DISCOVERY DAYSCommunicating Faith in the 21st Century

Colossians 4:6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

ColossiansLetter to the church of Colossae

On the Great Road from Ephesus to the Euphrates

Paul probably hadn’t been there. But it was a main thoroughfare.

Paul went to the ports. The hubs. Then the message went viral.

Colossae was a spoke on a Hub

This is very important when we think of communication. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi knew this when he wrote the book Linked: How Everything Is connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life. Barabasi is a mathematician and the book was sort of tech/business, and he was trying to explain what is happening with communications, and he did it by pointing to the travels of Paul and the first apostles.

Why would the Apostles be a model for 21st century

communications?Because when they went to spread the good news, they went to the hubs. They were very smart. They went to the port cities and the places where their message would move from the Apostles’ mouths, to traders, to the great road, to boats. Their message went viral.

This letter to the Colossians proves that. The apostles and the church were corresponding, even though they had not met.

Where are our hubs?

Barabassi says that the apostles’ journeys are very important for today.

We need to imagine where are hubs are.

We need to find where our communication has the most traction.

Hubs in churches

We might have the Presbyterian Women who are really good at communicating things.

We might have a young mom who loves to be on Facebook.

We might have an office manager who loves to put together the weekly email blast.

I went to one church that always put announcements on the bathroom stalls.

Can you name your hubs?

Where are your hubs?

Where are your ports in your church?

Who are the effective communicators

Hubs in your community

What about in your community?

When we’re thinking about getting the word out, how do we do it?

Know HOW you ought to answer everyone

I’m going to name several hubs right now. This might mess with your comfort level.

You don’t need to know everything. Pastors, you don’t need to do everything.

Focus on 2-3 things—things you’re good at, things you’re interested in, things you enjoy.

See how it works, then after 6 months, shift and adjust.

What percentage of time do you spend on communication?

Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers says that new businesses need to spend 50% of their time developing their product and 50% getting the word out about their product.

If we translate that into our setting, that would mean that 50% of our time would be spent on worship, programs, care, and 50% would be spent on evangelism and communicating to the outside world.

What percentage of time do you spend on communication?

How much time do we spend on evangelism?

What do our committee structures look like? Is there a group committed to communication?

Whose job is it in our church?

Are we intentional about building traction?

Ten Hubs for Your ChurchAdapted from the book Traction.

Viral communication—encouraging members to invite others. Word of mouth. It’s still the best!

There are ways to make viral communications electronic.

Send out emails that can be forwarded.

Send out FB invitations, and encourage others to invite people.

Each time you announce some event, you can say, “Invite your friends!” “Please forward this invitation to someone who might be interested.” “Please Retweet.”

Ten Hubs for Your Church

Public relations—getting your name out there in traditional media outlets: TV, magazines, newspapers, radio.

Learn how to write a press release or assign someone to do it.

Have your outreach/evangelism/communications committee contact traditional media for every special event.

Ten Hubs for Your Church

Unconventional PR—stunts (see slide later on)

Search engine marketing—advertising on Google and other search engines. Make sure that a group from your church reviews the church for Google maps.

Social Ads—Facebook, twitter, and review sites like Yelp.

Offline Ads—Billboards, magazines, newspapers, NPR station. These ads reach seniors.

Ten Hubs for Your Church

Content Evangelism—Blogs, sermon podcasts.

Email—Many churches send out a blast each week, along with newsletter content.

Ten Hubs for Your Church

Offline Events

Hosting a concert, book signing, or needed community gathering (like a forum on parents with autistic children).

Or make sure that your church is represented at community events (parades, farmer’s markets, festivals).

Ten Hubs for Your Church

Community building—Make sure your church connects with the larger community.

Who is in the neighborhood?

Is there a school, organization, arts, or farming community with whom you can work in partnership?

Reach out and partner with people who have common goals

How Can Our Speech Be Seasoned with Salt?

How can we make it salient, make it interesting?

Daniel Pink’s Whole New Mind says that facts are cheap. With search engines, we can look them up on our phones. We need to communicate with stories. Stories with emotional depth and context.

Seasoned with salt

Paul Raushenbush, a pastor and editor of Huffington Post’s religion section says that denominational churches complain that we don’t get media coverage. In response, he says we need to do something interesting!

Seasoned with Salt

Do something seasoned with salt.

This is the unconventional PR.

This is John the Baptist in the crying in the wilderness with locusts and wild honey.

Seasoned with Salt

When Occupy Wall Street happened, Jennifer Butler, a Presbyterian minister and a group of clergy made a golden calf. They paraded with it down Wall Street. The image was clear--we made the bull market our idol.

Seasoned with Salt

In Chattanooga, a local bank was foreclosing on a woman’s home right before Christmas. It was an unjust foreclosure, due to clerical errors, and paperwork that didn’t go through. Mercy Junction dressed up in Christmas pageant clothing, and read the magnificat in front of the bank.

Seasoned with Salt

When Eric Garner was killed, Mercy Junction set up a memorial and prayer vigil on Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga. It was a place where a man had been lynched.

When TN blocked a medicare expansion, Mercy Junction held a funeral service for all of the poor people who were going to die.

Let Your Speech Be Gracious

In this day of Internet trolls, misogyny, and racism, this is a timely reminder.

People say things on line that they would never say in face-to-face communication.