Sunday, July 7, 2013

Newspaper and Newsletter Evangelism (July. Outreach, Evangelism and Discipleship Newsletter.)

Here is this months copy of  Outreach, Evangelism and Discipleship Newsletter. Each month we send out the best of this blog, guest articles and other information about these three subjects.

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I will not always have a theme to the newsletter. But this month the theme is on Newspaper and Newsletter outreach. This topic is one of the more powerful ways I know to reach your community so I pulled some of the stuff from my blog and books in hopes that it will help you with your ministry.

Newspaper and Newsletter Outreach.

Press Releases

This is one of the best ways of making your church known in the community. This is especially true if you live in a smaller town or your community or suburban community has a newspaper. Most newspapers today are short on staff and they look forward to people turning them on to local news events or stories. I wish I would have known this when I was planting churches. After I retired I managed a senior center. I called the paper or sent a press release for every event we had. It was not long before I knew the two reporters and the editor of the paper. No matter what we did at the senior center it was covered by the paper. Of course I never sent trivial things to the paper as to not wear out my welcome. 
So whenever you have something special or newsworthy  you are doing in the community let the local paper know. Not everything you do is news worthy or deserves a press release. Some events should be in the local events or calendar section. Here are some examples of things for a press release
  • Milestone events such as a new building dedication, a major anniversary or something like opening a new daycare facility or shelter.
  • Events that you may you may do such as a bicycle fix up day, fix up a local park day or building a wheel chair ramp. These are best when the paper sees that there is a benefit for the general public.
  • Humanitarian things your church does. Sending a press release or calling and asking them to cover an event that is designed to help the disadvantaged in some way is one of the easier sells. If you are having a fundraiser for a sick child, teaming up with other organizations to raise money for the local food bank or any such endeavor then you have a winner on your hands.
  • Major recognition of pastor, staff or church is also news worthy. If one of these wins or is nominated for something like humanitarian of the year award, or becomes the regional representative for the denomination or is recognized by any local group such as the Chamber of Commerce or a local civic group.

Local events in the newspaper

Almost every paper has a local events section. This section can go by many names but they are all basically the same. They are a calendar of when things are going to happen in the area that the paper serves. If you make the deadline then almost any event that you have will get listed.
Some papers have a religious section. This is an easy place to get things your church is doing listed as well.

Guest articles in the newspaper

Many papers love to have guest articles. They especially like whimsical, heart-warming and encouraging articles. I have a friend that had a long serious of articles published in the local paper about how she worked her faith out in day to day situations. I told you about the editor I got to know, in one conversation he told me that it was easy to find bad news to print and that he needed all the help he could to find
Some papers publish guest commentaries. I know a lot of pastors who publish commentaries about events in the community in their local papers.

Newsletter Evangelism

Many churches are beginning to engage their communities by providing local newspapers or newsletters. This can be one of the most effective ways of reaching out into your community. There are three basic ways of doing this:
  • Having a series of newsletters that you canvas around the community
  • A community newspaper
  • An entertaining newspaper delivered to restaurants, coffee houses and other community gathering places
  • A newcomer newsletter

Canvassing or Outreach Newsletter

There are many churches that are being successful in leading people to Christ through this method. The newsletter is designed to be of interest to the unchurched. The goal is to create a positive impression of your church in the community and to provide an opportunity to share the gospel with them.
The idea of a canvassing newsletter is simple. You start with 4 to 8 newsletters on topics that people are interested in; such as teen difficulty, finances, handling illness and other topics people would be willing to take and read the newsletter. Then you take teams of people from your church and once a week canvas the same houses. Each time you progress through the number of newsletters. After the last week the papers are delivered, you do a follow up by contacting each of these homes. Newsletterevangelism.com is centered on this idea. It can be helpful to visit their site whether or not you want to use their service. http://newsletterevangelism.com/
The outreach newsletter is similar but not necessarily followed up by a home visit. Many times this is sent to the community three to six times a year. This can be done by canvassing a neighborhood, using a mailing list or a general mailing that goes to every home in an area. This is usually a short newsletter with one to four short articles of interest, some interesting or fun stuff like trivia or humor and a short article from the pastor of the church. Many times all of the articles deal with a theme such as overcoming depression, surviving the holidays or how to make the most of summer vacations. It is also good to include basic information about your church; list of upcoming events that may be of interest, community resources that may have to do with the topic and any ministry you may have at the church that can help people with the topic. Do not make the newsletter too long, one page front and back is probably enough. Add links to other resources on your website. This is another way for them to become familiar with you.

Community Entertainment Newspaper

These are usually called café or restaurant newsletters. There are two major companies that provide these. There is a good chance you have seen them in a coffee house or restaurant. They are usually an 11x14 inch, one page newspaper with advertising down both sides and content in the middle. The content is light and entertaining to read. It includes things like jokes, trivia, poetry and interesting stories. The providers of these papers contact restaurants, cafes, libraries, doctor’s offices and anywhere you can put a local free newspaper.  Both companies provide a weekly newspaper.
The big companies produce a one size fits all publication. This is because they use the same or similar content in cities all over the world. I would suggest giving yours a more local flavor with local events, inspirational content about local hero’s, poetry from local authors, book reviews of local artists, news from local charities and listings for local art events. When you give it a local feel, any place that carries the other papers will probably take yours and maybe some who do not eccept the others. You can probably get copies distributed to local civic groups, the Chamber of Commerce and maybe even in local government buildings.
Unless you want to make it really profitable, I would suggest keeping it at a non-profit level of advertisements. This would mean having advertisements down one side of the page instead of both. This gives you more room for content. There is also the option of having ads down one side and across the bottom.
Of course you want to promote your church in the process. If you want it to be acceptable in most places, then this cannot be the main focus of the newspaper. I would suggest a “sponsored by” under the name of the publication, a major ad spot and maybe a short word of encouragement from the pastor. 
While the big guys provide new copies each week, you have the option of making it a bi- weekly publication if providing content is too difficult to do weekly.
The two major publications are Coffee News and Tidbits Weekly. I mention these as an example. Make sure your paper is significantly different than theirs. This means not just a name change but topic categories and various styling changes. Of course if you want to make it easy, you can buy a franchise from either of these companies. If so, you would want to give your church the top advertising spot.

Community Paper

A community paper is a small publication that provides stories of interest to smaller communities. You might call it a community newsletter because of its size. In contrast to a newspaper it is very small, usually just one page printed on both sides. The difference between this and the café news is the nature of the content. The content is specifically about the community. Many small towns or communities do not have a newspaper simply because they are so small that they do not produce enough news to justify one. That does not mean that nothing happens worth mentioning. I know of many small communities in my area that have such a paper. It is easy to get local sponsors to place ads. It takes a little work to find stories of interest but is not that hard.

Community Welcome Newsletter

This is one of my favorites. A community welcome newsletter is sent to everyone who moves into your community. There are many companies that provide new move-in mailing lists. The prices vary depending on the services you want them to provide. They can be very affordable. Many will provide you with a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly list. In smaller communities a realtor can probably supply you with this information. Search the internet for new move-in lists.
The idea is to provide a short newsletter once a week for 4 to 8 weeks. You want to provide interesting, helpful and inspirational information about your community. If you do so, then the newsletter will stand out from all the marketing mailings they receive. Here are some of the things that you can include:
  • Inspirational articles, especially if they are about your community.
  • Helpful resources in your community; such as libraries, parks, government services and any other helpful service you can find in your community.
  • Fun things to do in your community; such as festivals, farmers markets, kids play areas and anything else that is interesting to do in your community.
  • Art showings and museums
  • A list of civic organizations
  • Historical landmarks or a short history of the city. Many times the city website or Chamber of Commerce will have a short history of the city. If you ask them, they will likely give you permission to use it.
  • A list of local charities
If done right, people will look forward to these newsletters. I would suggest that, other than mentioning that the newsletter comes from your church, not to spend much time talking about your church until the later issues; except when something you do matches the content; such as sponsoring a art fair at your church or any other activity that correlates with the content of the newsletter. Also you can include a short word of information in each issue from the pastor of the church.
Marketing people will tell you that a person does not become familiar with a product or service until they have heard about it 6 to 8 times. By the end of the series you will be the best known church in the area for those who do not have a church.
You can also invite them to a quarterly gathering with community leaders and others at your church. It gives them a chance to meet community leaders in person and give them the opportunity to get to know you on a more personal level.
Visitor Follow-Up Newsletter
Many churches ask for an address when a visitor comes and sends a thank you letter. Would it not be better to send four newsletters with an encouraging or inspirational article from the pastor, testimonies and information about ministries at your church?
Things to Make Newsletters More Effective
The first thing is to make sure the first article is a hook. A hook is something very interesting that catches their attention so that they want to read the newsletter.
The newsletter can be put in an envelope or folded and sent as is. I suggest the latter. In this way the back page is half content while the bottom half is where you put the mailing information. I would do this in full color to catch their attention. The hook article would be on the top part of this page since it will be the first thing they see.  
Include in each newsletter links for more information on your website. This would include other community services, more articles of inspiration, poetry from local authors, and longer descriptions of fun things and any other pertinent information. Visiting your website gives them a chance to get to know you better and provides one more contact.
Provide in each newsletter a link to where people can submit information. This is especially good for a community newsletter or entertainment newsletter.
Some of these take time to do. You can consider asking homeschoolers to help produce a community newspaper. Producing a newsletter can be a great learning project for them. You can also join with another church. You would not want to do this with canvassing newsletters or newcomer newsletters.
For advertising, contact all businesses listed in Christian business listings.
Resources
 

Get your community involved with your mission through Causes.com

If you do not already know about Causes.com then you may be missing out. It can be a powerful tool to help reach into your community for common causes. You can use it as a tool for raising money from outside your church for ministry you are doing in your community. It is an easy way for members of your church to share with friends outreach campaigns that your church is participating in.
 
The Causes.com page is integrated with Facebook's custom open graph, which means that it is easy for all members of your causes page to post via Timeline and newsfeed. This includes both members of your church and anyone else who joins because they agree with the specific campaign you are running. The ability for supporters to tweet, email, and post a Facebook status update is a click away on every campaign page. With a click of a button the members of your church and others who are interested in what you are doing can let all their friends know.
 
Causes.com has a safe a secure way to collect donations for any project you may have. Both members of the cause and non-members can both make donations. These donations are action-specific meaning that you can have multiple fundraisers going for different outreaches at the same time.  Your organization has to be a non-profit to collect donations.
 
Here are a few examples of ways you can build goodwill and get people in your community helping you in your community outreach. You can do this with any cause you are interested in. You can use it to either raise awareness of an issue or need, raise money for and issue or need or do both.
 
  • Helping raise money for a local food bank (this could be one that you run).
  • Raising money for a cancer patient or accident victim.
  • Raising money to fix up a park in a low income area
  • Building a homeless or battered women's shelter (this could be one you are building).
  • Building awareness of any need in your community
  • Working with your local PTA in raising money for a school (preferably one you have adopted and are working regularly with).
  • Raising money for the arts. This could be coordinated with arts related outreaches you are doing in the community.
  • Joining with any local charity in raising money. When you do this everyone involved in the charity knows that your church cares about them.
One of the features I like is that any member of your cause page can click a link and ask that instead of giving you a birthday gift they give to a campaign they support on your Cause.com page. After retiring from ministry I ran a senior center for three years. We had a Causes.com page. Every year on my birthday on Facebook where it said on all my friends pages that it was my birthday it gave them the option of giving to the senior center instead of giving me a gift. People I barely knew who would never think of giving me a gift gave to the senior center. Each year I raised from $300 to $500 dollars. Your members may not average that much but multiply that times half your members participating and you could raise a lot of money through out the years.

http://www.causes.com/

An idea for flea markets, farmers markets and fairs.

Fundraisers for a school or children’s charity
If you are raising money for a school you adopted or a local children’s charity then this is a good place to do it. There are many ways to do this. If the children are selling something your rent the space and provide the awning and let the children sell. Be sure you have s good sign for your church and people available to talk with the people who stop by.

You can have a raffle. Get local businesses to give prizes for the raffle. Have all of the items on display. Try to have at least one very nice prize. Include very clear signage for what the raffle is for. Make sure that it is clear that your church is sponsoring the raffle for the charity. Have larger raffle tickets so that it is easy for them to write their name your half of the ticket and room on their half that states that the raffle is sponsored by your church. Have a specific time at the end of the event that the tickets are drawn. Provide the school or charity with a supply of raffle tickets to sell. Since every ticket has your church info on it is brings not only more exposure to your church but raises money for the school or charity. Be sure to send a press release to your local papers telling of the success of the event. 

Reaching visitors through monthly deserts
One of the most effective follow-up things we did in church plants was to have a monthly get to know us dessert. I have seen them called various things such as "meet the staff", "get to know the church" and "who we are desserts" among a few.
Personally we did these at the two most successful church plants I worked with. At these desserts we would have the staff, home group leaders and Sunday school teachers. We found that around 75 percent of the people who attended these desserts stayed at the church. 
 
Many of the people who came did not come to the first dessert event after they started coming to the church.  Two or three weeks at the church was not enough time, they were still in the "I am checking you out and I want to be somewhat anonymous" stage. If we kept them around long enough for the second monthly dessert we found they were more receptive towards coming. We gave out a general invite during services to all new people but gave personal invitations and sent personal invitations to everyone that had been there over a month.
 
You can understand why we made it an effort to get the visitors to come to this dessert. They played a major role in both churches growing from 35 to 150 in less than two years.

Best free Bible software

Many of you are familiar with some of the Bible software packages you can buy. I would like to share with you one that is free and is as good as most of the ones you can buy and is actually better than some. Of course it is not as good as the Logos software but it also does not start at $295. There are hundreds of add-on modules including nearly 100 commentaries, every Bible you can think of, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias and more. The nice thing is that all the commentaries are connected to the Bible translations and when you are reading a verse you can click on any commentary you have and you are at that section. It is a resource I use every day.
Here is a link to the website.
http://www.e-sword.net/
Here is where you download all Bible, commentaries and other resources
http://www.biblesupport.com/
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