Church Brand Architects

Posts Tagged ‘Faith Based’

Today I present a post by guest blogger Mike Holmes. This will be the start of a wonderful relationship between our two blogs, and hopefully Mike will be a continuing guest blogger on our site. Mike the author of I Shall Raise Thee Up: Ancient Principles for Lasting Greatness. He’s also a blogger that writes on leadership development from a Biblical perspective. Please Enjoy.

The web is still buzzing about Pope Benedict’s message to his priests: go forth into the world and blog the Gospel! In his message he acknowledged that cultural shifts have brought conversations online…but…the church must be willing to change its methods to better communicate the Message. He wrote:

“Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ.”

And it’s no wonder! With his own iPhone App, Facebook page, YouTube channel, his growing influence on the web, and his nickname (via Mashable)–the “social media pontiff” could he tell them any different?

Social media and its social effect

It’s no secret that social media is growing at a mind-bogglingly high level–with Facebook and Twitter leading the pack! And we can’t deny it has an inescapable presence in our lives.

Case in point, the Haiti Crisis:

• It wasn’t the news media that first picked up the effects… it was through Twitter.
• A video of the quake was broadcasted on YouTube
• Wyclef Jean galvanized support through Twitter
• Red Cross raised millions through a text messaging campaign and through their Twitter page…in a matter of moments!
• CNN, in the earliest stages, was the news organization with the most material on the quake, and they enriched their work with social media.

It’s changed the way we do business as 94% of companies sponsoring online communities plan to increase their social networking support as well as engage with other social media tools.

Oh!! And let’s not forget my man “Pants on the Ground” becoming an internet sensation…and being adopted as the Minnesota Viking’s official mascot!!

But what about ministry?

Social Media and the Church

USA Today wrote an article today about the changing ministry model. The article summed it up best in saying, “the congregational model is suffering.”Add to the fact that according to a study of  U.S. congregations — only 19% say they are in excellent financial health, down from 31% in 2000. Less than half (48%) could report at least 2% growth in worship attendance, down from 58% in 2005. Because of this many churches have closed down or “merged” with more prosperous ministries.

Also Barna group estimates that in 2010 10% of Americans will rely exclusively on the internet.

The landscape has truly changed!

It seems going forward we’re only left with two options:

1. Embrace social media as a tool that can be used in spreading the Gospel, meeting the needs of people, and overall Kingdom work
2. Or, reject these changes, and continue to go forward.

The choice is yours…

The end of the matter

I must admit…I could care less about church growth!

Huh!

Leading people to a building means nothing to me!

However, leading people to a relationship, or a greater relationship with Christ is everything! And if social media gives me the tools to do that, affect my community, and inspire spiritual maturity in God’s people…then I’m all for it!

What are your thoughts?

Guest Blogger Mike Holmes

Bio: Mike Holmes is the author of I Shall Raise Thee Up: Ancient Principles for Lasting Greatness. He’s also a blogger that writes on leadership development from a Biblical perspective. It’s leadership by the Book! When he’s not writing blogs or speaking he can be found writing bios in the third person. Check out his website/blog here.

For all of my i-phone and mobile friends – Here is a quick and dirty to update and merge your email and contact with Google. Thanks to the people at wired.com on this tutorial.

One good thing – if you are using Google calendar in your office or website – this will allow you to stay updated as well as your administrator. Just good stuff. Read the link below.

wired. com

The ChurchBrand Architect

Urban Church Marketing

On Wednesday May 21, 2008, over 250 faith based and non-profit organizations came together at the New York Theological Seminary for a one day conference on economic development. A world class panel of 12, (interesting that number 12, it’s the same number of disciples that accompanied Jesus on his journey, but I digress) were on hand to assist others in helping to decipher the intricacies of developing church properties.

For those who may not know, development is simply making a property better than it was. Many ministries today are owners of some of the most valuable real estate in the world. Yet they have little knowledge or expertise on how to maximize what they have. Abundant Communities Together , a faith based economic development corporation (CDC) saw the need and produced this conference and your Church Brand Architects were there.

What did we bring to the table? We brought an often neglected perspective on how to communicate the vision as it relates to the development of church properties, by asking four questions:

• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• Who do we serve?
• And most importantly why should anyone care?

This is the first step that any church must take in the vision casting process.

This conference had major sponsors such as Citicorp. Aetna, the Greater New York Development Corporation, the Community Preservation Corporation and a host of others.

Dr. Calvin Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and Dr, Fred Lucas, president and CEO of Faith Center For Community Development, Inc., a national, nonprofit organization providing training, technical assistance, and funding for church-based community development headquartered in Manhattan, New York.

This stellar group dropped some serious knowledge on all who attended. Progressive ministries are looking for ways to go beyond their church walls to impact their communities. But the general consensus at the end of the day. If there is no marketing or communication plan in place, the project will go no where.

Vision without a plan and Execution is a Hallucination.

Stay tuned for more posts on faith based economic development and best practices on communicating the vision.

Lloyd Duggan is our resident guest blogger on word of mouth marketing. Known as the Word of Mouth Guru, he has been a panelist all across the country. Lloyd is the president of gL Marketing Consultants of Connecticut. Lloyd’s insights can be found on his Blog The Word of Mouth Guru.