Redeemer and 2×2 takes SEPA’s recent request for congregations to make multimedia presentations about their ministry seriously. It is a goal of 2×2 to conquer video for use on its website, so it was a welcome challenge.
We learned basic recording techniques and syncing sound tracks to slides. We added transitions. We’ve got a lot to learn, but we are happy with our start and will soon share our experiences with others.
It’s all about innovation. It’s all about transforming. It’s all about reaching people.
Examine the Church’s actions:
It’s all about keeping a tight rein on the way things have been for years and years.
The Church is sluggish in adopting the evangelism tools of our era. Its failure in this regard lies in its need to control. It enjoys hierarchy. They’ve worked hard at it for so long! Therefore, people will take part in dialogue upon invitation and with appropriate monitoring only.
It’s a risk for the people in the Church to insist upon a voice. Those that make it to the Regional and National Assemblies are pretty well vetted by tradition.
The pope tweets. It’s a newsworthy event.
The pope does not follow. Now, if he did, that would be news!
The few churches adopting social media tend to be independent “non-denominational” churches. Is it a surprise that independent non-denominational churches reach young people while the mainline church has dismal statistics with the under-50 population.
Mainline churches start Facebook pages, but don’t really use them. Pastors start blogging and quit after six posts. They use LinkedIn but keep their profiles private. They don’t really want to connect. They want people to come to them. Sunday morning works . . . or call the office for an appointment.
In order to grow, the Church has to let go.
Twitter has great potential for connecting. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming—although it can become an interesting place to spend some time! The connections possible in a few months of working in this medium could be AMAZING.
The results are predictable only in that they will change the Church’s outlook. They would start to connect with the people they dream of reaching.
Here is a link from Coca Cola’s marketing team. They are telling us exactly how they intend to double their business by 2020. That’s a lot of sugar water!
The techniques and strategies should interest every serious evangelist. Coca Cola has a story to tell and doesn’t mind telling us exactly how they plan to do it. Their marketing people are well paid and experienced story-tellers. Let’s invest our dimes wisely and listen in for free!
Here’s a challenge you can present to your congregation:
There is a popular hymn, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
“Love” is not a very clear word. It requires some definition!
Ask members, colleagues, committee members, governing board, children, youth, visitors, etc. to rewrite the words to the hymn and define exactly how people will know you are a Christian.
“They will know we are Christians by ____________________________.”
Make a youth project out of the question. Ask them to make a montage video of people’s answers with the hymn playing softly in the background. Post it on YouTube and send us a link!
Might be an interesting exercise. Share the new words with one another . . . or send them to us. We’ll make a blog post out of them!
I’ve been writing for a few days about the importance of joy in the church. The ideas were based solely on experience.
Today, I sat down in front of the TV, grabbed the remote and flipped through some channels. Saturday afternoon. Blah TV. Sports. Ancient reruns. Try PBS. Great! Fundraiser time! But wait a minute. This guy is talking about happiness. I’ve been writing about joy!
I stumbled across a presentation by Harvard researcher, Shawn Achor, who has studied the science behind the human emotion, happiness. It makes me happy to know that there is science behind what 2×2 has been advising! Joy!
I listened to the last half of his talk and when it came time for the ten-minute pitch, I went online to find out more. Here is a 12-minute video from his talk at a TED conference. Watch it and pay attention to his list of five action steps near the end.
Here is an uplifting video which reminded us of Redeemer’s experience.
Redeemer hosted the East Falls Children’s Choir and held a music camp every summer. About 11 years ago, a new choir formed, meeting in East Falls. We fed the boys that attended the choir and our camp into the Keystone State Boychoir. (A girl choir formed a few years later.)
The choir gave the boys confidence, discipline and a passion for music. In the choir’s first ten years the boys that stuck with it sang on every continent. Yes, every continent.
The directors’ philosophy—allow self-conscious boys to sing with boys and they will grow to love singing in general.
Most churches have a rough time convincing their boys to sing. Typical mixed choruses in any youthful venue are 90% female. But boys do like to sing.
The link below will take you to YouTube. Come back for the translation to the hymn (below).
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
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On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
