Author: Pastor Steve Duffy
Bonus points if you can guess what movie the blog title is from? (hint: see the gif at the end of this blog) As summer approaches I’m evaluating how you all stay tuned into what is going on with Students at Stonebridge Church, e.g., our regular gatherings, events, activities. As you read on let me clarify how I currently communicate and then I’ve got a link to a board that will help me gather what adjustments to make as we head into this next ministry year. Please read on!
I’m confident there is no one solution to all of this, whether it be for parents/guardians/leaders or students. However, I want to keep evaluating and adjusting to those I serve so that we optimize the maintenance of the information and hit a larger audience with the methods of communication used.
Let me start with my current communication strategy to set the baseline for evaluation and proposed changes/ideas that you might have.
- Weekly email: This is sent to parents/guardians of middle/high school students as well as all leaders involved in serving students.
- 2-3 Month Look Ahead: This is a quick-access Church Center page to get a broad overview of all gatherings/activities/events available for students.
- Stonebridge Students church center group: This is active but needs more work to bring others (parents/guardians/leaders and students) into joining and keeping the calendar in sync with the 2-3 month look ahead. I definitely feel like I underutilize this, especially for engagement (messaging feature), keeping all events updated, and adding to the resources section.
- Stonebridge Students Leaders church center group: I use this to send email reminders. I also use the messaging feature to engage the leaders for feedback or info sharing.
- Group texts: I use this for Wed PM leaders, Sunday PM leaders, and some Wed PM group leaders use this with their students.
- Event postcards - Occasionally have these handouts for students to bring home. Starting to use these less and less as they don’t usually make it home to parents/guardians.
- Church weekly program (handout or church center weekend guide), and reminder emails or church center notifications: at times we promote student related items via these church-wide Stonebridge communication paths, namely if it involves others outside of the student context. E.g., Bold Brew fundraiser, Pool party.
Options used before but are not currently using:
- Broadcast text: periodically sent for short updates or heads up (upon "opt-in" could go to all parents/guardians/leaders + students age 13+)
What else might be helpful to start, stop or continue? Would love your input on this since you are on the other side of my communication! Provide your input by selecting the link HERE via computer/tablet/phone and add as many entries that come to mind! You can include multiple entries.
Thank you, and you get the bonus points if you guessed the classic movie “Short Circuit”! It was the famous Johnny 5 who said “Input, More Input!” 🙂
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
