10 Insider Focused Ministry Names

Tag Archive - communication

10 Insider Focused Ministry Names

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The language we choose to use is important because it both reflects and builds culture at the same time. And one of the most obvious ways to tell if a church is insider focused or outsider focused is the language that they choose to use. It either says that the church is “inclusive” or “exclusive.”

In helping churches get unstuck and make vision real I’ve run across a number of insider focused ministry names. In fact here’s a link to a post with a free tool that you can use as you begin to evaluate your own ministry names and language you’re using in your church. Remember it’s always more important to be clear than clever. Here’s a quick list of 10 insider focused ministry names to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Nation2Nine: A Young Adult Ministry in a church targeting people age 20-29. While it may be clear to people inside the church what this is, it doesn’t say anything to people outside of the church.

Romeo: “Real Old Men Eating Out,” a once a week gathering of old men who eat out together and talk about God’s Word together. Acronyms are the quintessential example of insider language. If your name or brand needs an explanation it’s not clear enough.

Men on Fire: A Men’s Ministry at a church. The only problem is people outside of the church don’t think the same way or have the same filter as people inside the church. While “church people” notoriously talk about being “on fire” for Jesus, that brand may elude to something different in the minds of people outside of the church.

Chicks with Sticks: A Quilting Ministry in a church. Yes this is real. This one came from one of the participants from a recent Leadership Coaching Network that I led. It was too good not to include in this list. Let’s just say people outside of the church aren’t thinking the same things as people inside of the church when they see this ministry name.

Girlfriends Unlimited: A Women’s Ministry in a church. Again while this may be clear to people inside the church any single 20-something young man is going to sign up for this one in a heartbeat. What young man who doesn’t know Jesus doesn’t want to sign up for unlimited girlfriends?

XYZ: “Extra Years of Zest,” a ministry to Senior Adults. This is another example of an acronym that doesn’t mean anything to anyone who isn’t an insider.

Body Builders: A Bible Study at a church. It may seem cute but when an outsider sees that name they’re probably going to be asking you where the gym is.

MOPS: “Mothers of Preschoolers,” a ministry to mothers of preschoolers…or is it a cleaning ministry? Again…acronyms are dangerous.

Equally Yoked: A Marriage Ministry at a church…or an egg ministry. Outsiders have no idea what the scriptures say so be careful about using Biblical names like this.

JAM: “Jesus and Me,” the name of a Student Ministry at a church…cute…just not clear.

I’d love to hear other examples that you’ve run across in your ministry experience, so leave a comment.

Posted in Leadership

5 Reasons We Started from Scratch with our Website

Thursday, November 8, 2012

At Sun Valley we recently just completed a ground up redesign and launch of our website. Here are 5 reasons why we did, and you might want to as well:

1. Ease of Navigation

We understand that for many people our website is their first interaction with our church. So we worked hard to simplify navigation, make it easy for people to find what they are looking for, and answer questions people were asking. It meant choosing to be clear over being cute and get rid of “insider language” and simply call stuff what it is. For example you may have a “Stephen’s Ministry” at your church (great ministry BTW). But if you’re an outsider and you’re looking for care you have no idea who Stephen is and what’s so special about his ministry.

2. Going 2.0

To be honest our last website was really nothing more than an online brochure, very 1.0. With the new website we wanted to create more of a 2.0 feel with the integration of social media (Facebook and Twitter), blogs, and media that can be easily interacted with. We want to invite conversation and interaction, not just give people information. Information doesn’t change people’s lives, relationships do.

3. Re-branding

We needed to rebuild our website not just do a facelift. It was important to us that our website more closely reflect the brand and culture of our church. We intentionally worked to keep it clean, clear, and simple. We also worked to orient the website around our pathway and help people take steps in their spiritual journey.

4. Timing

This year we recently made the change from 1 campus to three campuses. We needed a website that was consistent in brand but could be unique based on the uniqueness of each campus. With the shift to multiple campuses and the re-brand that took place in the middle of it all, it was the perfect time to tackle this project. Not to mention going live now allows us to get any bugs worked out before a wave of people we anticipate seeing this Christmas.

5. Simple Updates

A practical change we made was that we had a simple content management system built that ministries could use to update the content and keep their areas of the site current. Nothing is worse than going to a website and getting old, stale, out of date information. Instead of the old system of going through one person to make all the updates (who has time for that), the new system allows for ownership, faster decision making, and current content for users to interact with.

Posted in Creative Arts

are you talking at people or with them?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Typically churches are 1.0, we thrive at telling people what to do. Teaching is usually the trump card we play to solve people’s problems. Got a problem in your marriage, parenting, finances, or career? Having a hard time following Jesus? The church’s answer? Come to this teaching series, take this class, go to this seminar. Content, content, and yes, more content. What if church was meant to be 2.0, a conversation? I think we get this intuitively but have a hard time breaking the habit of telling. 1.0 can be a nasty and difficult rut to get out of. Recently we did a “text series” at Sun Valley where we invited people to text in their questions and we had a real-time conversation about real questions that people were asking about life, the Bible, and following Jesus. Instead of simply sitting and listening, people were engaged and active participants in the service.

And by the way, we kept and categorized every question that was texted in, even if we couldn’t get to it live during the service. Sometimes churches are guilty of answering questions that people aren’t asking. We’ve found that this not only sets up great conversations but also provides the teaching team insight and content to consider for future teaching series. Here’s the video bumper that we built and used for the series, check it out!

Posted in Leadership

final destination

Thursday, January 19, 2012

What happens when we die? Will we know our loved ones in heaven? Do we become angels? What about ghosts? Can the dead see us? What does the Bible really say about heaven, hell and our Final Destination? This weekdend we’re beginning a 6 week series on all three Sun Valley Campuses unpacking what the Bible teaches about what happens after we die. If you’re in the Phoenix Valley don’t miss it!

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/34747801]

Posted in Creative Arts, Spiritual Formation

less clutter less noise

Monday, January 16, 2012

If you work in a local church, then chances are you spend the majority of your time trying to effectively communicate the most life-changing message that the world has ever known. But have you ever stopped and wondered why people aren’t getting that message?

In church-world we most often excuse such things away by complaining about how we don’t have the financial resources that the big church down the street does. As a result there’s no way we can keep pace with their level of excellence, their billboards, mailers, websites, brochures, videos, promotional campaigns, and gobs of print media that they seemingly pump out every week.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a church staff member who would turn their nose up at the idea of having more resources to do their job. But, what if I told you that money won’t solve your communication problems? What I told you that there are real practical solutions and proven strategies that you can learn and implement that will cut through the clutter and crystallize your message?

Posted in Creative Arts, Leadership