It’s no secret that churches have to budget, especially for events. When faced with “getting the word out,” sometimes the promotion portion of the event is overlooked until it’s . . . well, time to promote it. Here are a few budget-friendly, event-promotion tips to help you work lean and practice good stewardship.
Tag: Outreach
Plain Talk
Have you ever tried to talk to someone who doesn’t speak your language? Several years ago, I was on a crowded train in southern Spain. The man standing six inches from me had something pressing to say.
“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” he asked.
I said, “No. English?”
“No,” he responded. “Parlez-vous français?”
“No,” I replied. I speak a little bit of Spanish, so I took one more shot. “¿Hablas español?”
“No,” he answered. “Italiano?”
“No.”
In a matter of seconds, we riffled through five languages, searching for a common channel to communicate, but it wasn’t on the dial. Finally, with great frustration in his eyes, he shrugged his shoulders and gave up. For the rest of the ride, we stood next to each other in silence. I still wonder what he so urgently wanted to tell me. (I was probably standing on his foot.)
Maybe you know what it’s like to have something vitally important to say, but the other person simply doesn’t speak your language. If you are a Christian in America, you know this experience all too well. The moment you introduce the topic of faith, you will likely be standing next to someone who has no vocabulary for the conversation.
In recent years, we have entered a new era in the West. Christians are now missionaries in their own backyard. Those of us who follow Christ must assume that people in our office, school, worksite, neighborhood, and even our home don’t speak the language of faith. If we want to communicate with them, the good news must be reborn in the everyday words of twenty-first-century culture.
Christians sometimes forget that when Jesus spoke, the common people heard him gladly.1 He knew how to speak their language. Not everyone does.
It certainly didn’t come naturally to John Wesley. John grew up a pastor’s kid. Both his father Samuel and mother Susanna were bright, well-educated, and insatiable learners. From a tender age, John absorbed the vocabulary of faith. He later became an Oxford scholar deeply steeped in the Christian tradition and a priest in the Church of England. Yet his burning passion over six decades of ministry was to communicate the gospel to the masses—most of whom were illiterate. To do so, he left behind the language of the academy. “I design plain truth for plain people,” he said. “I labour to avoid all words which are not easy to be understood, all which are not used in common life.”2
Although Wesley’s ability to connect with everyday people became legendary, it was the result of a concerted effort. Tired of confused looks when he preached, one day he read one of his sermons to a maidservant and asked her to interrupt him each time she didn’t understand. Wesley was shocked by the number of times Betsy said, “Stop, sir.” All his education had created a barrier to sharing Christ with ordinary people. He resolved at that point to replace long words with short ones until people could understand his every word.3
Maybe Wesley was on to something. How do you learn the language of the people these days? Watch some TV. Listen to the number one radio station in your area. Go to the movie everyone’s talking about. Read some magazines at the grocery store checkout. Talk to a teenager. My seventeen-year-old daughter is more than happy to tell me when I am using words she doesn’t understand or phrases that have passed their expiration date. (“Dad, really?!”) If you don’t have a teenager in your house, rent one. Take two or three of them out to eat and let them tell you what life looks like through their eyes. As you listen, you may discover the best way to speak their language.
Of course, this sounds a bit simplistic, and some may wonder if it’s really that important to use the everyday words of our culture when sharing our faith. It was for Jesus. He left behind the language of heaven to learn common Aramaic and Hebrew. He wanted to meet people where they were and share the good news of God’s love in the language they dreamed in. We can do that, too. Our message is far too urgent to be lost in translation.
An Excerpt from the book: Meet The Goodpeople: Wesley’s 7 Ways to Share Faith
Roger Ross has served local churches from Texas to the British Channel Island of Guernsey to his home state of Illinois, where he’s been involved in starting two new churches. Ross currently serves as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, a large and vibrant congregation in Springfield, Illinois. He has contributed to several publications and journals.
About the Book:
Meet the Goodpeople helps church leaders reach the growing number of “nones” in their communities. Roger Ross offers seven practical strategies that church leaders can immediately grasp and implement. These strategies are shown to work, equipping congregants to share their faith, leading others into a transforming relationship with Jesus and his church. Ross derives these strategies from John Wesley’s own ministry. A free downloadable guide for leadership teams and small groups is available at http://www.MeetTheGoodpeople.com.
Notes:
- Mark 12:37 KJV.
- John Wesley, Preface to Sermons on Several Occasions (1746), in Sermons I: 1–33, ed. Albert C. Outler, vol. 1 of The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon, 1984), 104.
- John Bishop, “John Wesley: Plain Truth for Plain People,” Preaching, May 1, 1987, http://www.preaching.com/resources/past-masters/11566916/.
Making the Inside/Outside Connection
Who doesn’t love the close feelings of familiarity that spring up in a congregation of people who have been together for decades? Surely this sense of togetherness is the kind of community Jesus calls us to be, isn’t it? Perhaps, but the formation of community is never at the expense of our purpose as Christians: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Over and over again, people in our churches are unfamiliar at best and disengaged at worst with the core purpose of a community of faith. This core purpose is the transmission of the gospel to those who have not heard, believed, and accepted this new way of life. Granted, some of those who ‘haven’t heard’ have been sitting in the pews for years; the mission field can exist inside our walls as well as outside our walls. Yet when the church’s focus is mainly inside our walls, we miss out on a crucial connection: The community in which we are located.
It really doesn’t matter if the church’s neighborhood has changed; this has always happened, and will continue to be the case. It doesn’t matter if the church is located downtown, in a highly urbanized area; as long as there are people around our church, we can only thrive by connecting our lives with the lives of the people in our midst.
The irony is that the more connected we get within our church family, the harder it can be for new people to enter in. Our formality, our insider practices in worship—making visitors introduce themselves, people sitting in the same pews each Sunday, poor signage and/or parking, singing songs known by those raised in the church, but unfamiliar to outsiders, no name tags, etc.—all make it difficult for people not raised in the church to make entry.
Additionally, many of us post signs like “no skateboarding or bicycle riding” or “no trespassing.” We bar our doors and windows, sometimes even putting ourselves behind a fenced wall. Sadly, many people in our own neighborhoods may not even know we are there. (Test it out: Take a survey of businesses and households within a three-mile radius of your building and see how many of them can tell you where the church is located.) All of this creates barriers with the people we are called to serve.
Here’s the good news: The more our church connects with the community outside its walls, the less we have to worry about any kind of vandalism or outside threats. The community itself begins to take an interest in us, and our ministry, when we truly make ourselves available. Here are some simple ideas to get started:
- Know the demographics of persons within a five-mile radius of your church. Learn their spiritual backgrounds, and what they are hungry for.
- Know your public schools and get involved with them: Reading programs, after-school enrichments, summer lunches, baby-sitting during back-to-school nights, etc.
- Host monthly birthday parties for the children within a three-mile radius of your church. Advertise the party to the schools and neighborhood. Have games, piñatas, simple prizes, even small gifts for the birthday child if you can afford it. If not, cake and ice cream is fine!
- Gift baskets of homemade goodies to police, emergency rooms and/or fire fighters in your community on every holiday with a great card or letter of appreciation. Keep it up for a year and then see if it’s made a difference.
- House painting for the poor homeowners in your community. If your congregation can’t do it alone, involve other churches in your area.
- Establish community clean-up days, with your church leading the way.
- Coordinate neighborhood walks/watch with church folks in local church t-shirts.
- Clearly visible outdoor festivals and celebrations for the whole community: Easter egg hunt on Easter morning (maybe they’ll stay for church!); outdoor picnics, Trunk or Treat, water games, outdoor movies, impromptu Christmas pageant for children, Valentine’s Day party, etc.
- Non-invasive, door-to-door surveys to identify community concerns and needs.
- Church booth in established community events with inviting, inclusive banners publicly displayed on booth or property.
If you need help making any of this happen, contact us at churchfortomorrow.com!
Dr. John Flowers loves ministry with the poor, watching “dry bones breathe,” teaching, mentoring, and coaching congregations. He was the 2005 graduate of the year award winner for St. Paul seminary who recognized his work in social justice.
Rev. Karen Vannoy is a United Methodist pastor who has served as a District Superintendent in the Desert Southwest Annual Conference, as well as a local pastor for thirty-five years.
Their book, Adapt to Thrive, is available on Cokesbury.com in print and e-book formats.
Community Among Our Houses
Engagement between Jews and Christians has never been better; interfaith councils exists in many communities. Conversations take place regularly at the organizational level. And theological and liturgical developments within Catholicism (and amongst many Protestant thinkers) have reshaped the perception of Jews and Judaism.
In spite of all this success, however, we have only scratched the surface in realizing the power of interfaith dialogue. Our focus has been on concerns and beliefs we share—the need to feed the hungry, work for peace, fight hate, build stronger communities. These are critical concerns.
We have not, however, delved deeply into the places where we differ. We have avoided the hard topics: Why do many Jews resist hearing the name of Jesus? Why do many Christians believe the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful God? Why do Jews care so much about the modern state of Israel? Why do many Christians proselytize non-Christians? These are topics that go the core of our identity. They can be difficult to discuss. Yet, true growth comes from engaging with the hard stuff. True dialogue asks not only respect. It also asks for the willingness to be challenged and changed—not changed in what we believe, but changed in how we understand and appreciate the deep beliefs that drive and sustain one another.
So how to we generate those conversations and build a deeper trust? Here are a few ways.
1. Start with difficult texts. I rarely study the Ten Commandments with my congregation. We all know they are good and critical. What is more challenging to study are the difficult parts of the Bible: Why does God command Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son? Why does tempt Adam and Eve with the Tree of Knowledge in the first place? These texts push us to think hard. We can do the same in interfaith settings. We can choose texts that make a little uncomfortable. A Jewish participant in the discussion might introduce the text from the Passover meal that asks God to destroy our enemies. A Christian participant might introduce the text from Matthew which reads, “His [Jesus’] blood be upon us and our children.” These texts may make us uncomfortable, yet true growth occurs outside the comfort zone, and in studying them we will discover how complex and rich they are. We will learn creative ways of understanding and interpreting them in the twenty-first century multi-faith world.
2. Experience each other’s worship. Some clergy will not enter into the house of worship of another faith. They believe it lends some kind of legitimacy to that faith’s truth, or betrays one’s own core beliefs. Such obstinance is sad and counter-productive. We appreciate the faith of another best when we see how important it is to them. What better way to see that importance than visiting their spiritual home? I have had transformative conversations with visiting Church groups after opening up a Torah scroll, showing and describing it to them, and then sitting down in the sanctuary to talk. I have also witnessed the depth of Passion story in attending Good Friday worship. Experiencing another’s worship opens us up to their truths.
3. Reveal what you love about your faith. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, shares a remarkable teaching credited to a nineteenth century Hasidic rabbi.
“Imagine two people, “ he writes, “who spend their lives transporting stones. One carries bags of diamonds. The other hauls sacks of rocks. Each is now asked to take a consignment of rubies. Which of the two understands what he is now to carry? The man who is used to diamonds knows that stones can be precious, even those that are not diamonds. But the man who has carried only rocks thinks the stones are a mere burden. They have weight but not worth. Rubies are beyond his comprehension.
So it is, he said, with faith. If we cherish our own, then we will understand the value of others. We may regard ours as a diamond and another faith as a ruby, but we know that both are precious stones. . . . True tolerance, he implied, comes not from the absence of faith but from its living presence. Understanding the particularity of what matters to us is the best way of coming to appreciate what matters to others.”
To that we can only say Amen.
Evan Moffic is lead rabbi of Congregation Solel, a synagogue of five hundred families. Having officiated more than two hundred interfaith weddings, he has brought new understanding of the Jewish heritage to churches and Christian groups, including the largest Catholic and Presbyterian churches Chicago, where he lives with his wife and children.
The Grace of Making Connections
Picture these three scenes:
Scene 1: A moving van sits next door. You step outside to greet your new neighbor. “Welcome to the neighborhood, you say. We’re glad you’re here.” Her face clouds with a look of discomfort, almost panic. You realize: We don’t speak the same language.
Scene 2: The Missions Committee of your church recommends offering a Spanish class. It’s only six weeks. You sign up, with trepidation. You are introduced to about a hundred words, and to your surprise, you have fun.
Scene 3: You haven’t seen your new neighbor for several weeks. She doesn’t seem to go out much. You bake a loaf of bread and knock on her door. You can only remember about thirteen of your new Spanish words, but you take a deep breath and say, “Bienvenido.” She smiles. Encouraged, you sing a few bars: “Cristo me ama. . . .” She beams. The two of you embrace.
This is why Joyce Carrasco, Ngoc-Diep Nguyen, and I wrote Who Is My Neighbor? Bishop Sally Dyck, of the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, challenged a group of clergy and laypersons in January 2013 to live the Great Commandment by designing and implementing a Spanish as a Second Language program for one hundred churches.
The curriculum teaches about a hundred words of Spanish to speakers of other languages. The focus is on words and phrases that will help you practice radical hospitality: Greeting people, talking about family, likes and dislikes, songs, the Lord’s Prayer, the Great Commandment, cultural tidbits. The series ends with a potluck and celebration of Holy Communion in Spanish.
The Teacher Manual provides detailed lesson plans for active, engaging teaching, plus documents to guide a congregation in hosting a class. The Student Manual supplies vocabulary lists, a pronunciation guide, and the order of worship for Holy Communion in Spanish.
Yet how will this make a difference? Let’s listen to four voices. Rev. Fabiola Grandón-Mayer (Centennial Multicultural UMC, Rockford, Ill.) talks about feeling invisible. As an immigrant herself, she understands that it is hard to live in a different culture, hard to take the first step to connect with others. “Fear is a powerful deterrent,” she says. “English speakers may assume that I don’t speak English, they may blame me for not speaking perfectly, they may even assume that I don’t have my papers.” Who is going to break down that wall of perceived blame?
But she also reminds us that a Spanish speaker with minimal English and an English speaker with minimal Spanish can communicate. As her two-year-old twins prove, a few words can go a long way. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: the grace of making connections goes far beyond the literal meaning of a handful of words.
So—where to begin? As Rev. Michael Mann, Director of Mission and Advocacy for the Northern Illinois Conference, puts it, “Our main ministry is not to get people to come in our doors. The doors aren’t ours. Our responsibility is to go out of the doors.” So, armed with our hundred (or thirteen) words of Spanish, we walk out.
Where to? Manuel Padilla works with the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry. In an article entitled “Key Actions for Ministry and Strategic Planning in Any Community”, he writes: “ . . . [Y]our congregation’s first priority is to discern where God is already at work in your area . . . through a study of places where people gather.”
Grandón-Mayer says a Hispanic/Latino supermarket is the best place of all. Grab a basket, shop for groceries, ask questions of the people you meet in the aisles. How do you cook this? Which are the best tortillas? What kind of salsa goes with this? Or just: “Hi. This is good, yes?” (Hola. Es bueno, ¿no?) Smile!
As Deacon Luke Pepper (Kingswood UMC, Buffalo Grove, Ill.) points out, “Don’t just put on programs and hope people will come. Find people where they are, minister together with them. Show your appreciation for the gifts that they have.”
This is outreach. We are called to minister with, not to, our neighbors.
The other day, my husband and I encountered a group of Latino construction workers in the park. I greeted them in Spanish—and their faces lit up. We chatted for ten minutes, in mixed Spanish and English. As we walked on, one of the men said, “This is nice. You and me, talking.” Big smiles all around: Clearly, he no longer felt invisible, and for once I felt like a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.
Your turn.
Ruth Cassel Hoffman, Ph.D. founded Language Resources Ltd. in 1983, providing corporate foreign language training, translation, and interpretation. She has developed active curricula in French and Spanish for students from preschoolers to adults. Who Is My Neighbor?—Dr. Hoffman’s field-tested resource through which English speakers of any church and congregation can learn basic Spanish-speaking skills—was written along with Joyce Carrasco and Ngoc-Diep Nguyen, and is available for purchase on Cokesbury.com.
Outrageous Outreach for Kids and Teens
More often than not, reaching out to your community’s children equals reaching out to their parents, and the key to reaching your non-church-going neighbors might mean you need to shift your thinking about how you approach outreach. We have a few outside-the-box ideas that will engage kids, families, and even businesses/organizations throughout your community!
Draw People in
Art Show. Team up with a community day care for this event. Kids make works of art and parents are invited to an art show held in your church. Mount the art on colorful cardstock to make the pieces look like they’ve been matted and hang them (gallery-style) with non-stick tape along a hallway, or in your community room. Attach a little card that includes the name of the piece as well as the name of the artist. Prepare trays with cups of punch and cookies and have volunteers walk around the “gallery” offering refreshments to your guests. Offer to give tours of your church and have a handout about your children’s ministry activities available to give to guests as they leave.
Piano Recital. Piano teachers need to hold their recitals somewhere, right? Ask around and you’re sure to find a music teacher who would love to invite his/her students and their families to your fellowship hall or sanctuary for a recital. Offer to print the recital program in exchange (and with permission) to add information about your children’s activities and service times on the back. Have a post-recital coffee reception so parents will stick around a few minutes and use that opportunity to invite families to visit your church again.
Scare up Interest . . . at Halloween
Treat Coupons. Make some simple coupons redeemable for a candy bar or some other treat. Include wording explaining how the coupon can be exchanged for the treat at your church at a certain date and time. Give copies to your members and ask them to drop the coupons into trick or treat bags—in addition to their treat, please—on Halloween night. Be sure you’re prepared with a coupon-exchange location that includes information about your children’s ministry, too.
Reverse Treats. This outreach idea actually involves your current roster of kids. Create a note that invites people to attend your church or Sunday school. Let your child sign his or her name to the note. Attach it to individual pieces of candy, or to personalized pens, magnets or other promotional items your church might have. As your child goes door to door receiving treats, he or she gives a treat back as well. You may have to help your princess or superhero explain the proceedings, but that gives you a chance to introduce yourself.
Reality Outreach. Admittedly, the To Hell and Back walk-through drama presented each October by Grace Chapel (Westerville, Ohio) is extremely outrageous. No matter what you think of this idea, Pastor Doug Meacham says the anti-drinking driving/texting event delivers a powerfully spiritual message. Grace Chapel has put on this event for years and it’s become an October staple in the community.
“The event takes guests on a journey through a teen party scene, followed by a very realistic car accident scene from distracted driving,” Meachum explains. “Then, the group will see a death notification scene by a police chaplain to the parents of the teen who died in the car crash, a police interrogation scene for the teen driver who took the lives, and a funeral scene.”
“At this point, the focus turns towards the spiritual,” he continues. “Guests are taken through an ‘outer darkness’ maze where the devil gives a speech about choices and the consequences of those choices.”
Again, you might need to think about outreach a little differently than you do now—so what do you think?
Judy Bumgarner is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tennessee. She also works at Brentwood United Methodist Church in the church’s Caring Ministry.
Living Grace Matters
Create a compelling video story of journey, reconciliation, or community. This is the challenge to young adults between ages eighteen and thirty from Living Grace Matters, a crowd-sourced visual project. The idea is simple: give Millennials the opportunity to create and share a one- to three-minute videos to generate intriguing demonstrations of God’s movement in the world, through people and communities. Submitted videos are posted on the Living Grace Matters site, and the winners in each of three categories win $3,000.
In a recent Ministry Matters™ article, “What Millennials Crave and how the Church can Relate,” written by Chris Folmsbee, the director of discipleship at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (Leawood, Kansas), church leaders are told that if they are interested in the spiritual health of Millennials they must “change their way of outreach from an anxious model, based primarily on fear to a more faithful model based on hope.” Folmsbee includes the following info graphic to explain what he means:
The Living Grace project follows this new model of outreach on every level. Although the challenge/contest began only a few weeks ago, more than a dozen beautifully created, soul-touching videos are already posted on the project’s website. You’ll meet a Holocaust survivor who struggles with the memories and talks about forgiveness. You’ll see filthy drinking water in Sudan—footage that the Sudanese government doesn’t want you to see. You’ll hear a man talk about how grateful he is to have a job after years of running the streets and selling drugs as a child.
In his article, Folmsbee says, “Encourage millennials to engage the world not based on what’s wrong with it, but based on what can be right with it. Millennials are just as creative as any other generation we’ve seen, and they have a passionate desire to create things that others love and love to be a part of. For relevancy’s sake, invite their creativity.”
The Living Grace Matters project is a great segue to this invitation. Invite the young adults in your church to become involved. Talk about it in your church’s blog, website, bulletin, any social media presence, or during a youth Bible study. Show the introduction video from the Living Grace Matters website. Look at the FAQs on their site and if you can’t find the answers to your questions, hit them up on Facebook or Twitter—considering the audience, you know they’re well-represented on social media. Do not wait to engage this group after age thirty—they have valuable contributions to make now.
Judy Bumgarner is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tennessee. She also works at Brentwood United Methodist Church in the church’s Caring Ministry.
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