Ministry 2.0, The Unchurched
October 9th, 2009 by matt
Advancing Your Church in the Brave New Wall-less, Wireless, Worn-out World
- Re-instate that we believe in Jesus
- Re-assert that we are not the Jesus police, we’re not judges of other people – people are messy, and they already feel ashamed enough.
- Re-gain our creative energy – Men & Women who love and follow God are some of the most creative people in the entire world. When people look at church, the first thing they think is “boring”
- Re-tool our institutions for dynamic movement
The Unchurched
June 15th, 2009 by matt
Here at 12Stone Church we are always trying to give ourselves away in order that lives will be saved and people will live their lives to the fullest. It’s only natural that constantly improving our online presence and how we use the web as a means of reaching out to the lost. I believe that online ministry should be viewed as an emerging ministry opportunity for the church.
So how do we go about using this emerging ministry to reach and save others? I have a few thoughts but I’m open to ideas. There are some pretty simple and basic answers, no doubt, such as facebook, twitter, blogs, podcasts, e-newsletters, etc. but what about any out-of-the-norm ideas for how to expand on what we already have?
Share your thoughts, I want to hear them!
The Unchurched
May 26th, 2009 by matt
Just read this great post by a fellow blogger about how unimportant your churches website is. Yes, you heard me right… Your website is NOT important. It’s about the content, the message that you’re trying to convey. People don’t care where they get the information as long as they get it.
Instead of making your site a destination, meet people where they are. Meaning connect with people on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, etc. The list of places that you can connect goes on and on, you don’t have to be up to date on everything new that is out there. As long as you’re taking action towards meeting people where they are then you are headed in the right direction.
You don’t get The Unchurched interested in your church by sitting inside the walls hoping that they will come, what makes you think that getting them to your website is any different? You need to reach out to the outside world, and you should use the tools that Unchurched people are already using in order to connect with them.
Nobody Cares About Your Website
The Unchurched
May 11th, 2009 by matt
I read a recent post about How to Make Crack Cocaine, Bombs, and Commit Suicide and how churches should be using their resources to prevent people from using this kind of information.
I think that this is a great point and churches need to focus on where people who hurt go and meet them there if at all possible. I completely agree with everything said in this article, however the trick is how do we do it? I know SEO, marketing and web design so I have a few thoughts on how to accomplish this.
1. Use a microsite – If you want to grab their attention, then you’re going to want to have a look and feel that these people can connect to. Most likely this will not go along with what your church members like.
2. DO NOT link to it from your church website – This can cause search engines to think that your website has to do with this stuff and that is something you don’t want happening. Leave your website for info to church goers.
3. Paid Advertising – Chances of you getting high rankings in the search engines for this stuff is SLIM TO NONE. If you do a search for “how to kill yourself” or “ways to commit suicide” you’ll find there are over 3 million sites talking about this. It would take months of SEO for you to begin competing with them. Why not spend $.25/click or less to have a paid advertisement on Google that appears at the top just about every time with NO SEO needed?
4. Keep it relevant – If you’re going to try and combat this stuff then you’re going to need to have something relevant to what they are going through. Don’t just throw out scripture, use compelling graphics, a Godly view of things and throw in a scripture or two of not how it is WRONG but how God offers a WAY OUT.
12Stone Church, The Unchurched, Web Design
May 4th, 2009 by matt
Wikipedia defines a microsite as an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. Large corporations have been using them to launch a new product line, host a contest, market to a specific group of people, and to build branding awareness. Recently some of the more influential churches have started to do the same and it’s no surprise that they are successfully capturing their audience’s attention.
One example of this is a relatively new church called Courageous Church based in Atlanta, GA. Instead of spending a lot of money on marketing and advertisements the decided to offer free breakfast every sunday. To capitalize on this idea they used a micro site with it’s own branding and basic information about the free breakfast. Free Breakfast Church.
Another great example from the same church is the Church Sucks Challenge which was another microsite launched to focus in on the unchurched people in the community that have a negative view on church. This was done during the grand opening to draw people straight from the community rather than from other local churches.
Here at 12Stone Church we have a pretty good understanding of microsites. To keep from cluttering up our current website and trying to squeeze everything on the home page we just build another website for the purpose of the specific event.
12Stone Church Microsites:
Something new that we’re trying this year is the sponsorship of the Gwinnett Braves on Tuesdays. To go along with this sponsorship we have a LED sign by third base, a spot in the bulletin, and a table to hand out fliers. Everything that we hand out at the stadium directs people to our microsite that we setup at http://thirdbase.12stone.com/.
Churches need to keep up with the times and watch the big dogs to see what works and what doesn’t. Just think of how your church can “market” itself to the unchurched or younger generations through a microsite.
I dare you to share how your church is using microsites.
