february, 2020
Event Details
Reaching the Un-churched, De-churched and Spiritual Seekers RSVP ONLINE NOW A practical workshop on the strategies, techniques and tools we need to
Event Details
Reaching the Un-churched, De-churched and Spiritual Seekers
A practical workshop on the strategies, techniques and tools we need to reach a skeptical audience presented by Damian Geddry
An event from the New Ministries EMT of the California-Pacific Conference
- Who are the Nones, Dones & SBNR?
- What do they currently think about church?
- How do we change their negative perception?
- Where do we find them in our own community?
- How would they find you if they really wanted to?
- What can we learn about their unique spiritual needs?
- How do we talk to people who don’t use religious language?
- What can social media do to help bridge this gap?
- How do we start using social media effectively?
This workshop is designed to help you share the strengths of your church with the needs of your local community.
Staff and lay leaders are welcome, and each church will need to bring one laptop and smart phone with admin access for your social media accounts.
Location: Fullerton First UMC (114 N Pomona Ave, Fullerton, CA 92835)
A Workshop on Re-Connecting With Your Community
This workshop approaches the phenomenon of declining church attendance from an unlikely perspective: that of the Nones, Dones, Un-churched & Spiritual-But-Not Religious (SBNR). It takes a critical but hopeful view from outside the church.
Public discourse on religion has been dominated by regressive voices that most Nones, Dones and SBNR reject as hypocritical, anti-science, anti-LGBTQ, overly prescriptive, and closed to questions and doubt. To them, “church” is irrelevant.
The challenge is to hear these voices and re-engage them – with all their doubts and cynicism – in a discussion where progressive Christianity meets their existential needs. With a bit of training, social media makes this very possible.
However, this is not a social media workshop per se. It’s a communication workshop, where we first un-pack the problem and then use social media as a research tool, before we use it as a speaking tool for reaching outsiders.
The format is a 4-6 hour session divided between theory and practice – with extra time allotted to helping church staff use their website and social media effectively.
Part 1 – Unpacking the challenge:
- Section 1 – What is the church attendance trend and trajectory? (15 min)
- Section 2 – Who are the people that are currently rejecting church? (15 min)
- Section 3 – Why do people leave, criticize or simply reject church? (30 min)
- Section 4 – How are churches currently speaking to rejecters? (45 min)
Part 2 – Building a solution set:
- Section 5 – Church’s unique role; how are we different and truly valuable? (30 min)
- Section 6 – Hearing the needs of our community – social media listening (45 min)
- Section 7 – Reaching out to the rejecters – social media speaking (45 min)
- Section 8 – Basic social media networking and best practices (remaining time)
By the end of the session, participants will be able to:
- Identify key reasons Millenials and GenZ reject “church”
- Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your church communications
- Research the spiritual needs of your community via social media
- Assess how your communications address these unique needs
- Tailor communications to reach people outside your church
- Identify organizations in the community for collaboration
- Use social media best practices to facilitate the above