Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
“I went to worship this morning and not one word was spoken about [fill in the blank].” I’ve heard this again and again from folks who, in the wake of a significant moment in our nation or world, went to worship hoping for a word to provide some spiritual framework within which to hold grief, outrage, shock, or pain. Instead, they experienced faith communities who, intentionally or not, communicated disconnection from what was weighing upon the minds and hearts of many in the congregation.
If the people trust that you see, know, and love them, that you love God and seek God’s wisdom, you have a good foundation to stand upon.
It’s true that some who come to worship may want to avoid difficult topics in church — out of fear, conflict aversion, exhaustion, or any number of other reasons. People are dealing with difficult things every day. It is important for preaching to speak to the perennial, human challenges of relationships — illness, trust, faith, and the like. But there are moments when scripture and the pastoral and ethical teachings of our tradition could offer powerful resources for people trying to figure out how to feel and what to do in response to something that is happening in their city, nation, or world.In my experience, even in the most socially and politically engaged congregations, there are some who will react against sermons that address current events or social issues. Every preacher I know agrees that even sermons about seemingly innocuous topics can be heard in ways that offend or upset some in the congregation. Preaching is risky business. We who are called to this vocation put ourselves on the line every time. But our spiritual tradition has something to say, has words that speak to the pain, injustice, confusion, and chaos of our day. It is up to preachers to speak the words.
1. Begin with your relationship to your congregation
If you are a pastor, the relationship with your congregation is the place to begin. If the people trust that you see, know, and love them, that you love God and seek God’s wisdom and way in your speaking and choosing, and that you are on a journey with God and with them in relationship, you have a good foundation to stand upon. From such a place of trusting relationship, preachers can risk taking a stand — or can at least share where they find themselves at any given moment.
Many years ago, when I preached a sermon that addressed violence, weapons, and the military, a member of my congregation who was serving in the military said, “I almost walked out during your sermon today because I felt offended and angry. But then I realized that you were trying to think these things through, and so I decided to stay.” This parishioner was one I regularly struggled to understand even as we became friends. Our lives and ways of seeing and processing the world are radically different. But in that community, we shared ministry and respected each other. Our relationship allowed her to be angry, to disagree, and to keep trying to listen even when she would have been more comfortable to just leave.
2. Humility and openness
Pastor Tom Berlin provides helpful, practical guidance for preaching in a politically polarized congregation. He advises that the preacher begin with humility, do enough research that the sermon is informative and interesting on the topic (not just warmed-over platitudes), and be thoughtful and fair with regard to the variety of perspectives on the topic. Rev. Berlin writes: “I find it helpful to state my opinion on the sermon topic and share how scripture informs my thinking. This is the shortest part of the sermon. My desire isn’t to convince others but to model the vulnerability necessary for people with differing perspectives to live in Christian community. It’s amazing how much more latitude people will give you if they trust that you’re honest about your opinion and fair to theirs.” It’s very good counsel that reminds me to try to invite the congregation to think things through with me.
3. Ongoing consciousness raising
In times of relative peace, preachers can speak words that help raise the consciousness of the congregation about ongoing issues — things like poverty, the cradle to prison pipeline, rampant materialism, homelessness, climate change, and so on. And in times of crisis, preachers have a responsibility at least to try to offer an interpretive, pastoral, and energizing word to their congregation that provides encouragement and guidance from the biblical and theological tradition, a word that reminds folks of what it means to live as citizens of God’s Kin-dom within the day-to-day challenges of life in this world.
4. When in doubt, preach the text
When I struggle with what to say, turning back toward the scriptural text gives me what is needed. When in doubt, preach the text! One of my favorite lines is, “I’m not making this up. It’s in the book!” I’m not suggesting looking for so-called proof texts that will simply prop up your political or moral position. Rather, you might draw upon the Revised Common Lectionary or some other cycle of readings so that you are challenged to preach on a text not of your own choosing. When I do this, I am always surprised by the resonance I find with what is happening in the world. Regardless of how you choose the text, there is something powerful about a close, deep reading and exposition of a biblical story or passage. What I’ve found is that such a reading will challenge people on all sides of any issue, and it has the potential to provide powerful guidance and comfort as well. I give thanks for a holy and living word that has so much to say to us in every age.
This article is adapted from Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent (Abingdon, 2018) by Ginger Gaines-Cirelli. Used by permission. The book is available at Cokesburyand Amazon.
Related Resources:
- “Sacred Resistance,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Ginger Gaines-Cirelli
- 4 Opportunities for the Church in the Current Political Tensionby Carey Nieuwhof
- 10 Things Great Preachers Do Differently by Charley Reeb
Read more.
Leading Ideas Talks Podcast: "Sacred Resistance"How can churches grow beyond simply engaging in political activism and instead practice "sacred resistance?" Lewis Center Associate Director Ann A. Michel speaks with Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in downtown Washington, DC, about sacred resistance as a way of being grounded in the gospel and about who we are as people of faith.
Listen now.
7 Ideas for Making Vacation Bible School an Evangelism Opportunity by Doug Powe
How can you deepen your relationship with the children and families participating in a Vacation Bible School and stay connected with them throughout the year? Lewis Center Director Doug Powe outlines strategies to make your Vacation Bible School a meaningful and effective evangelism opportunity.
Many churches conduct Vacation Bible School during the summer, engaging neighborhood children and families as participants. But how do you stay connected with those families throughout the year? Too many churches develop a pattern of connecting with their neighborhood once or twice a year, but then return to business as usual the rest of the time.
Vacation Bible School is an evangelism opportunity for all congregations. Here are seven ideas that congregations can try to aid in their evangelistic effort.
1. Remember those who came last year
Listen now.
How can you deepen your relationship with the children and families participating in a Vacation Bible School and stay connected with them throughout the year? Lewis Center Director Doug Powe outlines strategies to make your Vacation Bible School a meaningful and effective evangelism opportunity.
Many churches conduct Vacation Bible School during the summer, engaging neighborhood children and families as participants. But how do you stay connected with those families throughout the year? Too many churches develop a pattern of connecting with their neighborhood once or twice a year, but then return to business as usual the rest of the time.
Vacation Bible School is an evangelism opportunity for all congregations. Here are seven ideas that congregations can try to aid in their evangelistic effort.
1. Remember those who came last year
One reason we get into a rhythm of seeing some neighborhood families only once or twice a year is that it’s the only time we invite them to something. Before Vacation Bible School even starts, you should be thinking of other opportunities to extend invitations to VBS families.
As you prepare for your Vacation Bible School, take a look at who attended last year and refamiliarize yourself with their names. Greeting returning families by name will make a real impression on them, communicating your genuine interest. The refrain of the theme song from the hit sitcom Cheers got it right: People do want to go “where everybody knows their name.” One way to help keep track of names from year to year is to attach names to the photos you take of VBS — after getting proper permission for photographing the children, of course.2. Make new people feel welcome
This seems obvious, but it bears stating explicitly. It is important not only to greet the new people warmly, but also to help them connect with those who are part of the church and past participants. Finding activities that allow new and returning people to get to know one another in fun ways can overcome our natural tendency to feel most comfortable talking with those we already know. All of us are more likely to return to a place where we feel we belong. In many cases, the feeling of belonging will have more lasting impact on people than the actual curriculum taught.
3. Get the parents involved
Sometimes we focus so much on the children that we forget to be invitational to the parents. This does not mean signing them up to be one of the main teachers or support staff for Vacation Bible School. It can be something as simple as inviting parents to eat with a group of children and hear what they learned that day or having them help with crafts or other short-term projects. Some parents will be curious about what their child is doing, and this is a way for them to eavesdrop without feeling like an intruder. It is also an opportunity for congregation members to build relationships with the parents. Not every parent will want to get involved, but some will appreciate being asked to participate. [From Gary Lee Parker, invite the parents to watch or read a book that is not religious discussing what they heard or read that slants to spiritual].
4. Let the Bible speak for itself
Many of us don’t like the word “evangelism” because we don’t want to be perceived as pushing our beliefs on others or we aren’t comfortable talking about our relationship with God. But since Vacation Bible School is organized around a Bible story, it doesn’t feel like one is having to force one’s beliefs on others. Talking with children or adults about God is done within the context of the organized activities. This is the opportunity to listen for how those not as familiar with a Bible story hear it and an opportunity to walk alongside them and answer any queries about the story or a relationship with God. It is easier to share the gospel when it does not feel contrived.
5. Celebrate VBS in Sunday worship
At the end of VBS, plan a special recognition of participants and leaders during your Sunday worship service. Planning worship around the scriptural theme of the VBS or having the children play a special part in the worship service will help the congregation appreciate what happens during the week and give VBS families from the neighborhood a reason to attend church on Sunday. [From Gary Lee Parker, have the Vacation Bible School closing during the Sunday Morning Worship].
6. Invite participants to the next event — again and again
One reason we get into a rhythm of seeing some neighborhood families only once or twice a year is that it’s the only time we invite them to something. Before Vacation Bible School even starts, you should be thinking of other opportunities to extend invitations to VBS families, whether it’s Sunday School kickoff, a back-to-school event, an end-of-summer block party, or parenting classes. Then, develop an intentional strategy to extend multiple invitations to your VBS families. Focus on deepening relationships with families that attend events, greeting them by name, making them feel welcome, and integrating them into the activity of the day. [From Gary Lee Parker, having workshops hearing how families deal with family members who have some kind of Disability].
7. Send birthday greetings throughout the year
Ask someone in the church, perhaps an elderly member, to review the VBS registration forms and make a list of the children’s names, addresses, and birthdates, and then send out birthday cards over the course of the coming year. It’s a simple way of letting the children and their families know the church continues to care about them and hopes to stay in relationships.
With some good preplanning, Vacation Bible School can be more than a once or twice a year neighborhood outreach. It can be a meaningful evangelistic opportunity that connects your church with new and younger people.
Related Resources:
Engaging Local Schools Video Tool KitThe New Church Family by Ann A. Michel“50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children,” a free resource from the Lewis Center
Read more.
The Right Question: Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions. If your task list and calendar stay full beyond your capacity to handle reasonably, then a couple of questions by Lisa Bodell may be the right questions for you. Look at your calendar and to-do list and ask yourself:
Learn 50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me." Read "50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children" and learn how your church can demonstrate its love for children and its desire to connect with younger families through effective ministry for and with children.
Read now and download free.
Reach New Disciples with the "Taking Church to the Community" Video Tool Kit
Explore strategies your congregation can use to reach beyond its walls with worship, community events, ministries, and service. The Taking Church to the Community Tool Kit features engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials and is designed for both self-study and for use with groups in your church.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Quotable Leadership: When people do not find the idea of church appealing, they are not attracted to what we do, no matter how well we do it. (Robert Schnase).
The Facebook Strategy You Need to Quit Today by Dan Wunderlich
Earlier this year, Facebook announced major updates to the News Feed. One change penalizes engagement bait (e.g. "Share this post!") to make posts get more exposure. Dan Wunderlich shares all the updates and what your church needs to know in an article from MyComm via United Methodist Communications.
"One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent."
This is the opening to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's post announcing significant changes to the Facebook News Feed. These changes will have an impact on the distribution of content from your Facebook Page, so it is important to understand them.
A history of declining organic reach
When Facebook first introduced Pages, you could count on Facebook to show your posts to a majority of the people who liked your Page. But back in 2014, people who used Facebook to grow their businesses and organizations began to see a troubling trend: their organic reach — the number of people who see their posts for free — was declining.
Facebook responded to these concerns at the time by explaining that there were two primary reasons for the drop in organic reach:
However, the overall trend in post distribution remained downward. In the first half of 2016, organic reach was down 42%. In 2017, organic reach dropped another 20%.
A refocus of the Facebook mission
Facebook had a rough year in 2017, facing criticism for the role its platform played during the 2016 United States presidential election. A number of former employees have also detailed concerns over the divisive role social media is playing in society, with a few expressing guilt over the role they played in its rise to prominence.
As all of this was going on, Facebook began to engage research on well-being and happiness, evaluated the experience they have been offering their users, and drew this conclusion:
"The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos – even if they're entertaining or informative – may not be as good."
What is changing?
In a news release that accompanied Zuckerberg's post, Facebook announced some specific changes to the News Feed:
Prioritization of posts from family and friends over Pages: Both Zuckerberg's post and the news release make clear that Facebook users will see fewer posts from Pages in favor of more posts by real people. This means that most Pages, potentially including your church's Page, will see a further decline in organic reach.
Prioritization of posts that inspire conversation and interaction: In a note sent to Facebook's largest publishing partners, Facebook explained that this means "comments, shares, and messages will be valued more than reactions and likes."
Penalization of posts that specifically ask for engagement: This is a reiteration of their announcement from December 2017 that "engagement bait" will no longer be tolerated. This is a particularly popular form of post for some churches. It usually takes the form of sermon clips, Bible verses, or event announcements with the text of the post asking followers to like, share, comment or tag friends. Your engagement bait may not be as egregious as the feature image of this article, but this simple form of digital evangelism must be modified or else Facebook will penalize your posts.
What this means for your church's Facebook Page
If the posts on your church's Facebook Page already inspire meaningful interaction in the form of comments and shares, you are in the best position to continue to reach your Page's followers. On the other hand, if your posts do not regularly inspire engagement — particularly in the form of comments and shares — you will likely see a further measurable drop in organic reach.
If you find yourself in the latter situation, refresh your memory on the basic dimensions of excellent content. Educate yourself on the best practices for increasing engagement. And be sure to search the MyCom archives, as we have posts with engagement ideas for specific topics and seasons, like this excellent article on engagement during Lent.
A good step for everyone to take would be to analyze your past posts in order to see what has (or has not) been working with your specific audience. Use a grading system to rank your social media posts and gain insight into patterns of engagement.
Moving forward, as you begin to plan and design new content for Facebook, it is critical to keep the goal of interaction in mind. Ask yourself how the post, video or graphic you are preparing will inspire conversation. Consider posting less often and spending more time ensuring that each post is high quality.
Experiment with Facebook features, like Groups or Facebook Live, that naturally offer avenues for interaction. For example, post a graphic asking for prayer requests in your church-wide Facebook Group. And instead of posting a clip or quote from the sermon, host a sermon recap or Q&A on Facebook Live that gets viewers involved during the week.
Finally, take steps in the "offline world" that will help online. Organize a volunteer social media team who commits to commenting on and sharing posts from the church page. Show your congregation how to prioritize your church's posts in their News Feed, and teach them how to use their personal Facebook profiles for evangelism within their social circles. And while you would be penalized for including the instruction to "share and tag a friend" in the text of your post, you can always encourage people to do it when you see them in person or through channels like your email newsletter.
At the end of the day…
The good news is that the church is well-positioned to contribute to the goal of improving people's well-being. We have a message of hope and grace, and your church likely has years of practice telling this story.
Where we often lose our way in online ministry is focusing too much on trying to game the system. We try to learn granular details about the ever-changing algorithm and stress ourselves out over variables like how often to post and at what time of day.
While there will always be technical details like this behind an algorithm-driven system, and understanding them might give you a small boost, the greatest thing you can do to increase your impact is to focus less on "likes" and more on the mission The United Methodist Church has: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The changes to the Facebook algorithm are complex, but the message, as Mark Zuckerberg said, is simple: "[make] sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent."
Rev. Dan Wunderlich is an extension minister focused on worship, communication, and creativity with the goal of helping ministries and their leaders better connect with their communities. Find out more about his work and his podcast "Art of the Sermon" at DefiningGrace.com.Read more.
The Right Question: Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions. If your task list and calendar stay full beyond your capacity to handle reasonably, then a couple of questions by Lisa Bodell may be the right questions for you. Look at your calendar and to-do list and ask yourself:
- What if I didn't do that?
- What is the worst that would happen?
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me." Read "50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children" and learn how your church can demonstrate its love for children and its desire to connect with younger families through effective ministry for and with children.
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” Here are 50 Ways your church can demonstrate its love for children and its desire to connect with younger families through effective ministry for and with children.
Honor the spiritually of children
- Regularly lift up children as persons of worth with a unique place in God’s Kingdom. Scripture teaches that adults should be like children, not that children should be like adults.
- Understand children as participants in ministry, not objects of ministry.
- Teach children to pray. Encourage them to share joys and concerns, participate in prayer chains, and have prayer partners. Have children write devotionals for use at home or in corporate worship.
Demonstrate your congregation’s love and respect for children
- Don’t guess at children’s needs. Listen to children. Solicit input and feedback from children themselves, not just parents and adults leaders.
- Give children real responsibilities.
- Showcase children’s artwork. Hang framed photos of children throughout your building.
- Advocate for children. Hold a children’s Sabbath service that highlights issues concerning children.
- Celebrate the arrival of new babies.
Welcome children in worship and involve them actively
- Always have a creatively presented children’s sermon.
- Include at least one hymn every Sunday that children love and can sing with the congregation.
- Have children serve alongside their parents as greeters and ushers.
- Invite children to assist in worship.
- Design a special weekly service for children or children and families.
- Give small children entering worship a small activity packet with crayons, pipe cleaners, and other items.
- Have a cry room.
- Print a booklet for parents to use in explaining elements of worship to their children.
- Designate special times for children and their families to visit the sanctuary to ask questions and learn the stories behind symbols and stained glass windows.
- Plan special communion services for parents and children to make them comfortable with the ritual. Have “love feasts” in Sunday School classes.
Support families and parents
- Make your space child friendly. Nursery and classrooms should be clean, safe, sanitary and visually appealing to children and their parents.
- Give pagers to parents who leave children in the nursery.
- Host seminars on parenting. Have a Sunday morning class focused on family concerns.
- Sponsor a parent’s night out or morning out.
- Provide childcare for all church events. Don’t just warehouse kids. Make it fun and enriching.
- Give gifts to expectant moms. Offer a support group for new parents.
- Have an annual family retreat or camping trip.
Strive for excellence in Christian Education
- In a congregation with more than one worship time, strive to offer Sunday School in conjunction with all services, including evening or weeknight services.
- Revitalize a tired Sunday School program by adopting a more creative and interactive curriculum. Incorporate music and drama into Christian education.
- Provide early Christian education to infants and toddlers. Explore programs that use special classroom settings, songs, sounds, stories, finger play, and toys to teach even the youngest children about God’s love.
- Encourage teaching teams of adults who rotate classroom responsibilities. This strengthens involvement, improves morale, decreases burn-out, and improves the quality of teaching.
- Hold a training event for teachers at least once a year. Be sure to emphasize the teachers’ spiritual growth and development as well as teaching strategies.
- Communicate regularly with your teachers. Consider gathering them just very briefly at the conclusion of each Sunday School hour to ask “How is it going?”
- Formally recognize and thank teachers each year.
- Work to develop a sense of ownership for children’s Christian education within the congregation as a whole.
- Involve adults who can’t take on teaching in other volunteer roles.
- Pair an adult class or group with each children’s class to forge intergenerational bonds. The adults can provide support and encouragement and help with special activities.
- Perform required background checks for volunteers and staff working with children. Implement policies and procedures to prevent child abuse.
Plan effective special events for children
- Have special children’s events throughout the year, for example, a Noah’s ark costume party, movie nights, seasonal events, etc.
- Hold a yearly vacation Bible school. Explore alternative formats such as a one-day VBS, an evening VBS, or a cooperative VBS with other churches. Or hold VBS at a different time of year, such as a mini-VBS during spring vacation.
- Have a fellowship group for 4th and 5th graders paving the way to youth fellowship.
Reach children and families beyond your church
- Request that parents presenting their children for baptism meet at least twice with the pastor to consider the significance of the sacrament. Form groups for parents whose infants or children are being baptized.
- Give ten nicely printed invitations to the baptismal family so they can invite their friends.
- Use a preschool, day school, or after-school program to build your children’s ministry. Appoint a chaplain. Invite, but don’t pressure, kids and parents to take part in church activities. Look for opportunities to build personal relationships with the families.
- Use VBS as a way to reach out to new families. Follow up with them afterwards, even if it’s something as simple as sending a birthday card to the child.
- Have an outdoor carnival for children in the spring or the fall. A fair can help neighbors know the church is there for them and foster acquaintances.
- Rather than waiting for kids to come to church, take ministry to where kids already are. To attract unchurched kids, consider locating activities in a store front, park, or recreational center. Organize a VBS in an apartment complex or housing development.
- Adopt an elementary school.
- Develop a tutoring or mentoring ministry.
Involve children in mission
- Have each Sunday School class choose a mission project to support on an ongoing basis. Include a mission project as part of VBS.
- Have a mission day camp or a day-long mini-retreat for children with service-learning activities.
- Connect kids with the church’s overall missional efforts. For example, have them help support Volunteers in Mission trips or other ongoing service activities.
- Teach stewardship to children. Involve children in deciding how their offerings will be used. Designate a special project for their support and lift up their stewardship regularly in worship.
Download a PDF of this page to share with others.
Read now and download free.Explore strategies your congregation can use to reach beyond its walls with worship, community events, ministries, and service. The Taking Church to the Community Tool Kit features engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials and is designed for both self-study and for use with groups in your church.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Quotable Leadership: When people do not find the idea of church appealing, they are not attracted to what we do, no matter how well we do it. (Robert Schnase).
Earlier this year, Facebook announced major updates to the News Feed. One change penalizes engagement bait (e.g. "Share this post!") to make posts get more exposure. Dan Wunderlich shares all the updates and what your church needs to know in an article from MyComm via United Methodist Communications.
"One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent."
This is the opening to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's post announcing significant changes to the Facebook News Feed. These changes will have an impact on the distribution of content from your Facebook Page, so it is important to understand them.
A history of declining organic reach
When Facebook first introduced Pages, you could count on Facebook to show your posts to a majority of the people who liked your Page. But back in 2014, people who used Facebook to grow their businesses and organizations began to see a troubling trend: their organic reach — the number of people who see their posts for free — was declining.
Facebook responded to these concerns at the time by explaining that there were two primary reasons for the drop in organic reach:
- There is too much content on Facebook, and so they could not show users every post from every friend and Page they follow.
- If Facebook had to pick and choose what to show users, they were going to use an algorithm to display the posts they thought each user would value the most.
However, the overall trend in post distribution remained downward. In the first half of 2016, organic reach was down 42%. In 2017, organic reach dropped another 20%.
A refocus of the Facebook mission
Facebook had a rough year in 2017, facing criticism for the role its platform played during the 2016 United States presidential election. A number of former employees have also detailed concerns over the divisive role social media is playing in society, with a few expressing guilt over the role they played in its rise to prominence.
As all of this was going on, Facebook began to engage research on well-being and happiness, evaluated the experience they have been offering their users, and drew this conclusion:
"The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos – even if they're entertaining or informative – may not be as good."
What is changing?
In a news release that accompanied Zuckerberg's post, Facebook announced some specific changes to the News Feed:
Prioritization of posts from family and friends over Pages: Both Zuckerberg's post and the news release make clear that Facebook users will see fewer posts from Pages in favor of more posts by real people. This means that most Pages, potentially including your church's Page, will see a further decline in organic reach.
Prioritization of posts that inspire conversation and interaction: In a note sent to Facebook's largest publishing partners, Facebook explained that this means "comments, shares, and messages will be valued more than reactions and likes."
Penalization of posts that specifically ask for engagement: This is a reiteration of their announcement from December 2017 that "engagement bait" will no longer be tolerated. This is a particularly popular form of post for some churches. It usually takes the form of sermon clips, Bible verses, or event announcements with the text of the post asking followers to like, share, comment or tag friends. Your engagement bait may not be as egregious as the feature image of this article, but this simple form of digital evangelism must be modified or else Facebook will penalize your posts.
What this means for your church's Facebook Page
If the posts on your church's Facebook Page already inspire meaningful interaction in the form of comments and shares, you are in the best position to continue to reach your Page's followers. On the other hand, if your posts do not regularly inspire engagement — particularly in the form of comments and shares — you will likely see a further measurable drop in organic reach.
If you find yourself in the latter situation, refresh your memory on the basic dimensions of excellent content. Educate yourself on the best practices for increasing engagement. And be sure to search the MyCom archives, as we have posts with engagement ideas for specific topics and seasons, like this excellent article on engagement during Lent.
A good step for everyone to take would be to analyze your past posts in order to see what has (or has not) been working with your specific audience. Use a grading system to rank your social media posts and gain insight into patterns of engagement.
Moving forward, as you begin to plan and design new content for Facebook, it is critical to keep the goal of interaction in mind. Ask yourself how the post, video or graphic you are preparing will inspire conversation. Consider posting less often and spending more time ensuring that each post is high quality.
Experiment with Facebook features, like Groups or Facebook Live, that naturally offer avenues for interaction. For example, post a graphic asking for prayer requests in your church-wide Facebook Group. And instead of posting a clip or quote from the sermon, host a sermon recap or Q&A on Facebook Live that gets viewers involved during the week.
Finally, take steps in the "offline world" that will help online. Organize a volunteer social media team who commits to commenting on and sharing posts from the church page. Show your congregation how to prioritize your church's posts in their News Feed, and teach them how to use their personal Facebook profiles for evangelism within their social circles. And while you would be penalized for including the instruction to "share and tag a friend" in the text of your post, you can always encourage people to do it when you see them in person or through channels like your email newsletter.
At the end of the day…
The good news is that the church is well-positioned to contribute to the goal of improving people's well-being. We have a message of hope and grace, and your church likely has years of practice telling this story.
Where we often lose our way in online ministry is focusing too much on trying to game the system. We try to learn granular details about the ever-changing algorithm and stress ourselves out over variables like how often to post and at what time of day.
While there will always be technical details like this behind an algorithm-driven system, and understanding them might give you a small boost, the greatest thing you can do to increase your impact is to focus less on "likes" and more on the mission The United Methodist Church has: Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The changes to the Facebook algorithm are complex, but the message, as Mark Zuckerberg said, is simple: "[make] sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent."
Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel
Copyright © 2004-2018 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
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