You know about the front door, the one painted red. But you have three other doors as well. If you work all four doors, your church will grow and thrive.
Let’s take these doors one by one:
I just received a year-end greeting from a Web service that I tried briefly last summer and then forgot about. And while I was writing that sentence, another arrived from a service that I stopped using over a year ago.
Okay, busy times, lean budget, constituents being made nervous by general economy and ugly politics. What can you do?
After many years as a place where people gathered to learn, my seminary has added what it calls “distributive learning” to its toolkit.
Adding an off-site focus to an established congregation takes some fresh thinking.
The Multichannel Church has a rare opportunity to see reality — unconstrained by stereotypes and simplistic marketing categories.
You don't need to remember Danny & the Juniors, the Beatles, Pearl Jam or even Red Hot Chili Peppers to know that churches are plying their trade in a rapidly and vastly changing world.
And it’s happening just in time for the Multichannel Church, as you move beyond Sunday and diversify your ministries in response to..
For ministers, elders and other church leaders seeking to create a Multichannel Church, perhaps the hardest challenge will be developing trust and letting go of control.
When you “go multichannel” — expanding beyond Sunday worship — a critical element of both strategy and execution will be consistency.
Here is a parable:
Every evening I walk by a wine and spirits store near my apartment.
I can tell you “Six Surefire Ways to Grow Your Church.” But they will come to naught unless you start with a seventh.
Okay, political realities.
Church life offers many satisfactions, perhaps none quite so thrilling as entering a packed sanctuary filled with music, friends, and energy.
A recent personal experience affirms my observation that congregations won't thrive unless they have a consistent and extensive calling ministry, led by clergy who value calling more than attending meetings and doing judicatory business.
Early results of Christmas retail sales contained important information for faith communities.
One challenge in nurturing a “multichannel church” is to ban “one-size-fits-all” thinking.
The November 2 mid-term elections offer many lessons. Both major parties will be sifting the results.
As congregations diversify their ministries, they want to pay special attention to the many tools and opportunities available online. This means Facebook and Twitter, but far more than such social media tools. It means a solid Web site, but used in new ways.
Time to break through denial.
When you consider moving to a Multichannel Church operation — going beyond Sunday morning to add off-site, online, and other weekday ministries — you can expect at least six objections.
A friend and I were having lunch at a fabled restaurant in New York's Grand Central Terminal, when the eatery’s famous owner came out of the kitchen, trailed by two acolytes, and took an adjacent table.
Social media like Facebook and Twitter are changing our world, including how faith communities function. Opportunities abound to use them as a ministry communications tool.
Once, on a reporting assignment, I flew into Bismarck, North Dakota, just before winter’s brutal assault.
Members and officers, my word to you is this: be entrepreneurs.
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