Another film crew was in church on Sunday. These were journalism students looking at the issue of religion and sexuality – specifically homosexuality. In the past few years, I have been interviewed on camera by 5 or so different University students. These recorded interviews and footage from our worship services form part of their studies and are shown to a whole group of students on the same course, as well as being marked by lecturers. Some end up on the internet. The questions are generally the same – What is Metropolitan Community Church? What makes you different from other Christian Churches? Why do some Christians take a different view about homosexuality? Have you or the church ever experienced harm because of this? Then there are usually a couple of specialist questions, depending on the specific angle of research that the student is conducting.
There is a marketing adage that in order for a person to really absorb your information, they need to receive it through six different media. Our physical presence at events like IDAHO and Pride, the postcards and badges we give away, the church website and Facebook, the poster on the noticeboard outside church, seeing a video in a University lecture hall and just simply talking to someone are six of the ways a person might find out about MCC Newcastle. There are probably more. Different ways of communicating will suit different people. Some of us find easy to talk about church with complete strangers, others would rather make a lot of noise and wear the church T shirt at Pride! It is wonderful that we have such gifted and skilled folk within the congregation who are able to produce high quality publicity materials for us and understand how to use social media to good effect.
For all the outreach we do, all the logos we have and all the student films we appear in, there is one important thing that cannot be overlooked. We have to do “exactly what it says on the tin.” (See the power of marketing – how many of you know what advert that phrase is from : ) ? ) Our welcome has to be warm and authentic, our worship needs to help people experience God’s presence and we need to offer opportunities for people to feel safe and accepted enough to grow and learn and serve others. We make take these things for granted, especially if we have been part of this faith community for a while. However, they don’t just happen on their own. It takes consistent work on behalf of all of us to ensure that we are a place where you can
“Be yourself, find meaning, know God”.
God bless
Cecilia
There is a marketing adage that in order for a person to really absorb your information, they need to receive it through six different media. Our physical presence at events like IDAHO and Pride, the postcards and badges we give away, the church website and Facebook, the poster on the noticeboard outside church, seeing a video in a University lecture hall and just simply talking to someone are six of the ways a person might find out about MCC Newcastle. There are probably more. Different ways of communicating will suit different people. Some of us find easy to talk about church with complete strangers, others would rather make a lot of noise and wear the church T shirt at Pride! It is wonderful that we have such gifted and skilled folk within the congregation who are able to produce high quality publicity materials for us and understand how to use social media to good effect.
For all the outreach we do, all the logos we have and all the student films we appear in, there is one important thing that cannot be overlooked. We have to do “exactly what it says on the tin.” (See the power of marketing – how many of you know what advert that phrase is from : ) ? ) Our welcome has to be warm and authentic, our worship needs to help people experience God’s presence and we need to offer opportunities for people to feel safe and accepted enough to grow and learn and serve others. We make take these things for granted, especially if we have been part of this faith community for a while. However, they don’t just happen on their own. It takes consistent work on behalf of all of us to ensure that we are a place where you can
“Be yourself, find meaning, know God”.
God bless
Cecilia
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