OC April’12
MEDIA IN MINISTRY
Special Intro
Part II
Intro - I know that as soon as we mention media in ministry students immediately think of the
internet/facebook/twitter and other social media.
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Of course online media is important but there are 5 media “types” that you need to be familiar
with if you want to effectively communicate the Word of God to everyone.
o Not all people are on line.
o Even people on line are not always on line.
When it comes to media, you have to be careful not to be too far ahead of the technology curve.
o Remember technology serves ministry, not the other way around.
*Always need to use the correct media/technology with the right people in the correct way.
5 MEDIA TYPES
- I have listed 5 media types that are used most often in ministry.
MEDIA IN MINISTRY
A. IN-HOUSE MEDIA
In-house media includes everything and everyone used to support the communication process within
the church.
From the moment visitors or members approach your meeting place, they are impacted
positively or negatively by various in-house media you have in place.
I want each group to visualize a member and a visitor driving or walking to your church building
for Bible class and worship.
1. OUTDOOR SIGNAGE
A. Directions at cross streets for difficult locations.
B. Billboards in local community
C. Outdoor sign with name of congregation
a. Could have electronic message board.
D. Signs indicating special parking, (visitors, seniors, families, handicap)
E. Signs for entrances/visitors/classes.
2. VISITOR DESK/COUNTER
- Needs to be manned during class and worship for late comers.
3. VISITOR INFO PACKS
- Review sample.
4. MESSAGE CENTER
- Congregational communication
- Could be a computer terminal(s) with access to church website/members’ area with
information, etc.
5. INTERIOR SIGNAGE
- Clearly indicates directions to and location of nursery, restrooms, classes, etc.
6. BULLETIN BOARDS
- Need to be maintained and updated or don’t do it. Produces negative results when left
unattended. Says nobody cares.
7. CHURCH HISTORY BOARDS AND DISPLAYS
- Tell visitors your story. Remind young members of their history. Builds a sense of belonging,
history, continuity.
8. MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERS’ DISPLAY BOARD
- Good idea but needs to be updated.
9. BANNERS
- Scripture references/mission statement.
- Don’t put in the church building what you would not put in your home.
- Cheap decorations look cheap – spend the money!
10. BULLETINS/INSERTS/WORSHIP SCHEDULE
- Key communication tool for the congregation.
- Don’t use pre-packaged clip art only!
- Members like to read about what is going on in their church. Names, events, the life of the body
reported on.
- Change the style and layout every 1-2 years. (*Samples from Choctaw ’94-2001)
11. ELDER/DEACON/MINISTER I.D.
- Need this in congregation of more than 200.
12. SONGBOOKS/BIBLES
- Need to be maintained. Visitors are sometimes turned off by damaged books improperly
stacked in pews.
- It communicates carelessness and lack of respect.
13. AUDITORIUM LIGHTING
- Bright enough to read easily, not so bright as to be uncomfortable.
- Burned out lights say we don’t care.
- Lighting consultant can tell you if you have enough candle power for public meeting place.
14. STAGE LIGHTING
- The stage should be in brighter and stronger light than auditorium.
- People should be able to clearly see the speaker – no strain.
15. SOUND SYSTEM
- Some people will spend 1M$ on an auditorium and then go to Radio Shack (Circuit City) for the
sound system to save money.
- The quality of the sound is more important than the quality of the carpet!
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It is worth the money to have it installed by professionals who will analyze the needs of the
room and fit a proper system to it.
You want the sound to naturally come to the person in the audience wherever they are sitting –
not the person having to strain to get his ear to the sound.
Eventually people get tired of poor sound and tune everything out.
GOOD MICROPHONES
Wired mikes are best (NO batteries, no distortion, no interference).
o Can get a wired lapel mike.
Have one for the table, one for prayer leaders, one for the pulpit (if they are pre-set).
AV EQUIPMENT/SCREEN/COMPUTERS
More song leaders use power-point as well as preachers.
Again, have the pros set it up for best results. Each room has its specific needs.
Today you can archive sermons and services on video.
2 points to remember in the use of these in preaching and teaching.
o Pre-test your equipment every time you use it.
o Have someone else work the slides. A preacher looking back at the pictures or fiddling
with his remote or computer loses momentum and audience attention. It is an aid not a
crutch.
o A good lesson can stand alone if it needs to.
This is also a good area to get younger people involved who normally are hard to integrate.
CLOSED CIRCUIT TV
If you have AV and computers, it is not too hard to set-up a camera in the auditorium and feed
the service to monitors in the nursery, cry room, etc.
HEARING IMPAIRED/TRANSLATION AUDIO
Today they have wireless headsets.
GREETERS/USHERS
-One of the most effective media tools are greeters who welcome and direct visitors and ushers
who assist folks in finding seats or escort visitors around an unfamiliar building.
On rainy days, we used to have a dozen umbrellas and had youth volunteers escort seniors,
moms with kids, visitors from the parking lot to the foyer.
Greeters need to be trained also in safety procedures.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Someone needs to be designated as the person who speaks to the media when necessary.
1. He/she issues press releases about church activities or official responses during crisis.
2. Should be same person who makes “announcements”
o Keep announcements down to
i. Welcome
ii. Things not in bulletin
iii. Big events coming
3. PR is, in many ways, one of the most effective communication tools for the local church.
o It is presented as news or information but works as advertizing.
4. Churches do not use it enough!
*Show “Brown Bag Christmas” video.
- If your in-house media is not up to date, effective, well thought out – it doesn’t matter what other
media you plan to use.
*In the end people will take away their first impression or their lasting impression from the in-house
media they are exposed to in your home congregation.
B. PRINT MEDIA
Have class name basic print media.
1. YELLOW PAGES (On-line version)
- Be in the main one (many local and regional)
- Visitors and new move-ins use this (People looking specifically for you, not religion. Be easy to
find!)
- Provide map/times of services
- Make sure there is an answer on the answering machine for office phone because Yellow Page
people call on weekends and off hours.
2. NEWSPAPER
- Don’t just advertize the existence of your church – yello pages does that.
- Newspaper ads work best when you advertize an event, program, service.
- Some rules:
o Buy space in advance because papers need lead time.
o Have a pro layout your ad for it to look professional.
o NOT TOO much copy. Tiny print turns off readers.
o Make the point (event, service, etc.) clear & simple.
o Don’t cheap out. Small ads need many repetitions, large ads less. Buy a group of ads –
better price.
o Stay away from religious page. Place ad where the people are (men: sports/women:
lifestyles/older: editorial, business, etc.)
3. CIRCULARS
- Circulars are one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to canvass your local community.
- The secret to success with circulars, however, is repetition and consistency.
o Many churches send out one brochure to the neighborhood in a 2-year period and
wonder why they don’t get great results.
o Companies that print and distribute circulars will tell you that people will read or look at
your brochure after having received it a few times or if it arrives at a time when there is
a need for your “product”.
I.e. Movers in the spring/tires in the fall/tuxedo rentals at the end of school, etc.
- The ideal situation for the local church is that it budgets for 4 circular deliveries each year
following the seasons.
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The circular needs to have the same “core” (image of meeting place, times, general ministries,
etc.) and change the rest according to activities, services, projects that suit the season.
I.e. Summer: VBS program, Daycare, Camps, Kids activities
Fall:
Marriage seminars, college classes or activities
Winter: Small groups (grieving), new Christian classes
Spring: Senior outdoor activities, ladies/men’s retreats, new baby wellness
Classes
If you sign up for 4 deliveries per year, you get a better price and can have “shells” preprinted.
Some churches have their own circular printed and go through the Post office for “bulk” mailing
(11ȼ) each (No address – each household gets one)
Circulars cost from 16 ȼ to 25 ȼ each to print/handle/mail but that is not too expensive to
reach every household in your community.
*Sample Coco & Friends
MAGAZINES
Unless you have a specific project and a specific target group, magazines are not the most cost
effective way to advertize for a local church.
BILLBOARDS
Billboards are great for establishing your identity and location in the community.
Billboard ads are signed for weeks or months by contract (1-3 months usual)
Rules for billboard ad:
o Have a pro design it because they type and size have to be done to be legible at a
distance and while traveling.
o One idea only for the board, people are moving too quickly to “read” and digest.
o BIG BOARDS MAKE BIG MISTAKES so be sure of what you want to convey because once
it’s up – it’s very large!
o Stick to basics: Who/What/Where
o If possible use more than one to reinforce message.
AUDIO-MEDIA
ARCHIVING
The most common use of audio in the church is to archive lessons and sermons.
Today, we are moving away from audio tapes and going towards digital recording: CDs, MP3
files.
I recently transferred over 500 audio sermons stored 7-10 cardboard boxes onto a couple of CDs
or onto a memory stick that fits into my pocket.
You can now store sermons and classes on your church website and members can access these
at will, also share and distribute to others as evangelism method.
RADIO
There are still many programs on radio that feature preaching and teaching. These are being
displaced by the internet which gives the listener the freedom to choose the time and type of
material he wants.
Best use of radio today is like circulars – to create awareness of your presence in the
community. (Do for 1 year MIN)
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o Short 15-30 sec. spot ads
o Focus on building awareness of church presence and spec. programs, minister
o Use different stations to cover all demographics.
VIDEO-MEDIA
TEACHING
The most common use of video media is the use of special teaching series on history, marriage
counseling, Bible geography, etc.
Great for small churches that do not have many teachers. One person can be trained as
resource person to play video, hand out questions, direct discussion groups after. Frees up
minister to teach second class. (*Show In Love for Life)
ARCHIVING
As churches equip themselves with video cameras and computers, it is becoming easier to
record lessons and sermons on video and provide these for members.
Many use this as an outreach tool giving a DVD of a lesson or service to friends, family, etc.
o Ultimate is to have a mail-out of a DVD/CD instead of a paperflyer, to the community.
Bulk cost between 30-60 ȼ.
BROADCASTING
Public access and cable TV provides an opportunity to broadcast religious programming to the
community on TV.
o Good example is SEARCH.
o Many evangelical church.tv use base church and broadcast to satellite congregations.
With fairly inexpensive equipment, 5-10K, you can record your program and put it on public
access TV for free.
o Key (?) is on a network (VISION) which charges for airtime. The advantage is that you
get a regular time slot and national exposure whereas public access is local only.
- Basic equipment includes
o Camera/tripod
o Sound mixer
o Microphone
o Computer with special software
o 3 lights with stand
o Recorder
- In Verdun we film our worship service and preaching and stream it live on our website for
shut-ins, etc. (Talk about this later)
- TV for advertizing is expensive but can be effective (15-30 sec.) to establish “presence” in
community.
REPORTING/FUNDRAISING
- Many of you are or will be supported by churches where you are not preaching
(Missionaries/interns, etc.)
- Video is becoming an effective way of reporting on your work and raising the funds
necessary to carry on with your mission work.
- Here is a sample of a fund raising video: Reporting and introducing a work (show video)
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Keep videos short and to the point.
o Make sure that they are about the work, what is being accomplished, what the
needs are, success, challenges.
o Not too much about your family, picnics, what you did on your vacation (people
want to see the work).
o They need to see what is peculiar about your work and what and why you need
help.
5. IN-HOUSE MINISTRY
- Video is great to record and preserve events in the church.
o Picnics, Youth trips/events, VBS, projects.
- Each year a retrospective of various events can be put together and shown to the chuch
during a year-end celebration.
o Creates historical record.
o Heps bind members together.
o Gives “creative” members an opportunity to use skills.
E. INTERNET-MEDIA
- Every congregation needs a computer and its own website!
- The internet is the way that people communicate today!
o Emails/Instant Messages/Text messages/Blogs/Twitter/Facebook.
o These are not “fads”, they are replacing the home phone and network television as
the main means of communications!
o Fifty years ago a church needed a sign on the front lawn, a telephone number, and a
listing in the phonebook in order to be visible and in business.
 An ad in the Yellow Pages was a plus.
- Today, people look for you on the internet first and if you are not there, they move on.
- Having a presence on the Internet is not just a listing like in the phonebook – it’s a
statement!!
o It says that this church understands you.
o It says that this church speaks your language.
o It says that this church is competent because it has mastered and uses today’s
technology.
o It says that this church cares enough about you to be where you are, to come to you
and communicate with you on your terms.
o It says that if you come to this church, you will find people like yourself.
o It says that this church and its message are still relevant in this world.
Some uses of computer/internet.
1. ARCHIVING
- All that audio, video, text material can be stored on your website and accessed by those
visiting.
2. ADVERTIZING
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Your website is your “storefront” on the internet where you can have people “visit” your
congregation virtually.
- Some congregations provide a virtual tour of their church building on their site.
- You can provide info on the church, ministers, ministries, etc.
- New arrivals/visitors search for new church home on the WEB!
3. INTERACTION
- Your website can have “live” chat discussions and Bible studies with members or others.
o I.e. Skype/China; Bible discussions online; Q&A sessions; meetings; Twitter feed
with instant updates on sick/event; Facebook where members interact.
4. OUTREACH
- You can program your website so that it will draw people who type in certain words so that
they will be brought to your site.
- We have a Bible correspondence course option on the 2nd language side of our website
(Spanish or Chinese).
- One great advantage I have seen in the use of the internet is that it has enabled me to
encourage many skilled men and women into service who traditionally were not suited for
“public” ministry (song leading, preaching, Lord’s table, etc.)
- So many people with technical skills in this area are being integrated into ministry in a
dynamic way. I.e. BibleTalk.tv.
- This was an overview of the use of media in church work – hope you have seen its important
role and gained some useful info you can use in your ministry.
*You can download a transcript of my lecture and copy of all the PowerPoint at my teaching website:
www.BibleTalk.tv/OCNotes