Dan Radmacher
Jesus promised to make his disciples fishers of men. But in the modern church, it seems like we hesitate to cast the net. We float happily along in our boat, and hope the fish will simply jump in.
At St. Philip, council wants to figure out how to cast our nets for a vibrant, 21st century church. We’re going to start exploring some ways of improving outreach to the community using the modern tools available to the church.
I’ll be working on developing a strategy for this, but I could certainly use some help from any social media-savvy members of the congregation. If you have thoughts or ideas, or a willingness to help out in any way, contact me at danrad@mac.com.
A couple of things council is considering starting as soon as possible include live-streaming services using Facebook Live. A tripod will be set up with a phone or tablet and broadcast services live. The hope is this will both offer a convenient way for members of the congregation who can’t make it to church to still experience service, and to help spread the word about St. Philip and its ministries.
Other events may be livestreamed as well.
In addition, council is going to start a church Instagram account to supplement the Facebook and Twitter presence. The hope is to spread the responsibility for keeping that account vibrant by having different people “take over” the account for several weeks at a time. If you have an active Instagram presence, and would be willing to help the church build its own presence, please contact me at the email address above.
Images are an important part of any effective outreach. Please take photos whenever you can at church events. Leadership will figure out the most effective way to share them. If you have a particular interest in photography, let me know.
If we want St. Philip to grow and thrive, we cannot be content to simply wait for fish to jump in the boat. Please let me know if you’re interested in helping find better ways to cast our digital nets.
Pastor David and Maribeth Shermer
