Could your greatest ministry tool, fit in the palm of your hand?

Education Commission — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:59:07 +0000

Could your greatest ministry tool, fit in the palm of your hand?

It might be hard to believe but your phone or a text messaging software could possibly help you build your ministry!

Let’s face it, for ministries the last 3 years have been difficult for some and devastating for many. In fact, some churches have not reached full capacity since the pandemic and researchers have found that many past congregates don’t have plans to return. So what do you do?

It’s unfortunate but many times the Christian church has remained reactive to the things that happen in the world. Sadly, many Pastors refused to use social media outlets for their pandemic services until it became absolutely necessary to do so. But, this is not the first time, we are often reluctant to utilize technology for ministry and that reason generally steers from fear and the lack of knowledge about how to use the resource to our advantage.

It’s safe to say that it doesn’t have to be this way. There are many opportunities for growth with technology, some at a cost, but the cost can be minimal if you do your research. There are even free conferences and webinars available by companies just to get you educated on their products. I know it may be difficult for you to personally attend every available session or read every article, but you certainly can establish a representative in your church that can collect information and provide a well-educated strategy for the vision that you have.

In this article, I want to challenge you to think outside of the box. We will discuss one ministry tool that you may have considered but didn’t quite know how to utilize it, your phone. That’s right, it’s more than just a tool for giving, it can also be powerful for the growth of your church for prospective, new, and established members. We’ll share a few ideas below on how you can utilize text messaging in your church and challenge you to consider ways that you can utilize these ideas.

“I had a congregant share with me that she has never had the Pastor reach out to her via text and that meant so much to her.”

– Pastor O.

1. Use text messages for corporate prayer requests or important announcements

While in a meeting, I heard a story about a man whose brother went fishing alone and they hadn’t heard from him in hours. The family was so concerned that they requested a search part to look for the young man. While they gathered to start the search party, the man reach out to his church to tell them what was going on and the church immediately responded with a corporate text message. The entire church was now praying for this young man to be found and God got the victory! This is just one example of how corporate prayer requests can be sent and make the congregants feel connected and involved with the happenings of their church family. The man was especially appreciative and the church was glad to hear about the young man being found. These requests don’t have to be done individually, or even all the time, but they could be short notes to make others feel acknowledged and important to the ministry.

2. Special Announcements or Upcoming Events

Does your church have an upcoming event that you want to ensure everyone knows about? Maybe it’s a family and friends day. You could very well send a text with the associated flyer and encourage your members to send that text to 10 of their family and/or friends. You have now made it simple and quick to share. It is even more accessible via text as those family members who don’t have social media accounts are now able to get all of the necessary information.

You could also do the same with special announcements about service or your latest podcast drop. As we all know, many have stopped paying as much attention to their emails, so texting has become a way to communicate and often gets a better response.

3. Small Group or Cell Group Communication

With certain text messaging software, you have the capability to message the entire group or even certain segmented groups. This is a great feature if you want to send a reminder to a small cell group for bible study or for a group get-together. What’s also nice about certain texting software is that those in the group can even respond back to you and/or everyone. By connecting through text, people don’t feel as though they are alone and feel connected to their church family and leaders in the ministry.

4. Let others know you care or send encouragement

It sounds too easy to seem effective but a simple text scripture to encourage those who are caring for a loved one or a personalized message to let them know that someone from the church is praying for them can make a great impact. This can especially be true for those who are away from home in college, on work assignments, or even in the military.

Getting a text from your home church when you are hundreds of miles away from home would make individuals feel as though the church is thinking about them and wants them to know that they are loved.

5. Grow your church by getting subscribers in outreach events

Do you have a food drive or back-to-school giveaway? Do you do something for the children for Christmas or even have a Thanksgiving basket giveaway for those in need? No matter what community outreach programs you have, a great way of connecting with those in the community and ensuring they are informed of what you are doing is by getting them to subscribe to your text message list. These individuals are invested enough to want to stay updated with what you are doing and you can even use it to inform them of other things that you do in your ministry.

This is a great tool for helping them gain more awareness of the ministry and can be used in a number of ways. Send a video from the Pastor inviting them to service or send a special note thanking them for stopping by. They will remember those small things that you did to show them that your church cared enough to make another step to communicate with them.

With all of these proposed ideas, it’s important to remember that you want to properly collect information and have individuals opt-in to receive messages from you. You certainly want to avoid making others feel as though you have violated their privacy by not asking for permission to message them. Getting those to opt-in to messaging can be easily done by using QR codes to sign up in your church vestibule or by making announcements of your text ministry in your church announcements. You can even place a question on your visitor’s card asking if you can text them about important news or events.

Lastly, you want to use this communication method wisely. Overuse could potentially lead individuals to feel bombarded by many text messages throughout the week. Be sure to consider what important information you will share via text and then send other information through other methods of communication.

The Education Commission is committed to educating, excelling, and emerging the way in which we do ministry and even the lives of others. We pray that this article has been insightful and provided some information that will lead you to rethink how you can reach out to your community in this modern church environment.

The post Could your greatest ministry tool, fit in the palm of your hand? first appeared on COGIC Education Commission.

Recidivism and Black America, are there any options?

Education Commission — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 00:20:18 +0000

Recidivism and Black America, can the Christian Church help?

A Cyclical Problem

One out of every eighty-one black adults will serve time in a state prison and in many states, Black Americans represent more than half their prison population [1]. These are staggering and disheartening statistics, however, there is an even greater issue at hand, recidivism. Recidivism refers to the unfortunate tendency of released prisoners returning to prison. Although the rates of recidivism in the United States vary depending on multiple factors, black men and women in the United States have significantly higher rates than those of other racial groups. The effects of recidivism go beyond the individual and continue to affect their families, communities, and society as a whole. These increased incarceration rates lead to strained social services, increased poverty, and weakened economic stability.

The Stats Speak for Themselves…

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, among prisoners released in 2012, over 70% of Black Americans were rearrested within four years. Additionally, amongst all races, over 70% of those rearrested were aged 25 to 39 and 77.6% of those under the age of 24 were rearrested [2]. These high rates of recidivism merely highlight the need for targeted interventions to address the root causes and better support individuals returning from prison.

Addressing the problem of recidivism requires a multifaceted approach. This approach should include addressing systemic racism in the criminal justice system, implementing programs that support formerly incarcerated individuals, and investing in community-based organizations that promote social and economic stability. Additionally, programs that provide education, job training, and mental health support should be established within the prison system and continued after release.

So What Can We Do?

You may be wondering why this topic is on our website. Surely there is a prison ministry within our church that would be able to handle this. There are many churches that have prison ministries, so is that enough? Our simple answer to this question is, no. Could we as the light of the world be doing more? We certainly can. We can share the knowledge of Jesus Christ to transform their heart but we can also help them learn the strategies that transform their confidence, their skillset, and give them access to things they wouldn’t normally have once they leave the prison system. There’s no simple solution to this issue but we must be aware that we can use our available resources to make an impact on our community in more ways. They may never walk into a church service but our efforts to improve their lives and offer support could be the only act of the love of Jesus they see. Stay tuned to the Education Commission’s proposal to make efforts to reduce recidivism within our community.

[1] https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/the-color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons-the-sentencing-project/

[2] https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/document/rpr34s125yfup1217.pdf

The post Recidivism and Black America, are there any options? first appeared on COGIC Education Commission.

Evangelism and Outreach - COGIC Education Commission

Could your greatest ministry tool, fit in the palm of your hand?