Why And How Evangelicals Can Follow The Church Liturgical Calendar

Why would, say, a Southern Baptist church follow the Christian Year – especially a Baptist Church that has more 20-something members than members in any other age group?  Isn’t the liturgical calendar just for Catholics? Or isn’t it an out-of-date, awkward intrusion on our modern sensibilities?

Our young, Baptist church doesn’t think so, which is why we are always moving in the rhythms of this calendar, from Advent to Pentecost. More and more Christians are rediscovering this historic practice, and growing in the truth and knowledge of Christ. As author Lauren Winner has said:

“I want the Christian story to shape everything I do, even how I reckon time. I want it to be truer and more essential to me than school’s calendar, or Hallmark’s calendar, or the calendar set by the IRS. I want the rhythms of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost to be more basic to my life than the days on which my quarterly estimated taxes are due.”

 

We shouldn’t treat the church calendar as if it were commanded in Scripture, like baptism and communion are commanded. It is simply a practice of historic Christianity that continuously stirs reflection, anticipation and action in the hearts of God’s people for the whole, big story of the gospel.

How To Observe The Christian Year

Here are three resources to introduce you to the Christian Year. The first two will help you plan corporate worship services during each season of the year. The third will help you prepare your church members for moving in the rhythms of the Christian Year during the week:

• The Worship Sourcebook, by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (ed. John Witvliet)
• The Services of the Christian Year by Robert E. Webber
• Living The Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross (preface by Lauren Winner, from whence comes the quote by Winner in this blog post, above)

For a quick description of each season of the Christian Year, see this article I wrote for worship service planners and songwriters.

We encourage ministry leaders and all of our community group leaders to lead their people in the rhythms of the Christian Year as well. Many of our community groups have done things like Epiphany Feasts, Easter cookouts and group Advent calendars. Teach your people about the themes of each season. Then let them dream up ways to commemorate these seasons in their groups and families.

Answers To Common Objections

1. Seriously, isn’t this a Catholic thing?

By the 2^nd century, Easter was celebrated as a 50-day season. The full Christian Year was developed by the 4^th century. As our Worship & Arts Pastor Mike Cosper wrote in Rhythms Of Grace: How The Church’s Worship Tells The Story Of The Gospel,

“To many Protestants, the church calendar may seem like an arbitrary regulation, a testimony to authority and micromanagement from Rome, but for it’s authors, it was designed pastorally. The church calendar was designed to walk believers through the story of the gospel every year, from the incarnation to the ascension. If we allow historic prejudice to color our perspective too heavily, we lose sight of the brilliant, pastoral creativity that shaped some of the church’s inventions.”

Since the Reformation, many church leaders have found the Christian Year to be helpful for their congregations – Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and other denominations and movements.

And ironically, the “civil” calendar of 365.2425 days from January to December can be considered a “Catholic” calendar just as much as the Christian Year. This civil calendar, instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, is officially called the Gregorian Calendar.

2. Aren’t seasons like Advent and Lent too dark, requiring us to plan worship services that treat the cross and resurrection as if these events haven’t already happened, and Christ isn’t already victorious?

We would never live and worship as if Christ hasn’t come, or ask people to refrain from basking in this good, good news! Remember that Christians began worshiping together on Sunday because it is “the Lord’s day” – the day Christ rose from the grave. Every Sunday, regardless of the season, is a “little Easter.”

In fact, the Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter are not counted as part of the “40 days of Lent.” We do craft our services with a “Lenten focus” because corporate worship on Sundays should, in part, prepare people for worship Monday – Saturday. But our Sundays always include Communion, and always include celebrations of assurance that Christ has died for our sins and is risen from the grave, seated at the right hand of the Father.

 Photo above from Boston Public Library, used via Creative Commons license

How To Embrace Change While Holding Onto Your Core

“Every leader needs to etch some things in granite (never-change core) and write some things in sand (must-change methods). The problem is that when we fail to clarify and nurture things written in granite, our people get too attached to the things written in sand …

“The leader’s role is not just to communicate in both granite and sand but to show how the two components work together. The leader should help people embrace change by nurturing an emotional connection to the unchanging core vision.”

– Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, And Create Movement, by Will Mancini

Church leaders often struggle to discern granite from sand. We see it in church communication, in worship music, in evangelistic tools and methods. As much as we might have trouble seeing it — or as much as we may not want to see it — here are some things that may prove to be sand:

• Facebook
• Your blog
• Guitars
• Verse-Chorus-Bridge songs
• Sunday School
• Trunk-or-Treat

Some of these may prove to be sand within the decade. Others may prove to be sand within the century, or three centuries from now. Regardless, our core values and vision, stemming from the gospel, must drive everything.

The Flaw In Your Church Communication Strategy

“In most communication models, there’s a speaker and a listener or sender and a receiver. At our churches, many of us are accustomed to playing the role of the speaker, the communicator. Let’s do what we can to wear the other hat as often as possible. When we do, I bet we’ll learn a lot about what’s working, what’s not and why. I bet we’ll be inundated with ideas for new strategies, new channels and new messages. Frankly, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — many of our best ideas come when we decide to listen.”

— Scott McClellan (@ScottMcClellan), “Never Trust A Skinny Chef,” from Outspoken: Conversations On Church Communications

• Pastors and church Communications staff, how are you listening to your members and attendees?
• Worship leaders, how are you listening?
• Songwriters, what about you?

All communicators need to listen.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” – James 1:19

“To answer before listening—
that is folly and shame.” – Proverbs 18:13

How To Please God And Bring Out The Best In Everyone Around You

Is it fitting to acclaim the skill of those who serve the Lord? Or put another way, is it right to honor and encourage them regarding the skill they display as they serve the Lord?

The Bible records that King Hezekiah

“encouraged all the Levites regarding the skill they displayed as they served the Lord” during the Passover festival where “each day they sang to the Lord with all their strength, accompanied by loud instruments” (II Chronicles 30:21-22).

God wants us to hear His encouraging approval of our service in His name.  King Hezekiah was not silenced by the Lord when he encouraged the Levites as they served the people by leading them in worship during the Passover festival, using the skills God had given them to sing praises and play instruments with all of their strength.  God did not disapprove of this encouraging approval of His servants.

Let me be clear: it is not right for anyone to covet the praise that belongs to God alone.  We’re all tempted to desire acclaim and fame for ourselves, even those who serve as worship leaders commissioned to use our skills to point others to Christ, leading them in worship of His great name.

If we’re honest, we’ll admit we usually like it when people tell us we are great and gifted.  Oh yes, sometimes we servants of God forget the source of our strength and skill and think for a minute (or more) that we can take credit for God’s giftedness.

But God in His goodness and love responds to our arrogance by convicting us through His Spirit, teaching us again that all praise, glory and honor belongs to the One who has given us all that we have, and empowered us to do all that we do.  Praise God for disciplining us in His love when we need it. He is good to humble us and give us wisdom by teaching us to fear Him.

But He is also good to encourage us as we persevere in the work He’s called us to do.  He is not an unkind or ungracious taskmaster.  He knows that we are prone to grow weary in well-doing.  He knows our human nature and the frailty of our frame.  And our Good Shepherd is faithful to meet all of our needs, including our need for affirmation and encouragement.

Remember what the Psalmist and worship leader David said about God’s thoughts toward him and us? They are precious and outnumber the grains of sand on the shores of the seas. They cannot be counted (Psalm 139)!  Our Father delights when His children do what is pleasing to Him, including faithfully and skillfully serving Him and His people.  He is pleased when we prepare to serve Him and His people with excellence, by cultivating the skill and ability He’s given to us.  We honor Him when we steward well His strength within us.

I also believe God is pleased when we, like King Hezekiah, regularly share His encouragement with our brothers and sisters, fellow servants of the Lord.  I believe it honors the Lord when we say to each other things like,

• “Well done! You have served beautifully with the skills [list them] that God has given you.”
• “Thank you for taking the time to study and practice and prepare to serve the Lord with excellence.”
• “Thank you for being faithful to willingly serve the Lord and His people.  Be encouraged that God is displaying His beauty and strength through your life of service to Him.” 

These are just a few examples of how we can appropriately encourage one another as we serve the Lord together in whatever roles He’s given us.  Our encouragement should simultaneously direct our hearts to worship the One who has gifted and empowered us to serve Him and His people.

So, let me end by expressing encouragement to all of you: Thank you for faithfully and excellently serving the Lord and His people by seeking to honor Him in stewarding well the gifts He’s entrusted to you.  May you press on to know the Lord who has strengthened and skilled you for service!

Four Ways To Get People To Volunteer For Your Worship Team

Create A Clear Pathway

At Sojourn, we hold a quarterly audition night. We have occasionally let new church members into the team when we know they’ve got the talent and experience, if the next audition night is a month or more away. No need to make them wait when their entrance into the team would be a foregone conclusion. But this is the exception, not the rule. Our Audition Night is the pathway that we consistently offer and promote, and thus is the clear way to join Sojourn Music.

Promote Your Pathway

Six weeks’ before each Audition Night, Sojourn Music Administrative Assistant Erika St. Clair sends me the link to a new registration form and the text of an announcement, which lets prospective worship leaders know which songs to learn and what to expect on Audition Night. I promote it in this way:

• A blog post on sojournmusic.com
• A listing in the church Event Calendar at sojournchurch.com
• Regularly scheduled tweets and Facebook updates from @sojournmusic and @sojourn accounts (1-2 per week until one week before audition. About 3 tweets the final week, then another the day of the audition).
• A listing in the Sojourn Church Sunday Bulletins — a printed bulletin we hand to all church attendees, which includes that day’s sermon notes and announcements.
• Verbal announcement from the stage on the Sunday before the Audition Night.
• A notice in the Weekly Email to church members, in each of the final two weeks’ before Audition Night.

Ask Your Team Members To Promote The Pathway

We encourage musicians already on the Sojourn Music team to use social media and face-to-face interactions to let people know about the Audition Night. Each person on the team has their own friends, their own Community Group circle, and their own connections. Also, we have four campuses, so the team members from each respective campus are a great help in reaching church members on the campus-specific level.

When we have auditions coming up, our worship pastors like Mike Cosper and Jamie Barnes promote it from their individual accounts. Many of our worship leaders do as well. Kristen wrote our “How To Prepare For Worship Team Auditions” article here at My Song In The Night, primarily to help our church members.

Don’t Just Promote/Never Stop Promoting The Pathway

What do I mean by this? It’s like I’ve written in articles like Social Media Marketing For Musicians and my E.E.R.I.E. System of Social Media Marketing: you won’t have much success recruiting people (or getting them to buy a product, come to a concert, attend a worship service, serve in a ministry or do anything else) if they never hear from you until you’re asking them to do those things. In short, one of the best ways to promote things is to not just promote things.

More people will want to join your worship team if the team seems valuable to your church. For instance, let’s look at Facebook:

• Write a blog post about your Sunday set list/liturgy, then link to it on Facebook.
• Publish Facebook photos of your worship team members, playing and singing.
• Teach your church members the importance of worship, of gathering together and of singing (through whatever means are at your disposal – classes, a blog, YouTube videos, etc.)
• If some of your team members are in other bands, or have singer-songwriter careers (whether nationally or in your city), then link to their solo records from time to time. Encourage their gifting, and affirm it publicly.

In Defense Of The Last Bullet Point

Sometimes when I write things like this, I get negative feedback from people online, usually along the lines of: “We shouldn’t puff people up and play on their vanity. They shouldn’t serve to get a pat on the back — they should serve for the glory of God.”

Of course they should serve for the glory of God. Glory and gratitude are different things. Read the salutations and closings in Paul’s epistles. Paul knew how to compliment people “in Christ.” Being a Christian shouldn’t make us less appreciative of others, but more so.

Paul encouraged, celebrated and affirmed people. I bet, from reading his epistles, that those who worked alongside Paul felt loved and appreciated by him. I bet that when they did something Paul found helpful in ministry or even something pleasing to him personally, he gave them a pat on the back, a hug, a kind word. I bet Paul’s friends often said, “That’s a guy who knows how to treat his friends.” “That guys really appreciates his fellow servants.”

Be that kind of person — be that kind of ministry — and you’ll attract others. Will some of them have an unhealthy desire to hear “man’s applause”? Probably. You’re a minister, right? You will have to do some corrective ministry from time to time (and often, you’ll quickly discern who needs to be dealt with this way). But human beings instinctively know that it is good and right to celebrate whatever is positive. It’s built into our psyche by our Creator, who looked on his creation and said, “It is good.” Affirm what is good — it’s an attractive pull that will cause your ministry to grow.

To put it another way: appreciation and affirmation is a double-edged sword because we’re tainted by sin. It’s easy for us to develop an unhealthy desire to receive compliments. But the solution is not to refrain from affirming and showing gratitude to those who serve well. No one wants to serve under a such a leader.

Photo above courtesy Chuck Heeke from Sojourn New Albany (from left: worship leaders Justin Shaffer, Jeremy Quillo)

 

Attractional Versus Missional Online Communication Strategies

In the church world, two outreach models have sometimes warred against each other.

The Attractional model says “Come and see.” It advocates for a well designed church building, top-notch Connect/Guest Services ministry, good signage, an excellently executed worship service and other well run programs and events. The point is to draw people in.

The Missional model says “Go and tell.” Instead of primarily drawing people to a specific location, the emphasis is on going into the community, living out the gospel in your everyday interactions, participating in the life of your city, using whatever gifts and interests God has given you: visual arts, sports, community planning, music. You’re a missionary, taking the gospel to your neighborhood, your favorite coffee shop, your circle of Little League parents, your local Farmer’s market.

In recent years many church leaders have said, “It’s not either/or; it’s both/and,” while others remain in one camp or another. But even a missional community may succumb to an “attractional only” online presence, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the “both/and” churches may invest more on one side or the other online, without knowing it. Lets look at how popular online tools fit within the missional/attractional models. These apply not only to churches but to businesses, bands, authors, and any other type of brand.

Attractional Online Strategy

Your website is the cornerstone of an attractional web strategy. An attractional-heavy strategy places all or most of your eggs in this basket. Your site looks attractive, it loads quickly, it provides incentives for people to visit and to linger. It contains all the info anyone would want to know about you (see my The Biggest Mistake On Your Church Website Homepage here).

Let’s look at some of the attractional elements we’ve built into My SongIn The Night. Obviously, our blog is front-and-center because we post new content at least twice a week. We’ve also embedded a free offer for Kristen’s worship EP The Whole Big Story in the right-hand column. And by clicking the Streampad “Click To Play All Posts” bar at the bottom of this site, you can freely listen to all our worship songs, including the ones recorded by Sojourn Music.

Podcasts are attractional as well. Many people love to subscribe to fun or thought-provoking podcasts. And of course don’t forget videos.

Missional Online Strategy

Social media networking is the ultimate missional strategy. Instead of pulling people to a website, you go where they are: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and whatever social network contains an audience with whom you’d like to connect. See my E.E.R.I.E. system of social media networking here, Social Media For Churches here and my Social Media Marketing for bands here.

But not so fast! Even if you want to be missional, you can fall into an attractional mindset on social media. Lots of brands spend much time and money customizing their Facebook page to the fullest extent Facebook allows. They treat their Facebook page like a website. And that’s fine if you’ve got the resources for it.

But Facebook users are far more likely to engage you when they see your updates and photos on their Timelines, not on your brand page. Many of those who like your page only go there one time (when they initially click “Like”). Remember, you have to create compelling content and engage with people. The same goes with Twitter — most of your Twitter followers will not visit your Twitter.com home page — they’ll only see your tweets. The coolest looking Twitter profile in the world won’t do you any good if you’re not engaging and reciprocating with your followers.

 

How To Deal With Negative Blog Comments

Have you ever wondered how you should handle negative blog comments, whether on your own blog or a website on which you’ve guest-posted? Or even if you aren’t the author of the blog post, but you feel the author is being personally attacked, misunderstood or subjected to unfair or baseless criticism?

1. Double check yourself on this question: “Should I respond at all?”

2 Timothy 2:23 says,

Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Some comments neither deserve nor call for a response. It’s natural to feel that you must respond so it doesn’t appear that a foolish or angry person is “winning,” but don’t let this become about your pride.

It’s also natural to fear that a non-response will lead some readers astray. Pray for the Spirit’s wisdom in this case. He will show you that on some occasions, you should give your readers more credit than you’re prone to give them. Most readers can easily spot trolls, grumblers and cranks, and most are wise enough to discard their vitriol.

2. No Name Calling

If you’re going to answer, don’t call the commenter a troll or a hater, even if they are. You won’t gain anything by it — in fact you might just stir up sympathy for the commenter.

Also, you need to realize that your own emotions may be deceiving you. The commenter who has drawn your ire may not be a hater. She may just have a difference of opinion or perspective. That’s okay.

And a troll isn’t just someone who disagrees with you or critiques something you’ve done. A troll posts inflammatory or off-topic comments, intending to hijack the conversation and provoke readers into an emotional response. Ask yourself if the person who has critiqued your article is really a troll.

• If so, then calling him a troll won’t stop him and won’t shame him. It will likely embolden him.
• If not so, then why mislabel him? That would put you in the wrong and cause others to rethink your article, even if they originally agreed with you.

3. Don’t be Anonymous

This just makes it look like you have something to hide, or you lack the courage of your convictions.

Don’t fret if people aren’t coming to your defense, and don’t let that convince you that you should come to your defense, under an assumed name. Remember point #1 — most of your loyal readers won’t bother defending against a comment that is obviously ridiculous. It doesn’t mean they aren’t on your side; it just means they don’t want to give unwarranted attention to a comment that doesn’t deserve it.

4. Write with Grace and Clarity

“Speak the truth in love,” to borrow Paul’s phrase from Ephesians 4:15. And remember Proverbs 15:1 –

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

This doesn’t mean you concede points that you shouldn’t concede. It just means you should control yourself so you can answer succinctly, with wisdom. Turning again to Scripture:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, — 2 Timothy 2:24

5. Don’t go down rabbit holes.

Who loves a rabbit hole more than a rabbit? A troll. Remember, trolls love to go off topic. It’s the guy who responds to a post about charitable giving with a long-winded diatribe against all charities, the tax code, the President and Congress, war in the Middle East, social security, the school lunch program, the color of your web header and the quality of your guest bloggers.

Either ignore the remark or remind your readers to stay on topic. If you’ve written other blog posts about some of these topics, then that leads us to #6 …

6. Point to previous blog posts if applicable.

Let’s say you have written about the tax code, the school lunch program, and the color of your web header. Simply provide a link to those posts.

But this isn’t just for the benefit of answering off-topic comments. Many bloggers lament that they barely have enough time to write blog posts, let along write follow-up comments. Even if the commenters are asking legitimate questions, you may have a hard time keeping up with them (especially if you have a large blog or you’re writing an article for a major website).

Think about blog posts that you’ve already written, which may answer these current questions. Using your previous articles is a great way to provide a quick, thoughtful response.

7. Know when to rest your case.

Again, if you are writing an article for a large website, you may simply be unable to keep up with all the questions and comments. In that case, sometimes it is best to let a number of comments run their course and then provide a blanket response. See the way I handled this in the comment section of Consider Skipping “Christmas Season” This Year, which I wrote with our Lead/founding Pastor Daniel Montgomery on TheGospelCoalition.org.

You’ll notice a couple people commented after me. They weren’t trolls, but their comments were still “asides” that didn’t necessitate a response. Even if there were to be further responses, whether I’d answer them would depend on whether I could find the time (I love answering comments when time allows, and I appreciate those who offer comments). There is a time to simply say, “This article is my opinion — I recognize others have different opinions, but I stand on what I’ve written.”

An Inside Look At Faithmapping, A Gospel Atlas For Our Journey

A little over a year ago, my pastor Daniel Montgomery and I had lunch in Louisville with Justin Taylor, the Acquisitions Editor for Crossway Books. During that meal (Justin’s first sushi experience, I believe) we talked about the growth of Sojourn Church and the fruits of this ministry — baptisms, urban renewal initiatives, church plants and international missions, original worship songs serving the universal church, and more.

Justin asked Daniel if he’d consider writing a book — a “what Sojourn believes about the gospel, and how Sojourn does ministry” book. Daniel immediately began to talk about the need for the whole church to embrace the whole gospel and reach the whole world. He also told Justin that he should have Mike Cosper, our Worship and Arts Pastor, write a book.

If you know Daniel, this is not surprising — Sojourn is a strong community because our founding pastor is so big on community, collaboration, and recognizing the gifts of others. And if you know Mike, it’s not surprising that he’d participate — like Daniel, he’s an incredibly gifted pastor, driven with a desire to to see the earth filled with the glory of God as men and women become more like Jesus.

So in the end, Daniel and Mike wrote this book together. It’s called Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas For Your Spiritual Journey, and it releases today in paperback and on Kindle. Like sermons at Sojourn, this book is both

• Theologically deep
• Easy to understand

Given that Daniel is the founder of Sojourn Church and Mike is the founder of Sojourn Music, Faithmapping is an inside look at our history. But it’s much more than that. The first section, The Whole Gospel, shows that three common perspectives on the gospel (Kingdom, Cross, Grace) are all true, all amazing, and all necessary for forming and fueling a new people called the Church.

Part two, The Whole Church, walks through five basic “identities” of Christ’s Church, showing that we are worshipers, family, servants, disciples and witnesses.

In part three Daniel and Mike put it all together and show how the whole church takes the whole gospel to the whole world.

This is an ideal book to give to a new believer or someone who is struggling to understand what biblical Christianity is all about. But it’s a great book for mature Christians as well, because so many of us have tendencies to emphasize one aspect or another of the gospel to the exclusion of the others, or one aspect of church membership to the exclusion of the others.

At 216 pages, it’s thorough enough to make its case but concise and simple enough to maintain the interest of those who don’t normally do books on theology. Get it here. AND … you can also register to win a free copy, on Twitter. Your first step is to read the Faithmapping excerpt from Crossway Books at this link, or below (RSS and Email subscribers may have to click through to the website to see it).

Now, share a quote or idea that impacted you from the excerpt, along with the #Faithmapping hashtag. We’ll choose ten winners at random, using the random number generator at Random.org. Remember, you must use the #Faithmapping hashtag, so we’ll know you’ve registered.

Incidentally, the Faithmapping cover design is the work of Sojourner Tyler Deeb, a fantastic graphic designer. See his portfolio here.

The E.E.R.I.E. System Of Social Media Networking And Marketing

Some people are so compelling on social media networks that we can’t help but follow them, whether they are celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or normal, everyday people — perhaps folks we attend church with, or people we knew in high school (and who didn’t seem nearly so interesting then). What makes their Timelines, Walls and platforms so interesting? It’s almost eerie how we’re drawn to them.

Maybe those normal, everyday people just have an instinctual feel for the kind of status updates others like to see, but stars like Shaq and The Rock benefit from social media strategists. In fact those two have learned from Amy Jo Martin and her Digital Royalty company. Digital Royalty advises clients to vary the kind of updates they provide, based on six categories: entertainment, education, inspiration, information, reciprocation and exclusives.

As Sojourn Church Director of Communications, when I advise pastors, worship leaders and others on social media strategy, I eliminate “information” from the list, since tweets and updates in this category typically fit within “education,” or one of the remaining four categories. Eliminating “information” allows me to group the others into an acronym of categories that demystifies the social media update process — the E.E.R.I.E. social media networking and marketing system.

When you balance your updates from different E.E.R.I.E. categories, you ensure your followers won’t find nothing but a stream of food/cat/baby photos in your feed, or nothing but inspirational platitudes, or links to educational articles. In short, E.E.R.I.E. will help Jack to not be such a dull boy. Without further adieu, here is E.E.R.I.E:

E is for Entertainment

Here is where you’d tweet pictures of your crazy cat, your cute kids and your scrumptious lunch at that new gastropub downtown. The much-maligned “photo of someone’s lunch” isn’t a problem if you aren’t doing it all the time. So just don’t make “Entertainment” your only bucket, and don’t make photos of your lunch become your only form of entertainment.

Entertainment is also the place in the E.E.R.I.E. system for retweeting hilarious quips from spoof-celebrities, for tweeting your own jokes and witticisms, comments about films, other fun observations and goofy pics with Over captions.

E is for Education

Here is where you tweet links to articles and books — whether your own or those you recommend — that will educate your audience about your core topics. For me, that includes writing (especially songwriting), church communications, worship leading and social media.

Of course you don’t always have to tweet links; whenever you can educate and inform your audience in 140 characters, go for it.

R is for Reciprocation

Reciprocation is “Mutual interaction,” back-and-forth conversation, an exchange (particularly an exchange of information) and any form of “paying back.” Examples of reciprocation include responses like “Thanks for following me/tweeting my link/reviewing my album/commenting on my blog,” etc. This also includes a running exchange of tweets between specific people, Retweets, and “shoutouts” like “You should follow _____; her updates are interesting.”

I is for Inspiration

This is where quotes come in handy: Bible verses, song lyrics, proverbs and famous sayings. You can also inspire with original content that builds people up, helps them remember where their strength comes from, or points to an example of someone who has overcome adversity. And of course you can inspire people with links to inspirational blog posts, songs or video clips.

E is for Exclusives

It’s natural to think of Exclusives as exclusive product offers, like a contest for free books, a 20% sale on CDs or a special package on a variety of products, perhaps only available to those who tweet a certain hashtag or “Like” your Facebook page.

But Exclusive are more than that. An exclusive status update can be any “behind the scenes” insight, photo or video. For instance on Saturdays, Kristen often practices songs she will be leading in worship the next day. Sometimes I record a twenty-second snippet from one of the songs she’s practicing, then upload it to one or more of my social media accounts with a note that says something like, “Here is Kristen, practicing a song we’ll be singing tomorrow at Sojourn Church.”

A Final Thought

You’ll quickly discover that some updates fit in more than one category: an Exclusive can also be Entertainment, and an Inspirational quote can also be Educational, for instance. This is good. Don’t think that you have to craft updates that fall strictly within these lines. Rather, be intentional about hitting all of these categories on a regular basis, instead of dipping into the same one time and again.

 

 

 

New Resource Covers The 12 Essentials Of Church Communications

Hey church communicator, let me introduce you to Sayge Resources, a helpful new resource. If you’re like me, and most church communications people I know, you frequently get lost in the daily craziness of church communications: satisfying ministry leaders, meeting deadlines, and managing expectations, people, projects.

Sayge Resources is a full communications learning approach designed by church communications strategist Tim Peters for leaders of local churches.  Think of it as your Communication-Team In-A-Box. It can save hours spent searching for good communication advice and tools.  It’s more efficient and less costly than the time and money you’d spend at a conference. And it contains the wisdom of some of the most forward thinking church leaders in our day. Sayge covers these 12 Essentials of Church Communications:

1. Vision Identification
2. Communications Strategy
3. Brand Standards
4. Project Systems
5. Website Essentials
6. Audience Connection
7. Volunteer Mobilization
8. Social Media
9. Guest Experience
10. External Marketing
11. Creative Leadership
12. Storytelling Principles

I’m sure you’ve discovered that there are many resources for other ministries in your church, much more so than for our area of ministry.  Thankfully, this is one comprehensive resource for anyone responsible for or passionate about church communications. Sayge has created monthly coaching videos, eBooks, application tools, team training ideas and reproducible products — thousands of dollars worth of products, delivered to your inbox each month, for a price that won’t break or even stretch your budget. Your first month is even free.

I’ve followed Tim Peters on Twitter for awhile, and always appreciate his keen insights on communications, so I was quick to check out this project when he contacted me. I believe his team at Sayge Resources has developed a great resource for mastering the 12 Essentials of Church Communications.  Check out Sayge here.