Welcoming Your Guests with Effective Website Practices

by: Bryan Rose

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As a frequent traveler, nothing beats the feeling of being expected versus being accommodated. Creating break-thru clarity for church teams, as a navigator for Auxano, I have dozens of moments of engagement with hotel, rental car, airline and Starbucks employees every week. I love it when it feels like someone thought of me as their guest by expectation, rather than just thinking of the revenue I represent in accommodation 

Earlier this year I arrived in a new city on a cold, rainy January night. My rental car company chose to give me a car on the far side of the lot, and not under the closer, warmer and dryer canopy. I had just been randomly assigned a car in row 700, and no one had thought about my experience in getting to it. Or so I was told. 

Soon after, I observed a Sunday morning parking lot, as an obvious first-timer circled the guest parking area in the rain (past the member and staff cars who had parked there to be close) finally dropping his young family off at a door, just before the service start time. I wondered if the rain-soaked Dad felt expected or simply accommodated as he ran through the puddles to catch up with his family.

In the springtime,  Sundays through Easter may be the most likely season of guest engagement your church will enjoy. Many pastors and church leaders use this time to assess their presence in the community by evaluating their visual vision elements (like signage and bulletins) and even considering a major web overhaul for the year.

Today, just about every guest visits your church online before they visit onsite. 

A guest will view your digital front door before they walk through your physical front door. Your church website is the first, and most important place to create the feeling that a guest is expected at your church, rather than just able to be accommodated.

>> Here are 10 Guest Welcome Practices of Effective Church Websites:

A Logical Web Address – try to get as close to your actual church name using .com or .org, or both if possible. Do your best to avoid tagline-driven web addresses like “thecaringplace.com” or “growdeepwithus.org.” Don’t forget to use your new domain for connected guest information email addresses like info@yourchurch or pastor@yourchurch.

A Prominent “I’m New” Section – this is all about putting the cookies on the bottom shelf. Nine out of ten first-time guests will visit your website before your worship. This means that up to 80% of your website users are looking for service times and locations, and very little else. Your biggest button, banner or visual element should be geared toward newbies.

Obvious Church Information – keep your church address, phone number and service times highly visible, even if you have an I’m New section. In mobile format, move this information to the top as “clickable” information.

A Usable Maps Link – most maps providers allow for you to embed a link that facilitates creation of point to point directions for your first time guest. It is always a good idea to make sure your church location is accurate in Google.

Landmark Driving Directions – in addition to a maps link, harder-to-find churches should supplement with verbal turn-by-turn directions noting landmarks like exit numbers, community structures or natural features. Including a photo of the front of the church, or church sign, as viewed from the road also builds confidence that a guest could find you easily.

Actual Worship Imagery – set worship style and dress expectations by using engaging, HIGH QUALITY photography from an actual worship service. Pay a professional if you have to. Remember, no pictures on your website are better than bad or amateur pictures on your website.

Practical Children’s Information – your website is a natural place to build confidence in parents that your church or campus is a caring, secure and instructive environment for their children. Note security procedures and give an estimate of how much drop-off time to plan into their first visit. Note any special parking or family entrance locations.

Complete Worship Descriptions – avoid insider-only and cute names for worship services of different styles, this only widens the first-visit gap for an outsider. Be sure to describe what you mean by contemporary, modern or traditional. One great way to mine for the right language is to ask a guest or recent attender to describe your worship in their own words.

An Engaging Pastoral Welcome – demonstrating expectation is as simple as a written welcome note, thanking guests for visiting your online front door. You might even consider a professionally-produced video with imagery of worship, children’s environments and personal testimony. Anchor all of this content with Vision-Frame language and point to key next steps.

Active Social-Media Venues – leverage the interactions around your worship content and member engagement to draw potential guests to community. Feature pastors “in real life” and foster a sense of belonging. Consider relocating announcements and calendars from your church homepage to a Facebook organization page that is more likely to get updated and shared by your body. Instagram and Twitter may also serve to bring immediate attention, interaction and feedback to services or events.

Read more from Bryan.

Want to learn how to create an EXCEPTIONAL Guest Experience at your church? Check out Auxano’s Guest Experience Boot Camp, coming to Orlando, FL on April 3-4.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Bryan Rose, church websites, websites

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The Genius of Being Simple and Obvious Every Time

by: Steven Furtick

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Simple and obvious leadership tip for you today. But it’s one that I’ve seen pay big dividends over the years.

If you’ve ever watched an infomercial, you know that it says to call their phone number over and over again. The TV personality says it repeatedly. They flash it on the screen multiple times.

It seems repetitive, almost to the point of being obnoxious. But they’re just trying to make it simple for people. Obvious. And they do it for two simple reasons: 1) people need them to, and 2) it works. Otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

I think every church should adopt the same strategy. Obviously I don’t mean flashing numbers repeatedly on the screen. But we do need to make the simple things simple. The obvious things obvious. Because we should never overestimate the ability of people, including ourselves, to miss the simple and the obvious.

Here’s a few ways this works at Elevation:

• Every week we tell our first time guests that they’re our VIPs.
• Every week we tell everyone to stop by an orange tent to get involved.
• We encourage people to give all the time.
• We encourage people to get in groups all the time.

In a different way every week and every time. But the same basic, clear messages every week and every time

Is it repetitive? Maybe.
Does it make the obvious things obvious? Definitely.

And those are just the nuts and bolts of a church. Imagine how much more important it is when we’re talking about things like the Gospel. Or the vision of the church. Yet many churches only communicate those things a couple of times per year.

This might seem like a simple and obvious tip to a lot of you. Why even blog it?

Because we’re no better than our audience.

Even the simple and obvious leadership principles need to be made simple and obvious, and repeated over and over again to leaders like you and me.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Steven Furtick

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One HUGE Opportunity Most Churches are Missing in Their Greeting Every Week

by: Carey Nieuwhof

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So your church has a website and a Facebook page. The adventurous have perhaps added Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Or maybe you’ve gone all out, even podcasting your messages or building an app for iOS or Android. (The links are to Connexus Church sites, where I get the chance to serve!)

We’re still in the early days of social media and everyone’s trying to figure out what ministry online means.

Whatever your church might be doing, my guess is you’re trying to connect with people online in some way, which is awesome.

Here’s the question though.

When you welcome people to your church, do you still behave like it’s 1999?

Strangely, most churches do.

I’ve been to very large, high budget churches who have a digital presence everywhere and—for whatever reason—still greet people like it was back in the day when the cassette ministry was booming.

I even caught myself doing this earlier this year.

The good news, the fix is quick simple and free for all of us.

> Is My Glaring Omission Yours Too?

So what do you say when you welcome people to your church?

For years, our hosts (including me) have said something like:

Welcome to Connexus! We’re so glad you’re here. If you’re new here, we’d love to connect! Drop by our guest services desk. We’d love to connect with you there.

Today, we’ll be here for about 70 minutes, sing some songs together, open up the bible to see what it means to us today and pray together. (Then we share one or two announcements we want everyone to know.)

See what I missed there?

Did you catch it?

I said ZERO (as in nothing at all) about our online presence.

Nothing about our social media. Nothing about our app. Zippo about our podcast. Nothing.

Yet 80% of the people (or more) are sitting there with their phones in their pocket.

During the week, we try to behave like it’s 2014. But Sunday morning, I was behaving like it was 1999.

> This is the Opportunity You’re Missing

If it was actually 1999, people would have to drive to your church or to someone’s home to connect with someone else from the church. Or they would have to buy (or pick up) a cassette or CD to listen to a message or series.

For the most part, in ministry you would show up in peoples’ lives occasionally at best. Now, you can show up in a person’s life every time someone checks their phone courtesy of social media, email, your app, your podcast and more.

I realize that’s a double edged sword. There are definitely people you don’t want showing up in your life every day. But I’m guessing there are some people you’d really appreciate hearing from regularly.

What if your church became one of them? What if people were genuinely thankful to hear from you during the week?

See…you and I have moved from a world in which we had the ability to encourage people once or twice a week, to a world in which we can connect daily.

This isn’t just a promotional thing (don’t miss our big cheesy dinner Tuesday night!), it’s a discipleship thing.

Seriously, you can gain permission to speak into people’s spiritual journey regularly.

Publish helpful, useful content, and people will sign up to follow you. Don’t, and of course, they’ll unfollow you. The online world gives you instant feedback on whether you’re helping people or not. Just check your stats.

> The Fix is So Simple

So don’t miss this simple fix.

If you’re publishing helpful, online content (and I realize we’re all growing in this and trying to figure out what that means), then just make sure you mention it Sunday morning.

Behave on Sunday morning like you can help someone during the week.

And the easiest way to help them, encourage them, inspire them and inform people during the week is via social media and your online presence.

So talk about that. This is what we say now when we greet people at Connexus:

Welcome to Connexus! We’re so glad you’re here. If you’re new here, we’d love to connect! Drop by our guest services desk. We’d love to connect with you there. Today, we’ll be here for about 70 minutes, sing some songs together, open up the bible to see what it means to us today and pray together.

We’d love to stay connected with you this week. The easiest way to do that is by following us on social media. You’re welcome to take out your phones right now and follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (we show the links on the screen as we say them). We also love hearing from you and this is great way to keep up the conversation.

Then, during the week…help people. Encourage, inspire and occasionally inform.

If you hand out a program or bulletin, make sure you include how to connect with you online.

And if you have a website, have a prominent place to follow your church on social media. People will connect with you 100x more on your social media platforms today than they ever will on your website.

Bottom line?

If you’ve got any online presence, talk about it on Sunday morning. Strangely, so many churches still don’t.

The change is free, easy, instant and everyone can do it. Just change what you say when you welcome people.

> We’re All Learning

Want more? I’m not sure anyone has cracked the code on how to optimally use social media. But here are some resources that have helped me and some churches I like to follow online:

Cross Point Church

North Point Church 

Lifechurch.tv

New Spring Church

Elevation Church

Casey Graham and I also talked about how to connect with people using email marketing in Episode 3 of my leadership podcast.  (Subscribe for free here to hear feature length interviews with Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Casey Graham, Kara Powell, Jon Acuff and more.)

Finally, nobody writes better stuff on church announcements than Rich Birch. Make sure you mine his site at Unseminary.com for posts like this that will change your announcements from a few minutes people tolerate to a few minutes people will anticipate.

So…what are you learning about connecting with people online during the week?

How do you highlight your social media on weekends?

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Carey Nieuwhof, church apps, greeting guests, social media in church, welcome guests

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What’s the Difference Between Church Mission Statements and a Tagline?

by: Bryan Rose

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Just Do It. 

This may be the most known marketing slogan in the world.

25 years ago, Nike fused brand and tagline with three words. A USA Today article highlighted the development of this global mantra, pointing out that Just Do It “has energized a generation of athletes and it continues to do that. That’s the uniqueness. It resonated far beyond what anybody could have expected.”

Inevitably as I walk church leaders through the vision pathway process, and we develop or redevelop their mission, the question arises “who is the mission for, insiders or outsiders?” There are sharp differences between a mission statement and a tagline. Simply put:

• Mission statements are designed to engage the congregation.
• Taglines are designed to engage the crowd.
• Mission statements raise awareness in the church toward the Great Commission’s priority.
• Taglines raise awareness in the community toward the Church’s personality.
• Mission statements are not intended for the church sign.
• Taglines are great on the church sign (when they are good see #churchsignfail above).
• Mission statements send-out.
• Taglines draw-in.

You may not even know that “Just Do It” is not even Nike’s mission statement. The mission of Nike is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

3 words capture the personality of Nike and 11 words catapult their calling.

Here are a few examples from Auxano’s experience in the church world of navigating the development of mission and tagline:

A First Baptist church in the deep south wrestling with their “Country Club” persona…

>>Mission – Guiding people to discover life’s greatest treasure in Jesus.

>Tagline – Discover Life

A suburban church reaching a busy upper-middle class community…

>>Mission – Connecting people each day to the real Jesus in a real way.

>Tagline – Live for More

Another suburban church in the South expanding their influence…

>>Mission – To love and lead everyone we meet into an everyday walk with Christ.

>Tagline – Everyday Matters

Reaching an independent culture in the Western plains…

>>Mission – Living Life as though Jesus were living through you.

>Tagline – Live the Life

A large regional church in a tranisitioning community…

>>Mission – Caring for people and connecting them to Christ

>Tagline – Find a better tomorrow.

Just in case you might think taglines are a new phenomenon or are tempted to write their necessity off to secular marketing influencing the sacred, take a look at the following images from the ribbon cutting celebration of a Baptist Church in northwestern PA from 1949. Even back then, they positioned themselves to be: A Church that helps you find New Life. 

What about your church or organization?

>> Can you define a unique and clear mission that captures the heart of your calling and activates your congregation?

>> Do you present your personality and the heart of God for the community in a compelling way?

The process of capturing both takes more time than you probably have and more effort than you probably think. But the results can be transformational and resonate beyond what you might expect.

So… Just Do It.

Read more from Brian here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Bryan Rose

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The Way You Use Words Determines the Culture You Create

by: Michael Kelley

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Words create worlds.

Words are powerful, and the way you use them determines the culture you create. It’s true in a business organization, it’s true in church life, and it’s true in the home. I am recognizing more and more the sheer power that language plays in all these arenas, but this weekend I became more acutely aware of the “home” area. But we weren’t at home this weekend. We were camping.

And, admittedly, I’m not a great camper. I’m trying to learn how to be because my oldest son is, in fact, a really great camper. But by the time I got to night 2 with my 3 kids, staring down a night in the 30′s, with everyone drawing their energy from hot dogs and just a few hours sleep, my patience was running thin. And because it was, my words were running thick. I said some things that I shouldn’t have said.

It was one of those moments when, directly after a statement is made, you wish you could have it back. I knew it was too much, too direct, and the way I knew it was by how good it felt. I felt so righteous and so justified, and I know my heart; the vast majority of the time when I feel that way something has gone haywire.

But words are powerful; you can’t take them back no matter how much you wish you could. Once it’s been said, it’s been forever said. And words have a way of lodging themselves in our memories. They set up camp deep inside our minds and stay there.

So what do you do when you can’t take the words back?

You recognize the power of words, and you use them again.

James wrote about the power of words in chapter 3 of the book that bears his name:

Now when we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide the whole animal. And consider ships: Though very large and driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell. Every sea creature, reptile, bird, or animal is tamed and has been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison (James 3:3-8).

Though James was instructing us about the negative potential of words, the power works both ways. Granted, a positive use of words might not necessarily be equivalent to the negative, but the power still remains:

Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21).

When you can’t take the words back, make sure the next ones are ones you don’t want to:

“I’m sorry.”

“Please forgive me.”

“I was wrong.”

These are words that flow so much harder from the tongue than the ones of impatience and anger, but these words have power, too. Don’t neglect that power while you’re mourning what’s already been said.

>> Read more from Michael.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Michael Kelley, Words create worlds

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7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Ministry Postcards

by: Bryan Rose

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Last week, I opened our mailbox to find one of the worst church direct mail postcards that I have ever sent or received. First, you need to know that I have been a part of sending some real doozies, like an “F-Word” (forgiveness) pun on an Easter invite one year… not my idea, but I was definitely a willing participant. On some level, at least there was a point – horrible and offensive as it was.

My recent mailbox find is a direct mail piece following all of the current church-mailer trends, in that it is oversized, has a picture of the pastor and includes a group of smiling multicultural people. However, the messaging is a wreck, confusing and downright crazy-talk. This mailer was either designed by 4 different people who never bothered to coordinate their contribution, or one person with 4 different design personalities that stopped taking their meds. What’s worse is that it is from a large and influential church in the area, who would I assume possesses the means to do so much better.

When it comes to direct mail, statistics show the average piece will get three seconds of attention.

Three.

If you are considering a direct mail piece, here are seven ways you too can send an ineffective direct mail postcard:

1. Don’t Have a Point – Ramble and demonstrate how out of touch with the reality of everyday life outside of your church walls you really are. Use meaningless quotes and vaguely imply that something is happening that they should be aware of. Lots of people are not busy and looking to spend time trying to figure out your church, so they will naturally be drawn to the possibility of a confusing and rambling worship experience.

2. Use the Shotgun Approach – Communicate as much as you can to as wide an audience as you can. If you are launching a series on the Family, make sure you speak to and include content for everyone. Relegate your children’s ministry presence to a tiny corner and use the words “great” and “fun” a bunch. Singles and couples without kids have no need to know how to be a better parent, and for sure an older, empty nest generation doesn’t want to have influence and share their wisdom, so try your best to have something for everyone and to not alienate anyone.

3. Employ the “Bait and Switch” – Make sure your stock photography is purely aspirational. You will want anyone visiting to feel immediately uncomfortable and be easily recognizable. When they walk in the door, it is best if they become racial diversity that you pictured, or the casually dressed worshipper that they saw on your mailer. Because if you truly want your culture to change, it is always easier to blame it on the new people showing up than to lead and cast vision in the congregation. Also, when guests are easier to spot, that awkwardly over-friendly greeter won’t bother your regulars.

4. Use Insider Language – People outside the church loved to be validated in their “we don’t belong here” thinking. Use as many obscure or made-up words as you can to either illustrate how much smarter your church is or how quirky and cool your church is. The best is to combine two words that might mean something like “God calendar” or “faith-energy.”  Typically, we are drawn to the unfamiliar and weird as humans, especially if we have a significant social or spiritual need.

5. Try Too Hard – Everybody loves to see a worn-out cultural phenomenon imitated by the church, especially if it is a few years behind the original. That means your Duck Dynasty teaching series this Fall is right on time! Anything #hashtag, selfie or instagram driven might just now be cresting in Christian culture, and presumably aging like fine wine in your community. No matter what, it is always best to act as cool, awesome and relevant as possible. So if you’re stuck, plan to go to the next hip Christian conference this year to see what you are missing.

6. Talk at the Community – Much like insider language, people really want to feel alienated and even bullied into a saving knowledge of Jesus. It is always best to assume that they don’t know anything, and you know everything. It is a good practice to check the Tea Party or Blaze posts on your Facebook feed to see how a good, pointedly pushy headline should read. Everyone will be SUPER excited to hear what the topic of your next message series is going to be, once they figure out what “message series” might actually mean.

7. Don’t Include a Map – If they want it bad enough, they can find you. Plus everyone in the community must know who you are, especially if you are consistent with “dusty Bibles lead to dirty hearts” pun-ny evangelistic techniques on the church sign.

All snarkiness aside, well crafted and thoughtful mailers can be an effective tool in reaching people and can receive more than the typical 3 seconds of attention. Here are three, more helpful, practices for an effective community mailer:

1. Invest beyond Printing and Postage. Time spent in defining the audience and design excellence is as valuable to the staying power of your direct mail piece as the printing and postage is to the arriving power. Don’t pander for lowest common denominator buzz, like “F-word” shock attention, but create a central message that has meaning to the actual person you are trying to reach. Thensupport that message with great design and a coherent brandconnected to your actual personality and presence as a church.

2. Keep it Clean and Clear. In the design-investment phase of your next direct mail piece, answer 4 questions of clarity: who, what, when and why.
     Who are we targeting with this mailer and what matters most to that group? 
     What are we asking or inviting them to do, and does it make sense in the real world? 
     When do we want them to do it, and have we moved beyond just broadcasting general awareness and hopeful information with a time sensitive approach?
     Why should it matter to them, or why should they care about what we are saying or offering? 
If your next idea for a mailer cannot easily reflect this level of simplicity, and OBVIOUSLY answer these questions, go back to the drawing board or use your advertising dollars in a more effective way.

3. Define the Next Step. Nine out of ten first time guests will visit your church’s website before they set foot on your church’s property. Even more important than a map or list of service times, then, is a clear and compelling invitation to experience your online presence. Adding value to this invitation through current, community-directed content, a fresh welcome video or advertised event registration increases the likelihood that a recipient would do more than give your mailer a glance on the way to the wastebasket. Also, remember to check the age of your web content before the direct mail piece is sent. Nothing is worse the rotating Christmas Eve banners being seen in mid-January.

>> Read more from Bryan.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Bryan Rose, direct mail, ineffective direct mail

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The Announcement Dilemma: 8 Reasons Your Congregation Tunes You Out During Announcements

by: Rich Birch

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This weekend all across the country people are going to get up in front of their churches and talk about upcoming events and opportunities to connect with community. They want to move their people to action but in reality a large portion of the room will simply tune out for that part of the service and then tune back in when something more interesting comes along. You know it’s true … because you’ve done it!

We get belligerent and blame the people for not engaging in the mission. Sort of like a shepherd blaming the sheep for not going to the right pasture. We need to understand why people are stopping to listen to shifting our behavior to help them connect with what we’re talking about … here are 8 reasons people aren’t listening to your announcements:

• What’s in it for them? // We want to get them to attend our event. We need volunteers for the upcoming thing. We have a need that we are hoping they will fill. We focus too much on what’s in it for us … but people are intrinsically motivated to pay attention to things that will positively impact them. Frame your announcements in a way that shows how what you are talking about is going to make a difference to them.
• Too Much Insider Language. // Why do church leaders love cute names for programs and acronyms? These are surefire way to alienate your audience because they need a dictionary to understand what all the different “special names” are for the events and programs at your church. Work hard to ensure that you use plain language that everyone can understand.
• You need to sell not market. // Marketing is about making sure that people understand about the features and benefits of your product or service. Sales is about working with people individually to overcome their objections and get them to sign on the dotted line. Church leaders think way too much about “marketing” to people when what you need to do is think about “selling”. Who is person that is going to talk to people directly about engaging with your church?
• No Heart. // Do you feel like yawning while you’re doing the announcements? Imagine what your people are thinking! If you don’t connect your message with their heart every once and while they will stop listening. People want to know why you are passionate about what you are talking about. Move beyond dates, times and locations to the big “why” behind what you are talking about that moves you emotionally.
• Too much noise. // You want your people to take away the teaching points from the message . . . to chew on what difference that will make in their lives for the coming week. Everything can just be noise. Every time you add another announcement you add exponentially reduces it’s effectiveness in breaking through. Two announcements are 30% as effective as one … three is 90% less effective as one. How are you ensuring that you are doing the minimal number of announcements possible to ensure maximum impact?
• Bad News Bill // Is it always the same person from the finance team that gets up once a month to tell the church how much they are behind on offering? People will learn to tune out that messaging quickly. If you are always the barer of bad news … people will stop listening. Don’t “candy coat” everything … but avoid using the public stage as the place to disseminate bad news.
• Wrong Audience. // If you are announcing the up coming hiker club trip to the wilderness on Tuesday afternoon . . . which maybe 2% of the audience could possibly attend . . . you are telling 98% of the audience to ignore you. By having announcements that only focus a small part of your community your are training your people to tune you out. If your announcement doesn’t impact 50% or more of the people in the room … why are you talking about it?
• Too Much Treadmill. // When was the last time you celebrated something fun that happened at your church? If you are always taking time to market what’s coming up next you are missing an opportunity to engage (and reward) people who have been involved in something already at the church. Celebrate your people and what they are doing . . . they’ll listen more.

>> Read more from Rich.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Rich Birch, Sunday morning announcements

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Stop Promoting. Instead, Start Telling a Story Worth Sharing

by: Seth Godin

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“Our biggest problem is awareness”

If that’s your mantra, you’re working to solve the wrong problem.

If your startup, your non-profit or your event is suffering because of a lack of awareness, the solution isn’t to figure out some way to get more hype, more publicity or more traffic. Those are funnel solutions, designed to fix an ailing process by dumping more attention at the top, hoping more conversion comes out the bottom.

The challenge with this approach is that it doesn’t scale. Soon, you’ll have no luck at all getting more attention, even with ever more stunts or funding.

No, the solution lies in re-organizing your systems, in re-creating your product or service so that it becomes worth talking about. When you do that, your customers do the work of getting you more noticed. When you produce something remarkable, more use leads to more conversation which leads to more use.

No, it won’t be a perfect virus, starting with ten people and infecting the world. But yes, you can dramatically impact the ‘more awareness’ problem by investing heavily in a funnel that doesn’t leak, in a story that’s worth spreading.

Read more from Seth here.

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Seth Godin

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Using Social Media as a Christ Follower: One Principle and Three Questions

by: Will Mancini

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After taking LifeWay Christian Stores through a vision process, I not only shop there often, I go with a different mindset. Their mission is passionately engaging believers on their journey of faith. The big idea is to be an oasis-outfitter. A place that feels at the same time like a refreshing oasis and an REI outfitter, for your spiritual life.

Because I’m a father to Abby, my 15-year old daughter, I recently  picked up a new piece of equipment: a book by Kate Conner titled,  Enough: 10 Things we Should be Telling our Teenage Girls.

Here is a takeaway that I think brings immediate value to any Christian using social media.

ONE PRINCIPLE

Conner argues that the answer to problems with social media don’t center around removing social media itself. Rather it involves the commitment to:

Take the good, leave the rest.

She cites 1 Thess. 5:21: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” Here is where her words grabbed me:

• Take the enjoyment, leave the addiction
• Take the communication, leave the isolation
• Take the inspiration and leave the jealously

Good stuff. And remember what Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

THREE QUESTIONS

1. What story am I telling?

If you look at the ongoing communication of social media what is the dominant theme and meaning of your life. What are you all about? Travel? Parenting? Sports? Work? Criticism? Food?

2. If I went back and read all of my social media statuses, would I recognize me?

Conner emphasizes that our heat-of-the-moment selves are not our best selves.

3. If I want back and read all of my social media statuses would I know I was a Christian?

Great questions to bring clarity to your life. What questions would you add?

> Read more from Will here

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Enough: 10 Things We Should Be Telling Our Teenage Girls, Kate Conner, LifeWay Christian Stores, Social Media, Will Mancini

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15 Ideas to Help You Evaluate Your Church Bulletin

by: Rich Birch

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Recently I emailed some friends and asked them to grab their bulletins from their weekend services at their church and mail them to me. I was overwhelmed when just over 100 that arrived in my mailbox or email! It was so fun looking in at what’s going on at so many churches across the country. I asked for this bulletins because I wanted to learn from what other churches are doing to regularly communicate with their people through this channel. I’ve picked out some of the pieces that stood out to me and provided them here for you to check out as well. How are you leveraging your church bulletin (or program … or worship folder … or whatever you call it) to communicate with your people? I hope these inspire you to reconsider how you can make it better … I know it did for me! [You can download all 17 bulletins in one ZIP file.]

• It’s doesn’t have to be in full color. // You’ll notice that a number of the bulletins that I’m going to highlight use color to communicate but good design can go a long way with a black and white bulletin. I like what Beulah Alliance Church did with a custom printed stationary (with a stripe of color) and then the rest of it’s in B&W. [Good design is about thinking through how you place the information in an attractive manner … color is optional.]
• The Bigger the Church … The Smaller the Bulletin // I noticed that larger churches seem to limit more what is in the bulletin. Although these ministries have a lot to offer their their people … they narrow the focus of this piece exclusively on what people need to know to take their next step. This is a discipline that I think churches of all sizes should mimic. What actually needs to be in this piece? [North Point in Atlanta has over 25,000 people every weekend but they have one of the smallest bulletins I’ve ever seen!]
• Branded to the Message // The core of a great weekend service experience is the teaching. Many of the bulletins that caught my eye were designed around the message that the Pastor was giving that weekend. This helps to build anticipation in the people attending as well give a sense where the morning is going right from the moment they come in. [Check out how Celebration Church branded the bulletin to their Christmas Series.]
• Make Financials Easy to Understand // If you are going to communicate where your church is at financially make sure to communicate it in a way that is easily understood by non-numbers people. Many churches have “financial reports” in their bulletins but they aren’t clear what they are attempting to communicate. [Check out how simple Central Church made it to understand where they are at.]
• Pictures > Words // We live in an increasingly visual culture. It’s not that people can’t read … it’s just that they don’t. Find ways to add more pictures and images in your bulletin to communicate what you are trying to get across. Find some pictures of people from your church and include them in the bulletin. Use images to draw people’s eyes to what you want to communicate. [Check out how Christ Church of the Valley uses images to communicate!] NOTE: CCV’s bulletin is my favorite of all the ones I received. I love the short story about people being impacted by the church … love how clear what to do if I’m new … love how simply they communicate next steps.
• Repurpose Other Design Elements // Increasingly churches are using slides and graphics to support the announcements portion of the service. Why not take those images and reuse them in your program? If it’s a big enough deal to talk about from stage … it’s a big enough deal to take up more space in the bulletin and use that same slide. [Check out how Christ Community reuses it’s slides.]
• Take the Space to Make it Simple // Are you trying to introduce your people to something new? Take the space to make it super simple to understand. I noticed a number of churches are trying to get people to move to “Text to Give” services. It can be confusing for people who are doing it for the first time. [Notice how Christ Fellowship tried to simplify this process with a simple 4 step process.]
• More is Not Better // Rampant across many of the bulletins I received was just way too much information. If you are ever thinking to yourself “How small of a font can I use and still have people read it?” … you have way too much in your bulletin. So many bulletins had literally dozens and dozens of “calls to action” contained within them … people can’t respond to all that! If you make everything “special” and put it in your bulletin … nothing will be special. [This was a noble attempt by Creekside church to inform people about everything that is going on at their church … but I think it gets lost in how many different things are communicated!] I’d be tempted to slip in an announcement in that bulletin that offers to give people a free $10 iTunes gift card to the first 10 people who read and respond to see if people are actually reading all that. [Doncaster Church is another example of this issue.]
• Declare Your Strategy // Can you articulate your approach to ministry in a straight forward way that makes sense to people who are reading it for the first time? The bulletin is a great place to communicate to your guests how your ministry “works” and what their next steps are. [I think First Baptist Spartanburg does a great job summarizing their 4 fold strategy in their bulletin.] I love the reflective questions listed … they engage people in self reflection and invite them into the mission.
• Perforated Response Cards // Many of the programs that stood out to me had perforated parts for people to tear off and respond. This is an effective way to follow up with first time guests or collect information on how people are reacting to the service. [Check out how First Christian has a “week specific” response tear off that lines up with the announcements for that weekend.] They were looking for people to volunteer with transportation and a Christmas project and had a simple check box response form to respond to those asks.
• Discipleship Embedded Bulletin // What if the bulletin was a discipleship piece? What if it offered help for people and didn’t just try to get something from people? [I dig how Genesis Church has a Bible reading and reflection plan right in their bulletin!]
• Don’t Have a Bulletin! // A number of the friends that I asked to send me something told me that they’ve dropped the bulletin all together. There is a trend of moving away from this printed piece as just sending out a weekly email or maybe hosting it on a blog. Churches are opting out of the bulletin for cost savings, environment stewardship and effectiveness. [Here is an example from a Harvest Bible Chapel of the email that they send out to their entire database every week.]
• Best Use of a Beard // [I love the cover of Open Door’s Bulletin.] Too much fun.
• Help Your Guests Know What to Expect // When I was a kid I remember using the “bulletin” to try to figure out how much longer I had to sit through the service .. our church had the entire order of service printed in it. It seems like most churches have wisely moved away from this sort of “service order” listing in their program … however there is still value in helping your guests anticipate what is going to happen. Not knowing what is going to happen during the service is particularly nerve wracking for a first time guest! [Check out how South Point clearly defines what’s happening at their service.]
• Contextual Contact Information // Who should your guests talk to when they need help at your church? Often churches seem to make it hard to find contact information on the various key leaders that guests should connect with if they have questions. [I like how obvious Sugar Grove Church makes it to find contact information for various departments.] Help people connect with people … not departments. Give out contact information for actual people! [I love how The Meeting House provides the direct cel phone number of their campus pastor right on their program … that campus is a few thousand people … and you can call the Campus Pastor directly.] (Try it! Tell Matt I say hi!)

I’d love you to provide a link to your bulletin (or program!) in the comments section. What do you think your piece does particularly well? At my church we focus our bulletin totally on the first time guests … I don’t think our “regulars” look at bulletin at all. We used to have this cool “story of us” on the inside of our program every week for about 18 months. I liked that piece because I think it brought people up to speed quickly on who we are. I also like our current version of “what to expect” … I think it makes it pretty clear what is about to happen for our guests. I’d love to hear about yours!

>> Read more from Rich here

Tags: Attention, Awareness, Brand, Rich Birch

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