Our team at PastorsLine recommends an ‘AND’ instead of an ‘OR’ strategy. In other words, a combination of communication tools which fit your church culture. Let’s look at an AND strategy in action.
A short while ago, I spoke with Sarah Poindexter and Leona Njoku-Obi of The Bay Church (formerly Calvary Temple Church) in Bay Point, CA. Bay Church currently serves 1000 members. Sarah is the Master Administrator and Operations Manager and has been with the church for seven years. One of her duties is to support the Spiritual Formations Pastor, Leona who has been with the church for four years.
Before PastorsLine…
The different ministries at Bay Church were using different types of communication methods. Those methods included emails, but Leona shared that “no one is really responding to emails”. While those methods were working (sort of), Leona said that the church “wanted to make sure that we had a comprehensive and more ‘something-that-everybody-can-use’ system”.
In addition, there was the Growth Track program. Bay Church has been using Growth Track for about a year because they are constantly making changes to reach more people effectively. They were looking for a way to further promote this program.
Lastly, there were the PastorsLine features which can improve first-time guest follow-up.
For the reasons above, the church incorporated PastorsLine into their communication strategy (the AND strategy we mentioned before).
After adding PastorsLine…
Leona said that PastorsLine “has given me another avenue to put Growth Track out there”. The church invites people to text GROW to their PastorsLine number. Leona notices that “a lot of time [people] not texting during the service. They’re texting at midnight. So, it’s given us another avenue to make it easier for people to sign up for Growth Track, sign up for a small group or to lead a small group. It’s given people something that maybe fits their schedule better or their lifestyle or the way they do life.”
The small groups and team made up of Millennials and Gen Xers have more-or-less mastered PastorsLine. They are using PastorsLine to encourage people to sign up for the small group of their choice.
There have been some challenges though…
Sarah and Leona told me that their church is multi-generational with a large, older-aged segment. Understandably, this group has required more support to get comfortable with texting and keywords.
PRO TIP: Tech resistance is a common challenge many churches face. We suggest an AND approach: text those who are comfortable with text; record the same text as a voice broadcast and voice message your ‘resistors’.
In the future…
Bay Church is planning to develop three communication channels: guest connections, new believers, and using the polling feature for member voting.
Want to increase the productivity of your Growth Track program or perhaps add a comprehensive, ‘everybody-can-use’ system to your church communication strategy?
Yes, take me to the free, $0 for 30 days trial.
Not yet, but I’d like to know more about texting in churches.
About the author
Anne Heath
Anne is a stay at home Mom and also volunteers at her kids’ schools and her church in her spare time. Her hobbies include weightlifting, crafting, photography and coffee consumption! She found PastorsLine through a CCB-recommended webinar while volunteering to help the assimilations pastor and fell in love with it almost instantly. She started implementing PastorsLine to help their church grow and also get their existing members and new families more connected and plugged into the church.
