2×2 is nearing its second anniversary from the date of launch (February 2, 2011).
Can a small church blog make an impact?
Church blogs are a bit different from other forms of social media where the aim is often engagement. People don’t tend to engage in public forums in matters of faith. If we measured our impact by comments and likes, we’d be tempted to say no. Very little impact. Just over 100 comments in two years.
2×2 has learned that people don’t tend to respond ONLINE. We get many emails from readers that are not part of the public discussion. And that’s OK. We have not followed the engagement star.
Our first year was spent learning. 2012 was the year that the launch actually took hold. We started posting daily in mid-summer of 2011. It wasn’t until the end of 2011 that we saw any encouraging statistics. 2012, however, was a year of steady growth that is beginning to display exponential potential.
Redeemer, through 2×2, now reaches more people each week with the message of Christ than do the largest congregations in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (who claims we are too small to fulfill our missional purpose).
What Draws Readers to a Church Blog?
It is not pictures of your sanctuary and activities or messages from your pastor—all the standard stuff on most church websites.
Readers (seekers) are drawn by helpful content.
Our goal for 2012 is to develop more helpful content.
- Last Easter we posted a play that Redeemer had created and performed in 2008, when we still had a sanctuary in which to practice our faith. Beginning on Christmas Day 2012, this play, offered for free to our readers, has drawn about 50 readers and downloads per day.
- Our series on object lessons, designed for adult listeners but applicable to children as well, also draws regular weekly readers. One reader wrote a note of thanks last week. They mentioned that they work with Bhutanese refugees.
- Our third and fourth biggest draws are commentary on any number of church-related issues and our series on using social media in the church (this was our biggest draw early last year but that is shifting).
We now have more than 2000 new readers each month and about 150 who subscribe through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Our followers tend to be young people (20s and 30s—the very demographic the organized church has trouble reaching). They represent many ethnic backgrounds. In any given hour, an average of 20 people read our site. Most visit more than the home page.
We’ve written before about the network of small mission churches that correspond with us regularly. This continues to grow.
There are many people of faith working in isolation and under hostile conditions in the world. Finding support for their efforts within the organized church is expensive and time-consuming. It can take years to be recognized as legitimate mission within denominational standards. Meanwhile, orphans, widows and needy cope, meeting in houses and open-air pavilions and along the banks of rivers, caring little about denominational structure—relying on faith and the bonds they forge on their own.
Their needs are simple. They want Bibles and friendship. They don’t want to walk their faith journeys alone. They really don’t care about denominational labels.
Our little church blog is making a difference in these places. Yours could, too.