center, Pushpay, Tithely, Breeze or Subsplash, and make the giving page clear and short on a phone. Receipt wording follows the guidance on our church marketing agency page.
Campus pages for churches that multiply
When a church adds a campus or adopts a struggling congregation, each location gets its own listing, times, campus pastor and address, connected to one brand. We help you avoid two churches competing in the same search.
Meet Kali, creator, founder
and obsessed with all things branding.
AMBROSE ETHOS
Ambrose Marketing is a woman owned creative agency. We believe brands should grow and adapt over time, staying true to their core essence. Our designs go beyond visual appeal, delving deep into the heart of your brand to create something truly meaningful. We ensure that every element we craft resonates with your brand's unique story, allowing it to stay relevant and impactful through changing trends.
What Congregational Polity Means for Your Marketing
These are the constraints we plan around in Baptist and evangelical churches. Tax receipts, Ad Grants eligibility, campaign activity and religious ad targeting follow cross-tradition rules explained once on our church marketing hub. This is general information, not legal advice.
Each church is autonomous
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article VI, describes the church as an autonomous local congregation that operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes (Baptist Press). No association or convention approves your website. Your own bylaws and leadership do, so the contract and the accounts belong to the church.
Plan around the members' meeting
Where your bylaws send a budget, a building sign or a large contract to a business meeting, we prepare a one-page summary and a visual preview in time for it. A congregation that understands a change tends to support it; one surprised by it may vote it down.
Affiliation stated accurately
A Southern Baptist church, an independent Baptist church, an EFCA congregation and a nondenominational church each describe their ties differently, and visitors read those words closely. Beliefs and mission were the content 67% of website finders called most helpful (Lifeway Research). We quote your confession or statement of faith exactly.
Self-reported numbers stay attributed
Denominations count members and adherents in different ways, and those counts are rarely audited. When a page cites a figure from the SBC, the EFCA or the Assemblies of God, we name the source, and we never round a self-report into an independent fact or invent a figure where none exists.
Children's events need consent
VBS and youth photos are the most shared images a church posts. We use photos of minors only with written permission from a parent, avoid full names with faces, and keep registration data limited to what the event needs.
Pentecostal worship explained for newcomers
An Assemblies of God service may include extended praise, prayer at the altar and speaking in tongues. A first-time guest should read a calm, accurate description in advance, written with your pastor, so the service feels welcoming instead of unexpected.
The First 90 Days, Step by Step
We will not promise a number of new members or baptisms. We will hand your leadership a clear plan, do careful work and report every month on what visitors actually did.
Days 1 to 15: listen to the pastor and leaders
A call with your pastor and whoever leads media, outreach or the budget committee, then a review of the website, Google listing, livestream, giving page and the next big event on the church calendar.
Days 16 to 45: fix what newcomers see
Service times, address, beliefs summary and affiliation corrected everywhere, accounts moved into the church's name, and a plan-a-visit form that reaches a real person within a day.
Days 46 to 75: promote the next event
Registration page, emails, posts and a printed invite card for your next VBS, revival, Easter or fall kickoff, with simple tracking so you can see who registered and how they heard.
Days 76 to 90: review with leadership
A plain report on visitor forms, registrations, stream-to-visit responses and search visibility, ready for your next deacons', elders' or business meeting.
Test Whether a Family New to Town Can Find You
Book a 15-minute call. We will search for your church the way someone who just moved in would, open your listing and website on a phone, and point out anything that could keep them from visiting this Sunday.
Book a free consultation4850 Tamiami Trl N, Ste 330, Naples, FL 34103 · (917) 513-7221 · Daily, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sources
- Pew Research Center, 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study full report (2025). www.pewresearch.org
- Lifeway Research, Southern Baptists see attendance and baptism gains amid membership declines (2026). news.lifeway.com
- Lifeway Research, Church Switchers 2023: Factors in Choosing Current Church (2023). research.lifeway.com
- Lifeway Research, Analysis reveals areas of decline and growth in the SBC (2025). news.lifeway.com
- Christianity Today, Nondenominational is now the largest segment of American Protestants (2022). www.christianitytoday.com
- Baptist News Global, Largest-ever U.S. congregational survey (FACT 2020). baptistnews.com
- Assemblies of God, About the AG. ag.org
- Assemblies of God Office of Hispanic Relations, About. hispanicrelations.ag.org
- Wikipedia, Independent Baptist. en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, Evangelical Free Church of America. en.wikipedia.org
- Evangelical Free Church of America, About us. www.efca.org
- Evangelical Free Church of America, Who we are. www.efca.org
- Baptist Press, The church: autonomous and cooperating. www.baptistpress.com
- Christian Retailing, VBS most common evangelistic church tool (2006 Lifeway-commissioned data). www.christianretailing.com
- Pew Research Center, Americans' experiences with virtual religious services (2023). www.pewresearch.org
- Google Trends, church near me and denominational queries, US, past 5 years (accessed 2026-10-20). trends.google.com
Baptist and Evangelical Church Marketing Questions, Answered
Does our state convention or association have to approve our website?
No. Under Baptist polity each congregation is autonomous, and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 describes the local church as self-governing (Baptist Press). Your own bylaws decide who approves spending and contracts. If you cooperate with a convention, you may want to use its name correctly, but approval rests with your church.
Should we put Baptist in our church name and on our website?
That is your congregation's decision, and both choices are common. If you keep it, say what it means for you in a sentence. If you drop it from the sign, keep your affiliation and beliefs easy to find on the website, because searchers who want a Baptist church still look for the word and visitors who do not want one deserve to know before they come.
How early should we promote Vacation Bible School?
Six to eight weeks ahead for members, and four to six weeks for neighbors, with one registration page that lists dates, ages, times and check-in. VBS has long been a common outreach: a Lifeway-commissioned study found 68% of Protestant churches used it, but that figure is from 2006 (Christian Retailing). Follow up with families after the week.
Is a livestream worth promoting if we are a small church?
Often, yes, if it is reliable and points somewhere. Pew found 27% of US adults regularly watch religious services online or on TV (Pew Research Center). Give viewers a simple next step, such as a plan-a-visit form, and make sure someone answers it within a day.
We are a nondenominational church. What do people search for to find us?
Mostly general phrases. In Google Trends, "christian church near me" is about as common as "baptist church near me", while "non denominational church near me" barely registers (Google Trends). That reflects phrasing, not interest, so your listing and pages should win the general church searches in your town.
Our members voted down a previous redesign. How do we avoid that?
Involve them earlier. Show the congregation the problem first, such as a phone screenshot of the current site, then two or three options with reasons. Keep elements people love. Bring a short written summary and a cost to the business meeting so the vote is about a clear decision, not a surprise.
Can an Assemblies of God church describe speaking in tongues on its website?
Yes, and it helps first-time guests. Write a calm, accurate paragraph with your pastor about what happens in worship, why your church practices it and how a guest can simply observe. Visitors who know what to expect are more likely to feel at ease. Avoid insider shorthand on pages written for newcomers.
How should an independent Baptist church present itself online?
In its own words. Independent churches differ on many specifics, so we take your doctrinal statement, translation preference if you hold one, and separation from conventions directly from your pastor and bylaws. The website should be plain about who you are so the right families visit and no one feels misled.
What will this cost a church our size?
Most of our clients invest roughly $1,200 to $4,000 a month in marketing, often across more than one channel; platforms, markets, ad spend and scope move the number. Website and branding projects are scoped and quoted in writing after a free consultation, which gives your budget committee a fixed figure to present.
Has Ambrose marketed a Baptist or evangelical church before?
Not yet. We have no church clients, and we would rather tell you that than imply experience we lack. What we offer is brand, website, local search, email and event work from other industries, together with careful attention to congregational polity, affiliation wording and consent for children's photos, as described on this page.
