Presentation given by Rev. Carol Howard Merritt at Presbytery of Milwaukee on Communication in the 21st Century.

1. DISCOVERY DAYS
Communicating Faith in the 21st Century

2. Colossians 4:6
Let your speech
always be gracious,
seasoned with salt,
so that you may
know how you
ought to answer
everyone.

3. Colossians
Letter to the church of
Colossae
On the Great Road
from Ephesus to the
Euphrates
Paul probably hadn’t
been there. But it was a
main thoroughfare.
Paul went to the ports.
The hubs. Then the
message went viral.

4. Colossae was a spoke on a Hub
This is very important when we think of communication.
Albert-Laszlo Barabasi knew this when he wrote the book
Linked: How Everything Is connected to Everything Else and
What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life.
Barabasi is a mathematician and the book was sort of
tech/business, and he was trying to explain what is
happening with communications, and he did it by pointing
to the travels of Paul and the first apostles.

5. Why would the Apostles be a
model for 21st century
communications?
Because when they went to spread the good news, they
went to the hubs. They were very smart. They went to the
port cities and the places where their message would move
from the Apostles’ mouths, to traders, to the great road,
to boats. Their message went viral.
This letter to the Colossians proves that. The apostles
and the church were corresponding, even though they
had not met.

6. Where are our hubs?
Barabassi says that the apostles’ journeys are very
important for today.
We need to imagine where are hubs are.
We need to find where our communication has the most
traction.

7. Hubs in churches
We might have the Presbyterian Women who are really
good at communicating things.
We might have a young mom who loves to be on Facebook.
We might have an office manager who loves to put
together the weekly email blast.
I went to one church that always put announcements on
the bathroom stalls.

8. Can you name your hubs?
Where are your hubs?
Where are your ports in your church?
Who are the effective communicators

9. Hubs in your community
What about in your community?
When we’re thinking about getting the word out, how do
we do it?

10. Know HOW you ought to
answer everyone
I’m going to name several hubs right now. This might mess
with your comfort level.
You don’t need to know everything. Pastors, you don’t
need to do everything.
Focus on 2-3 things—things you’re good at, things you’re
interested in, things you enjoy.
See how it works, then after 6 months, shift and adjust.

11. What percentage of time do
you spend on communication?
Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers says that
new businesses need to spend 50% of their time developing
their product and 50% getting the word out about their
product.
If we translate that into our setting, that would mean
that 50% of our time would be spent on worship,
programs, care, and 50% would be spent on evangelism and
communicating to the outside world.

12. What percentage of time do
you spend on communication?
How much time do we spend on evangelism?
What do our committee structures look like? Is there a
group committed to communication?
Whose job is it in our church?
Are we intentional about building traction?

13. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Adapted from the book Traction.
Viral communication—encouraging members to invite
others. Word of mouth. It’s still the best!
There are ways to make viral communications electronic.
Send out emails that can be forwarded.
Send out FB invitations, and encourage others to invite people.
Each time you announce some event, you can say, “Invite your
friends!” “Please forward this invitation to someone who might
be interested.” “Please Retweet.”

14. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Public relations—getting your name out there in
traditional media outlets: TV, magazines, newspapers,
radio.
Learn how to write a press release or assign someone
to do it.
Have your outreach/evangelism/communications
committee contact traditional media for every
special event.

15. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Unconventional PR—stunts (see slide later on)
Search engine marketing—advertising on Google and
other search engines. Make sure that a group from your
church reviews the church for Google maps.
Social Ads—Facebook, twitter, and review sites like Yelp.
Offline Ads—Billboards, magazines, newspapers, NPR
station. These ads reach seniors.

16. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Content Evangelism—Blogs, sermon podcasts.
Email—Many churches send out a blast each week, along
with newsletter content.

17. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Offline Events
Hosting a concert, book signing, or needed
community gathering (like a forum on parents with
autistic children).
Or make sure that your church is represented at
community events (parades, farmer’s markets,
festivals).

18. Ten Hubs for Your Church
Community building—Make sure your church connects
with the larger community.
Who is in the neighborhood?
Is there a school, organization, arts, or farming
community with whom you can work in partnership?
Reach out and partner with people who have common
goals

19. How Can Our Speech Be
Seasoned with Salt?
How can we make it salient, make it interesting?
Daniel Pink’s Whole New Mind says that facts are cheap.
With search engines, we can look them up on our phones.
We need to communicate with stories. Stories with
emotional depth and context.

20. Seasoned with salt
Paul Raushenbush, a pastor and editor of Huffington
Post’s religion section says that denominational churches
complain that we don’t get media coverage. In response, he
says we need to do something interesting!

21. Seasoned with Salt
Do something seasoned with salt.
This is the unconventional PR.
This is John the Baptist in the crying in the wilderness
with locusts and wild honey.

22. Seasoned with Salt
When Occupy Wall Street happened, Jennifer Butler, a
Presbyterian minister and a group of clergy made a golden
calf. They paraded with it down Wall Street. The image
was clear--we made the bull market our idol.

23. Seasoned with Salt
In Chattanooga, a local bank was foreclosing on a
woman’s home right before Christmas. It was an unjust
foreclosure, due to clerical errors, and paperwork that
didn’t go through. Mercy Junction dressed up in
Christmas pageant clothing, and read the magnificat in
front of the bank.

24. Seasoned with Salt
When Eric Garner was killed, Mercy Junction set up a
memorial and prayer vigil on Walnut Street Bridge in
Chattanooga. It was a place where a man had been
lynched.
When TN blocked a medicare expansion, Mercy Junction
held a funeral service for all of the poor people who
were going to die.

25. Let Your Speech Be Gracious
In this day of Internet trolls, misogyny, and racism, this is
a timely reminder.
People say things on line that they would never say in
face-to-face communication.