Social Media For Church: How to use Twitter

January 26th, 2012

Social Media For Church:

How to use Twitter

To Promote Church Growth with a Social Media for Church Strategy

 

 

 by Thomas R. Reich and Chris Romero

For years you have heard Social Media for Church, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter, and SEO this and LinkedIn that.  You have heard that all these

social media for church and church growth outreach miniseries

The world of social media for church

things are great and saves a church and its outreach ministry time and money, but what can it do for you?  How can you use Social Media for Church?  How can Twitter help Church growth?

You finally figured, OK Set up a Twitter account for Outreach Ministries and Church activities, use social media for church.   You may have built a nice home page and gathered followers, now what?  At first look, Twitter is just a

outreach ministires helped by social media for church

Twitter is a main component in social media for church

social media for church, a short concise social tool.  I am about to show you that Twitter is a vast FREE Church tool for Church Growth and can show you how to build a church!

Let’s look at two ways Twitter can assist you and help bring you Church Growth; help your outreach ministries, all free!  Sound like a Church Tool you want to hear more about, read on!

When was the last time you searched a specific topic or question on Google, Bing or Yahoo and actually got the perfect answer without finding inappropriate advertising for virtually anything, most not even related to your search, I’m

outreach ministries for social media for church

Social media for church cad do what google can in a different way

waiting??  Social Media for Church can help greatly in this area, and Twitter can lead the way!

Twitter is an amazing search tool, since Twitter has no advertising involved in the search process; you are more likely to receive tangible results to your Church related query.

Here are some tips and tricks to get tangible search results using this Fantastic social media for church outreach tool, Twitter!

Here is a step-by-step guide:

outreach ministries and social media for church

how do you use social media for church effectively

1)   Go to your Twitter Home Page

2)   Click on the search box

3)   Type in a short concise question  (Example; Do Ask “Looking for a new church” Don’t Ask “How do I find church members on Facebook”)            Simple is best

4)   The results bring up a long list of Tweets most relating to individuals looking for a new church, and no advertising for Church’s Fried Chicken! (Isn’t that a nice change?)

The Results cover many topics but in my search, using social media for church, I wanted to know how to delete a past member from my Facebook page.  3 Tweets from the top said “New question and answer, how do I delete one person

social media for church helps outreach ministries

Tips and Tricks Twitter and social media for church

from Facebook highlights section.”  This sentence was followed by a link, I clicked it and was lead not to an advertisement for web services, but right to a list of questions and answers about Facebook, my answer was there.

When first using social media for church, you will probably get a group of related tweets discussing need for a new church, or dissatisfaction with current church or wanting to find answers from a church.  The point is social media for church gives you the opportunity to talk to potential new church members, individuals you did not know existed, and who’s contacts you now have, all FREE!

For the Fun of it, tweet your own name or that of your Church.  I “Twitter Searched” Thomas R. Reich and got some interesting results.  This is another Church growth Tool and outreach ministry too to see if others are Tweeting about

church growth and social media for church

Twitter platform is great social media for church

your church, outreach activities or about you, and again it is always free to Tweet and search and use this social media for church tool!

The point is, Social media for church will help you will get actual results from Twitter users like you.  The results may not be what you wanted, but they are honest.  These results are not influenced by pay-per-click structures that haunt the big search engines.  (Pay per click is a form of

advertising).  You never see banner ads on Twitter, just pure results, from real potential Church parishioners, or those wishing to ask or answer a question.  This is why you want to use social media for church, and harness its unused potential

Now, try it, play around with different searches and ask yourself; “What have I learned about a FREE Church Tool that can help my outreach ministry?”

1)   Twitter is an alternative search tool to the big search engines

Church growth through social media for church

Social media for church is something to think about

2)   Answers are usually contained in links with Twitter

3)   The new Twitter accounts I am seeing have tweets that are answers to specific questions.

4)   Did I just learn a new trick, a Church Tool to make my own tweets more broadly read? (Ask or answer a question, or offer to answer the big question, People are searching they just need to find you, and isn’t that what outreach ministry is all about, use social media for church)

5)   Now Create some answer Tweets of your own, in your area of expertise!

We, here at ChurchNetUSA are always looking for ways to help our friends.  When we find new ways to use social media for church activities and make your Church, Outreach ministry or Church Growth run more smoothly, we all benefit.  Help us help you help others, leave suggestions for topics of discussion below.  Remember, ChurchNetUSA is still asking for topic suggestions for our 2012 webinar series, and we have gotten some great input so far.  We want to hear how Social media for church is helping you, how do you use it in your church?

 

ChurchNetUSA is you one stop for all your social media for church needs

ChurchNetUSA good service is good business

If you would like more information on the full range of services offered to set up and service a Church, and Outreach Ministries please contact ChurchNetUSA by visiting www.ChurchNetUSA.com or by calling, toll FREE 1.877.857.9002.  Please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Face Book to receive free daily tips and tricks as well as notification of our FREE Award Winning Webinar series!

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ChurchNetUSA announces the 2011 Kingdom Causes Church Grants Program

November 11th, 2011

ChurchNetUSA , a division of BizCentralUSA, Is honoring the religious community this holiday season with Grants for Churches  totaling over $100,000.00 to benefit small churches across the USA.

Efrain Rodriguez, a deeply religious man himself, feels these grants will give small churches a boost in these tough economic times, and help establish much needed community outreach programs throughout the United States.  “Communities need our religious institutions to step up in times of need, and if I can help the various causes throughout the country with grants from ChurchNetUSA, that’s what I’m going to do!”

ChurchNetUSA has provided a full range of business services to the Church community for many years.   Through BizCentralUSA and another branch of that company CharityNetUSA, they are the nation’s leader in the preparation, filling and annual requirements for 501c3 Tax Exempt Status Corporations which is how outreach programs operate most effectively.  Once an organization is designated 501c3, they can apply for additional grants from thousands of grant funders in the public and private sectors.  The preparation of those grant applications is also a specialty of CharityNetUSA.

Additionally once an organization has its 501c3 status, the organization itself is tax exempt, the donations to that organization in money, materials or time may be tax exempt, the organization can receive lower postal rates and many of the advantages of much larger organizations.   All these doors can be opened to the recipient of the 100 grants being offered by ChurchNetUSA.

The Church Outreach programs can be used to improve community’s in many ways, Healthy Lifestyle Classes, Youth Exercise Program, After School Program, Food Pantries and Family Counseling among many acts of Mercy and Deliverance.

 

All this can be made possible by the ChurchNetUSA Kingdom Causes Grant Event this holiday season.  “Sometimes, we all need to give a little back to the community of man, I am happy to do my part” said CEO Efrain Rodriguez.

Churches interested in being considered for the generous grants from ChurchNetUSA can contact representatives at 877.857.9002

 

2011 Kingdom Causes Church Grants from ChurchNetUSA

ChurchNet USA will award 100 small churches $1,000 in free services and free business consultation

To learn more about ChurchNetUSA and the full range of services we provide small to mid size businesses, visit www.ChurchNetUSA.com or call 1.877.857.9002

 

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Deciding on an Outreach Ministry for your Church

July 15th, 2010

If your church has decided to start an outreach ministry, one of your most important steps is deciding what type of outreach ministry to start. A lot of variables play into this decision including the talents, size, and passion of your congregation. Other factors include available funding and the time that your staff and volunteers can devote to your new endeavor. A great first step is to gather interested members together to discuss the goals of your church and how you can achieve those goals through an outreach program. Your meeting should also discuss the assets of your church and the limitations or obstacles that you will need to overcome to achieve your goals.

The number of members in your church is crucial in deciding what type of outreach program your church will implement. A large church may have more opportunities for what it can do but may have more difficulty organizing the vast amount of volunteers. Smaller churches may be limited in its programs but can often be more versatile in a variety of projects. Along you’re your size; you should also consider what is already going on in your community. Churches often overlook partnerships with other nonprofit organizations in the community. There may be an organization that is already doing something similar to the program your church wants to start. In many cases, especially for smaller churches, joining forces with an organization such as this may greatly increase the effectiveness of your program. Even if you do not join together with them, you should still seek them out for advice, guidance, and ideas in implementing your own church’s outreach.

Your church members’ talents are an essential determinant in what type of outreach program your church can implement. Through a written survey or in-person meeting you should find out what types of skills your members have. This may come from their employment, previous volunteer experience, or hobbies. For example, if your church is seeking to set up an afterschool program for youth, it would be beneficial for you to have teachers in your congregation.  Just as important as talents are the passions that your members have. Any project will end quickly if your members do not get behind it. Also, because not everyone will have the same passions, make sure that it is explained clearly to the entire church the need that your outreach program will meet and why it is important. In addition to considering your members’ passions and talents, you should also consider the time that your members can put into your new outreach program. Calculating weekly “man hours” can be as easy as taking a poll of your volunteers to see how much time that can commit on a weekly basis to your outreach activities. 

Another important factor to discuss is the amount of funding your church can devote to its outreach program. This will include the initial start up costs as well the cost to maintain the program. In order to make your outreach program meet its fullest potential, you will want to make sure that you are able to sustain the program financially. If this issue is what is holding your program back, think about looking outside of your church for funding to run the program. This can come through private grants, public donations, or fundraising events.

During your decision process it is extremely important that your church stays honest about what it can accomplish through careful examination of all the church’s capabilities and limitations. Once a decision is made on which program to implement make sure that you bring the whole congregation in and not just a small group. If some of your congregation is unable to put in the man hours for running it, make sure that they are involved through prayer and financially supporting the ministry.

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Church Growth and Generation X and Y

July 9th, 2010

Generation X and Y are seemingly at the forefront of all industries recruiting efforts. As Baby Boomers, who are most likely the majority of your church’s members, grow settled in their respective communities and churches, churches are looking to younger generations to fill their pews. However, attracting this audience will call for a break from the traditional. Generation X and Y require a different approach that focuses on action and technology.

Generation Y’s (born 1980-1997), are referred to as the most tech savvy generation. They are the avid Facebook users, are constantly text messaging, and have their lives saved to hard drives. A survey by Forrester’s 2008 North America Technographics Benchmark reported the following statistics:

  • 90% of Gen Y own a computer
  • 82% own a mobile phone
  • 72% of Generation Y mobile phone users send or receive SMS messages
  • They spend more time online than they do watching television, with 42% watching online video at least once per month.

Generation X’s (born 1965-1979) share similar technological savvy.

  • During the past three months, 69 per cent of Generation X’s have shopped online and 65 per cent used online banking—more than any other group
  • 21% of Gen X are now reading a blog once per month compared to 15% last year
  • 61% of mobile subscribers text compared to 49% in 2007

Thus, technology carries over to ever part of their lives. Generation X and Y expect their jobs, politicians, and churches to be as technologically advanced as they are. In order to attract these generations, your church should evaluate its technological capabilities. Do you have a website? If so, does it work properly? Instead of the traditional mailed letters that you may have instituted during direct mail campaigns, have you set up a Facebook account? Can one download your church’s sermons? Generation X and Y find these types of strategies appealing. Increasing your technological capabilities will show the younger generations that they are welcome to your church.

In addition to technology, younger generations also want opportunities to make a change. Unlike, earlier generations that were content with providing financial donations to charitable causes, generation X and Y would prefer to take action. X’s and Y’s are passionate about social justice, have a burning desire to make a difference and donate more time to charitable causes than any other generation in history[1]. This group is responsible for the dramatic rise in volunteer vacations, spending weeks at a time building shelters for the homeless, preserving the nation’s hiking trails and mentoring at-risk children. Therefore, churches should focus on providing hands-on outreach programs for this generation. Allow them to put the Word to action.

Churches must consider the desires of the younger generation as programs are planned, sermons articulated, worship experiences created and marketing collateral developed. Responding to the needs of the younger generation should prove favorable to your church’s future growth.


[1] Johnson, Carol. Don’t Forget Your Gen X’s and Y’s. www.churchsolutionsmag.com

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Blog Stats to Keep your Church Blogging

June 24th, 2010

On average 57 million adult Americans read blogs, which is good news for churches trying to generate awareness about the services they offer the local community. If you’re writing blogs to generate additional donations, you’re not alone. Approximately 53% of professional bloggers are interested in attracting new donors from blogging.

About 63% of respondents say that blogging has led them to become more involved with things they’re passionate about. This is great news for church organizations who can utilize their posts to help volunteers become more passionate about the causes they work with. Hobbyist or persons who are unpaid for the content they generate write about 73% of blogs. Blogs can be a commitment as small as one hour a week to 10 hours a week depending on how often you post.

Technorati has indexed more than 133,000,000 blogs since 2002 and around 77% of Internet users read blogs according to Universal McCann. According to recent data 57% of blog readers are male, 48%, were under 30, and 82% were longtime Internet users or had more than six years’ experience online. Blog writers appear to mirror these trends, as two-thirds are male between the ages of 18 and 44. Over 75% have college degrees and 40% have graduate degrees.

Blogs are decidedly content driven but a growing emphasis is being placed on having more multimedia friendly blogs. Over 82% of respondents say that they post photos to their blog, making images the most popular form of multimedia. Of those who use media other than text, 73% say that that they create the photos, video, or audio they post themselves about half of the time. Only 13% of all respondents say that they never post any images/videos/audio to their blogs, preferring to just use text. With just-text blogs becoming the minority in today’s blogosphere, it’s important to use appropriate multimedia to make your nonprofit blog exciting. Post a picture at a recent fundraising event or a video of a family you just helped. Human-interest stories are really important to make your reader feel empathy in your blog.

Bloggers participate in an average of five activities to drive traffic to their blogs. Which is most successful? Well the jury is still out but Twitter is definitely in the top five. Blogs with greater than 100 page views a day received on average 83% of their page views from Twitter referrals. This referral percentage was constant as the audience size of the blog increased. In other words, the faster the growth of a blog the more important Twitter became in promoting it.

It is important to keep up with your blogs statistics to see how people are finding your blog and how often they are reading it. There are many free blog statistic softwares available to blog writers but the five most commonly used are:

1. Google Analytics

2. StatCounter

3. SiteMeter

4. AWStats

5. MyBlogLog

Blogging is not just about numbers, traffic, or hits to your website but can be a wonderful church marketing tool. Be careful to avoid the trap of writing for search engines rather than human beings. As a church blog, your key objective needs to be keeping the community informed about recent trends in your overall cause or local events sponsored by your church. Build your credibility first and traffic later. Traffic is a direct reflection of writing good content and smart cross promoting of your blog. Contact ChurchNet USA today about setting up a blog for your website so you can take advantage of these exciting statistics.

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Gear up for Summer with Sizzling Savings!

June 7th, 2010

Summer is almost here… Don’t you think that now is a great time to devote more energy, attention and detail to your church or outreach ministry?

We do too, so we thought we would turn up the heat with our Sizzling Summer Savings!  ChurchNet USA wants to help you get the most out of this summer.  We have developed a great offer for all of our special non profit clientelle, so please take advantage of these sizzling savings:

  • Spend $299-$599: Get 10% off PLUS a Free Website or Web Service!
  • Spend $600-$899: Get 15% off PLUS a Free Website Service!
  • Spend $900 or More: Get 20% off PLUS a Free Website & Flyer!

Don’t Wait… For a Limited Time Only Save Hundreds on the Services you Need. Plus, get Free Value Added Solutions!

Have we convinced you yet?  If  you are ready to start your summer off right,  Contact us today and invest in your church’s future success!

Important Details:
*Free Website can be exchanged for a free web service of equal value
if you already have a website.
*Free Flyer inlcudes design only and is limited to a 1hr service.
*Hosting and Setup Fee Applies

Interested in learning why websites are so important to your organization?  Join us June 8, 2010 from 3 P.M. – 4 P.M. (EST) for a FREE webinar: Must Have Features Every Website Should Have!  Learn how to have an effective, engaging and action-driven website for your church!

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Establish Strong Children’s Ministry in Your Church

June 1st, 2010

Verses from the Bible such as Mark 16:15 “and he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (ESV)” tell us that as Christians we should spread the good news of Jesus Christ to others. Your church can accomplish this in a variety of ways but one of the most effective and rewarding outreach channels can be a children’s ministry and outreach.

A strong children’s ministry in your church can be the difference on whether or not first time visitors return to your church the next week. Many families consider a children’s ministry their top priority in selecting a church to attend. A strong children’s ministry has many facets and this article will hopefully put you on the right track to creating one. By creating a coordinated and successful children’s ministry, you will give both your regular church attendees and visitors a sense of the excitement and fun that comes with growing together in God.

First off, establish an “image” or “identity” for your children’s ministry. Just as professional brands like Coca-Cola and Nike create an identity for their products, so must your church for its children’s ministry. Giving your children’s name its own name, logo, and slogan can be the backbone to creating that brand image. Not only do you need to develop it but you need to promote it as well. Create t-shits for volunteers and ministry leaders, put up signs and other paraphernalia in the area of the church where your children’s ministry takes place. It will give children the feeling that they belong to something special and exciting. Make sure you get the whole church involved in promoting this brand by putting it on the bulletins, flyers, and announcements.

It is always important in your children’s ministry to stay very connected with the parents. After all, in most cases, they are the ones responsible for bringing the children to the church every week. Whenever parents check-in their children at the children’s ministry make sure that you have their contact information so that you can stay in touch with them. Sending out parent letters or cards that say, “thanks for visiting” and “we’ve missed you,” are a great way to show parents that you appreciate them. Again, with all of these materials make sure that you are continuing to promote your brand image and include your logo and slogan on the collateral that is sent out to parents. Because printing and mailing can get expensive, think about using an email marketing software to send out bi-weekly emails to the parents on upcoming events and news about the children’s ministry. Another great way to stay connected with parents is to create a blog specifically for your children’s ministry. Have your children’s ministry leader or a volunteer update on a weekly basis the blog to keep it interested. Topics could include a quick synopsis about what the children learned the past Sunday or just some thoughts on parenting.  

It is obvious that a children’s ministry needs children to be considered effective. One way to bring children into your ministry is to put on an event for the community that will attract children and their families. Such events can include a summer vacation bible school, a children’s concert, carnival, or family fun day. When you do set up a children’s outreach event at your church, you will need to take the proper steps to make the public aware of your event. Consider putting up banners on the street and engaging in a direct mail campaign. Another way to market your church outreach event is to print flyers and have volunteers distribute them to the local neighborhoods and it never hurts to utilize local media such as radio and newspaper to advertise. Hopefully, these ideas and tips will have you on your way to establishing an effective and successful children’s ministry in your church.

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Developing a Fundraising Plan

May 27th, 2010

Fundraising is a primary method by which churches can gain the money required to implement the programs needed to fulfill its growth and outreach goals. Fundraising events can also help raise awareness of the church and its activities through newspapers or newsletters, it can help a church establish an internet site, and it can help the church’s target community. However, in order to successfully fundraise, churches should develop a comprehensive plan of action. A fundraising plan provides a description of the fundraising activities to take place during a given time period. It answers the who, what, when, where, and how of fundraising. The following steps can assist your church with developing a fundraising plan.

Developing Your Fundraising Plan

  • Set goals for the amount of money you need to raise and what the money will be used for. Will you use it for overhead expenses? To fund an ongoing or new program? To build a new facility? To develop an emergency fund for a future rainy day? To close a deficit?
  • If you have more than one goal, develop a fundraising plan for each goal. Goals should be developed with your board of directors, and have the board’s approval. Having your board’s involvement will also set the stage for their participation in the fundraising itself.

Write down your fundraising plan.

  • Develop a written plan that states how much you need to raise, from what sources, and how you will do it. Don’t worry; the plan can be revised as you proceed. Not all of your ideas will work out, or you may find new sources along the way.

Estimate how much your fundraising program will cost.

  • Most experts recommend that fundraising and overall administrative costs not exceed 25% of your overall operating budget. In other words, three-quarters of your expenses should be spent on doing what you were founded to do.  

Identify funding sources

  • Will you fundraise by soliciting foundation grants, government grants, special events, etc?

Develop a timeline for your fundraising plan

  • Fill in a year’s calendar with specific activities, and identify who will be the lead for each of those projects. Go further by developing timelines for each fundraising activity, such as the direct mail campaign, the online auction, or the planned giving seminar.

Evaluate your fundraising plan during the year

  • Plan to evaluate what you are doing every few months. What accounted for the biggest successes? What were the biggest challenges? What fundraising methods should you change, drop, or add?
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Developing an Outreach Program

May 25th, 2010

When developing an outreach program, churches should follow a comprehensive process that will not only ensure that there’s a need for the program but that the church has the human and capital resources to effectively and efficiently carry out the program. The following five-step process can be used to develop an outreach program at your church.

  1. Assess the needs of your members and surrounding community.
    1. Survey your congregation on the types of community outreach programs that they would like to conduct.
    2. Survey the community about the types of programs that they need.
  • Educational, Health, Financial Literacy, etc.
  1. Match the congregation’s needs and interests with the community’s needs.
  • For example: Did the majority of the congregation want to start a financial literacy program? Did your community survey indicate that many people are unaware of financial management practices?

Select the need that you are most able to meet given the resources that are available.

  1. 2.       Develop the Goals and Objectives
    1. What would you like to accomplish through your outreach program?
  2. 3.       Organize the Program Plans
    1. Describe step by step how the program will work.
  • How will you market the program?
  • Where will the program be held?
  • How often will the program be provided?
  • What are the times of operation?
  • What materials will you need for the program?
  • How much will everything cost?
  • How many volunteers will you need per week?
  • Who will be responsible for facilitating the program?
  1. 4.       Implement the Program
    1. Implement the steps outlined during the program planning process.
    2. Call the Congregation to Action!
  • Get the congregation involved by advertising the program during announcements and on the church’s bulletin board.
  • Provide sign-up sheets for volunteers
  1. Alert the local media.
  • Provide a press release to the local newspaper, radio station, and online sources to create awareness of your program (and church).
  1. Provide “top-notch” service.
  • Remember that the program participants are also possible church members. Build a strong positive relationship with each person that you encounter.
  1. Keep the congregation excited about the program by recognizing exemplary volunteers and achievements.
  • Provide updates about the program during the announcements portion of your worship service.
  • Put pictures of program volunteers at work on the church’s bulletin board.
  • Reward dedicated volunteers with a special recognition ceremony.
  1. 5.       Evaluate the Program
    1. Survey the congregation and community.
  • Is the congregation satisfied with the program?
  • Are the program participants satisfied with the program?
  1. Did the program achieve its goals and objectives?
  2. Has the program met the needs of the community?
  3. Revise the program depending on the results of your surveys and program data.
  • If you went over the projected budget, increase the budget or downsize your program.
  • Did the hours of operation conflict with church member’s schedules?
  • Were the program materials ineffective?

Following this five-step process will assist your church with developing an outreach program that is truly a help-mate to the community. It will respond to the community’s needs while also serving as a growth agent for the church. Furthermore, an excellently implemented program is much more attractive to a funding agency than one with little planning at all. Keep these steps in mind while planning your outreach program and success is sure to come!

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Why Pastors Should Blog

May 21st, 2010

As a spiritual leader you are always seeking ways to get your message out to the world. As you probably know, social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) is taking over our world. Millions and millions of people are connecting through social media for their church marketing efforts and investing hours of their day utilizing it. Included in social media is blogging, which has steadily grown in popularity year after year and has been around well before Facebook was even born.  Technorati.com (a website that tracks blogs) reported that there are over 175,000 new blogs per day worldwide. They also stated that the total amount of blogs have doubled every six months for the last three years.

So what does this mean for you as a pastor? Well, it should mean that you should have a blog. Even though you may think yours will get lost in the billions of blogs, there are many reasons why a blog can be beneficial to your ministry’s church marketing and church outreach.

Blogs can connect you with your congregation

Chances are many of the people in your congregation are reading and/or writing some of those blogs that are spread across the internet. If they are not reading your blog, they are reading someone’s. As a pastor you may not have the time to get to speak to every individual in your congregation every Sunday. Blogs are a great way for church outreach, allowing you to keep people updated on your life and have discussions on new church projects. It can also be a platform for you to be honest about your current desires for yourself and your church and explain new projects or initiatives that you plan to roll out. Finally, you can even blog about the scriptures you are studying and the preparations that you are making for your sermon. This may even get your congregation thinking about your subject matter before they come into church on Sunday!

Blogs can connect you with the world

Most churches want to reach out to unbelievers or individuals who typically wouldn’t set foot into a church. A blog can be a great way for a pastor to communicate with the world about spiritual matters in a non-threatening or non–confrontational way. Maybe as a pastor you can discuss issues that have unbelievers confused about your faith. Not only may this create interest in spiritual matters but it will give you an opportunity to share and discuss your faith with individuals who would typically not walk into a church on a Sunday.

Well if blogging is something that interests you, here are a few tips for effectively connecting through blogs:

  1. Set your blog as public blog.
    Most blog programs allow you to set your blog as “Public” or “Private.” If you make it public, it means that search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo) may look at your site and put it into their indexes. This means that people who are searching for topics may be pointed to your blog by a search engine, if you have written on these topics.
  2. 2.       Write often and be patient

No matter what your purpose is behind blogging, a blog will only be effective if you are continue to write and discuss. Yes, it is a time commitment, but the time and effort put into it will be well worth it in the long run. Also, if you are looking for results via search engines, it doesn’t happen overnight so don’t let that discourage you…just keep blogging and build up your church marketing skills!

There are a ton of great programs that will set up a blog for you and best of all, they are free! Some examples include WordPress and Blogspot. They are pretty straightforward and will walk you through the set up. The set up and writing is probably a lot easier than you think and as mentioned earlier, will give you opportunities to connect with people in a creative and authentic way. So go out and start your church outreach through blogs!

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