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Communications Revolution part 4 :: TheCommon.org

 
It's been awhile since I've posted about our "Communications Revolution" at Park.

If you are a newer reader, I've been blogging about how we've changed the way we communicate at Park: using texting, updating our logo, and moving to doing a monthly program instead of a weekly.

Today I want to talk to you about how we're changing the way we do volunteering, as well as connecting our church community to one another.

Last spring I went to visit Mars Hill Bible Church with some friends. It happened to be the day they were talking about a new initiative some developers in their church had created called TheCommon.org.

Like any church (especially one that is large), they were struggling with how to connect people to volunteer opportunities, as well as how to manage requests people were making for classified-type requests: people needing household items, rides, help around the house, needs for clothing, etc.

Mars Hill began emailing out a list of ways for people could get involved and volunteer, as well as needs that had been expressed by people in their community, but it wasn't working.

Then TheCommon.org came into reality.

What it's not...

• A Christian social networking site
• 'Craigslist' for churches
• Another annoying idea

What it is...

• A tool to connect people with needs to people with abilities
• A means to flatten communication... meaning that we don't have to go through a heirarchy or a process... people do this on their own and staff and volunteers simply moderate to make sure everything is above board.
• A way for people within your church community to express a need

How it works...

• People register in-person at your church... yeah, in person. They can pre-register from home, but they have to show up in-person and show a photo ID to verify themselves for use of TheCommon.org. It might sound crazy, but it's a simple step for safety to ensure people are who they say they are and that they actually attend your church.
• Users create a profile listing their abilities (i.e. "I can paint...", "I want to help with tutoring opportunities..", "I can give someone a ride...").
• Needs and opportunities are posted by church staff, partner ministries, or other users, and are categorized (i.e. "We need someone to paint..", "Kids need tutoring...", "I need a ride to O'Hare...")
• TheCommon.org then notifies users who have abilities that match a need and let's them know there's an opportunity for them to get involved.
• If they are interested, they join and are put into direct contact with one another to make the need or project happen.

It's really that simple.

How It's Worked for Us (Already)

We launched TheCommon.org last Sunday. Ben Gott, one of the co-creators of TheCommon and one of the brains behind The Brilliance blog was here to help introduce it to our church.

It may be a bit premature to blog about it (I was going to wait), but we've already had a cool story emerge from it:

• A single mom joined TheCommon.org on Sunday morning.
• On Sunday night she posted a need saying she was having challenges getting ready for her first baby.
• On Monday I saw the need and let our Family Ministry Assistant know about it.
• She reached out to some of Moms Groups about the need.
• Turns out one of the Moms Groups meets 2 blocks away from where the mom lives and meets on her day off.
• They've already reached out to her and between all of them will help her to get everything she needs.
• All because we created a space to let her voice be heard.

We've also had a guy who needed a wrench to fix his sink find one, but that story isn't as cool!

So far...

• We have close to 600 people on TheCommon.org
• We've reached out and trained six of our Partner Ministries (ministries in the city we support and send volunteers to) on how to use TheCommon, so they are posting needs and connecting with people in our church community who can help.
• We have 60 active projects people can get involved in.
• Close to 100 people have already committed to volunteering on the projects.
• And we've only had this up and running for six days.

There's a lot more I could say about it, but at a very simple level, we know TheCommon.org is going to revolutionize the way we do volunteering, the way we communicate needs and opportunities, and will help our "big" church feel "smaller" as people have a way to interact with one another and express a need and reach out for help.

I'm a fan. And for our context, this is a perfect way to get the job done effiicently.

If you're curious about learning more, feel free to shoot me an email or read more about TheCommon.org on their website.

Yes We Send a Daily Email

One of the first things I was surprised to find out about Park when I came on staff almost two years ago now is that they send out a daily devotional email called 8 Minutes with God.

And not some canned "year through the Bible" or "Our Daily Bread"-type emails, but one that was written by someone in the church for the church.

I thought it was crazy.

The manpower, the energy... it just seemed like a lot.

Initially the emails all related to the message on Sunday... and were written by one person.

Over the past two years the format has changed a bit here and there, and we've moved from one author to multiple authors (pastors, elders and lay leaders).

Readership and subscribership started to dip a little bit towards the end of last year... we were struggling to maintain 1,300 subscribers at a 20% open rate.

Our team got together and re-purposed the whole idea of the email and agreed it was something we wanted to continue to do, but in a new way... as a church, we are going to go through the Bible chronologically over the next two years.

We promoted it pretty heavily over the past few weeks and it paid off...  our subscribership as of right now is around 1,800 with over 75% open rate (which is amazing)!

We've had people forwarding these emails, getting their family members and friend to join us in the journey, and have added more subscribers over the weekend.

Sometimes you don't need to stop what you're doing, you just need to stop and ask why you're doing it and what you could do to make it better... and worth people's while.

We got this email last week, which I thought was really cool...

Just want to say thank you for this outreach.  Between teaching Sunday School and AWANA in my hometown, there are nights when my head hits the pillow and I know that my daily walk in the Word is not what I wish it had been.  In early June of 2005 my husband, son, and I helped my recent Purdue grad of a daughter move into an apartment in Chicago, to begin her career.  I had done my homework and was told to get her connected with Park.  We found you that very Sunday evening in Germania Place.  We were both greeted warmly and enjoyed the service. 

My daughter began attending church there, soon met her husband to be, and brought him to Park, also.  They both enjoyed their small groups, then their pre-marital counseling  and classes.  I happened to get on the website one day and found the 8 minutes site and signed up immediately. 

When my daughter and her hubby had their rehearsal dinner, both moms got to meet one of your pastors who was performing their ceremony. My daughter’s mother-in-law felt very positive about him, but wondered if I knew anything about Park. I suggested she sign up for the 8 Minutes, and she did.

That was almost 2 years ago.  

I emailed her last week and asked if she was still being blessed by it, and she said it is a part of her morning, too. 

I love that we are both connected with our adult childrens’ church, and can pray for them and for you all specifically.  I love that you named it 8 Minutes with God, as no matter how busy I am when I get to work each morning, it is impossible for me to hit the delete button on something that says, “8 Minutes with God”.  (I know that if I ever get that busy, then my life is certainly out of balance.)  Please let all who contribute in any way know that one mom in central IL and another mom in central IN are thankful for all of you.

Check out 8 Minutes here... wanna join with Park in our journey? Subscribe here.

Monthly Bulletin, version 2.0

Six months ago we began an experiment at Park. One that created a bit of buzz in the church communications world… places like here, here and here.

We did away with our weekly program/bulletin/worship guide/whateveryouwantocallit.

In its place we did a monthly program. It was a green decision. And was strategic given our demographic which tends to be more digital and less print-focused.

The change was well received and it helped us streamline our communication, as well as helping our ministry leaders be more prepared and planned out for their events.

So far it’s served us well, but maybe it’s my nagging drive for change or the fact that in our day and age nothing ever stays the same for very long… regardless, on Sunday we debuted our monthly program, version 2.0.

Yes, it was time for an update.

Our 1.0 version did a great job of getting information out, but it didn’t communicate well. It was a bit cluttered and classifieds-like. It was organized, but only chronologically. It was all there, but it wasn’t presented well.

With the help from our communications team – graphic designers, writers, photographers, and media geeks who attend Park and volunteer their time and expertise to critique and review what we do – we devised a new idea and layout that would tell more stories, communicate our mission and vision, and organize information in way that made sense.

If you have seen the GOOD sheet at Starbucks lately, we basically used the same idea/concept for layout. It starts out as a square but opens up to being almost newspaper size.

A few things to note on the new layout:

• Fun Page. The ‘fun page’ is what we are calling the center page. For December, we listed everything Christmas. In future months we’ll do some fun, artsy things on that page. Whatever the theme or main events for each month will be on that page. For January, it will probably be our Bible reading plan for the new year.
• Catch the Vision. This section highlights the three main areas of our vision: a transformed life, someone’s testimony; renewing the city, profile of one of our ministries that is focused on renewing the city; and impacting the world, a story or profile of one of our missionaries or short-term opportunities for people to make an impact around the globe.
• Staff Profile. Might seem a bit antiquated, but we want our church to know who is behind-the-scenes. So, starting with our most recent hire and working our way back, we’ll be profiling our staff and introducing them.
• Categories. We categorized our events in ways that make sense… we put all of the volunteer opportunities, classes and growth opps, and events together. Instead of listing everything together, this makes finding what you are looking for easier.
• Yes, we did a staff Christmas photo. Silly, maybe. But, it gave us a face and made us more personal. The Santa hats were our way of not being so serious. I haven't figured out what we will put in that spot next month.
• Paper. We went more environmentally friendly by printing on a eucalyptus fiber paper. And, it’s cheaper than the recycled paper we were printing on before.

So there you have it… monthly program, version 2.0.

Download version 1.0 | Download version 2.0

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church?

This sums it all up. Please take time to watch this critically.

Think through things you do and say at your churches. Think about ways you communicate. Think about ways you market.

Think about how everything you do filters through the lens of a first-time visitor.

Communications on a Budget, Part 5

Wrapping up this week's series of posts on communications on a budget with what I believe is one of the most effective means of communication. And, what's better, you don't have to do any work and don't have to pay a dime for it. How's that for an effective way to communicate on a budget?

Although I'd say this is the best it's also one of the trickiest because it's not about anything you say or do, but it has everything to do with what other people say about you.

What I'm talking about is word-of-mouth.

Here's the deal... you could spend a great amount of money and invest it in doing some really cool things: radio commercials, billboards, newspaper ads, direct mail, movie theater ads, etc. All of those things will do a good job of getting your church "out there" but I'm not overly convinced that doing things like that will get people into your church.

If you've done any amount of research you'll find that a majority of the people who come to church for the first time come because someone invited them. People come on the arm of a friend. Now, I'm not knocking TV ads or direct mails... if anything those help support word-of-mouth and lend leverage to a personal invitation. For example, if you do some clever billboards or a commercial and someone who attends your church invites a co-worker, it can be a point of connection. "Oh yeah, you're the church that did that billboard..."

It's not either or, it's and.

At Park, we don't do much external promotion... our people do most of that work for us. We make business cards that our people can hand out and use while they invite their friends. The cards have our service times, location, public transportation information and our website.

I'd rather invest in resources to give to our people to help them in inviting people they know instead of spending a lot of money and not being sure or able to effectively track who affective it was!

In Chicago, and in many major US cities there is a website called Yelp. It's great, I use it all the time. It's 'a fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what's great - and not so great - in your area.' It's user-submitted reviews of restaurants, bars, businesses... and yes, in some cases, churches.

Park has been reviewed on Yelp a few times... and I'm proud to say we have 4.5 stars out of 5.

What's crazy is... 1) I had no idea we were on there until a volunteer told me; 2) we didn't solicit anyone to do this for us, they just did it; and 3) over the last month we've tracked over 50 hits to our website via Yelp.

Some of the reviews have been great, like this one:

I've been to numerous churches in my life but never have I actually called a church my own.  This all changed with Park.  It's great for people at all places in their spiritual journey-from those questioning what Christianity is all about to those who have Theology degrees and have been Christians all their life. Whatever you are looking for in life, Park can help you find it.

And some, not so great:

I can't believe churches are on Yelp.  It seems sacrilegious. Attended Park for awhile and liked the music, the pastor. Discouraged by how easy it was to get lost in a sea of hyperconsumerist yuppies. Birds of a feather flock together, and if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. So I did. But it's not a bad place, not at all.

I have to say I loved her honesty and how in the end she said, "but it's not a bad place, not at all."

Either way, what's great about both of these is that it's not anything we said, but what they said. And that, is the power of word-of-mouth.

Now, there's definitely a lot I could say but I'm not an expert in any regards... instead, I'll give you some books you should check out: BuzzMarketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, Made to Stick, and Creating Customer Evangelists