restored to grace

I’d like to welcome Kem Meyer, Communications Director at Granger Community Church and author of the new book Less Clutter. Less Noise. Beyond Bulletins, Brochures, and Bake Sales

Kem has decided to stop by restored to grace on her blog book tour.

In celebration of her new book, I will be giving away a copy to one lucky reader next Thursday, June 4. Here’s the catch: in order to get a chance to win the free book, you have to comment on this entry (how can I send you a book if I don’t know who you are?) before Thursday.

Okay, without further ado, here’s the next question on Kem’s blog tour.

r2g: What effect does church marketing and communication have on a church’s children’s program, and do you think a communications team should collaborate with a children’s ministry team on developing the program?

Kem: All-church marketing and communication affects children’s ministry like the others. No team should be left to fend for themselves, operating in a vacuum. That being said, we don’t collaborate with many ministry teams about developing their individual programs. While we’re happy to help when asked, we generally leave that part to them. They develop, define and run the programs. And, they do a world class job. There’s little value we could bring to that part of the equation. They know their audience the best. But, outside the “programming” there are several areas where we consistently collaborate and work together. Specific to children’s ministry, we work together on:

• What information is helpful to the parents (e.g., dates, times, safety, benefits, etc.).

• The best place to put that information to make it easy for parents to find on a regular basis.

• What vehicles we can use to make it easy for children and parents to invite their friends.

• How to communicate sensitive information in a way that opens doors and builds trust.

• Special events outside the weekend that require childcare and how to communicate if childcare isn’t available.

• Data integrity, reports and mailing lists.

• Unique ways to showcase the age-appropriate experience happening in children’s church while the grown-ups are in adult church (e.g., video, pictures, art, etc.)

• Systems that protect safety and security.

• Special series that might warrant a shared curriculum and the logistics required to make it happen.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Want to elaborate? I’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you share them, you might get a free book!

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Exploration. Discovery. Mystery.

Do you ever feel like life is an adventure? I often do. I constantly feel a sense of excitement as I round the next corner of my day, or draw the next line on the map of my week.

It’s exhilarating to some degree. There’s always the question, “What’s going to happen next?” Am I going to find something new around the bend, or will I reach another point in the rhythm I’m in for now?

That adventure is what drives me to discover myself to a degree. I know I am the creation of an infinite God, so the depth of my being is potentially limitless. The paths on which I may travel have almost no boundaries.

The “glorious unknown” spreads out before me, waiting to be unearthed, discovered, and explored.

And therein lies the beauty of what God is doing. I am the product of boundless love—unadulterated, passionate, and powerful—love that has an infinite number of facets yet to be sought out.

I long to explore that love, to discover, if I can, the “universe” of God’s incomparable love.

Most of this vast expanse has yet to be understood. Much like the starship Enterprise on her missions of exploration, we can search until we’re decommissioned. But in the end, we’ll leave almost the entirety of this “universe” unexplored.

Yet from our perspective, we will have learned so much.

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On May 29 Kem Meyer, author of the book Less Clutter. Less Noise. will be stopping here on her blog book tour.

Kem spent fifteen years in corporate communications before taking on the role of Communications Director at Granger Community Church in Northern Indiana. She’s given numerous presentations on technology in the church and practical communication strategies. Her book Less Clutter. Less Noise. presents great insight on presenting a more engaging experience for people through good church communication.

In addition to her guest entry, I’ll be giving away a free copy of the book to one lucky reader. All you have to do is comment on either this entry or the May 29 guest entry. In your comment, tell me why you think good communication is important to the kingdom of God.

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So much has changed in the Church at large.

She’s become more focused. She’s begun to shed some fat. She’s been down so many roads, and she’s beginning to rediscover her purpose.

But she still has a long way to go.

My brother and I were chatting with a friend about the Church subculture. This “insider-club” mentality that runs rampant throughout Churchianity.

Why can’t we get our coffee from a local coffee shop? Because our church has a coffee shop!

Why can’t we buy books from Barnes & Noble or Borders? Because our church has a bookstore!

Why can’t we go to a lounge to hear some underground band? Because our church’s coffee shop/bookstore doubles as a small venue for underground bands!

What impact can we have on the community if we aren’t willing to enter it? How effective can we be if we would rather create our own micro-culture than engage the culture around us?

And why are we still holding potluck dinners when there’s a world at our doorstep crying out for guidance?

Do you want to know why churches aren’t growing? Because they’re too busy trying to get people on the outside to come inside to them.

What if the Church went to the people instead? What if the people on the inside reached out to them?

How different would the Church be?

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I was spending some time writing a story for a friend of mine, when I discovered how lonely I’ve been feeling lately. It’s odd how simply writing her story could trigger the feeling, but what struck me was that, as I was writing, I kept hearing the words, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

In the middle of the sense that I’m not enough by myself, God sent along a reminder that his grace is all that I need.

Has the loneliness disappeared? Not really. Especially as I consider how much I miss this friend. But I think I’m discovering that, although I may be lonely, I’m never alone.

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Wow. . . it’s been a long time since I last posted. Sorry for the unexpected hiatus.

Today was an interesting day. I got to work/church around 6:15am and got started on getting the roadcases out of our loading trucks. (For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I work for a portable church. We meet every week at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ and the Hyatt Hotel in Morristown, NJ.)

As I was getting our roadcases up to the second floor, I walked past a Hyatt employee who stopped me only to say a quick few sentences: “Hey man, I love that Liquid Church! Every Sunday there’s such a nice vibe in here!”

I couldn’t have been more proud of my church than I was in that moment.

Sure, it’s awesome to hear people talk about how powerful Tim’s message was or how touching Jens’ worship leading was.

But this Hyatt employee may have never even been to a Liquid service. He may have never experienced a Tim Lucas sermon or a Jens Madsen song. He may have never even had the opportunity to share a word with Mike Leahy after a passionate service.

Yet his life has been directly impacted by Liquid.

Which then begs the question. . .

Are we living life so that others may see Christ in us? Or are we relying on music and messages to tell them about him?

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