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social media and ministry

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

B to B or B to C? Or maybe churches are C to C?

Business people know marketing jargon, so when they meet up at a networking event, they know that when someone asks them if they are B to B or B to C, they are being asked if their business serves other businesses (B to B) or if their business serves consumers (B to C).

This language doesn’t apply much to the church world — or does it? The national church and the regional bodies are B to B. They are a church Body serving another church Body.

Congregations are more B to C. Their church Body serves individual Christians.

The concept is worth examining with fresh eyes and maybe a twist on this old business analogy.

The Church is actually C to C in two different ways.

Christian to Christian. That’s how evangelism works. It’s a play on the Frank Laubach missionary maxim, taught to all Lutheran children of the 60s. “Each one teach one.”

Or

Congregation to Congregation. Historically, the church has been very weak in congregations communicating, sharing and serving one another. There are token niceties exchanged at seminars and assemblies, but generally, it’s every congregation for itself. Pastoral turf and competition for members block the doorway for inter-church cooperation. They pull together to save money on church supplies, but that’s where cooperation often ends.

For the Evangelism Tools of the Future to Work this MUST Change

Social Media, the greatest evangelism tool the church has ever encountered, both creates and depends on connectedness. Congregations now need to work together. Without inter-church cooperation, which includes pastors cooperating, efforts at social media will quickly peter out.

Social Media thrives on content. Individual congregations are going to be challenged in feeding the content beast. But if they start working with other congregations, they will expand their possibilities.

How will this work? Here’s a possible scenario.

Lutheran youth in our area are planning a mission trip to an Indian Reservation. This common venture is supported by member churches and their individual youth groups.

An individual congregation might  put an article on their website or newsletter announcing the project. They might put a donate button as a call to action — and that would be that.

A more ambitious approach would be to learn as much about the project and the people they hope to serve and start TELLING THE STORY.

The content promoting this might include interviews with the youth as they prepare for the trip. They might be asked questions about their expectations, what they hope to accomplish. Church A might post two or three short videos with youth answers. Church B might do the same thing.

Then Church A links to Church B and vice versa.  (Add Churches C, D, E, etc.)

Why go to this trouble?

Because more gives a fuller picture, more is more interesting and more interaction attracts search engines—for everyone!

There will be a temptation to not do this, hoping that by telling just your congregation’s story, you’ll encourage anyone inclined to click a donate button and that contribution will come to your congregation.

That narrow view will cause you to miss out on the evangelism potential of the moment.

Here’s what could happen.

Members of Church A—beginning with the youth themselves—are loyal and check the web site to see their youth talk about the upcoming trip. They end up clicking the links to Church B and Church C. Connections have been made between the parishes. They are starting to know one another.

Members of Church A and Church B share the link to family and friends. Some of them send donations. They share the link, too.

Meanwhile, the local friends of the youth have checked up on them. They become interested and ask to come along. The youth group grows!

Meanwhile, the Indian youth in South Dakota see the videos. They comment and send a welcome message or make their own video and direct it to the youth they are looking forward to meeting in a few months. Dialog between the youth starts. When they eventually meet, they already know one another.

Meanwhile, a local church from a poorer neighborhood sees what the  youth in richer congregations are doing. They lament that their youth could never afford to go on a trip like that. They’d have to raise funds in a neighborhood with little to give. One enterprising mother decides their kids are not going to be left out. She contacts the churches that are having fundraisers and makes arrangements for several of the youth from their church to help with the fundraising efforts so they would have the experience of initiating a mission effort instead of being the recipients of mission efforts. This is life-changing for the young people in both congregations.

Also meanwhile, a youth group in Texas has happened upon the videos. They visited the Indian Reservation a few years ago and recognize some of the Indian youth who have commented. They invite people to come to Texas next summer to help with an outreach ministry in Hispanic neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile — there’s no limit on parallel interactions.

This is the tip of the mission iceberg. Maybe no one clicked the donate button and your congregation lost $20. The value of the interconnectedness paid off in far greater ways.

How can your congregation become a C to C church?

07 Feb 2013

Twitter and Blogs Go Hand in Hand

twiAs you become accustomed to using Twitter, you will want to connect with your following in other ways.

This is where having a blog comes in. It is a place to assemble your Twitter congregation. On your blog you can elaborate on your Twitter message. Your Twitter efforts should interest people in knowing more. Send them to your blog.

Blogs are not difficult to set up, but they do require some discipline to maintain. Many churches build their web sites on blogging platforms but they do not use the features that make blogs so powerful — the ability to attract followers and interact with them.

We’ve written a lot about blogging on this web site. Type “blog” within the site search box on the right to find articles. Or go to the Social Media Category.

For now, here are some tips to refresh about blogging.

  1. Use your own voice.
  2. Blog with consistency. If you blog once or twice a week, keep it up. We recommend twice a week to start. Things start to happen when you blog daily, but it is a time commitment. Oddly, though, it gets easier the more you post. When blogging, once or twice a week seems like a chore. Blogging every day is a habit!
  3. Write about things of interest to others beyond your immediate congregation. If you write about things in your community, you will attract community attention. If you write about yourself, you will interest only a few of your members. You will get discouraged and quit because you will conclude early on that it is a waste of time.
  4. Give your efforts a year before measuring worth. It takes six months to start getting traffic and and meaningful growth takes more than a year. Can you think of a better way to attract 1000 followers in a year’s time?
  5. Aim for 200 to 500 words.
  6. Use images. They attract attention and are an additional way to communicate. Images are available online. They are often free with a link required. We uses photopin.com.

Again, we’ve written many posts on this topic. Dig around.

07 Dec 2012

Online Preaching via Twitter Can Be Incredibly Effective

The Usual Approach and Why It Doesn’t Work

twitter-follow-achiever-1

Guaranteed, the first response when a congregation pushes for an online preaching presence will be the offer to post transcripts of Sunday sermons. There. Done. Let’s move on.

Also guaranteed, no one will read them. The style does not fit the habits of online readers.

People don’t read online sermons. Post them for reference if you like, but they won’t find readers, new or old.

Effective online preaching is not what the Church wants to hear about. They want people in the pews, listening to 20-minute sermons and sticking around at least until the offering plate is passed. Pastors have worked hard at their 20-minute preaching skills. They’ve studied with the best 20-minute preachers.

The effectiveness of the sermon as compared to any other form of communication is rarely discussed between pastors and congregants. The formula is so old that questioning it seems to fly in the face of the oft-heard demand for change. “We didn’t mean this kind of change!” So the 20-minute sermon is what people in the pew expect. It is what pastors are trained to do. What’s the problem?

There are very few people in the pew. The 20-minute sermon is reaching practically no ears.

It is not the first time preaching styles have changed. Decades ago people thought nothing of settling in on a wooden plank pew to listen to a preacher for two or three hours. No more. A century ago a weekend revival was a big attraction. In Jesus’ day people would sit on a hillside all day to listen to a good speaker. And now our cultural expectations are shifting again. 

As a life-long church goer, I enjoy a good sermon. I am also very aware that even great sermons are ephemeral. They are forgotten in less time than it takes to deliver them.

Recently, our Ambassadors listened to a sermon in which the preacher made five points. He illustrated the points well. He even used visual props and interspersed some music. It grabbed my interest. I thought as he was speaking, I really ought to write some of this down. When we left church, one of our Ambassadors who is also a retired pastor commented that he thought the sermon was really good. A few hours later I sat down to write a few words about the sermon. I could remember three of the five points. I contacted the pastor who was with us and who had gushed about the sermon. “What were the five points the pastor made? I asked. “I can remember only three of them.” The pastor paused for a moment and finally said, “That’s three more than I can remember.”

And that’s the problem preachers have in relating to modern listeners. They are not connecting with the modern attention span and sensibility. People are wired differently today. That difference is going to grow as today’s younger generations reach church leadership age—if they stay involved long enough to serve.

People today process much more information from many more sources than did our ancestors. Our most valued skill sets are dominated by multi-tasking. We want the same information. We need for it to bedelivered in ways we can process while we do a dozen other things.

Online preaching is suited for this. Twitter is ideal. There is no reason to bemoan the decline of the Church in this regard. It is a new opportunity for the Church.

Preachers and congregations, for the first time in history, have the opportunity to communicate with members and beyond every day! You are no longer limited to the confines of the 20-minute sermon. (If you click on the blue sentence, it will go out as a tweet. More on that nice capability later.)

Two Effective Online Preachers

There are several online pastors I follow. One is Jon Swanson who writes a blog, 300 words a day with a second daily email blast  to subscribers called 7×7 or 7 minutes with God. 7×7 is nothing more than a link to a short scripture passage and usually just one sentence to help you think about the passage. For those wanting to read more he offers a 14-minute option. In recent months, by virtue of his email links, I have read several epistles in their entirety, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Esther, Ezra and most notably the book of Nehemiah.

Pastor Swanson has effectively communicated his passion for Nehemiah in ongoing posts, supporting the daily reading. This chronicle of an unlikely building contractor is pretty easy to skip over for the average Bible reader. Nehemiah is sad to hear the temple is destroyed and sets out to rebuild it. He recruits help. He records long lists ancient names of contributors, complete with geneological references that contribute even more unusual names that haven’t been pronounced in centuries. He fights off the high and mighty who want to see him fail. As he nears completion in 52 days he recruits the people to staff the temple and returns a whole people to God. It is anything but boring when read with the gentle prods of Pastor Swanson.

In fact, it is amazingly similar to the experience of 2×2 — rebuilding a church after (or during) an attempt to totally destroy us. Nehemiah faced the the same behind-the-scenes conniving and intrigue, the same obstacles of human nature. Nehemiah, under the gentle guidance of Pastor Swanson, empowers us.

Recently, through our Twitter account, I’ve discovered Bishop T.D. Jakes. I’ve seen this guy on TV as a frequent talk show guest, but I never paid much attention to him. I won’t point you to his website. It’s easy enough to find and heavily monetized. That’s not what I admire about his ministry.  His Twitter ministry is very effective. He tweets just one inspiring thought a day — just what a lot of us hunkered in the Christian trenches need. A sample:

God sees your tears! God sees your circumstances! God sees your situation! God sees your faith and perseverance! WAIT ON HIM!

twitter2These Christian leaders are mastering the 21st century art of preaching.

It is very worth pursuing.

Twitter helps you make this connection. Use it.

 

06 Dec 2012