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Social Media Ministry

7 New Statistics to Help Grow Your Church

tape measureA New Church Tape Measure
How Do We Measure Ministry?

The Old List of Statistics

One of the churches I grew up in had an usher/greeter stationed at the door to the sanctuary. With his right hand he shook the hand of each congregant as he or she entered the door. Behind his back, in his left hand, was a counter. He’d tap the button and tally the attendance. Most people had no idea they were a walk-in statistic.

 

In the same church in the hymnal rack were communion cards. Congregants taking a place at the communion table would drop proof of their presence in the offering plate. These would be forwarded to the church secretary who kept a big book with the name of each church member and their communion history.

 

A third measure is offering history kept as much for tax purposes as pledge purposes.

 

The church governing board will keep track of the income and expenses and asset values. At the end of the year, all of this valuable information will be forwarded to the denominational headquarters.

 

The problem is that this information is helpful mostly to professional leaders, specifically those considering a call. Does this congregation have enough money and a support base to afford pastoral services? is the question on their minds.

 

We are measuring these things out of tradition based on what was practical to measure in years past. A person sitting in the sanctuary is easily counted. A dollar placed in the offering plate can be added to the other dollars and counted.

 

Little of this information is of use to mission planning. It was probably NEVER a measure of true viability.

In Search of More Useful Statistics

If growth and mission are goals, the Church needs to start measuring things that matter—things that were impossible to measure years ago.

 

It is a new world. There are many ways to measure statistics that are far more helpful to mission planning. The more detail you have, the clearer your mission plan will be.

 

Here are statistics that are more important to mission and church growth.

  1. Participation in church activities
    How many attend every niche activity? How many youth take part in youth groups? How many children are in the nursery school? How many helped with the walkathon or mission project? How many attend midweek services or socials?
  2. Where people come from
    Many churches keep statistics on race. They do this a bit apologetically. It’s to measure their progress in fostering diversity, they’ll say. This is not a statistic that really matters. What matters is how do people learn about your church? What is their entry point? Was it a program? Was it through a network of friends or acquaintances? Did they learn about you on your website? Did they read about your project in the news? This type of information tells you which evangelism efforts are effective.
  3. Age demographics
    This information helps you plan a bigger picture. If your congregation is aging, you are going to need to find a way to reach younger demographics. If you are attracting unaccompanied children (common in urban neighborhood churches) you’ll need to plan supervision for their nurturing and involvement, especially reaching the adults in their lives.
  4. Membership cycle
    We are borrowing a concept from marketing. Businesses track how long it takes a person who expresses interest in a service or project to actually make a purchase? It is called the “sales cycle” and is often depicted as a funnel. You place all your prospective customers at the top and widest part of the funnel. Then you track their engagement as they filter through the ever-narrowing channel that leads to their conversion. If they drop out of the funnel before reaching the bottom, sales people want to know why. At the bottom of the funnel are the prospects who actually buy and hopefully form a brand loyalty. It’s called conversion. Conversion: one of those marketing words that evangelists share!
    The same process is vital to successful mission. How long does it take a visitor to your church to become engaged and join? What happened on their journey through the “membership funnel”? Why did some drop out? At what point did they lose interest? How can you improve the experience for other visitors?
  5. Ongoing engagement or member retention
    It is not unusual for an excited new church member to suddenly disappear or slowly become less engaged. Often, they don’t quit or transfer; they just stop showing up. Do you have a way of tracking this and addressing any problems. Their waning engagement could be demands or problems in their personal life—or they might have felt snubbed. If you don’t know, you can’t help them—and that’s the ongoing part of mission.
  6. Member interests, problems and goals
    The church has a tendency to pigeon-hole members. We encourage youth, but once you reach maturity, you are what you are. This has changed. We have reached an age of life-long learning. People are expected to retrain constantly. They are not going to feel comfortable participating in the world of church if they cannot grow. Churches must know member interests and provide channels to nurture and use new skills.
  7. Engagement outside of Sunday morning
    Today’s culture makes it impossible for some to attend church on Sunday morning. Some spiritual people have no interest in Sunday morning worship. They may still consider themselves loyal members, and they may have valuable skills that you need.

How can churches measure all of this?

It’s easier than it might seem.

 

A church BLOG provides these statistics—all built into the software. It takes some skill to offer the kinds of content that promote engagement that will give the best results, but within a year or two you’ll have a new picture of your congregation that will help you plan and carry out your mission.

  • You’ll be able to count views.
  • You’ll be able to see what pages attract the most interest.
  • You’ll be able to track whether they reached you through Facebook or what words they plugged into their search engine to find you.
  • You’ll be able to communicate directly with anyone who subscribes.
  • You’ll be able to see which days of the week and hours of the day get the most traffic. No need to schedule everything on Sunday morning.
  • You’ll get an idea of where people are from. It might surprise you to find that you might be engaging with people all over the world.
  • You’ll be able to track when people unsubscribe and that information can influence your mission.
  • You’ll be able to see skills and interests in profiles which they choose to make available online.
  • You’ll be able to plan educational offerings that connect with your readers.
  • You’ll be giving them a safe place to explore their relationship with God and his people.

 

If a congregation tracks these kinds of things and looks at weekly progress, they will be less likely to wallow in the status quo.

 

In addition, the blog is living evidence of your commitment to your community. You have a platform that is not defined by your church walls. You can use that platform to address neighborhood interests. You are no longer waiting for people to come to you; you are going to them. It’s the kind of social proof that younger generations expect.

 

Yet practically NO churches have a blog.

 

How do you account for that?

photo credit: Vanessa (EY) via photopin cc
13 Feb 2014

Maintaining Order in the Social Media Age

waveSMHow Will the Church Cope
in a World with No Boundaries?

Today’s Alban Weekly post points to a major challenge in the church. Rev. Adam Walker Cleaveland gives advice to pastors on how to manage their social media presence when they move from one parish to another.

 

What will pastors do with all their social media connections when they move from one parish to another?

 

Well, most of them aren’t very active online, but perhaps that will change.

 

You’d think the answer might be simple. They do what we all do when we move. Make new friends. Keep the old. Check in at Christmastime.

 

The few laity who happen across this article might be truly puzzled. They might be surprised to learn that pastors are actually taught to cut off relationships and ties to their past. Be hard-nosed about it. Do not make friends within your parish. Do not communicate with them when you leave. Make a clean break. That relationship you thought you had—it was all business.

Perhaps this is why church leaders so easily advise congregations to grieve and move on when they want to close churches. They have been taught an inhumane approach to ministry.

 

The practice comes from a day when pastoring was a family business. The spouse (wife) and children were part of parish culture and would follow the pastor (dad) wherever he went. The kids would change schools. The wife would clean and decorate the new parsonage and start attending women’s meetings.

 

The Church has always been asking for the impossible. The practice has caused more hardship—cruel hardship—than it will ever admit. But it is “the way” of the church—opposite in many ways to what the Church teaches.

 

But now it is a “way” that is no longer possible. The spouse works (husband or wife). The kids are going to stay connected whether or not the move disrupts their friendships. They didn’t attend those seminary classes that taught the church social order. They are not obligated to take orders.

 

The practice attempts to make life easier for the next pastor. That’s church culture. The pastor must be able to stand in the pulpit and look across a totally compliant and mindlessly happy congregation. When trouble breaks a congregant’s bubble, he or she must know who to call. No options.

 

Oh, and that trouble can never involve the pastor.

 

That’s the system. Like it or leave it.

 

A lot of people are leaving it!

 

The view is insulting to laity. We are not putty in pastoral hands, waiting for the next shepherd to dote upon our every need. There is trust and a regard, but not a total dependency.

This view fuels church conflict. When disagreements arise, the pastors must hang on to authority at every cost. It is the laity’s role to “give.”

 

Pastoral relationships often depend on dependency.

 

Dependency depends upon weakness.

 

And so the Church as an influence in our culture grows weaker.

Here in Southeast Pennsylvania in the ELCA, we’ve seen our entire denomination fostering dependence. We come from a tradition that honors the contributions of both laity and clergy as equals. That’s the theory anyway.

Reality: Congregations are expected to comply with synodical wishes. If they don’t, the laity are labeled. Disrespectful. Adversarial. Resistant. We need only question. We don’t even have to disagree!

 

This synodical view is bound to trickle down. If a bishop expects compliance, so too can a pastor.

 

All these decades or centuries of fostering dependent relationships are now rising up, gathering the force of a tsunami.

The tsunami called Social Media.

Pastor Cleaveland admits that Social Media is not a fad. It must be reckoned with. In typical pastoral thinking, he gives a “to do” list to keep things “under control.”

 

Odd. The power of Social Media to influence and expand the work of the church is enormous, and pastors focus on how it affects THEM.

  • Break your Social Media connections into lists that you can control.
  • Be sparing about your “likes.” Make sure there is a way for to disconnect from the people you were once eager to please. Find a gentle way to “unfriend” them. (The dangers of the “like” culture of social media are why we recommend blogging to Facebook, etc., by the way.)
  • Remember, this is for their own good. You are helping them grieve the loss of your influence in their lives.

Narcissistic? Just a little!

 

Really, pastors. It is quite simple to explain to your parish that you love them and will always love them. If there were problems, apologize. Mean it. Tell them that you will check into the church website from time to time. Let it go at that.

 

Don’t tell them that the reason you don’t “like” them anymore is because you are being paid to “like” someone else now.

 

All those needy people you are leaving behind will find others to love them and to love. It may be the new pastor. It may not! You won’t be able to control that.

 

Love is like that. You can’t corral it as much as the Church might try.

photo credit: Sunova Surfboards via photopin cc
03 Feb 2014

Playing the Social Media “Like” Game

If You Want People to Like You
Give Them Something to Like

Looking for the “Like” is part of the Social Media game. It is seen as social proof.

It doesn’t really mean anything, but doesn’t it feel good?

Most churches aren’t very good at the “like” game because they have trouble breaking out of the “look at us” mode. The “like” becomes the social proof of a mutual admiration society.

Social Media in the hands of the Church remains, for the most part, a parish club. The evangelical power of the internet is lost. Really, who else would spend more than a few seconds on an “aren’t we great” site much less press a “like” button?

If the Church hopes to embrace the power of Social Media, it must address the community—not the present church community but the community in which the church exists in order to serve—you know—like Jesus did.

This is a big shift. We are used to addressing the people who come to us—the ones who make it to the pew. We’re almost out of existence in that regard, but we keep at it. Faithful to failure.

It’s our turn to go out into the world.

It’s never been easier, more possible, or less expensive. No excuses!

The first week of the new year, we will explore some strategies for Social Media.

We’ll look at Facebook first.

But here’s the gist of Social Media: If you want people to “like” you. Give them something worth “liking.”

Happy New Year!

01 Jan 2014

The Modern Pulpit Is Not In A Church

The Blogging Pulpit—Open 7 Days per Week

Few preachers are serious bloggers.

On one hand, you can’t blame them. Blogging has only been popular for a short decade. Pastors aren’t trained that way and neither are most teachers of pastors.

On the other hand, blogging embraces new tools that could revive an ancient and failing medium. It deserves attention.

Sermons have a built-in schedule. The deadline is Sunday. Some pastors plan ahead. Others ponder until Saturday night. This weekly discipline belongs to a bygone era. Fewer people attend church. Many aren’t listening. They are taking time from modern lives in which many communicators are vying for their attention. Consequently, the once-a-week sermon is failing to communicate.

Nevertheless, it eats up a healthy chunk of every congregation’s budget.

Why aren’t more preachers excited by the new possibilities to reach the world with the Good News?

martinlutherproGreat preachers of the past would have jumped at using technology!

Consider Martin Luther. He wrote prolifically. He was effective because his writing coincided with the invention of the printing press.

Imagine Martin Luther with a laptop!

The discipline of daily writing combined with today’s marvelous ability to reach individuals, if practiced religiously, could reach vast new audiences.

It is likely to breathe new life into old scripture.

  • Blogging makes you think.
  • Thinking leads to questions and the pursuit of answers.
  • Writers tend to be careful with their words.
  • Blogging every day makes you think of things from different viewpoints.
  • Some of those viewpoints will consider the lives of the people you hope to reach.

This will happen because preachers will run out of material if they don’t think outside their sanctuary.

I’ve been writing here for nearly three years. It was a challenge at first. I didn’t start blogging daily until I’d posted once or twice a week for four or five months.

When I started posting daily, things started happening. The audience started to grow and so did my discipline. Blogging on behalf of my church became the cornerstone of Redeemer’s new ministry. We are still stretching and experimenting and we are doing it with NO budget.

Blogging differs from preaching in one big way. It is two-way. People can engage. They can contribute. They share links. Sometimes they comment online. More often they call or email. Dialogue is good!

But dialogue in the church tends to be one-sided.

The ability to reach people who can respond makes you think about how the words you say or write will resonate with readers. Blogging preachers will start looking for new ways to communicate.

Example from 2×2’s experience:

The highest traffic post on 2×2 is an old post about mission statements. It never fails to have a few reads every day! This is a “hot” topic.

Last week, 2×2 re-purposed this post with a Powerpoint presentation to provide a tool for churches discussing mission statements. It was posted late last week and has been downloaded 100 times so far and has been embedded in 59 other websites! That’s hardly viral. But consider the size of Redeemer and our mission. Our blog reaches more people each week than attend the services of any other church in SEPA Synod.

Blogging is a powerful tool for preachers who care about the impact of their words.

So why are church websites so dry? Why do preachers do little more than post their Sunday sermons (if that)? Do they follow the traffic statistics to see if this is effective or do they just keep doing it?

Few people go to the internet to read 20-minute sermons.

They DO go to the internet for inspiration, however.

Most attend the internet every day—not just on Sunday.

When they are inspired, it is so easy for them to hit a button and share with dozens more.

That’s good news for the Good News.

18 Nov 2013

How to Brainstorm Topic Ideas for Your Blog

I recently taught a class on blogging. I had advised the class to have a list of at least 50 blog topics in mind before they start to write. That was their homework assignment.

That proved to be a challenge!

I presented an approach I call the Liberal Arts Approach to Brainstorming.

Look at the blogs mission in a global way and then start to apply various disciplines to everything you see.

Keep switching hats.

How would the scientist see this? Break it down by area of concentration.
(The chemist, botanist, geography buff, social scientists, psychologist, geologist, ecologist, etc.)

How about people in the arts?
(Writers, artists, poets, musicians (all kinds), dancers, chefs, etc.)

How about people in the humanities?
(Philosophy, teachers, journalists, linguists, historians, theologians, etc.)

How about business people? How about sports people and entertainment people?

How about people at different stages or stations in life?
How would pros see the topic as opposed to amateurs and novices?
How would the views of older and younger people differ? Students vs professionals?
How would the white-collar world see things differently than blue-collar?
What can each of these learn from one another?

It also helps to apply the senses. How can you help your readers see, hear, smell, taste and feel the mission of your blog.

Start mixing and matching. The possibilities are infinite!

Wearing all those hats can be tiring but it will help you come up with ideas!

14 Nov 2013

Social Media: Will the Church EVER Catch On?

2×2 has been experimenting with Social Media as a ministry tool for nearly three years.
During this time, Social Media made significant strides in gaining stature in every walk of life. When we started our experiment, many in the business world and nonprofit worlds were still not sold on doing more than hosting a barebones website as their nod to the modern world.

It’s safe to say at this point that every business or service sector is now ready to admit that Social Media is here to stay and that smart operators are investing in their web presence beyond their static website. It’s all but universal. A major holdout is — you guessed it — the Church.

The Church remains outside looking in, unable to fit the new way of doing things into their outdated structure.

Here is the status of the congregations and social media in our experience.

2×2 is a project of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America claimed our land and decided four years ago that they are better stewards of our resources. While the property provided for mission by the Lutherans of East Falls remains idle and locked to all mission, the people of Redeemer have continued their innovative ministry with visits to other churches and experimentation with Social Media.

This is what we’ve seen in our 76 church visits to half the churches in our synod. (Some churches we visited house two ministries.)

About 90% of the Lutheran churches in our area have some sort of website. It is amazing that there are still ANY churches that have NO web presence. It gets easier every day and costs less than $50 per year.

In today’s world, a congregation’s failure to provide basic information online is advertising that they are not invested in evangelism. Failure to have a website is akin to a hospital staff “calling a code.”

Of the 90% that have websites, there are less than 5% using their site for more than a brochure about their church—the ALL ABOUT US approach to Evangelism. There is practically no inbound content—content that would attract seekers and is designed to be helpful to OTHERS as opposed to tooting the congregation’s horn. It is commendable that people in their neighborhoods can look up worship times and see who the pastor and staff are, but they are missing the true value of having a website—evangelism.

A few pastors have attempted blogs. Most quit after a few posts. The pastor at St. Andrew’s, Audubon, is one of the few pastors who seems to be ready to lead the church in using the web as an education and evangelism tool. One church, St. Michael’s in Unionville, invested in a modern web presence but opted to outsource the development of content—so it has a generic feel to it. It would probably be worth the investment of having a dedicated social media leader on staff to get full benefit of their investment. Trinity, Lansdale, hired a part-time communications director. That’s a step in the right direction.

A few churches actively use Facebook to create community. Most tend to use their Facebook page as a bulletin board.

Practically no churches use Twitter. Twitter has a great track record of “finding” people. This is a tool that is greatly misunderstood but which could very much benefit ministry.

SEPA Synod is trying to use Facebook but they haven’t been getting much traction. Interestingly they posted an article yesterday.

It starts:
Friday Food for Thought: What does an institution due [sic] faced with red ink and a dwindling, aging audience? Keep true to its core while driving innovation, embracing the possibilities of technology and reaching out to new audiences.

They pose this question and then point readers to a video clip from CBS’s 60 Minutes about the Metropolitan Opera’s solution to a similar challenge.

We know very well SEPA’s solution to their own question. They ignore congregation’s that innovate, sue their members and claim their land for their own enrichment.

It’s interesting, however, to see that they recognize innovation outside of their own sphere.

The challenge to virtually every congregation is in recognizing that Social Media has value requiring expertise that should be compensated. Frankly, Social Media will go farther to reviving ministry than even the best organists/music directors, education directors or even (dare we say it) clergy, in many cases.

Every month that goes by without any attempt to move all congregations in this direction is time spent talking about innovation and doing nothing to make it happen.

This is probably why innovation is so slow. In business, success depends on innovation and reaching people. Even CEO’s that are resistant to change can look at the numbers and make decisions that will keep their organizations viable.

In the Church, however, clergy play a leadership role that can go on for many years while the statistics of their ministry fail, without any pressure to change—until it is too late and the congregation can no longer pay clergy salaries. Then the congregations are seen as the failures. The clergy move on to somewhere they can continue doing things the same way until the money runs out again. When that gets too frustrating, they sign up for interim training.

Most clergy have no training in media. Failure to have these skills today is like not being able to read! Any church that calls a pastor who cannot use modern tools and is resistant to anyone else using this is doomed to status quo or failure.

Unfortunately, the role of Social Media director of communications director is likely to be seen as competitive with the role of clergy. So nothing will change.

Then there is Redeemer’s ministry—which SEPA was united in working for the last seven years to destroy. Redeemer stands alone in having made the investment in true innovation. Our work has positioned our congregation to truly lead in creating a platform and funding source for small congregational ministry.

We discovered that using Social Media IS transforming. It is not an optional “add on” but will shape your community and your potential. Church will be different. Ministry will be different. It is likely that the differences will be what the doctor ordered a long time ago!

We could help SEPA congregations join in our success to the benefit of all. But that would require that SEPA recognize Redeemer. Heaven forbid!

More’s the pity!

Related posts:

14 Reasons Congregations Should Avoid Social Media Ministry

9 Reasons Every Congregation Should Have A Social Media Committee

 

 

02 Nov 2013

One Reader Asks: Who Owns the Rights to a Sermon?

2x2virtualchurch doesn’t get a lot of online engagement. But people do contact us. We get direct emails and sometimes even phone calls about our posts. When I encourage readers to comment on site, they say it’s too hard from their mobile phones—which tells us something about how the world gets their information today! Easier to use that phone to autodial us!

Friday’s post drew a phone call that raised an interesting question. It is a question that no one has probably thought about, because there was little need.

Our post advocated for “repurposing” the sermon.

The sermon, always central to Lutheran worship, is very ineffective for the purpose of spreading the Good News. Yet it is a focus of our expectations and budgets.

Most churches say something in their mission statements about reaching beyond that limited audience. Yet finding a way to do that has been a challenge, despite the tools in our modern hands.

Sermons—even great sermons—aren’t going to do it! Our post began exploring ways to maximize a congregation’s investment in providing a weekly sermon to a shrinking, limited and static audience of people who are predisposed toward the message. Our reader raises this question:

Who owns the rights to the sermon?

The caller is well-versed in both the corporate and church publishing worlds, especially the higher end of the Protestant Church. She commented that in the corporate world, if the corporation subsidizes the creation of content, the corporation owns the content. We are guessing the church world will argue that the pastor is self-employed and therefore owns his or her words.

I am self-employed but I know from experience that my clients consider my work to be their property. I often know that I have legal rights to the work product, but usually decide to not argue with clients. I value the relationship and the next job above the value of past work and insistence on accepted professional rights.

All this thinking may belong to the past—when publishing was the business of publishers. Today every evangelist or entrepreneur must publish if they hope to succeed. Hair dressers, chefs, dog trainers, roofers, lawyers, doctors—everyone will publish.

Congregations can (and we would argue MUST) be publishers. (Click to tweet)

What roadblocks will congregations encounter when they try to get more mileage from their considerable investment in spreading the Good News? They will have to get content for their evangelism efforts. Can they rely on the cooperation of clergy? Will everyone be stepping on toes? Will congregations seeking to call pastors insist their candidates understand modern publishing? They should.

The question probably enters no one’s mind now. As it is, very few pastors publish. Those that do are likely claiming all royalties without anyone questioning who subsidized the time they took in writing the book.

Will pastors value relationship over work product? Will they argue that Jonathan Edwards published his sermons for his own benefit and therefore they have the same rights? I don’t know the answer, but it is something to think about as congregations — like everyone in the modern world — realize that they have the power and need to publish. Publish or perish, for real!

These will be refreshing legal battles after the church has wasted so much of its resources in arguing about physical property, land, and monetary assets. Maybe church leaders will at last realize that their message is a major asset!

Realize this. A congregation’s content could fund their ministry.  (Click to tweet.) They must create and own their content.

This is a game changer. It can be the salvation of the small church. If we make it a contest, all will lose. Congregations should think about this now before their regional bodies start to tweak their constitutions to favor them and the clergy. Clergy are a pretty big voting bloc in that regard.

Congregations must become involved in any upcoming debate. They may have to spark the debate or watch decisions made for them — and not in their favor!

This has happened before. The Lutheran Church in America (the predecessor body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) forbade congregations from publishing. It was seen as competition with the national church publishing houses. Now there is no way to stop congregations from publishing.

Denominational leaders will be shooting their mission in the foot if they start to legislate these rights in their favor, but they’ve been doing this in their lust for land for years.

Prediction: This is going to change—dare I say transform—the relationship of congregation and clergy. (Click to tweet)

Congregations, think about this now! If your next pastor is uncomfortable with publishing and uncomfortable with others in the church becoming involved in publishing, they will be unprepared to bring your congregation into the future.

20 Oct 2013

Repurposing the $1000-Sermon

pew copyPreaching Past the Pews

Think about what goes into the staging and delivery of the weekly sermon.

  • Divide your pastoral salaries by 52 and then divide by five. That’s what you paid your professional leaders for the week’s sermon.
  • Then add the costs of maintaining a building.
  • Add heat and air conditioning costs.
  • Now add the costs of the other professionals who help set the stage for delivery of the service—the sexton, organist, and choir director.
  • Add the cost of the church secretary and the cost of printing the bulletin.
  • We won’t add the costs of the many volunteers, but they added to the experience, too.

These costs and efforts are repeated every week. The beneficiaries—the people in the pew—are likely to be the same people every week. They number between 15 at the low end and 700 or so at the high end. The median congregation is probably less than 75 per church.
Advertisers call this calculation the cost per impression. Church costs per impression are very high indeed.

Oddly, this is never seen as squandering resources. Why not?

Because it defines Church. This is what churches have done for 2000 years.

We are well into the 21st century. The internet has been around for about a quarter century. It gets more powerful every day. It also gets easier to use. We are capable of so much more than monks with their parchment and pen.

The same message delivered in your church on Sunday can and should be preached beyond the back pew. This does not mean printing the sermon on the web site. This will attract practically no readers—except perhaps other preachers looking for ideas!

Put the Same Information Into Different Formats
Reach Far More People

There are ways that a sermon delivered to very few (even in well-attended churches) can reach into the neighborhood. Done consistently it is likely to attract people to your ministry.

We could take any sermon as an illustration. We’ll take for example the sermon that our Ambassadors heard last week at Trinity, Norristown. It’s fresh in our experience. Like most people, we don’t remember sermons very long.

The source scripture for the day was the story of the Apostle Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch was sitting in his chariot, minding his own business, trying to make sense of the book of Isaiah. Along comes Philip, who might have passed up the opportunity to share, except that he was following orders from God. Soon the two were chatting about Jesus.

The sermon was delivered by one of Trinity’s three pastors, the Rev. Dr. Asha George-Guiser.

The gist of the sermon was the “blasting of barriers.” She pointed out that Philip and the eunuch could not have been more different, yet both were able to come together and talk about scripture.

Dr. George-Guiser focused her entire sermon on just one illustration—her marriage. She is of Indian descent, tracing her Christian roots to the evangelistic efforts of the Apostle Thomas, father of the church in India. Her husband of many years is also a pastor of Trinity. He comes from a non-religious Pennsylvania farm family and is racially White.

Dr. George-Guiser talked about how difficult it was for her family to accept her marriage. Their many differences were barriers that took years to blast away. Blasting away at the barriers led to a long and happy union.

Great illustration. It probably resonated with the congregation of about 70, many of whom probably know both pastors very well.

The service was at 11 am. By noon, the sanctuary was empty. The message and sermon were already on their way to oblivion to await the message of next Sunday. The shelf life of a sermon is very short.

How could the same sermon be repurposed to reach many who were not present in church last Sunday?

  • What if earlier in the week, the congregation had been invited on a church blog or Facebook to identify barriers in their lives? Anyone taking part in that conversation would be more invested in the worship service.
  • What if illustrations of barriers in the community had been identified and addressed on the blog? People who might never set foot in a sanctuary but who discovered the blog because of their community interest would see a church in action. The church web site would find more and more readers.
  • What if photos of barriers in the neighborhood had been posted on Pinterest with a link back to a discussion on the church blog? The congregation would have even more exposure in the community.
  • What if a few memorable snippets from the sermon were recorded as a podcast? Commuters might listen during the week as they drove to work.
  • What if a Powerpont with key sermon ideas had been posted on SlideShare? Other churches might share it.
  • What if the same Powerpoint were used in worship to illustrate the sermon? They were using projection for every other part of the service. It might extend the short life of the average sermon.
  • What if a children’s version had been posted on a kid’s corner on the web site?

The possibilities are many.

It’s more work to be sure, but suddenly that $1000 investment in a weekly sermon is going much farther.

Your church can go from talking about “blasting barriers” to actually lighting a fuse!

Do you see why having a communications expert is just as important to today’s church as an organist or a choir director? They can help maximize your investment spreading the Good News. It changes everyone’s job description a bit, but if transformation is to occur, something’s got to give!

Warning! The effectiveness of a church communications plan fashioned to reach beyond the pew is a marathon. If you want to give it a try, plan to dedicate a year minimum to begin to see results. By year three it should be reaping benefits you’d never imagine going without!

photo credit: kern.justin via photopin cc
18 Oct 2013

Undercover Bishop: “Like Us”-3

UndercoverBishopSM260Bishop Kinisa was listening to the young pastoral candidate, but she was growing impatient.

The whole experience was bizarre—a recent seminarian coming to her with a proposal for a call. “If I listen to Bruce, how many other seminarians will line up at my door?” she wondered.

The time had come, she thought, to cut to the chase. She respected Gil and had enjoyed teaming with Bruce on the Undercover Bishop visits. But now she was not sure how to respond to Bruce’s appeal, especially since Gil was clearly in his corner before either had thought to approach her.

Young pastors were usually eager to be considered for any vacant church. Her usual role was to interview candidates, make recommendations to call committees and oversee the negotiations.

What was happening today was not the way things are supposed to be.

Bishop Kinisa decided to take charge.

“Bruce, correct me if I’m wrong, but you are not rostered in NEWS Synod.”

Bruce had anticipated the objection. “That’s right, I was sponsored in seminary by my home congregation which is in another synod. Frankly, I enjoyed working with you and the three Undercover Congregations. I have no real loyalties to any synod. It was only my home congregation sponsoring me. I have no financial obligations to my home synod. I thought it would be a good idea to explore possibilities. If my ideas have merit they may have wide-ranging benefits.”

“What hubris!” Ruby thought, but she maintained her calm.

“I confess I’m confused, Bruce. Are you here because you want to be considered for a call to a NEWS congregation? If so, I really don’t understand all the talk about Social Media.”

“I can see that what I’m trying to say might be confusing. I assure you it’s not my intention to cause difficulty. I keep thinking back to that conversation we had earlier this year, Bishop Kinisa. You asked me if I would consider serving in a small congregation. I’ve spent the best part of the year thinking about this. It seemed natural to return to the person who asked me the question in the first place.”

Ruby was encouraged with Bruce’s response. “And your answer is…?”

“I’d love to serve a congregation like Grace, Zion or Pleasantville. But I’m married with two boys about to enter college.”

“So your answer is no . . . just like so many other pastors.”

Gil interjected.

“Ruby that’s what Bruce is getting to. He has an idea that might make it possible for him to work with smaller congregations in a truly creative way.”

He turned to Bruce.

“Lay it out for the bishop, Bruce, just like you did for me at the conference last week.”

Bruce swallowed hard.

“Bishop Kinisa,  I’d like to serve a small parish part-time, perhaps even two yoked small congregations. I’m hoping that such a call might support my ministry with a base salary of about $2000 per month.”

“But we know you can’t live on that,” Gill prodded.

“No, I can’t support my family on that, But I’m hoping to interest NEWS Synod in funding an experimental Social Ministry Model. I’d like to pilot a program that would help all 200 NEWS churches learn from my work.”

Both Gil and Bruce paused for Ruby’s reaction. She hesitated to answer at all, but finally said. “Bruce, I just don’t know enough about internet ministry. My gut reaction is that no one will be willing to support this idea. If there was any interest, someone would already be doing it.” She paused and smiled. “That being said . . . I’d have no trouble turning down either one of you…but the two of you together!”

All three enjoyed a laugh. That broke the ice.

At last Ruby said, “Bruce, I’d have to seriously study your proposal. Of course, I’d have to run it past the Synod Council and perhaps even the Synod Assembly before we could get funding.”

Gil interjected. “I think we can make it work. It will take a few months of meetings. Bruce will have to make presentations—beat the bushes, so to speak. The Synod Council might need a meeting or two to make a decision. That will leave only a few months left in this fiscal year. We can find the money.”

“Who do you think will give up their budgets for this?” Ruby asked.

“Social Media is so new that it doesn’t fall under any one committee. That’s probably why we have done so little with it. No one sees it as their job!” Gil said.

Bruce interjected. That’s the beauty of Social Media. It fits under several committees. It can be used for Witness, Education, Evangelism, Communications, Social Ministry, Justice Ministry and some churchwide agencies might be willing to get involved.”

Ruby smiled “Oh, to be young again,” she said. “I’m warning you, it won’t be easy.”

Gil added, “Bruce, it’s going to be your job to convince the movers and shakers in each area that there is something in this for them.”

“I’m up to the challenge, Bishop. Seriously, I really feel called in this direction. I hope I can count on your support.”

Ruby was not yet ready to commit one hundred percent, but she saw Gil’s enthusiasm and decided to leave the door open.

“I’m not yet on board, Bruce—at least not with both feet. A lot of work must be done before I approve this idea. But I am willing to put you in front of some people and see where you take us.”

Gil started humming, ”Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.” Bruce and Ruby joined in the last words. “Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.”

06 Oct 2013

Undercover Bishop: “Like Us”-2

Chapter 2
Bruce James Meets the Bishop

UndercoverBishopSM260Bishop Kinisa was listening to Bruce James as he talked with exuberance about the potential for Social Media in ministry.

She was conscious that listening to the young, recent seminary graduate was work. Her mind was hearing his words, but other thoughts—defensive thoughts—kept creeping in.

Social Media was a mystery to her. There was just one thing she hated about being bishop—reading email. In fact, she had delegated her email to her secretary. Pam saved her hours a week by prioritizing her messages. She managed to whittle 150 morning messages down to just a dozen or so. Ruby was proud of her office’s efficiency. Less time online meant more time in mission.

She recalled how Gil had insisted their Communications Director sign her up for Facebook. She had agreed reluctantly. Now months later, her Facebook page just sat there. “If it’s so great, why don’t I ever feel the urge to look at my own page?” she wondered.

But there was another nagging thought that was muting the words of the seminarian. She knew him better than the other members of his seminary class who were knocking on her door, looking for calls. She had grown to like him and felt friendly towards him. But this is the first time a seminarian had come to her with anything but hat in hand. Much as she liked Bruce she couldn’t help but marvel at his nerve. Was this the same Bruce James she had worked with just a few months ago?

Gil noticed her lapse in attention.

He pressed Bruce to skip over his theories. “Bruce, it sounds like you have something concrete in mind. How do you see this working?”

For the first time, Bruce stammered in his presentation.

“I feel a bit awkward,” he confessed. “I am usually not this forward. It’s just that this idea is so real to me—so promising. I know it must sound crazy to you but I just feel compelled to pursue it.”

He paused to read Ruby’s and Gil’s reactions. He saw encouragement in Gil’s face, but wasn’t sure he was reaching the bishop.

He decided to try another direction.

“Bishop Kinisa, we traveled together to three churches earlier this year. I worked with you for several months after you revealed that you were their bishop. I felt very lucky to be part of that experiment. I learned more visiting the three “Undercover Congregations”  than I did in my field experience these last few months—maybe even in my three years of classes!”

Ruby felt the need to gain some control in the conversation. She resorted to her usual interview techniques with first-call pastors.

“Where did you spend your field experience, Bruce?”

Bruce answered quickly. He wanted to be polite and respectful, but he also wanted to get his message across.

“I served with Pastor Rolf Anders at First Lutheran.”

Ruby knew both Pastor Anders and the large suburban congregation well.

“How did you like being in a large congregation after spending so much time with Pleasantville, Grace, and Zion?” she asked.

Bruce answered. “I expected it to feel different, but the longer I was there, the more that I saw that First has many of the same challenges as the much smaller “Undercover Congregations.”

Gil, at last, jumped into the conversation with both feet. “Tell us about that, Bruce.”

“Well,” Bruce ventured with some hesitation, “there are just two major differences, really. One, there are more people—obviously. Two, they had a long-term relationship with Pastor Anders. These two factors defined their ministry.”

“And how did this make a difference?” Gil prodded.

“It’s really hard to explain,” Bruce answered. “When we were working with the Undercover Congregations, the people were always in—I’ll call it ‘problem-solving mode.’ You know what I mean, don’t you? The people were always presenting ideas, looking for new possibilities, constantly reinventing themselves. The people of Trinity seemed more content in the ministry they had built over the years with Pastor Anders. Their approach to ministry was more about doing the same things better.”

Now Gil was taking charge. “So which experiences shaped your passion for Social Media ministry, Bruce?”

“That’s the easiest question you’ve asked me so far!” Bruce commented. “The answer is BOTH!”

05 Oct 2013