Have You Ever Tried A Passive Outreach Approach?
What's Up, Reader,
You will have to excuse me because I grew up in the 80's and 90's and that's just how I say 'hi'. Actually it is probably closer to 'wassup' but my structured Type A personality really struggles with not writing it correctly. I'm a mess, I know. :)
Anyway, I today I want to show you a way you can engage your community, build an outreach ministry that serves, and make your church known passively.
Now, I trust you have heard of building a passive income. It seems to be all the rage these days since COVID and the idea of working from home has really sparked new ideas. Well, over the last four years I have been developing passive income systems and learning how all these millionaires live off of their passive incomes.
First of all, allow me to clarify I am not one of those millionaires (check out my lambo sitting in front of my beachhouse!), but I have learned the nuts and bolts of building a passive income and it is part of my Dream Life in Ministry framework.
But, I have also been a pastor for over 20 years and I am always trying to understand how new approaches, technologies, and ideas can enhance our ministry efforts while also creating margin for us in our personal lives.
Today, I want to quickly share with you one way you can passively engage your community and serve the people in your neighborhood.
One thing you can be sure of in your community is everyone has a problem they are walking through. Whether it is spiritual, physical, emotional, or practical like trying to figure out how to have a beautiful lawn they are proud of. Everyone has problems they are wanting answers to.
Another thing you can be sure of is that you have skills, talents, abilities, and hobbies that don't really fit into your ministry duties and responsibilities. So, what if you took all that you knew and made it available to the community around you to help them find answers to their problems?
Enter in Content Ministry.
Let me go back to the online business world. Entrepreneurs use content such as a blog or Youtube videos to create online engagement with people by answering questions of fixing problems. The hope is that those people will find the answers valuable and will keep coming back for the content to the point where they will purchase a product or service from the content creator.
Well, as a church, you can serve your community in the same way. What problems or questions does your community need answered? And what skills and abilities can you offer from a content standpoint to serve your community at their point of need?
The cross section of those two questions is where you create content. Whether it is articles or videos, what quality teaching can you offer that people in your community want.
This isn't about trying to go viral or build a huge Youtube following. The goal here is to build something that will be valuable to your immediate community...even if your community is only a couple of hundred people.
So, at this point you are probably wondering how this is passive, right? Well, the nice thing about a blog or Youtube videos is that they don't disappear, but instead their exposure grows over time. As people engage with the content, the algorithms on Google and Youtube begin sending more people to see your content. One article written in an hour can be seen for several years and engage thousands of people to make them aware of you and your church. Then, if you use targeted ads on Facebook pushing people in your community to your content, your community will exponentially grow.
In fact, you could create an blog or channel with 50-100 pieces of content (which may take you a year or so), and theoretically walk away from it and allow it to passively bring in more engagement and more visitors to your church. It is much more effective than your social media engine that needs to be kept up with everyday and has no end in sight.
As pastors, we are always looking for new ways to engage the people around us to bring the message of Christ. A huge part of that is building relationships, because ministry flows through relationships. Content ministry is a powerful and easy way to enhance your outreach and run on autopilot.
If you want to learn more about content ministry, or content marketing for your side hustle, then respond to this email and we can talk more about how to make it happen for you.
Have an awesome Memorial Day Weekend, Reader.
Living the Dream Life,