I was very encouraged when our 2018 leadership team, the administrative body of Wylie Christian Church, voted to discontinue our land line. That’s “boomer” language for a telephone! It was a bold decision and not one that was reached in haste. I had spent months observing the change in phone activity and concluded with a three month documented study which was presented to the team. In short, the expectation was that people would call looking for the pastor or inquiring about Sunday services, and we found that no one was using our land line for any of these reasons.
We had, on the other hand observed that people who were arriving to a Sunday service for the first time, were often arriving half hour late. Many times they would say that they had consulted our website to find out what time services began. I had to confess that we had not updated that website in two years, and our start time had changed. In fact the website looked like we had closed our doors two years earlier!
So, the decision to disconnect from the “yellow page” mentality, not a casual thing for baby boomers to do, was accompanied by a commitment to increase our social media presence. Since then, we have added Sunday sermons and worship offerings to our facebook page, updated and recommitted to our website, and seen the newsletter revived and re-presented in a larger digital format. It has taken lots of cooperation and help. We have challenged our normal ways of thinking and doing.
Letting go of the office phone number was also a step toward re-thinking the church office, or the “hub.” Over time, our financial commitment to the office administrator/secretary position had changed. Out of necessity the position had offered fewer hours and less money. Along the way we learned how to accomplish the things we needed and let go of those we didn’t. We have most recently began to describe our expectations and needs from the office in ways connected to social media awareness and administration.
Ministry is still best in person, so through contacts made through cell phones and facebook, people have been connected to people. Appointments with the pastor are made, not by calling an office phone but by reaching out in ways people are already using daily. The pastor’s cell phone number is shared on social media for access. New inquiries through the website or face book are routed to people who make responses.
In some ways we have a larger network than one person in an office now. It still challenges our way of thinking and doing, but we are hanging tough and learning and screwing up all the time. But we are growing. We are being noticed by a whole new generation of people interested in church. We are learning again what it means for all of us to be a part of supplying the connective tissue that holds our congregational life together. In the absence of a familiar hub, we are learning how to be the veins and arteries supplying life to our collective ministries. to be continued…..
We had, on the other hand observed that people who were arriving to a Sunday service for the first time, were often arriving half hour late. Many times they would say that they had consulted our website to find out what time services began. I had to confess that we had not updated that website in two years, and our start time had changed. In fact the website looked like we had closed our doors two years earlier!
So, the decision to disconnect from the “yellow page” mentality, not a casual thing for baby boomers to do, was accompanied by a commitment to increase our social media presence. Since then, we have added Sunday sermons and worship offerings to our facebook page, updated and recommitted to our website, and seen the newsletter revived and re-presented in a larger digital format. It has taken lots of cooperation and help. We have challenged our normal ways of thinking and doing.
Letting go of the office phone number was also a step toward re-thinking the church office, or the “hub.” Over time, our financial commitment to the office administrator/secretary position had changed. Out of necessity the position had offered fewer hours and less money. Along the way we learned how to accomplish the things we needed and let go of those we didn’t. We have most recently began to describe our expectations and needs from the office in ways connected to social media awareness and administration.
Ministry is still best in person, so through contacts made through cell phones and facebook, people have been connected to people. Appointments with the pastor are made, not by calling an office phone but by reaching out in ways people are already using daily. The pastor’s cell phone number is shared on social media for access. New inquiries through the website or face book are routed to people who make responses.
In some ways we have a larger network than one person in an office now. It still challenges our way of thinking and doing, but we are hanging tough and learning and screwing up all the time. But we are growing. We are being noticed by a whole new generation of people interested in church. We are learning again what it means for all of us to be a part of supplying the connective tissue that holds our congregational life together. In the absence of a familiar hub, we are learning how to be the veins and arteries supplying life to our collective ministries. to be continued…..