Deka.Blog
The Final Marketing Push
Everyone knows what happens right before liftoff. The astronauts are strapped in, and everything has been checked and rechecked. Then in the final moments before launch, the countdown begins in descent: ten, nine, eight… three, two, one, ignition lift off!
Part of every church planter’s launch day countdown should be a final marketing push. To some pastor’s this sounds too expensive (especially on a church planter’s budget!). While investing in promotion for your new church is wise, it does not have to break the bank. Here are three FREE ideas to promote your church plant’s opening day.
Do a countdown on Instagram - Each day leading up to your launch, starting a week outpost the number of days until your opening day. You can post a picture of your team in worship, serving, laughing, and share stories with each post. You can also match up posts with your values, mission, and vision.
Use your personal social media - Do not just utilize the church’s social media to promote your church. Use your personal social media to engage those who know you and are eager to support you, even if they cannot attend your church. Maybe a friend in another state will share the message with someone they know who lives in your community.
Coordinate with your launch team to write reviews - Create online evangelists by getting your launch team involved with promoting your church’s launch online. Have people go on google reviews and write reviews for your church. Have people write reviews on Facebook and anywhere else they can. This will let people know they can trust you before you even have your first day.
Promoting your new church does not have to be complicated. These are just a few free, easy things you can do, but many other strategies can be implemented as well. If you would like help with your marketing plan, click here to set up a free coaching session. We’d love to help!
Change the Script on Your Email to Get More Clicks
By: Josh Roberie
Are you getting enough clicks on your emails? One of the most significant benefits of email marketing is driving traffic to your website. This cannot happen if people are not opening your messages and clicking your links. So, how do you entice people to click on your messages without using gimmicks that will leave them disappointed after they do?
Before we get into that, let us look at the average open rates for email messages and what you should be shooting for with your emails. Three key performance indicators (KPI) for your email marketing campaigns are
Key Performance Indicators for Email Marketing:
Open Rates - Your open rate is the percentage of people who open your emails after seeing your header in their inbox. It all starts here.
Click-Through Rates - A click-through rate measures the number of people responding to your call to action and clicking your links. This is the true measure of success.
Unsubscribe Rates - How many people are saying they no longer wish to receive your emails. Someone unsubscribing is not totally a bad thing. It helps people self-identify who is a good candidate for you. It can be a sign of someone losing interest in your services.
What percentage of open emails and click-throughs to your website do you think you need to average with your email campaigns? According to campaign monitor, the average open rate is 18%, and 15% is considered successful. This is excellent news for you. You do not need to get everyone to open your emails to be effective. Not every message you send is going to hit a need for every person on your contact list. You just need to make sure that you are adding value often enough to keep them engaged.
What should you do if you are not getting the 18% open rate and are not seeing 15% percent of people clicking through to your website? Donald Miller, the heralded marketing expert and brand specialist, gives excellent advice on changing the script to get more clicks. He says the problem is that we often put our ministry and ourselves at the center of the story. This is not engaging to people because they are not thinking about you. They are thinking about themselves. When we talk about how great our church is (because you know it is!) and how you have the solution to save the day, we pump up yourself as the hero. Of course, this is only natural. You know how to help people find the hope of Jesus that can change their eternity, family-life, and help them find freedom.
The problem is that people simply are not interested in their stories. They only care about their own story. If we do not focus on the reader, they disengage, and your emails become less effective. To change the script to get more clicks, you will have to make them the center of attention. As Donal Miller puts it, you should make them the focus by positioning them as the hero and you as a helper to achieve their best possible story. This is different than making your ministry the hero and them the victim in need of saving. But how do you do this?
Three Email Marketing Tips from Donald Miller:
Use “you” and “your” instead of, “we,” “my,” and “us” - Miller says, “If you position your brand as the hero, you’ll subconsciously compete with your customer’s internal narrative. That kind of marketing almost always fails to connect. If you’re making this mistake, you’ll find the words “us,” “we,” or “my” popping up a lot in your marketing copy. If you’re doing a good job of making your customer the hero, you’re more likely to see words like “you” and “your.”
Make your the person receiving your email is the focus of the subject line - Miller gives the examples of REI in his blog on buildingastorybrand.com as excellent examples of this. Instead of saying, “Check out our European adventures! We offer flexible itineraries and great prices.” REI chose to put make their customers the center of attention by instead making this their leading line, “Now booking: your European escape. Make this the year you discover Europe.” This taps into their customers’ dreams and aspirations.
Highlight the benefits of taking action - Every hero has to take action, or there would be no story. Taking this step into the unknown is what inspires us to follow a hero’s journey. You need to encourage people to take this leap into their own story by highlighting the difference they can make and the benefits they can see in their own life.
You may be wondering how a church can accomplish all of this since you are selling a product. You may not have something for sale at your church, but you are asking people to make an exchange, just like a business does. You want them to exchange their time for an experience at your church or their night watching TV at home, for a small group where they can be discipled. Marketing in its basic form is an exchange. You want your messaging to create an exchange of people’s time for the benefits of your church or the investment of their donations for the difference your church is making in your community.
The way churches can make people they are ministering to the center of the story is by following these simple steps.
How Churches Can Apply the StoryBrand Strategy to Your Email Campaigns:
Start with knowing who your audience is - Are you speaking to insiders, outsiders, or investors. This will determine how you position your message. For insiders and investors, you will want to emphasize the difference they can make by taking action. If you speak to outsiders, you will want to highlight the personal benefits to their lives.
Be life-giving - It is hard to define what being life-giving is. It is a philosophy you carry into every conversation and perspective and not just the way you preach. It focuses on God’s best for people, what He does for them, and not people’s worse and what they need to do to change. It is a way to inspire people to embrace all that God offers instead of pointing out how far away they are from God’s best.
Deliver eternal truths in modern language - The truth of the gospel and your message as a church will never change. Over the centuries, it has been delivered in different ways and languages. Remaining relevant in our message does not water down the Good News. It keeps it flowing when traditions could keep it from reaching a new audience.
Changing the focus of your message is a paradigm shift for most businesses and churches. As fisher’s of men, we have to realize that fish don’t bite hooks. They bite bait without realizing the hook is in there. All this means is that we have to look at all of our messaging, not just our emails, through the eyes of the people we want to reach. They probably do not yet value all that we offer. That’s why they are our mission. So we should pause and ask ourselves, “What is important to them,” and “How can I help them take a step closer to all God has for them?” Doing this has the extra benefit of tapping into people’s personal stories and will lead to more clicks on your emails.
Josh is a ministry leader, communicator, and creative who helps train and coach church planters at the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He has been a contributor to many ministry publications, including Relevant Magazine. You can stay connected to Josh through his blog JoshRoberie.com and on Social Media at @JoshRoberie.
How to Implement a New Giving Solution
8 Steps to Success for Digital Giving Roll Out
There are many reasons to have an easy-to-use digital giving solution. Fewer people are using checks and cash to make purchases in general. This is seen in church giving as well. Not only do the majority of church members give digitally, but churches that accept giving online increase overall donations by 32%*.
While the why behind digital giving is clear, you may wonder how you implement a new digital giving platform. Even if you are already using a digital giving provider, it is easy to switch.
Here are 8 Steps to Success for Digital Giving Rollout using Deka.Gives.
1. Update Giving Page
The first thing you will want to do is replace the current give page with your new custom Deka.Gives page.
2. Make an Announcement
Use the giving portion of your service to announce the church’s transition to Deka.Gives. Everyone wants to know, “What’s in it for me?” Also, with change, people wonder how much effort will it take to adjust. That is why with your announcement, you need to share how this is not just a win for the church but for them as well.
Bonus tip: You may want to use some of the talking points Deka provides in the Initial Roll Out Email resource (found in the email templates document).
3. Communicate Through Email
Within 24 hours of making the announcement on Sunday, you will send your members an initial rollout email. We provide a template to make this email as convenient as possible for you (found in the email templates document).
4. Recurring Giving Switch
Begin auditing recurring gifts in Deka.Gives and your previous giving system to delete recurring donations in the old giving platform that have been moved to Deka.Gives. This switchover is simple. Our team is available every step of the way to answer any questions that may come up.
5. Change Text to Give
The Sunday after making the announcement, you will change T2G (text to give) to your new Deka.Gives T2G solution. We provide a T2G slide document as a resource to help you make this change.
6. Follow-up with Givers
Each Monday after making the switch to Deka.Gives you will want to send a follow-up email to recurring givers who have not moved over yet. Use our “Follow Up Email to Recurring Givers With Gift Not Yet Moved” template for the copy you will want to include in that email.
7. Conclude Rollover
You will let Deka know when all recurring gifts have been moved over from your previous giving platform to Deka.Gives. If Deka is auditing the recurring donations, we will notify you when the rollover is complete.
8. Cancel
Once you conclude the rollover, you will cancel your previous subscription.
Congratulations! Now you are fully implemented!
Deka.Gives is not just an easy solution for your givers to use. We also provide a system that you can quickly roll out with confidence. We are not just interested in seeing you adopt Deka.Gives as your giving solution either. We are committed to you for the long haul. This means that we do not just want to help you during the roll out but want to be a partner in your ministry’s long-term success.
If you still have questions about what this could look like for you, then please contact us. We would like to give you a no-pressure, no-commitment coaching session that shows you how to save money and be more effective. Click here to schedule a coaching call today.
*https://nonprofitssource.com/online-giving-statistics/church-giving/
One Huge Giving Problem and How to Solve It
How Recurring Giving Can Benefit Your Church
The average churchgoer does not attend every week. What does this mean?
First of all, let's talk about why they are not attending every week. It is probably your preaching. I am kidding! The culture in America has shifted dramatically to where Sunday is no longer a day of rest. Many people do not choose to miss church on Sunday. They have to be elsewhere, at times, because it is a workday. Businesses are open, which means shift workers may not have a choice on when they are off.
Vacations and family events will mean some people occasionally miss church. More sports events for children and students are happening on the weekends. For some families, the choice is not to let their children play sports at all or be willing to miss attending on Sundays at times.
While you will need to open to this irregular attendance if you want to reach new people, it does impact your giving. It does not mean that your members are not still committed to the church's vision and want to support it financially. Life happens, and for almost every church member, that means missing Sundays. When this happens, though, they miss having an opportunity to give in person. They are also not there to be reminded of the impact your church is having through their giving.
How can you solve this huge giving problem, so many churches are facing in a time where people are more flexible in their church attendance than ever before?
Helping your church members set up recurring giving is the best way to address this issue. Recurring giving is when someone schedules a regular donation to be made to your church automatically on a regular basis. Setting up scheduled donations may be new for your givers. The good news is, most people prefer to give online. Recurring giving helps you take advantage of a more significant percentage of those who like to give online.
Helping your members set up recurring giving can also increase the percentage of people in your church who tithe. While 37% of church members do not tithe, that number can increase by 32% by offering an online option*. But recurring giving is even simpler than that because it only needs to be set up once.
Recurring giving not only makes giving more accessible for your church members but helps them prioritize the value of tithing and supporting the vision of their local church. If you are not currently using recurring giving, or your current system is not producing the results you desire, our team would love to help. Click here to find out how we can help you and your church.
*Source: https://reachrightstudios.com/church-statistics-2020/#h-10-charitable-giving-in-a-nutshell
Four Benefits of Email Marketing
Why Aren't You Using Email Marketing?
How often do you check your email? 17% of people open their email as soon as they wake up. An astounding 55% of people check their email within one hour of getting out of bed. 40% of people surveyed checked their mail between 6-20 times a day. With email being such a vital part of most people’s day, the question begs to be asked: Why aren’t you engaging in an email marketing campaign for your ministry?
A social media advertisement is excellent, but people can easily dismiss it with a swipe. If you can get an email into someone’s inbox, you know that they will at least read the subject line. They may not read every message you send, but the odds are you will be able to get your message across to them consistently. Let’s talk about the benefits of email marketing for churches.
Four Benefits of Email Marketing for Churches
Recaps and Reminder for Member
An email going out to your members the Monday after a Sunday Service is a great way to recap what was communicated on Sunday and a reminder for announcements. Most people do not have their day planner out on their lap when you are going over upcoming events, but if they get an email with that information displayed on their computer and phone, they can quickly put it on their calendar.
Another Touchpoint for Ministry
You have committed members to your church that are not able to attend every service. You do not want them to miss a powerful testimony shared in a weekend service or a great message that could benefit them. With email marketing, you can embed videos and provide links to content someone may have missed at church that weekend.
Personalize Your Message
Email marketing campaigns allow you to personalize your message to your audience in a way that other marketing strategies do not allow. In a few simple steps, you make sure that, even if you send thousands of messages, it arrives in each person’s inbox, greeting them by their name. You can also put people in different groups so that they get the information that is best for them.
Email Marketing is Effective
There are more people using email (4 billion) than Facebook (2.8 billion) and Instagram (1 billion) combined. According to campaign monitor, 90% of email gets delivered to the intended recipient’s inbox, whereas only 2% of your Facebook fans see your posts in their News Feed. This is because Facebook limits the number of times your posts appear in the News Feed in an attempt to drive brands towards their paid advertising options. Email messages lead to clicks to your website and signups.
So, let me ask this again. Why aren’t you using email marketing? If you are looking to get started with email marketing or use some general marketing insight, we can help. Click here to schedule a free marketing coaching session with a Deka Solutions team member.
Why Use Digital Giving?
How Deka.Gives Can Help You Make a Difference
Have you ever considered switching to a digital giving solution but are concerned about the details involved in making a change? Setting up digital giving does not have to be complicated for you or your givers. In fact, it is probably more straightforward to roll out than you would expect. Plus, the options it provides make giving more accessible than ever for those donating to your church or non-profit.
How Deka’s Digital Giving Solution Makes a Difference
Deka.gives is a powerful giving toolbox for churches and non-profit organizations who want to make a difference with their giving and payment processing. Here is how we can help you do that:
Save You Money - We offer the lowest rates available. We will also guarantee that we will beat your current rates if you are already using another giving platform.
Empower Donors - We provide more options that create an easy and enjoyable experience for end-users. Your givers will love the simplicity Deka.Gives offers them. Our platform allows donors to set up recurring donations quickly and prompts them to save payment methods with a simple click of a button. This speeds up the time it takes them to make future donations.
Changed Lives - We believe in giving back. A portion of your processing is used towards giving towards missions. This means we are in this together with you to see lives changed.
Our “why” is bigger than just offering digital solutions. We are on a mission to serve you and your ministry and help give back to those in need. Our “how” makes this mission possible, and we believe our solutions are the best available.
Deka.Gives Makes Giving Easy
You may be wondering if digital giving is only for those familiar with cutting-edge technology. Will people not accustomed to downloading the latest app be comfortable using a digital giving platform? The reality is digital giving is simpler than writing a check (and much faster, too). With our easy-to-use giving solution, donating is as easy as 1-2-3.
Enter the amount you want to give.
Select the destination your want to give towards.
Choose your payment method, and that’s it!
Remember, because Deka.Gives makes it easy to remember the use of payment, the next time someone gives, it is even easier. The better your digital experience is, the more it will encourage repeat giving, providing your ministry more resources to make a difference in your community.
How Deka.Gives Empowers You and Your Givers
Our giving solution does not just provide ease of use. We also back our user interface with technology muscle that empowers you and your givers in new ways. Deka.Gives allows for customization and resource-rich data to provide you with the information your ministry needs to thrive in a digital world.
Custom Interface - We put your branding (not ours) on your giving page. Isn’t that how it should be? Your donors experience the same church branding you use on your website on your giving page. This creates a giving environment that is a seamless transition from your site while ensuring their information is secure.
Powerful Dashboards - Our admin dashboard allows you to stay up to date on key performance indicators. You can pull any giving report details you wish to see with one click of a button. It is this kind of data that helps ministries plan and make better financial decisions.
Text-to-Give - Sending a text to give is the easiest way for someone to make a financial gift. Donors can simply text your keyword and a dollar amount to the number we provide for an immediate donation. It’s that simple.
All of these tools not only make giving easy for your members but also empower you to make a difference through your ministry. We want to help. For more information about Deka.Gives click here. We also would love to schedule a free coaching call with one of our knowledgeable team members where you can ask questions about your exact situation, and we can learn more about how to help you make a difference. Click here to set up a coaching call.
4 Steps to Create a Compelling Culture
“Culture is the soul of the organization.” - Dee Ann Turner
You can have an excellent weekend service and efficient systems, but still, lose momentum by not being attentive to your church culture. It is essential to win the battle in the spiritual, but also to remember the influence culture has on your church as well. Culture is not just your best intentions. It is the reality of what you guard, emphasize, and reward. Culture is the air your team breathes as they operate in your ministry and pursue your church’s ministry mission.
A healthy culture is not always easy to create or maintain. In her book, It's My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture, Dee Ann Turner offers some great advice to those seeking to create a great culture in their organization. Here are four simple steps she gives to help create a compelling culture.
4 Steps to a Compelling Culture
1. “A Clear Purpose for Existing” - This is the "why" for your church or your vision statement. We have this purpose from the Great Commission, but what language will you use to contextualize this for your specific part in that great work?
2. “A Challenging Mission” - Your vision is the world you see because of your church exists., Your mission is what you and your team are going to do every day to achieve your vision. This should be simple and easily repeatable by everyone on your team.
3. “Determine Core Values” -Your church will be and do many things, but if you could only focus on a few repeatable, memorable values, what would they be? Everything else will grow from there.
“Businesses [or churches] do not become excellent in the big areas without focusing on the small details too. Excellence in small things leads to excellence in big things.” - Dee Ann Turner
4. “Guiding principles” - These are your cultural statements. What phrases are you using to summarize the different aspects of the culture you want to create?
Leaders love seeing external growth. So who can blame them? However, we need to also focus on creating cultures in our ministries that will cause us to be internally strong. When we have internal growing up, the external growing out will come and be sustainable.
Which of these areas does your ministry need to focus on to help create a more compelling culture? One of the reasons it is so vital to have these four areas clear and repeatable is because of how you can use them to market and brand your church. You not only can use your core values and stories of your fulfilling your “challenging mission” in your social media posts but how people experience your church in person also helps or hurts your brand. This is because what they say to others about the church is building your church’s reputation or brand.
Keeping these four areas in front of your team will help you create memorable experiences at your church and handles for people to grab on to in your church promotion and advertisement. Talking about the kind of church your area with clear values and purpose for existing takes the guesswork out of first-time guest’s expectations of who you are making them more likely to visit.
Email Marketing: The Unsung Hero of Church Marketing
You have heard of social media marketing, google ads, and postcard mailers, but are you utilizing one of the most effective ways to interact with and get your messages to your members? Email Marketing is the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer of marketing. It is different, so it can be overlooked but delivers a robust solution you cannot find anywhere else.
Why Use Email Marketing?
You may not have considered utilizing a service like Deka to manage email campaigns for your ministry. If this is the case, you are missing out on the returns email marketing can give you when this area is handled excellently by those with experience getting results. Keep reading to find out one crucial benefit of effective emails that stands out more than any other.
You Cannot Scroll Past an Email.
Social media ads are great because they make sure your message gets in front of your target audience. But what happens after that is crucial. That person can choose to interact with the ad or scroll past it with one swipe of their finger. That is not the case with an email message.
Emails are delivered to a person’s in-box, which guarantees two things. The first is that they are going to read the subject line. The second is that there will be some form of interaction. You cannot scroll past an email message. You have to interact with it to get rid of it, and because it is a personal message and not a general ad, it is more likely that part of the message will be read before it is deleted.
The significance of interacting with every email someone receives before moving on to their following message or task cannot be overstated. This is crucial because it helps you get your most important announcements, updates, and stories to your most invested members and donors.
However, the question remains: Why are you not yet using email marketing to communicate with your church?
Email Power Stats
The business world sheds some light on the importance of email. Regarding the top metric used to measure content performance, 90% of content marketers say email engagement is the first thing they consider (Content Marketing Institute, 2020). The top free organic distribution channel for 87% of business-to-business marketers is email (Content Marketing Institute, 2020). Do you want to reach more millennials? 73% of millennials say they prefer communications from businesses to come through email.
Take Your Emails to the Next Level With Deka
10 Simple Back to School Outreach Ideas
By Josh Roberie
Each year as kids fill their brand new backpacks with folders and pencils to head back to school, churches do their own preparations. The beginning of the school year is also the same time most people return to their typical church-going routines after summer. Many churches see an increase in Sunday attendance through August and September as people settle into their fall schedules through the winter holidays.
The beginning of the school also presents needs in your community and an opportunity for your church to share the love of Jesus through outreach and serving. Outreach does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. There are many simple ways you can care for families in the school communities you serve.
10 High Impact Outreach Ideas for Back to School
Bring Pop-tarts to college students as they arrive on campus. Wish them a great first day of school, hand them an invite to church, and have some free Bibles on hand.
Have your team show up at college’s move-in day for dorms in shirts with your church name and logo. Serve with no strings attached, and you may find new students looking to connect with your church. First-year college students from out of town look for relationships and community in their new home away from home. Caring some furniture through their door could open a door for them to visit your church.
Throw a back-to-school bash after church one Sunday with inflatables and food trucks. The following week begin a series on the family. Walk around and connect with new families during the festivities.
Coordinate with a local elementary to purchase school supplies and backpacks for kids in need.
Offer to update the landscaping for a school or schools near your church. In most cases, the school district will pay for the mulch. Schools just need volunteers who are willing to help. Show up in your church t-shirts one Saturday morning, invite the principal and teachers, pray for them, and then make a difference!
Volunteer to staff the concession stands at a High School football game. You will have fun, meet many new people in your community, and take care of a massive need for the school. Make sure to wear your church t-shirts.
Go to the “Spirit Nights” that McDonald’s and Chic-fil-a host for schools and buy desserts for everyone who shows up. These are generally busy nights for the restaurants. Schools promote these nights since a portion of the purchases goes back to the school, and many people turn out. You can help the restaurant by offering to carry people trays, picking up, and of course, buying desserts. With each dessert you give out, include a simple random act of kindness card or an invite to church.
No one likes waiting in the carpool line. With the school’s permission, you can help the time go by faster (or at least more enjoyably) by handing out donuts and coffee during the morning dropoff or water and snacks during afternoon pickup.
Take care of the teacher in your community by offering to help them set up their classroom with volunteers from your church.
Give the teachers’ lounge at your local school a facelift sponsored by your church. This can be as simple as stocking it with snacks, a fresh coat of paint, or giving them a complete remodel with new hip furniture.
Summer may be coming to an end when school begins, but your church can continue making a difference in your community with these ten simple outreach ideas.
Josh is a ministry leader, communicator, and creative who helps train and coach church planters at the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He has been a contributor to many ministry publications, including Relevant Magazine. You can stay connected to Josh through his blog JoshRoberie.com and on Social Media at @JoshRoberie.
Increasing Social Media Engagement For Churches
Getting More Mileage From Your Social Media Posts
By Josh Roberie
How Many Likes Should You Get?
A church planter once asked me how many likes should their paid ads get on Facebook. I am glad he was tracking his investment and metrics, but likes alone do not determine effectiveness for church social media accounts. Someone liking a social media post is the first step in a series of interactions that should lead to a visit to your church. For this to happen, winning an online engagement strategy should take you far beyond just likes.
It’s Too Late for a First Impression
Waiting for people to come to church to make a first impression will put you behind in the relationship. Guests to any business or church initiate nearly every potential experience online first. When you go to a restaurant, you first check out their yelp rating, google images of their food, or go to their website to see their menu. You want to know what you are getting into before you get there. It is the same with first-time visitors at your church. They check out your website and social media before they attend to avoid finding themselves in an uncomfortable situation.
The question remains, though, what are you doing to create engagement through your social media with potential guests?
Don’t Just Post Your Announcements
Have you ever had a friend that only likes to talk about themselves? “Enough talking about me. Let’s talk about you. What do you think about me?” No one likes that guy. Maybe they do at first, but eventually, we all get tired of someone only interested in broadcasting facts about themselves.
Many church social media accounts are very similar to this type of infamous friend. They only post announcements for the church. “See you at church this weekend! Services at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.” “Men’s Meeting this Friday. Join us for a Grillin and God’s Word at 7:00 p.m.” If you only post events information about your church, then people will start tuning you out. There is no reason for them to engage when you do this. As a result, your posts will stop appearing in their feed because the algorithm will see their interaction decline with your account as a lack of interest.
How do you solve this problem?
Post Content That Asks Questions
You do not have to adjust your content strategy dramatically to increase interaction. You can add questions to what you are already posting. Are you doing an At the Movies series? Then don’t just promote that weekend’s message and movie. Add a question.
For example: “We are excited about this weekend’s At The Movie’s installment. What is the best movie you have seen so far this year? We’ll see you think weekend at 10:00 a.m. for our first movie and inspiring message. Who knows, we may be showing your favorite movie from this summer!”
In the example of the men’s meeting, you could announce that bar-b-q will be served and then ask, “What’s your favorite thing to put on the grill?” Something like this still communicates the essential information and gives people a reason to comment, see what others post, and respond to them.
You should not stop with asking only questions in your posts, though. Dive on in and join people in the comments. The church account should like people’s comments and follow every commenter. Doing this adds value to them. Instead of the friend who only talks about themself, you become the friend that makes someone feel like they are the only person in the room.
All of this is easy to do. It just takes effort and belief that interacting with people increases engagement, leading to a first-time or repeated in-person experience. Here is a perfect example from @churchestogo!
Digital Ice Breakers
Sometimes, you can make a post that has nothing to do with the church to increase engagement with your social media. Think of these as digital ice breakers with no purpose other than to get people talking about themselves. When people show up for posts like this, it turns those powerful algorithms on in your favor.
An example of this would be to ask an either-or question. “Who do you think will win the Super Bowl this weekend: Team A or Team B?” “Are you a beach or mountains person?” is another example of a “this or that” question. To use the At the Movies example again, during the week, you could post, “What is your go-to candy or snack when you head to the movies?”
You may be surprised by how many people respond to questions like this to share their opinion. The good news for you is that this is the exact kind of engagement that lets the social media platforms know someone LOVES your account and to make sure to keep your content in front of them.
Be Thunder and Lightning
Using your social media content to promote church services and events is perfectly fine. You do not have to ask questions in every post. It just helps to keep interaction and engagement in mind instead of using your social media as your personal coffee shop bulletin board. When was the last time you looked past the sugar and creamer at Starbucks long enough to remember anything that was posted there anyway? You may not even realize your coffee shop has a bulletin board, and there is a reason for that. The Bulletin board offers no questions and, therefore, no way to interact with the content.
Instead of being a bulletin board, you want your posts to be the thunder and lightning in the rainstorm of monotony that people see online. Rain is soothing and enjoyable, for sure, but the thunder and lightning make things exciting. Its breaks up the status quo and gets our attention. Asking questions will help your posts stand out and get people’s attention when everyone is still talking about themselves.
Josh is a ministry leader, communicator, and creative who helps train and coach church planters at the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He has been a contributor to many ministry publications, including Relevant Magazine. You can stay connected to Josh through his blog JoshRoberie.com and on Social Media at @JoshRoberie.
How Churches Really Spend Money and How You Can Beat the Trend
The Surprising Truth Behind How Much Church Budgets Actually Go To Ministries
How would you like to have more financial resources available for your church’s outreach and missions? If you are like most pastors, you would love to spend more on the ministries of your church that are meeting the needs of people. Even though the ministries of a church are why it exists, a surprisingly low percentage of most churches' budgets goes to this end.
According to the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving, only 11% of the average church budget goes to spreading the church’s message, and just 10% goes to doing the work of ministry through a church’s programs. These stats beg the question, where does the rest of the money go?
The typical U.S. church devotes 72% of its budget to salaries and building. In 2018 49% of U.S. church spending went to wages, and 23% went to expenses related to facilities. With three-quarters of your budget tied up before you even begin to minister to people, little remains for outreach, missions, and church programs.
Knowing this, how can you free up your budget so you can spend more on taking care of the people in your church?
One of the greatest needs churches currently have is an online presence through social media. Each year the amount of time people spend using social media goes up (1). Since 2012 that number has increased from 90 minutes a day to 145 minutes a day in 2020. Some churches have approached this situation by adding a staff person to manage their church’s digital marketing efforts. However, there is another way that will free up more money to spend on ministry instead of increasing the already surprisingly high percentage of church giving that is going to salaries.
Deka.Social provides all of your social media needs in one place at a fraction of the cost of a part-time or full-time employee. Not only will this allow you to increase the portion of your budget going to caring for people in need, but you will be expert help in an area that is growing in importance to your church every day.
According to Nasdaq.com we are in a freelance revolution (2). Services like Fiverr have seen their stocks skyrocket as businesses have begun flocking to freelancers to reduce their costs and increase efficiency and effectiveness. Economics 101 shows us that specialization, and not mastering a broad range of skills is how individuals and economies thrive. You can apply the same financial benefits to your church by outsourcing key areas, like social media marketing, while at the same time focusing on what you are called to do and best at doing: taking care of people. After all, churches need key staff people, but wouldn’t you like the available positions in your church to cover areas of pastoral care that directly impact people as a first priority?
To help you take the first step in exploring what this can look like for you, we are offering a free 30-minute consultation call. Our goal on this call is to help you better understand where your ministry compares to what we see across the country. In today’s society, an online presence is vital for reaching new people and keeping your members engaged. We are dedicated to making your social media accounts stand out among the millions of accounts out there! It’s time you take your Social Media accounts to the next level. All you need to do is schedule a time!
Click here to schedule a call today!
https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/fiverr-shares-are-ready-to-rise-as-businesses-hire-more-freelancers-2021-07-26
What Needs to Be on Your Church’s Giving Page
Is your church providing the best giving experience for your donors? Helping churches in this area is our specialty at Deka, and we want to help make your church’s giving process the best it can be. One of the most critical aspects of people donating to your church is the landing page people will use giving. Here are some tips to making your giving page the best it can be.
5 Elements to Consider for an Effective Church Giving Page
Church Branding
Make sure your giving page has your church’s branding. Givers should not have a completely different experience when they give to your church than they do on the rest of your website. At Deka, we provide a custom interface for our clients. This allows donors to securely give your organization while still experiencing the church branding you have worked so hard to create.
Mobile Friendly
In the first quarter of 2021, mobile devices (excluding tablets) generated 54.8 percent of global website traffic. These stats tell us that your church’s giving page should be mobile-friendly. If not, you will be excluding about 50% of web users when it comes to your church’s giving page.
Vision Centered
You want to keep your church’s vision front and center at the point of giving to your ministry. You are not asking people to donate out of obligation. You are inspiring them to give to a vision that is changing lives. Put your church’s mission and vision statements on the giving page to remind people why their gift is so valuable.
Recurring Giving
Even if someone did not come to your giving page with the thought of recurring giving, make sure you provide them with that option. They are already self-identifying as someone who believes that donating to your church’s ministry is important. Your giving page can show them how easy it is to set up recurring donations, but you need to have that option available. Do not hide recurring giving behind a bunch of steps and clicks. Keep it in front of those that are already expressing a desire to support your church financially.
Tell Stories of Lives Changed
You should give some statistics and stories of what giving to your church has accomplished recently on your giving page. Include statements like, “Because of your generosity, this many lives were changed at the most recent church outreach.” You do not want to have too much information to distract from the page's purpose, but even something brief can be highly effective.
Deka.gives is our giving solution for churches and non-profit organizations who want to make a difference with their giving and payment processing. Deka.gives will take your giving experience to the next level, save you money, and allow your organization to make a difference with your payment processing. We offer free coaching on this subject, and you can click here to schedule with a Deka Solutions specialist at your convenience.
Four New Digital Doors for Churches
What Churches Learned About Digital Ministry During the Pandemic
The Church had to make historical shifts during the outbreak of COVID-19. What they learned helped them reach people in new ways. The physical doors of the church were closed for a period of time, but in response, churches found digital doors for people to access the ministry of the local church.
Even though many churches are beginning to regather in person there are some lessons learned from the pandemic that churches will be able to utilize to engage people. One of the benefits of the Pandemic was that it forced churches to adjust to the digital space so many people are already spending much of their time. If local churches are going to continue to thrive, then they will have to pay attention to this.
Four Digital Doors for Churches
Campuses
Before 2020 most churches' online presence consisted of simply replaying the weekend service message. In the future, I can see churches using what they learned during the Pandemic, when people could not gather, to improve the viewing experience at home significantly.
In most cases, your second campus should probably be your digital campus. This means having volunteers and staff dedicated to this part of your ministry. Planning should go into how to best use mobile, desktop, and TV devices to engage with people on the other side of your broadcast. Perhaps you do a studio recording of your message for your digital campus that can be ready for Sunday morning online.
Broadcasting on Social Media
During the Pandemic, some churches moved to host their digital broadcast on Youtube and Facebook only. These platforms provide easy access to the church service, built-in hosting, and the ability to share the broadcast quickly with friends and family. Not only are these services free, but because these platforms want more people on them, they also make an extra effort to promote your broadcast so people can stay engaged on their site. This means people who would never travel to your website may come across your service while browsing Facebook.
So make sure you have people ready to handle the chat and send out links during your online broadcast on YouTube because holding services on social media platforms has proven to be too helpful to abandon after the Pandemic.
Resources
One of the benefits of having to do church at home was people taking more responsibility for their family's discipleship and engagement with God. Many ministries began sending digital resources to parents to make sure ministry continued to their kids from the church. Now, many of the printouts that are used on Sunday are no longer present, even though people are once again filling pews. Instead, churches are utilizing digital connection cards and links to lesson plans for kids.
Digital resources offer the ultimate portability because they can be accessed from anywhere. You cannot lose them because you only have to go to the church's website to find a reading plan, small group information, and lesson plan.
Engagement
The Pandemic accelerated many pastors' adoption of social media and digital tools to engage with their congregation. This led to some viral videos, like one clergy member who hilariously caught things on fire with candles while fidgeting with the broadcast. Another accidentally turned on filters, only realizing after the message that he presented the entire message as a heart-eyed cat. I believe church leaders will continue to utilize these tools now that they have discovered how to connect with social media and broadcasts in-between weekend services.
I have enjoyed seeing pastors hop on Instagram live during weekday evenings to just chat with whoever from their church wants to join them. One pastor told me that people from his church tell him they feel more connected to him than ever before because he is using social media more. They are seeing his family, and because he cannot meet in person, he is taking more opportunities throughout the day to give a behind-the-scenes look into the ministry and his personal life.
__________
Digital Ministry Moving Forward
We are glad to see people able to join together once again for church and are looking forward to the day that all restrictions are lifted, and we can safely worship together as the Church has done for centuries. Even so, these four areas will be part of the continued digital revolution that helps people stay connected to their community of faith outside the walls of their local church.
Is your church prepared to continue reaching people through digital marketing and ministry? We would like to help. Click here to schedule a free coaching session with a Deka Team member.
10 Tips for a Successful Outreach
How is your church making a difference in your city? Do you ever wonder how to increase the impact of your outreach efforts? This post can help.
At our core, Deka is here to make a difference. Our focus is to find ways to serve others and create simple solutions that impact people. As part of our credo, we want to leave the world better than we found. One of the ways we accomplish this is by giving back to our communities and helping you save money to do more for your city through your ministry.
To help you do this, we want to give you some tips for creating an effective outreach.
10 Tips for creating an effective outreach:
Have your team wear t-shirts with your church’s logo when serving.
Bring invite cards to every outreach and plan to give them to each person you serve.
Document outreach and tell the stories through social media.
Let your church know how their giving is making a difference by sharing video recaps, and video stories of lives changed through your ministry’s outreaches during the giving portion of your church service.
When food is involved, make sure to follow food safety guidelines.
Consider outreaches based around different times of the year, holidays, sporting events, festivals, school calendar, university calendar.
Your outreach should be something that contributes without taking away (Don’t give away free coffee outside a local cafe).
Prioritize safety and ensure people have the appropriate training and experience before attempting a specialized serve (cutting down tree branches, changing the oil in a car).
Remember to leave everywhere better than you found it. Make sure there is a plan to clean up after your outreach.
Serve with no strings attached. Be sensitive to the opportunity to pray for someone or share the gospel, but don’t make serving them about them having to come to your church or listen to you preach.
Your members want to give to a church that is making a difference. Showing the tangible difference that your ministry is making in the world through serving and outreach is a great way to activate new giving and inspire your committed members to continue financially supporting your church.
What are some other things you have learned that help make an outreach successful? Let us know in the comments for this post on social media.
Find out more about SERVE DAY here!
Find out more about Deka’s Giving solutions here!
Five Fundraising Steps to Create Life-Long Givers
Science of Fundraising
Fundraising is both a science and an art. The science part is something all church planters can master if they understand the donor cycle. This process involves five steps that move people from being an outsider to becoming a committed stakeholder (giving member) of your church. Let’s take a closer look at this cycle.
The Donor Cycle
1. Identification
Identifying potential donors is part of the natural process you are already going through as a church planter. To plant a church, you will seek out people to join your launch team, become members, and participate in your church after launching. Doing this creates a grassroots donor base by default.
One way you can move forward with identification is by having members bring friends to recruiting meetings. There is built-in trust when a friend invites someone. Another option is to have a recruiting lunch where people you ask to attend also invite people to hear about your church’s vision. Encouraging current stakeholders to invite friends to this type of gathering is a huge win for fundraising.
2. Cultivation
Every interaction you have with a person a cultivation opportunity. You may not need to add that much to your schedule to cultivate a donor relationship. You are already doing things that are as developing givers. Wherever you are already gathering with people is a chance to grow relationships and discover more about potential givers.
The way you successfully cultivate a fundraising relationship is to be genuinely interested in your donors. Getting to know them personally helps you see what they care about. Your objective in this part of the process is to learn what they are passionate about so that you can know which areas of your vision to ask them to give towards.
3. Solicitation
Here is a simple formula that can help you with solicitation:
Clear Vision + Financial Need + Current Gap = A Successful Fundraising Ask.
A more detailed breakdown of this formula looks like this:
Clear articulation of vision + Confidently sharing the dollar amount needed to accomplish the need + the gap between what you have and what you need = A successful fundraising solicitation.
The clear articulation of vision should inspire them to see how the world could be better with what you are doing. The financial need to accomplish that vision shared confidently provides the potential donor with an action step to get involved and sharing the gap between where you are currently in your fundraising and where you need to create urgency. The end goal would be that a giver would see the potential impact of their donation and have a sense of confidence that their gift will accomplish what you say it will
4. Follow Up
This is simply touching base to ensure that they do not have any further questions or need further clarification. There may also be things you need to know to continue to follow up and help you with the next step of the donor cycle. This is why it is vital to prepare with the right questions.
5. Stewardship
Stewardship is very similar to cultivation, but the difference is that it takes place after someone gives. Believe it or not, this is the most critical step. You may think that asking for a donation is the most essential step, but let me tell you why that is not the case. If you do this step right, then that first gift is not the last. Instead, it becomes the first step of many.
Bonus Step
Studies show that the number one reason people give or do not give again is because of how well they were thanked. Taking time to know your donors is vital here because it will help you understand how to best show appreciation. Knowing their sizes and likes helps tremendously if you plan to send gifts. It is a simple thing to say, “Thank you,” but do not overlook it.
Giving to Change Lives
Making the ask may be uncomfortable, but people will not give if you do not ask. Remember, they are not giving to you. They are giving to people. They are investing in lives changed. When someone donates to church planting, they are giving to one of the most significant causes you can support becomes a new church leads to a more populated heaven.
We would love to help you with giving solutions that will help make fundraising easy and effective for your church. Click here to schedule a free coaching session with one of our team members.
Church Marketing Boost
What Existing Churches Can Learn from Church Planters to Get a Marketing Boost
When church planters plan for a large launch, marketing is often a large part of their budget. But what about existing churches? What can pastors learn from church planters about promoting their ministry? If done correctly, existing churches can utilize church planting advertising strategies to add a much-needed boost to their church’s marketing plan. Doing this will lead to more people becoming aware of your ministry and walking through your church’s door to hear the Good News.
Launch Day
Church planters put a lot of time, energy, and money into promoting their first Sunday. This often leads to hundreds of people showing up for their big day. So, why don’t existing churches do the same thing?
Even though advertising can help, promoting your Sunday service at a high level every week does not work. You have to pick a Sunday with an evangelism focus that also lines up with people’s availability to be at church. Typically, people fall into a particular routine of attending church. This is why most church’s start at the beginning of the year and the beginning of the school year. This is when people are looking to get back into their typical routines and return to church.
Open Door Sunday
How does this work for an existing church? Pick a Sunday that will be your Open Door Sunday. Then plan backward from that date. Again, the beginning of the year and the school year is usually the best time for this. You will want to work back from that date with your marketing plan to know when you will promote your Open Door Sunday.
What Will You Talk About
Before you can begin promotion, you need to prepare your team and know what your message series will be. You will want to pick a message series that appeals to outsiders. It is best to choose something that will cover relationships, family, and things that the average person away from church will find helpful. Make it a series so that they have a reason to come back the next week.
Prepare Your Team
Communicate to your staff, leaders, volunteers, and members that your Open Door Sunday is a day to focus on inviting their family, friends, and neighbors. Let them know that you are planning a service just for people who have not been to your church yet or have not been to church in a while. Make sure to communicate what the series is about, so they know, and then print invite cards they can use to hand people they invite.
Promoting Your Open Door Sunday
You will want to invest heavily into online advertising and print promotion so that people can know that you are preparing something special for them. Some pastors cringe at the thought of paying money to promote their church. It is worth it, though. Think of it as paying someone whose sole responsibility is to invite people to church (and they are extremely good at it). An extra benefit of paying for this type of promotion twice a year is that it reminds your community members that are not yet in a church that you are there and ready to serve them whenever they are looking for a place to attend.
Your print promotion can look a lot of different ways, but make sure (this is so crucial) that you have a canvassing strategy. A canvassing strategy goes out to everyone, not just targeted groups like a Facebook ad. This is where print mailers come into play. Sending out mailers is a physical announcement to people that your church is having an Open Door Sunday for them.
Doing an Open Door Sunday is much like re-launching your church. It brings awareness to outsiders that your church is in their community and it re-engages your church in evangelism and an outside perspective.
Do you need help with your church marketing strategy? Deka is here to help. Click here to schedule a complimentary coaching strategy with one of our team members.
Three Tips for Talking About Giving
How do you talk to your church about giving? Every church is only able to operate its ministry because of the financial gifts of generous people. But how do you communicate the need in a way that compels people to give?
Here are Three Tips for Talking About Giving to Your Church
Share Stories of Lives Changed
When your church does outreach or is able to help someone in your church or community in a meaningful way, make sure you document that story. It can be a video of people doing the outreach or of a testimony that is filmed. Show that video, or tell the story during the giving portion of your church service. Afterward, let people know that your church would not be able to make this kind of difference in people’s lives without their financial giving.
Take Pressure Off Instead of Adding Pressure On
You may have seen the person on television claiming that the power will be cut off to the church if you do not give right now. That is not the way to talk to people about giving because it adds pressure to them. They may donate the first time, but afterward, they will feel manipulated and will not give in the future.
Developing long-term givers is about building trust, and you do that by taking pressure off of people. During your church service, let people know that there is no pressure to give if they are there for the first time. If you are a member, then now is the time that you can give as part of your worship and returning thanks to God.
Give People The Chance to Prepare
If you are going to ask your church to give to a special project or in a way that is above and beyond the typical opportunity to give in your church, then you need to provide them with the chance to prepare. Do not make that ask suddenly.
Here are a few ways you can prepare people to give in advance:
Mail a letter to your member to let them know there is a particular project you will be asking them to give to, why it is important to donate, and when you will be making the ask.
Announce in church during the weeks leading up to the ask that you want them to know in advance that you will ask them to give so that they can have time to talk about it as a family and pray about it before giving.
Communicate the ways that people can give online as well as in-person. Putting this information on the screen during your church service is especially helpful.
One simple way you can take pressure off people when talking about giving is to ask them to ask God what they should do. This shows people that, ultimately, your trust is in God and not in money.
Deka has innovative tools that make giving convenient for your church members and help you more effectively manage your church finances. You can schedule a free coaching session with one of our team members by using this clicking here!
Fundraising Mistakes and Musts
Fundraising can be intimidating for church planters.
Pastors do not go into the ministry because they like to ask people for money. They want to answer the call God has given them to preach the gospel and make disciples. Believe it or not, many of the attributes that make up a great pastor make for a quality fundraiser as well.
To help you with your fundraising efforts, here are some bumps in the road you should avoid in your fundraising journey, as well as practical steps to fundraising well.
Mistakes Church Planters Make with Fundraising
The biggest mistake people make is not making the ask at all. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to give to your new church plant. Supporting church planting through giving is something you know is going to be beneficial for the people you are reaching as well as the person who is donating. It’s better to assume that people want to have the opportunity to be a blessing and are looking for a chance to be a part of what God is doing.
The second mistake is making too strong of an ask. This can happen in multiple ways. One way is by asking for money without building up relational equity first. You start fundraising, not with a meeting when you give a pitch, but by genuine relationship long before you make an ask. You may not always have that opportunity for a long-term relationship, though. In this situation, you want to make sure that you ask them to pray about getting involved instead of asking for money the first time you meet.
The key to overcoming both of these mistakes of being too shy or too bold is not making it about you. Make fundraising about the people you are reaching and the person who is having a chance to get involved with what God is doing.
Practical Steps to Fundraising Well
Prepare for a fundraising meeting by finding out about the person you are meeting with first.
Start the meeting by asking questions about them and their vision. This way, you can better connect your vision to what they are already passionate about in their life.
Share your needs, but also share your vision and your practical plan for sustainability. How are you going to get a return on their investment?
It’s always good to follow up and thank the person for their time with a personal note.
Being authentic and genuinely caring for each person you come into contact with may be the best fundraising strategy you can employ.
You are a church planter and pastor because you are passionate about God, people, and your faith. It would be best if you kept these things in front of you when fundraising. God is your source, and fundraising for a church plant is just one more way we can learn to lean on Him more.
Deka has a long track record of helping church planters and pastors meet their financial goals. We have developed innovative tools to help pastors grow their church and the finances of their ministry. Click here to schedule a free coaching session with one of our team members. We would be happy to help!
10 Surprisingly Free Digital Church Resources
Running a church can be expensive. For many pastors, going online has provided an additional expense to their ministry that was not there in past years. Even so, there are some helpful tools some ministries give away to churches without charge. This is especially surprising when you can consider how helpful some of these resources are for doing church online.
Here are ten surprisingly free resources that will help you reach more people online.
Live Streaming
Church Online Platform from Open Church (Life.Church and the Bible App) is free and will always be free. You can find out more here: https://churchonlineplatform.com.
"At Life.Church, one of our core values is irrational generosity. We're committed to equipping the "capital C" Church in every way we can. That's why the Church Online Platform is available completely free of charge. Our definition of "free" extends to support and updates, too. You'll get personalized customer service, software upgrades, and new features for the life of the tool."
Kids Ministry
The Bible App for Kids offers free videos and curriculums for kids. They have access for churches and parents. Parents can access the parents' portable and set up their kids with a kids service while they want your regular live stream. There is also a church portal you can get free curriculum and additional resources. Find out more here: https://open.life.church/4605-complete-online-kids-service, https://open.life.church/preschool, and https://bibleappforkids.com.
Church of the Highlands has produced free online kids services that you can use to create an online kids service for your church. You can find out more here: http://covid19.growleader.com/.
Here is a free 30-day devotional you can give the parents of your church to go through with their families:
ShareFaith Kids 30-Day Family Devotionals Challenge.
Worship Solutions
Pastor Peter Haas and Substance Church has put together a plethora of resources for churches going online, including videos of live worship you can use for your digital broadcast. You can access those videos here: Free videos of church worship you can use from Peter Haas, Substance Church, Minneapolis, MN.
Digital Church Training
There are many different platforms you can use to bring your church into the digital landscape. Here is some free training that primarily focuses on streaming but also includes some other helpful online tips as well
Quick Guidelines for Live Streaming a Church Service
Tips for Using Zoom for Your Church
BONUS: Free Coaching from Deka. That's right; we'd look forward to having the opportunity to meet with you and provide free coaching from anything from social media to church finances. Our team is equipped with innovative tools and experience to help your church grow and reach more people with the hope of Jesus. Click here to schedule your complimentary coaching session.
Five Ways to Promote Recurring Giving
How to make your church aware of recurring giving
Does your church know how convenient and straightforward recurring giving makes donating? In our previous blog we talked about how recurring giving can help you overcome some of your giving obstacles and benefit your church members in many ways, but how do you let your church know that recurring giving is an option for them?
This blog will cover five simple on-ramps that will help your congregation become aware of recurring giving as a donation option for your church. Let’s get started!
Website
Do you have recurring giving listed as an option on your website? Do not assume people know what regular giving is or how simple it is to set it up. Make recurring giving a prominent part of the giving options people see on your website. List clear examples and provide visuals to help people who are setting up recurring giving for the first time.
Video
Utilizing videos will help people visualize the steps, stories, and benefits of recurring giving. One area videos can make a significant impact is on your website. For example, you can provide a video of someone setting up recurring giving and showing its benefits. This will make it much easier for some people to understand the overall concept and the simple steps they will need to do it themselves.
You can also use videos during service announcements to share stories of how people’s giving has changed the lives of others. Talk about how this would not be possible without those who give to the vision of the church. Mention recurring giving as something especially helpful in planning to meet the needs of the community.
Communicating with your givers through email guarantees they will have the detailed instructions for setting up giving saved on their devices. Even if they do not set it up right away, they can know where to find the simple steps they need to get going with recurring giving.
Sending an email also allows you to cater your message to a particular group. The email you send to a leader at your church may need to be different from the one you send to a new giver at your church. Instead of speaking in a general way, email allows you to craft the message to that person’s commitment level to your ministry.
Slides
Whenever you reach the giving portion of your Sunday Service, make sure you have a “How to Give” slide ready to go. You can list recurring giving and mention it as an option many people in your church find convenient on this slide. You can also have a recurring giving slide rotate on your screens before and after service.
Live From the Stage
It can be very effective for you to mention recurring giving yourself from the stage. Talk about how easy it makes giving for you and how others are using it to make giving a priority and convenient. You can talk about how recurring giving has made budgeting easier for your church and relieved financial pressure when planning for the future.
If you would like help setting up recurring giving or learning more about promoting it as an option for your church, we can help. Click here to learn more about our easy-to-use giving solution!