4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Social Media and the Church

Why would anyone read a church blog?

2x2CategoryBarSMSocial media has been around for four or five years now. It still puzzles the Church. It doesn’t fit the church’s way of thinking. A few churches dabble at it.

Dabbling at social media won’t succeed. We must dive in—the sooner the better!

One pastor recently shared that he didn’t understand social media. What was new about it?

Power is new. In the old days a newspaper might have a readership of 10,000 people. That’s where their influence ended.

Today, readers can pass a message on to all of their friends and those friends can continue sharing with their friends. Social media transforms those 10,000 readers into a million readers with ease.

More than that, the receiver can add to the message. They can correct or object when they disagree in real time. No one needs to wait for an editor to review a response, confined to 150 words, and chosen from among many for publication. We all have a say!

We are all familiar with the modern phenomenon of “going viral.”

A wannabe singer posts a video online and six months later is an international star. Never before in the history of the world was it possible for little guys to get billing on the world’s stage.

We used to guess at reasons some blog posts are so popular that they reach the ends of the earth within a few hours.

We expect marketers to study the reasons for viral popularity. Now scientists are taking a look at the phenomenon, too.

We are discovering that the key to popularity is not what most people guess (sex, dogs, cats and babies).

The answers revolve around emotions.

People share what they read on the web when the information is:

  1. Surprising
  2. Interesting
  3. Intense
  4. Positive
  5. Actionable

This information was gathered in a study of media websites, but the same characteristics have been found to be applicable to other genres as well.

Church bloggers can adapt these principles to their posts, especially if they are writing about more than their church (which they should be).

True, this calls for a change in our evangelism mindset. We are accustomed to promoting who we are and what we believe with little consideration for the people we hope to reach.

Therein lies the value of blogging. It forces us to see things through the eyes of others.

Here’s an example of how a church blogger might apply these principles:

A congregation might discover an interesting statistic about their neighborhood. Let’s say an old working class urban neighborhood, known to be populated by a certain ethnic group, learns that the latest census shows their neighborhood is now home to a growing number of immigrants from another part of the world.

The church should write about that. It is surprising and interesting. It could have potential to become intense —in a good or a bad way. The church should put itself in a position to influence that!

Most important for ministry, the news has the potential to be presented in a positive way, benefitting both the church and community, which may then lead to action by the congregation or by the neighborhood.

Upon this foundation, a church blog can be the catalyst for a congregation’s mission and growth.

What is going on in your neighborhood that you can influence by writing a post on your church blog?

Using #-tags in Twitter can be inspirational

Today’s Twitter Assignment

twiIn our Twitter experiment I started researching the power of the #-tag.

The # is a way of finding people who share your interests — long-term interests or passing fancies.

I started by plugging #church into the search box at the top of the twitter page.

Tons of tweets followed, a few of them of interest.

Here is a link to one of them. It addresses church polity and how church polity can go against church law depending on the faddish thinking of church leaders or members at the time.

It is precisely the same problem Redeemer faces with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (SEPA / ELCA). Church polity can go against its own written laws and the courts will not uphold church law. In our case, they won’t even hear the case.

The lesson to be learned is that church members must be vigilant about enforcing their own laws or it will take years and unmeasurable embarrassment to correct mistakes of wayward leadership.

I wouldn’t have found this interesting vignette without Twitter.

Use the #-tag to find topics of interest to you and follow the voices which are most interesting to you.

That’s today’s Twitter assignment! I’ll add the #-tag to a few more topics and see what surfaces.

Our Twitter Report-December 1, 2012

We met our daily goal. We posted a blog about tweeting. We retweeted something we liked. We posted our Riddle Tweet and followed up with the answer an hour later (following the professional advice to not tweet more than once in an hour). In addition, we tweeted our worship plans for tomorrow.

Spent about a half hour writing today’s blog post and less than 10 minutes on Twitter.

Our post picked up one “Like” so far. (Thanks, Christian).

2×2 started with no followers yesterday. We have four followers today.

If you want to follow our month-long Twitter experiment, join Twitter and follow us at:

@2x2Foundation

Getting Ready for Our First Tweet

Ready, Set, Go

So what should we tweet about? That IS the question.

We noticed that South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began their Advent season by tweeting the first verse of a popular Advent hymn:

Light one candle to watch for Messiah. Let the light banish darkness.

That’s a nice thought. We will retweet it. (More on retweeting later).

We could tweet a Bible verse. We listed a few dozen for our readers in a post a week or so ago.

But we are also remembering the advice from the pros: social media is about connecting with others. If we want followers, our tweets have to appeal to others or people will just gloss over them. So we are going to work on a mix of material to use in our tweets. We won’t avoid the message of the Gospel but we will talk about things that might appeal to an even broader audience. In addition we will write about things happening here in our neighborhood (roughly East Falls, Germantown, Wissahickon, Manayunk and Roxborough and the tail end of City Line Avenue in Philadelphia).

We are going to start with something just for fun. It’s a riddle. We’ll pose the question in the first tweet and an hour or so later, we will tweet the answer.

Remember, we are new at this, too. This is a process of discovery for all of us.

So today’s task won’t take more than 10 minutes and half of that will be first time jitters.

  1. Retweet the South Dakota Synod’s tweet.
  2. Tweet our own riddle.
  3. Tweet the answer to our riddle.

If you want to take part in the experiment. Start your Twitter account and start following us! We will follow you back! Let’s see if Twitter is as powerful as they say it is!

Join Us in Our Advent Social Media Project

A Tweet a Day for Advent—Get Ready!

A week or so ago, we proposed a social media project for the four weeks of Advent.

2×2 started as a blog. It is time to spread our little wings to other realms of social media!

2×2 has been blogging seriously for about 18 months. We started in February 2011.  It took us a few months to get our bearings. Only one person visited our site that month! Our stats show that our readership didn’t break triple digits until July. From our many web visits to other church web sites we figure that’s about when most churches give up on social media. We kept at it!  Patience!

Our best month of 2011 was November with 623 new readers that month.

By this time we were able to see growth patterns and we predicted that we would have 12,000 new readers visiting our blog in 2012. We should exceed that benchmark with ease.

Looking ahead to 2013, we can anticipate doubling 2×2’s reach. We are nearing 1500 new visitors a month and the growth has been steady. 110 people subscribe and have our posts go to their email every day. So that’s an additional 770 views each week! Our reach is truly worldwide.

2×2 achieved this without using any other social media platforms to enhance our SEO numbers. We followed just one strategy: Offer content that will be helpful to our mission audience — seekers and lay leaders.

We continue to be surprised by the many and strong relationships we are forming with other mission-oriented church workers, many of them not Lutheran. These are rewarding and growing. We started to introduce our readers to one another and now they are referring people to us. We look forward to many new things in 2013.

Which brings us back to our Advent project.

Research shows that Twitter is the least understood social media platform with the greatest potential to reach new audiences. Better than Facebook. There are others, too. But let’s tackle one at a time!

The biggest barrier to using Twitter is understanding its potential. That’s why we have chosen December as our month to experiment. We’ll take it step by step and report our progress.

We hope you will follow our experiment and perhaps join us and share your results. We’ll try to make it easy.

How about it!?

Sharing the Gospel—140 characters at a time!

Watch for our official invitation to join the experiment which should be posted Saturday afternoon — just in time for Advent 1.

Step 1: We just opened our account:

@2x2Foundation

This required us to have an email account. We opened a free account with Google.

2x2church@gmail.com

This process took about 15 minutes.

You can do it! Get cracking! 

Imagine: A New Church for the New Age

2x2 is merging the First and Fifth Estates.The Church of the last five decades is doomed.

But that it is good news.

We have spent these post-World War years of prosperity building a model for success that only a small percentage of congregations can hope to sustain. Many congregations exist and serve amid this atmosphere of hopelessness. It is not uplifting.

There is no need to wallow in this failure, pointing blame at the people, society or the clergy.

It just doesn’t matter. The model of Church as contained in a building and managed by a person trained in theology is about to be replaced. It’s long impending doom is at last being recognized. It was born of an era when the larger church controlled wealth and a feudal mentality, providing for its support, was ingrained.

When we found ourselves living in capitalist, industrial, corporate economies, it all began to crumble. The maintenance expenses exceeded the means of the communities we intended to serve. People became less and less engaged as more and more was expected.

No need to mourn this passing! What is going to evolve is going to be so much better!

The changes will be enabled by the First Estate (the Church) harnessing the power of the Fifth Estate (the web).

Imagine.

Here are just a few ways the Church is going to be transformed.

STRUCTURE

OLD: A hierarchy manages all education, communication and publishing, assuring that doctrine and tradition are maintained.

NEW: Congregations will seek help beyond denominational lines. It will be readily available to them online at a fraction of the expense.

OLD: A hierarchy oversees the placement of qualified leaders, with long “settled” ministries being the measure of success, making sure their salaries and benefits meet prescribed standards. Meanwhile, these desirable, settled congregations are constantly urged to “transform.”

NEW: Congregations will forsake the single pastor model as poor use of their resources. They will seek qualified help for specific short-term challenges and form ongoing relationships with several pastors. Flexible teams of ministers will serve without affiliating with any one congregation.

MISSION

OLD: A centralized office seeks theologically trained candidates, immerses them in a culture, provides additional training, and places them and their families all over the world. Congregations participate by giving offerings. Missionaries return every few years and make a tour of congregations to solicit continued support.

NEW: Individual congregations will begin to make contact with like-spirited Christians all over the world online. Denomination will be reflected in their actions not in their management. Many members will correspond, share and pray for one another with weekly engagement. Members of all ages will be online pen pals with multiple Christian fellowships. Eventually, congregations will raise money to send a few members of the congregation to visit, strengthening bonds begun online. The network of online churches will crisscross the world.

WORSHIP

OLD: Large structures with a dedicated building, common liturgy and accepted “playlist” of hymns is replicated across the country every few miles. One certified theologian is given status to repeat the words of our Lord from the Bible. Church members participate in assigned roles. Their names are listed a month in advance in the bulletin.

NEW: The structure of worship will embrace many cultures. Multiple church members will lead. Sermons will be preached online by the best articulators of the Word. Local discussions will elaborate on the Word. Members will become accustomed to weekly, spontaneous participation. Published liturgies and hymnals will be passe.

EDUCATION

CURRENT: Sunday School begins at age three and ends at age nine with desperate attempts to fill in the gap between childhood and old age with confirmation, youth ministry, singles clubs, and adult forums, following expensive curricula supplied by church hierarchy. Less than five percent of the congregation participate.

NEW: Churches, via their web sites, will link members to meaningful online forums, supplementing them with local engagement either online or in church. Short daily learnings will replace hour-long classes. Congregations linked online will share their resources and traditions.

STEWARDSHIP

OLD: Church members are encouraged to pledge to the maintenance of their building and sustenance of their clergy. Regional bodies, seminaries, and various social service entities within the church beg for additional funds. The national church adds to the appeal for dollars supplied by the same small pool of people.

NEW: Church buildings will have to multi-task their usage in the community to afford their cost. Many communities will rent or borrow appropriate space in the neighborhood. Regional bodies will provide fewer direct services. Their staffs and budgets will be trimmed substantially. Church social service agencies will completely abandon church affiliation as they recognize that cord was cut when they began seeking public funding. Congregations will choose to support service agencies that resonate with their sense of mission, regardless of their affiliation with religion. This will be an opportunity for church members to personally witness in the secular environment.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

OLD: Members are expected to attend worship regularly and to live within an easy commute of a church building.

NEW: Members can be anywhere in the world and participate in community online. Online statistics will be published along with membership and giving numbers.

TODAY

Much of this is already happening. 2×2 is part of this evolution revolution and already experiencing many of these transformations.

 

Using Your Mission Statement to Strengthen Networks

We can’t do it all ourselves, but we live in a world where we like to think we can.

In the world of corporate marketing, the “brand” is sacred. Corporate branders would cringe to think of sending their customers to a competitor. They would take one of these approaches.

Convince the customer they are wrong for needing something they do not offer.

You like contemporary worship? Our liturgies are much richer and more meaningful! Take a seat and listen!

You are being bullied? We are so sorry, but our mission is more about feeding the hungry. Our food pantry is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons! Stop by!

Promise an answer so far down the line that it is likely to be useless to the person in need today.  

You want youth programming? Come back in two years. We’re training someone right now in exactly what you are looking for.

This type of thinking can affect how congregations interpret their Mission Statements. Governing boards can start to weigh every challenge by measuring it against their published Mission Statement and what they are prepared to provide—not the actual needs of the neighborhood. The Mission Statement then becomes an excuse to turn a blind eye to the changing needs.

Part of the decline of the neighborhood church is that the church as a whole is unprepared for change. Denominational leaders strive to find long-term pastors for stable (they call them “settled”) positions. When this becomes problematic, lay people tend to pay the price.

Let’s learn from this failure. Do not use your Mission Statement as a rigid gatekeeper in approving every congregational venture. Instead, use  it as an indicator of how you need to change.

Also realize, that the approved Mission of your congregation may not resonate with each member. Similarly, visitors to your congregation may not care at all about your mission. Most people first attend church for personal reasons. They come to be healed. They come to have their needs met.

  • Don’t expect everyone to embrace your lofty words.
  • Make sure that all the good intentions in creating a Mission do not blind you to reality.
  • Seekers coming to your door may not seem to fit into your Mission.
  • Your sense of Mission must be flexible. Otherwise, you may be a congregation with a sense of mission but no one to serve.

This can happen at every level of Church life. A congregation can go to their Regional Body and ask for help with a challenge that their neighborhood has encountered. After all, when neighborhoods change, you can expect challenges to. But it is not uncommon for the response from leaders to be some form of “That’s not in our Mission.”

What they are saying is “We don’t know how to help you.” And that’s OK, but churches and denominations must be aware of the needs and be prepared to direct people to those who can help.

Today’s Mission needs are bigger than congregations of any size! It is inappropriate to turn seekers with problems away without hope. We have to start building networks for serving. We have to start thinking in terms of team.

If a need is beyond your ability to serve, help seekers find direction. Don’t just give them a phone number. Accompany them to the agency or office that can serve them. Personally introduce them to individuals with the expertise to help. Your personal attention will build your reputation in your changing neighborhood. By personally taking part in finding help, you will strengthen your own abilities.

You Mission must be active and flexible and ideally linked to other Christians and neighborhood organizations that can help.

Start building those networks!

Making Your Mission Statement A Living Document

Whew! We got the Mission Statement out of the way!

Now what?

Now the work begins. The Mission Statement is an accomplishment. But if you want it to be effective in your ministry, you must start using it.

The Mission Statement is always in danger of becoming trite or taken for granted. You must keep the Mission Statement alive.

Start using the Statement immediately!

  • Publish it on the website,
  • Recite it in worship,
  • Print it on stationery,
  • Have a temple talk about it,
  • Read or recite it before every governing meeting.

A press release should be written and sent to local papers. Write about the process, quote the people involved. Have them answer questions such as, “How do you think the mission statement will affect your ministry?, How does it reflect your history?, How will it make a difference?”

Make a video montage of your members discussing their mission and post it on YouTube, linking it to your website. Break them into short videos and post them on Facebook. (Videos attract traffic more than any other type of post.)

Make a greeting card with the mission statement. Set the words in nice type and use a photo of your church or sanctuary. Send it with a welcome note to visitors.

(Use a service like sendoutcards.com, which allows you to use your own photos to create professional quality, custom cards. You can register with 2×2’s vendor number 85519. Call or email us and we’ll walk you through the process the first time. It’s easy and inexpensive!)

Sounds like a lot of work!  But the work is just beginning.

The Mission Statement must be APPLIED to your ministry.

This might seem like a boring proposition. “How long are we going to dwell on this?” But it can bring your ministry alive!

Mix it up! Plan special sub-emphases and celebrate them on a monthly, quarterly, or seasonal basis (calendar or liturgical).

Examine your statement. How does it affect the various emphases of parish life?

  • worship
  • witness
  • education
  • evangelism
  • social ministry
  • fellowship and
  • stewardship

Don't mothball your Mission Statement! Use it!You can add biblical concepts to this list

  • Our mission and faith.
  • Our mission and justice.
  • Our mission and reconciliation.
  • Our mission and our community.

Emphasize one of these for the period of time you’ve decided on. Rotate the topics.

  • Make one Sunday each month Mission Sunday and choose hymns and prayers that complement your Mission as it relates to the special emphasis.
  • Ask each committee of your congregation to plan an activity or event around the emphasis.
  • Preach about it.
  • Create content for your web site or newsletter that addresses the special emphasis.
  • Adopt a service project that complements the emphasis.
  • Have the congregation memorize a hymn which complements the emphasis.
  • Hang banners in the narthex, sanctuary and over the main door that point everyone’s attention to the special emphasis.
  • Every time the emphasis changes, celebrate it. Write a press release. Keep your mission in your community’s consciousness.

The Mission Statement begins to define your mission. It creates a structure that motivates your congregation and shapes your ministry. The Mission Statement becomes a working document, a blueprint for your ministry — exactly what it is meant to do!

photo credit: code poet via photopin cc

Bible Verses to Consider for Mission Statements

UPDATE: This post is now available as a Powerpoint Presentation.

All mission should stem from some understanding of the scripture.

Here are some verses that have a specific emphasis or directive. Most are from NIV.

And while you are at it, remember: God is love.

Genesis 12:1-3
The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Exodus 19:5, 6
Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.

Psalm 9:11
Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Psalm 100:1-3
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness:
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?

I said: Here I am. Send me.

Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 24:14
This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Mark 16:15
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.

Luke 24:46-48
This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.

John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Romans 12 (practically ever verse!)
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b] faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

\Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ephesians 5:1-2
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Philippians 4:4-5a
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.

1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for His possession,
so that you may proclaim the praises
of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.

Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:13-16
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to him, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 22:37 ; Luke 10:27; Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your mind and with all your strength.

John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.

Ephesians 4:12-13
to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Colossians 3:12-14
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!

 

Do you have a favorite to add to this list?

A First Step in Branding: The Mission Statement

We’ve discussed the need to look over your shoulder and include your denomination’s regional offices and other congregations.

We’ve discussed how branding helps your members understand their mission.

Now you are ready for outreach to your community.

A typical starting point in any branding campaign is to craft a mission statement.

The mission of every church is defined in the Bible.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. —Matthew 28:19-20

There are other verses you can focus on, but this one encompasses a great deal.

The task of each congregation is to refine this directive in a way that will keep your people on a chosen track of implementation.

We all know how easy it is to become distracted from our mission. This is a special challenge for small congregations. We small churches are so busy putting out fires that it is easy for us to lose our way!

There is a tendency to measure all congregations against some standard that, frankly, isn’t very well-defined. It may be a typical suburban church or a church with a well-known pastor. It is never the small church — although we outnumber larger churches!

This can be a shock to a small congregation’s self-confidence. There the driving force is often a dedicated and changing staff of lay people, who juggle uncompensated mission and ministry with work lives.

In defining your mission be true to yourself. If you are a family church, concentrate on the values of a family church—the warmth, the intimacy, the ability for newcomers to assimilate quickly. If you are a pastoral church you might have an emphasis that is a “trademark” of your leadership. That might be reaching a particular ethnic group or operating a daycare program. Your mission should express whatever binds you together as a people.

Mission is a huge task and one that was never intended to be performed solo. (2×2!) The task of congregations is to answer the question How? (We’ve talked about the Why? question before.)

How will your group of people—with all the things you have going for you (taking into account your limitations)—fulfill Christ’s directive? In short:

How do you reach, how do you preach, and how do you teach?

You might start by asking each member this question. Their answers should help shape the “official” mission statement. Having been included in the process, they will own the mission.

Once a mission statement is adopted put it to work.

  • Feature it on your web site, on your stationery, and on your signage.
  • Hold a service to celebrate the adoption of a mission statement.
  • Invite several people to speak to the mission. Do this regularly!
  • Have a pin made or give out refrigerator magnets featuring your statement.
  • Make a congregational T-shirt featuring your mission. Declare T-shirt events (service projects, for example) when members should come in “uniform.”
  • Hang a banner over your door. (Outside where people can see it.)
  • Begin every service or meeting by reciting your mission together.
  • Write a press release and send it to local papers.

Keep your mission front and center.

But remember, your mission can change. Review it every few years to make sure you can still live up to its directive, and that, in focusing on it, you are not ignoring new opportunities. Actually, we live in such a fast-changing world that proclaiming a special mission emphasis each year might not be a bad idea. (Next post!)