Tools Used by The Bridge/Monumental UMC

Tools:

Steve Gill at stevegill5@charter.net video production services Gecko productions

www.movieministry.com suggestions for incorporating dvd clips in worship or teaching.

www.worshiphousemedia.com searchable online warehouse of video clips, slide backgrounds, and loopable backgrounds for worship applications

www.servantevangelism.com great ideas to do servant evangelism

www.theooze.com online community for postmodern ministry

www.cvli.org helps you stay legal when displaying song lyrics

www.ccli.org helps you stay legal when using movie clips

Tips and Techniques:

join your local retail alliance to learn more about marketing and networking in the community

make a dvd and use it like a brochure. Leave on display at stores and where people in your target audience gather. Make lots of copies, enough so that the whole congregation can grab several each on Sundays to distribute the following week to friends and new acquaintances.

rely heavily on digital media for marketing

use more guerilla marketing and way less postcards. (yard signs, sidewalk chalk ads, bumper stickers, phone campaigns, internet newsletters sent via email, flyers on windshield at parks, ball fields, malls, walmarts, etc. Promote community events, not “my church.” They don’t really care about your church but they will come to a community event that is interesting, fun, informative and relavant to their lives. At the even they can meet the church and discover that you’re real, caring, and might have something that they are missing. That’s your chance. Let them know you care and will meet them where they are, then a few will come to you and check you out.

Community events can be:

o movie nights (indoors but outdoors is better),

o concerts, outdoors offsite is best (neutral, safe territory)

o parenting, financial management or other “felt needs” seminars,

o low cost buddy tickets to a children’s museum ball games, or other local attraction, cookouts,

o Carnivals with rock climbing walls, ball pits, etc.

o Open mic or American Idol style community talent shows

o Portable skateboard parks

o Sky’s the limit

o Block parties or big cookouts sponsored by families in your church

Pick one of two of these that work and become “famous” by it. Better yet become famous for a social event and a service oriented event. The more regularly you do these events the better. Seek to avoid or redefine any “infamous” connotations your church may have developed.

General reflections:

The “Stuff,” the Tips and Techiques will not make you successful. But with a true heart for the unchurched, the dechurched, and the not-yet believers and the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit you will be successful beyond your wildest imagination.
You must spend more time with unchurched, dechurched, and not yet believers and less time with your church friends. Get out of your holy huddles. And hang out with the “heathens.” Do what they do, enjoy what they enjoy.
Enlist help and comments from folks in your target audience even if they will never become connected to your church (can’t do #2 without #1)
Concerning the Buster generation and postmoderns in general:
- They trust the common wisdom and experiences found in their friends and groups that they choose to belong to. They distrust organized anything, especially religion.
- Evangelism and conversion with postmoderns is not usually an instantaneous event driven thing, it’s a relational process that can take months or even years. Therefore, its slow spirit-led work, not like in the days of Billy Graham Crusades and summer Revivals.
Postmoderns are largely spiritual and emotional rather than logical and systematic. They are skeptical of Christians and Christianity and will be attracted to Jesus, his life and his teachings. They want to assimilate it with other belief from other religions or philosophies. As they are drawn to Jesus, they will scrutinize us carefully before trusting the good news of Jesus that we profess (and we better be living it not just professing it!) They will examine us to see if we are:
- Authentic. We must be committed to the Christian life that we espouse. Following Jesus must influence everything we do, even as we aren’t perfect they must see that we are different, not better, not holier than thou, just different. A good kind of different. They must see that we are joyfully following Jesus sometimes falling sometimes right in step but always right behind Him. They will know if it is an act, a phony display of religiosity.
- Caring. Do we possess unconditional love for them? For pre-christian folks? Or are we looking to put another tally in heaven’s roll book? Or add more members to our church or workers for God’s Kingdom? Enough said.
- Trustworthy. We have integrity. We can be trusted. Until they trust us, our stories will not be heard and they will not commit their lives to following Jesus.
- Transparency. Our lives must be transparent, no fake faith or religious morality here. We are honest and open. We must be real about our struggles, willing to admit and confess sin and talk about our mistakes.
In today’s Postmodern America making disciples is hard slow work but a calling that brings great joy. Luke 15:1-7

Hank Teague

Lead Pastor TheBridge

Associate Pastor MUMC