6 Reasons for Pastors and Congregations to Blog
Our Ambassadors study web sites as we prepare for visits. A few have snappy web sites or adequate, static sites. Some have barely functioning web sites. A surprising number have no internet presence whatsoever.
Now and then we come across a web site that features a Pastor’s Blog. This raises our interest. Blogging is a passion of 2×2’s. We have come to expect disappointment. The blogs are often no more than a few posts, months apart, and the most recent post is often years old. The blog posts tend to be personal musings aimed at the congregation’s existing community. No wonder they ran out of steam!
Ministry opportunity is being lost! Pastors should blog. Congregations should blog. Here’s why:
- Blogging is team work. Maintaining and growing a blog is work that should be shared. Working together on developing a good congregational blog will help your members and leaders bond, build community, and find ministry and mission opportunities.
- Blogging provides direction. Blogging is a tool to help your congregation stay connected with the people you serve. Posting content several times a week is good lubrication to keep your ministry from getting rusty. You will be looking constantly for issues to address. You will meet new people and organizations. Who knows how this could impact your ministry?
- Blogging builds trust. Bloggers wear their hearts on their sleeves. Publishing daily in a forum where your thinking can be challenged as easily as applauded keeps your thinking grounded. Readers will notice, respect and trust that you have others’ interests at heart.
- Blogging helps you reach out. Blogs help seekers find you. This won’t happen with four posts a year though! You need to treat your blog with the same importance you treat the preparation of a sermon or worship service. It is likely that it will be read by many times the number of people who attend worship! (2×2 started our blog nine months ago. We now have 100-150 new readers every week!)
- Blogging expands your point of view. Blogs allow for interaction. Your readers can comment on the ideas you present. Commenters influence the dialogue. They may applaud your efforts; they may point you in a different direction. Good bloggers listen and respond to all legitimate comments whether they agree or not.
- Blogging returns us to Christ’s approach to outreach. Congregations often exist with a fairly narrow focus on the world, fashioning ministries around tradition and doctrine. Outreach efforts often focus on trying to find people who fit into the community culture as it already exists, with thinking that mirrors their own. In contrast, Christ’s approach was to build upon encounters with the least likely prospects. With disciples grumbling in the background, Christ approached lepers, the possessed, children, women, criminals, rulers, church authorities and outcasts.
There is power and momentum in blogging. It takes work, but it is work that can bear fruit and multiply.