The Seven Myths of Church Fundraising: Myth #6
Depending on who you ask, this can be a contentious argument. Even within our greater society, there are many different opinions about the Internet; social media much more so. Cyber-bullying, increased depression, and loneliness have all been attributed to the Internet and the rise of social media, particularly for youth (www.ditchthelabel.orgz).
But there are also some solid pros to the Internet and the phenomenal communications ability it has offered to us. Only a few years ago, the thought of talking to someone over a video in real time was just starting to emerge in mainstream culture.
In The Connected Church, author Natchi Lazarus points out that if social media were available in the day of Jesus, he would have used it to reach as many people as he could with his message. I agree. I think he would too. So why aren’t we all doing that? COVID forced most churches and organizations to make that pivot. So, some of us are, and doing it well; but many of us are still not, and that needs to change if you want to reach more people. Particularly those in the younger generations.
We can reach this generation!
Lazarus says, “We are living in a time when we have an unprecedented opportunity to influence this generation in the right way, making them walk in the light. The ancient eternal principles of God’s word can change the lives of millions of people if they are presented in the right manner. Leveraging that opportunity is in your hands and mine. If we don’t take advantage of the opportunity, we may lose this audience forever. But if we wake up now and take the right steps to use social media to communicate the everlasting principles of God’s word, then we can reach this generation.”
The connected audience Lazarus refers to is looking for answers, and the Bible has them. People aren’t just looking on social media at funny videos or pictures of their friends and family. They’re looking for answers to some of life’s bigger questions. Yes, to some of us that sounds ludicrous, but for many it’s the only place they know where to look. So don’t we think it’s a good idea that the church should be there as one of the answers?
According to Brock Warner, in his book From the Ground UP: Digital Fundraising for NonProfits, value is what social media really has to offer our followers. He says it’s a common thread, and at every opportunity and every post you should be asking yourself if what you are sharing is of value to your followers and supporters. “Value on social media often means helping supporters feel happier, more aware, useful, engaged, or better educated.”
Warner goes on to point out some of the benefits of social media: accounts are often free to set up, the platforms are often easy to use, and many of your supporters are likely already there. Longer-term benefits can include recruiting support from friends of friends, and you can target audiences by demographic and geographic variables quite easily and inexpensively. Finally, depending on how many people you have on your page, the metrics on some social media platforms are quite rich, and can help you deepen your understanding of your audience.
Nona Jones argues that most churches use social media to bring people into the building, and she would like to see them use social media to bring the gospel to them where they are at right now. Then bring them into the building. Jones says you really need both.
Jones’ point is, how do you use your social media…just as a way to share information and make announcements? Or do you use it to extend your ministry throughout the week? Do you use clips and quotes from your online service on your social media channels? The power of social media lies in it being more than a broadcast medium. Its greatest asset is in engagement, where people can interact with you in real time.
Even if you are not doing online church and capturing video, you should be using the highlights of your weekly worship on your social channels. You can do it easily on Canva.com. Here’s a link to a video on how to sign up for Canva Pro for free as a non-profit organization.
So, considering the stats of the number of people online, what would Jesus do? I think the answer seems obvious. If you want some help getting started you can read more about social media and the church here some of my previous article, Social Media Strategy. Or you can reach out and we’ll help you get started.
The Seven Myths of Church Fundraising
This is a series of seven articles based on the book originally written by my father, Ben Harder, and recently re-written by myself. We came up with what we referred to as the Seven Myths of Church Fundraising. I suppose they could just as easily have been called pitfalls, or misguided beliefs, but the point is, these myths are widely-held assumptions people in the church had and still have surrounding church finances and fundraising. For many churches, these assumptions became part of the church operations and more importantly, an informal narrative of things the church should not do.
It will be helpful to learn how to recognize and identify these pitfalls and why it’s important to move past them, because if anything is holding you back from financial success, it is one of these myths.
If you would like to watch my video on The Seven Myths of Church Fundraising, you can do so on my youtube channel or on the about us page of my website.
