Category: design

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MAKE SOME NOISE

MAKE SOME NOISE

This is part 10 of a 10-part blog series on HOW TO GET YOUR MINISTRY ONLINE. You can follow the DIGITAL SKATEPARK tag or go back to the intro post for links out to the rest of the series.

< See the previous post in the series

A TWO-WAY STREET

The Internet is no longer about simply receiving information. People go on line for connection and interaction. So it would be unwise to simply make lots of announcements via social media without actually being social. Aim to appropriately interact with the users in your youth community and likewise ask for interaction, feedback, votes, suggestions, submissions, likes and shares from them.

MAKE SOME NOISE!

One of the great things about social media is the opportunity to create noise. Lots of the noise created online is annoying or ungodly. But as the people of God, we have the opportunity to make noise about our gatherings. You can do that as a youth leader but likewise your youth can become champions for your ministry and Christ as they interact online. Teach them how to point their friends to the good things happening in your ministry and the good news of Jesus. They can do this as they share photos/quotes/excitement and as they check in to your youth group online.

The church is the most significant organisation on earth. It’s the only gathering that will go on into eternity. We have a reason to be excited and we have amazing tools to be able to share our excitement. So make some noise – both online and offline – for the One who has gathered us by his blood.

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This series forms the basis of a chapter I wrote in a forthcoming Youth Ministry book to be published by Anglican Youthworks. The rest of the book is written by Scott Petty (Youth Minister from Christ Church St Ives) and is published here with permission.

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REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA // INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN W. BINGHAM @NWBingham

REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA

I will be presenting a 3 hour Professional Development Seminar at National Youth Ministry Convention 2013 on REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA. In the lead up to NYMC I have a series of interviews with Christians using online mediums in a deliberate way for the Gospel. I have asked the same 4 questions to each guest and there are some fantastic posts coming!

The fifth and final guest is Nathan W. Bingham. Nathan is an Aussie now based in the United States working for Ligonier Ministries. I really appreciate the resources that they make available. I’ve also been encouraged by Nathan’s personal blog and the godly wisdom he brings to navigating the digital world. He writes with precision and his response below helps to clarify and extend my own thinking ahead of the seminar I will be running. Make sure you click all the links below, lots of gold to be mined.
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1) What church and/or ministries are you part of?

I’m a member of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida and serve as Internet Outreach Manager at Ligonier Ministries, a teaching ministry founded by R.C. Sproul in 1971. I’m originally from Melbourne, Australia, growing up with Vegemite and Weet-Bix, but after completing a theology degree moved to Orlando, Florida in 2012 with my wife and three young daughters to assist in managing and expanding Ligonier’s digital outreach and e-communications. I still get Vegemite imported, but now occasionally eat donuts and bagels for breakfast.

2) What ways do you use online mediums in your ministry and witness?

Continue reading “REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA // INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN W. BINGHAM @NWBingham”

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GROUP GAMES APP 2.0 // #YOUTHMINISTRY GOLD!

GROUP GAMES

Calum Henderson is a saviour (not THE Saviour!) of youth pastors around the world! 18 months ago he launched an iPhone app jam-packed with games suitable for groups. I wrote about it then, and have been using it since! I love the range of activities, the easy navigation and the time that this app saves in programming for our youth community. Calum has just launched version 2.0 of the app. It’s now available with an iPad version; fits in with the iOS 7 look and has a handy new favourites option.

To coincide with two of my presentations for NYMC 2013, Calum is giving away 5 free downloads of this App. To win one of those 5 downloads, simply leave a comment below and I will use random.org to choose 5 winners. If you miss out, not to worry, it only costs $1.99! Find out more on the groups games app website or download it from iTunes. Check out Calum’s intro video:

Continue reading “GROUP GAMES APP 2.0 // #YOUTHMINISTRY GOLD!”

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REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA // INTERVIEW WITH STU HARRIS FROM @yesHEiscom

REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA

I will be presenting a 3 hour Professional Development Seminar at National Youth Ministry Convention 2013 on REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA. In the lead up to NYMC I have a series of interviews with Christians using online mediums in a deliberate way for the Gospel. I have asked the same 4 questions to each guest and there are some fantastic posts coming!

The fourth guest is Stu Harris. Stu works for yesHEis.com and will be hosting a Panel Chat with Q&A that I will be participating in at NYMC this Saturday. Having interacted with him via email and read his answers below, I’m really looking forward to gleaning more wisdom when we hang out!
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1) What church and/or ministries are you part of?

I’m married to Jeanette, and we have 2 handsome boys Samuel (7) and Luke (2), and a little princess on the way :-) We’re originally from the UK, but moved to Sydney 12 years ago. Since then we’ve lived in Tassie and now we’re living in Queensland. We’re part of Good Life Church on the Sunshine Coast. We love their missional heart for the local community.

I work with a great team of young, energetic, passionate folks who love to share their faith in Jesus and encourage others to do likewise. Christian Vision have been involved in evangelism ministry since 1988, and 4 years ago started the transition to developing a focus on online mission introducing yesHEis, a website and app (Apple + Android) that is designed to help Christians share their faith on the various social media platforms. We operate in multiple languages around the world. I lead the International English team which includes creatives, marketing and community specialists who connect with the local church.

2) What ways do you use online mediums in your ministry and witness?

Continue reading “REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA // INTERVIEW WITH STU HARRIS FROM @yesHEiscom”

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ALL STREAMS FLOW INTO THE SEA

FLOW

This is part 9 of a 10-part blog series on HOW TO GET YOUR MINISTRY ONLINE. You can follow the DIGITAL SKATEPARK tag or go back to the intro post for links out to the rest of the series.

< See the previous post in the series

ALL STREAMS FLOW INTO THE SEA

The key way to use these media streams is to let them all flow into the sea. What’s the sea? That’s your youth ministry’s online HQ.

Even if Facebook or Instagram get more traffic, use each of the social media streams you have to direct people back to your main website. It doesn’t matter if it has lower traffic. But it’s useful for youth and parents to know that there is a constant web presence at HQ.

The web address of your HQ becomes key for all your communication and branding. Have the website on t-shirts, postcards, flyers, letters, email signatures and on the profiles of all your social media streams.

See the next post in the series >

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This series forms the basis of a chapter I wrote in a forthcoming Youth Ministry book to be published by Anglican Youthworks. The rest of the book is written by Scott Petty (Youth Minister from Christ Church St Ives) and is published here with permission.

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CREATE MEDIA STREAMS

CREATE MEDIA STREAMS

This is part 8 of a 10-part blog series on HOW TO GET YOUR MINISTRY ONLINE. You can follow the DIGITAL SKATEPARK tag or go back to the intro post for links out to the rest of the series.

< See the previous post in the series

CREATE MEDIA STREAMS

For those who have been reading along closely, it might seem strange to suggest working hard to create a centralised HQ when most of your young people will naturally flock to the latest social network.

Therefore, I think it’s worthwhile setting up youth group accounts in a few of the popular social networks. If all of your youth are hanging at the beach and you want to hang out with them or communicate something to them, go to the beach.

At the moment we have the following social media streams:

Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Mailchimp
YouTube

Each of them is used in a different way.

Facebook is currently the champion. It’s a key way that I communicate with leaders and the majority of our youth are online each day.

Instagram is a close second. Facebook doesn’t allow children under 13 to have an account. A significant number of our years 7 and 8s have, with parental permission, Instagram accounts as they allow for under 13s. (I’m currently checking whether this is still the case… stay tuned, or let me know in the comments if you know…)

Twitter doesn’t much pull in our youth ministry and we could do without it.

Mailchimp is the system we use for our weekly newsletter, only 25-30% of our youth open the email while close to 100% of parents who are subscribed open it.

YouTube is used every time we have a new video to share.

Through each of these streams we engage different people at different times.

See the next post in the series >

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This series forms the basis of a chapter I wrote in a forthcoming Youth Ministry book to be published by Anglican Youthworks. The rest of the book is written by Scott Petty (Youth Minister from Christ Church St Ives) and is published here with permission.

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NOBODY LIKES STALE BREAD

Nobody likes stale bread

This is part 7 of a 10-part blog series on HOW TO GET YOUR MINISTRY ONLINE. You can follow the DIGITAL SKATEPARK tag or go back to the intro post for links out to the rest of the series.

< See the previous post in the series

NOBODY LIKES STALE BREAD

We’ve all visited out-of-date websites advertising the Christmas lunch from 4 years ago. Content is king online. So keep the content fresh! I know you might be thinking that this requires a lot more work. Right? Not necessarily.

There is probably someone(s) that is regularly producing content for your weekly gatherings. So rather than producing brand new material for your website, adapt the material you’re already creating.

Continue reading “NOBODY LIKES STALE BREAD”