One of the highlights of my years of guest speaking at Unitarian Universalist congregations happened October 5th, 2014! I was leading the service at High Plains Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado, Springs speaking on “Friendship in the Digital Age.” This was during a service after a weekend training on UU Social Media and Growth. Following my message for all ages, the amazing UU musician Joe Uveges improvised a song reinforcing my message. You can watch both the message and performance in the following video. We joked about going on tour together — anyone up for a UU Growth-a-palooza and Sing Along conference? Enjoy 😉
Note that the message for all ages was about how hard it is to come in to a congregation as a newcomer. This is a very funny message on how to introduce yourself to newcomers. In it I use a paper smiley like face with googly eyes but with an awkward expression, no smile — call it an anxiety face.
It has eyes that can move around which surprises people. I often ask the kids what the persons name is and this time the name offered was Gumbo. I did say I didn’t think we should call all our visitors Gumbo, but that’s the name in the song.
Here’s the deal. Today we need to be intentionally integrating our social media, visitor greeting and other membership development efforts. If we don’t, we’re in trouble.
Thanks to technology the path to membership is moving increasingly online. How many people visit your website before visiting? Around 100%. And now people are wanting to explore your social media and check you out digitally for a while to judge you before they visit. That’s right, they’re judging you based on what you’re online presence and identity.
Potential members are increasingly making a decision about your congregation based on their digital experience, and then and only then, if that’s good, they’ll visit in person to confirm you are what you’ve said you are online. Increasingly you need to be helping people pre-qualify themselves for membership online if you want them to visit and join in person. And your existing members? They are bombarded with information via multiple communication channels. How do you get them to hear you and to not drift away? We’ll discuss all of this in more in one very full, exciting and useful day…
Think of this training as a 2014-2015 upgrade for your communications and membership growth strategy.
Again, here the dates and registration links. If you have questions, Email me.
What’s that you say? Are these events being lives streamed? No, but I will be turning the content into text and video resources. Make sure you are subscribed to my Leading Congregations E-Newsletter to be updated as they become available.
The following program is close to final for these two events. There may be some small changes in timing and titles, but the content is set.
8:30 Registration & Refreshments
9:00 Opening Worship & Welcome
9:15 Technology, Culture and the Challenge to Congregations How is changing technology changing us? We’ll look at the new technology norms for how people are connecting, learning and making decisions. Understanding these changes is critical to effective outreach, social media use, and membership development.
9:25 Social Media and the New Path to Membership The path to becoming a member in a congregation has changed significantly in recent years. Not in terms of what has to happen for people to connect with a congregation, but how, when and where these connections happen. Today much of what happens in the course of “church shopping” happens online via congregational social media channels.
10:45 Break
11:00 Increasing Engagement, Understanding Social Media Today For congregations to maximize engagement with newcomers, members and friends, we need to understand what communication platforms people are using, what they are using them for, and the new norms for institutional communication. We’ll identify the top social media platforms today, look at their use by demographic, and identify key ways congregations need to shift their approach in order to communicate effectively today.
11:30 Break Out Session What have you tried? What works? What doesn’t? We’ll take some time to learn from each other, share successes and challenges. This will also prime our lunch time conversation.
12:00 Lunch
We’ll take a nice full hour lunch to allow for conversations to continue, connections to be made, and to let our brains cool down as needed!
1:00 Report Back When we gather after lunch, we will take some time to hear some of our success stories and insights from our lunch conversations.
1:20 Social Media Storytelling, Relationship and Membership Growth We’ll go deeper into the strategy of communicating with newcomers, members and friends via social media with the goal of building relationships, increasing participation in congregational life, and growing your membership. To be successful at this, we need to master the art and science of telling the many stories of congregational life in ways that are interesting, meaningful, and invite participation.
2:00 Best Practices for Keeping Members Engaged and Coming Back If we’re successful in brining newcomers into our communities, soon we will have new members. Which raises the question, how do we keep members coming back in today’s world with so many competing demands for people’s attention and time.
2:20Developing Social Media Plans, a Small Group Exercise We’ll break into small groups and go through the process of developing a social media plan for one primary event or happening within the life of your congregation using strategies detailed earlier in the day. This may be for a large fundraiser, your monthly newcomer class, or a special holiday event.
2:45 Discussion on Small Group Exercise
3:00 Q & A Time
3:30 Closing
Testimonials
“Peter provided our team with an opportunity to learn together about social media giving us a common understanding of the benefits and costs of utilizing it. His enthusiasm for social media is infectious, making us feel not only that implementing it is possible and perhaps inevitable as our world continues to evolve.” — Sara Deshler, Church Administrator, Cedar Lane U U Church.
“Peter’s passion for social media communications and Unitarian Universalism is contagious. His vision for our future is something we need to learn and embrace.” – Don Southworth, UUMA Executive Director
Peter’s training on Social Media was clear, instructive, and interactive. He is dynamic, engaging and brings an enthusiasm to his sessions that is contagious. I recommend him highly.” — Mark Bernstein, Regional Growth Development Consultant, Central East Region of the UUA
In this video I walk you through the process of setting up a Twitter account, connecting with UUs on Twitter, and a few basics on hashtags. This is not a comprehensive training, it is just intended to help you set up a Twitter account before General Assembly. You can learn during GA and in the #UUsGetSocial workshop series.
I look forward to seeing you in Providence, RI next week and on Twitter. Once you’ve created your account, make sure to follow me at @UUPLANET. I will also be announcing new UU social media events for the Fall shortly, ranging from Colorado Springs, CO to Providence, RI.
I’m excited to announce that the four-part #UUsGetSocial workshop series at the UUA’s General Assembly conference is going to be video taped. It will not be live streamed.
204 #UUsGetSocial: How Congregations Can Deepen Engagement Online
Thursday 10:15 am EST
RICC Ballroom BC
260 #UUsGetSocial: Updating Your Web Presence: Tools and Tips
Thursday 4:00pm EST
RICC Ballroom BC
306 #UUsGetSocial: Reaching “Nones,” Activists, and Spiritual Seekers
Friday 10:15 am EST
RICC Ballroom BC
408 #UUsGetSocial: Digging Into Facebook, Twitter and Video-Making/Sharing
Saturday 10:15 am EST
RICC Ballroom BC
The Hashtag
If you are on Facebook or Twitter, you can search for the tag #UUAGA to pull up all associated tagged posts and Tweets. Search for #UUsGetSocial, click these links to give it a try:
I’ll be at General Assembly all week, including during ministry days, so make sure to connect. Besides helping to lead this series, I’m going to be talking with clergy colleagues about a new series of social media learning opportunities specifically for parish ministers on making your public ministry more public. Yes, if you are a professional minister being paid to do public ministry, I think it is critical that you have a strong online identity — YOU, not just your congregation. Oh yes, I’m talking about using clergy personal branding as a catalyst for Unitarian Universalist growth.
Look for our Leading Congregations ad in the program book. It shares contact information for contacting me and Amy at General Assembly, plus an invitation to subscribe to our newsletter. I’ll be sharing new social media educational offerings and resources via the newsletter following GA. Don’t miss out! Some offerings are going to have limited participation, and I’m going to share invitations with subscribers of our newsletter first.
If you’re going to the UUA’s 2014 General Assembly conference in Providence, RI this June and have a smart phone or tablet, you’ll want to make sure to download the brand new UUA General Assembly app. I just gave it a test drive and it is fabulous. But don’t wait until GA, you’ll want to downloaded it now and start using it so come General Assembly, you’re good to go!
The UUA General Assembly 2014 app is the official interactive mobile app for the annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Inspirational worship services, informative workshops, entertaining programs, and a bustling exhibit hall help make GA an unforgettable experience for the thousands of Unitarian Universalists that attend. (From iTunes App Store)
Before GA, make time to PLAY!
The UUA General Assembly 2014 app is LOADED with features. So many, in fact, that I think you need to spend some time with the app before arriving at General Assembly. You don’t want to waste valuable GA time getting oriented to the app — do that in advance.
This mobile app allows you to:
View schedules, explore sessions, and find after parties.
Create your own personal schedule and access location and speaker information.
Access interactive maps and find local places.
Checkin to sessions, meetings, keynotes, and exhibitor booths.
View an entire feed of the event activity, including attendee checkins, photos, and more.
Earn points, badges, and prizes for being active on the app and at the event.
Expand your professional network and have fun!
Listed features include:
Update — a quick way to share photos, comments, where you are, and which session you’re attending
Activity — keep your finger on the pulse of the event. See what people are doing, view photos from the event, find trending sessions and topics, and “like” and comment on other attendee checkins
Agenda — view the full agenda and related information (session time, room number, speaker info, etc.) Attendees see who’s at the event, and connect with them on the app
Exhibitors — find exhibitors and sponsors, checkin to leave comments and feedback
Profile — your official app profile, highlighting your name, profile photo, title, and organization
Leaderboard — see who has the most points at the conference and climb your way to the top with checkins
See? It’s loaded… So, do take time to set up a profile, figure out how to navigate to events and venues, share photos, and follow people you want to connect with at GA before you arrive at GA.
A Word of Caution We don’t want to have thousands of UUs gather for General Assembly and then have all social media traffic for General Assembly get redirected into an app that only people at GA can see. GA should be the most active UU social media week of the year, not a time when Unitarian Universalism goes silent. Use the app, but don’t hide in it…
Keep it Social Make sure that if you use the app, you still Tweet and share Facebook and other social media updates. The app lets you connect Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts to the app and select which updates get sent out via those channels.
Tag it #UUAGA Don’t forget to include the #UUAGA tag in any update you post via the app that you are also sending to Twitter! The app does not hashtag for you.
Don’t Forget Your Friends While this app allows us to connect with others at GA in powerful ways, much the way Twitter & Facebook connect us year round, we need to make sure we don’t totally abandon those who are not plugged in! Keep your heart open and your eyes out for those who are not digitally connected at General Assembly.
Photos of Public Witness The app does let you take and share photos. However, if you take and share photos of public witness and and use the app to send them to Twitter, they appear as links in your tweets, not automatically displayed Twitter photos. During public witness I’m going close the app and focus on sharing Twitter photos and videos made with Vine — that will get more reach.
Let’s Connect! You can connect with me, Peter Bowden, on the GA app and on Facebook & Twitter. During General Assembly, this year I will be focusing on talking ministry & media with all of you.
Also, look for my Leading Congregations ad in the GA program book. That’s the home for my interfaith congregational consulting practice . At General Assembly I’m going to be booking the rest of my speaking, training and coaching for the year. If you wanted to work with me in 2014-2015, make sure to connect with me at GA. I expect to be booked for year by July 15h.
Recently I had the honor of collaborating with my friend and colleague, the Rev. Naomi King, on the 2013 Minns Lecture “Ministry in the Age of Collaboration.” We were asked to speak on social media and Unitarian Universalism in the 2st Century.
We are both sharing core messages from our talks via our blogs, and videos of the lectures will be available later this month.
For this first post of mine, before I start in on social media, I think it is helpful to speak to the issue of our congregations being out of synch with time. I’ve discussed with United Church of Christ colleagues the fact that the UCC seems, to me, 10 years ahead of the Unitarian Universalist Association in some regards. They in turn chuckle and say they feel the UCC is 10 years behind where they should be. That puts us, if you do the math, 20 years behind!
Our lagging leads to significant problems with our ministry. Most frequent in my conversations with our leaders:
Why don’t our children grow up to be adult Unitarian Universalists?
Why aren’t families participating the way they use to?
Why aren’t we attracting all those spiritual and not religious people, the nones?
And while we’re at it, why aren’t people drawn to, and participating in the work of good institutions like ours the way they use to?
These are complex issues with no one simple answer or quick fix. But there is a common problem plaguing many of our congregations which is directly contributing to them.
Our congregations? They’ve gotten lost in time…. I know, it sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it?
Ministry Time Bubbles
Many congregations are living in what I call “ministry time bubbles.” You see, for many congregations — maybe yours — the world has changed around you. Not a little. Not a lot. We’re talking massive mighty change impacting every aspect of our human society.
How did some congregations get stuck in time? A content membership, leadership and staff with enough money to care for themselves, coupled with sudden rapid technological innovation in the world at large.
When a congregation has stable membership numbers, enough funds to meet its own needs, it is easy to focus on caring for that immediate community. That’s the congregation as “safe harbor.” And believe me, plenty of people are looking for a safe harbor, including being sheltered from change.
With a reasonable membership and sufficient budget, a congregation can go about its ministry in this way, with attention on its membership and little attention on the rest of the world for years.
To create a significant ministry time bubble, take this set up and crank up the rate of change in the larger world. Presto!
In this illustration you can see a congregation starting in synch with the world – blue, then while they were busy with their internal ministry, the rate of change outside picked up. Uh oh…
Accelerating Change
For a very long time change in our world came at a rate that was challenging, but not too drastic. The difference between “congregational time” and “world time” was reasonable. Leaders were able to slowly soak in the change. Taking time was okay. A decade to get the congregation set up on email? No problem! Five years to debate a new website? Why not!
Things are different today. We’ve recently gone through three major technological revolutions:
Development of the internet
Creation and proliferation of social media
All that tech in your pocket thanks to mobile computing
These technologies are fundamentally changing the culture, norms and expectations of human society. And not just once, they’re impacting human behavior day after day after day.
While many congregations have been going about their business of faithfully changing the world locally (focus on core membership), the very world they’re called to change — it changed. Result? A congregation out of synch with time, technology and culture.
These ministry time bubble, they may be fine for a while. But increasingly the discrepancies are too great to maintain. And what was chalked up to technology becomes a matter of clashing cultures.
New Norms for Humanity
These discrepancies between how our congregations are going about ministry and what is increasingly mainstream culture – big problem. It is easy to discount technology we don’t care for. But we can’t minister effectively if we discount a changing human culture. And that’s the scale of what we’re talking about.
Think about that. Your congregation, if you aren’t actively staying in touch with present day technology and resulting culture — and this is a moving target — will be increasingly out of touch with the culture of those people you are seeking to minister to and with.
What culture am I talking about?
We’ve been globalized, interconnected and sci-fi like devices have been placed in our pockets giving us mind boggling creative, collaborative, and coordinating powers! These powers are rapidly changing how we do everything from work and play, to how we learn and organize ourselves to face the injustices of our time.
Unfortunately, this growing culture clash isn’t readily apparent to many of our leaders. Why? Because our culture being out of whack with what is becoming mainstream present day human culture simply results in humanity wanting nothing to do with us. It is like a silent force gently pushing people away from us, including our young people who want to be active and effective agents for change.
You might say that we raised our very smart children well enough for them to know that our congregations, those stuck in time, are not the best places to invest their time and energy. Great leaders (and aspiring leaders) don’t suffer through mediocre leadership. They find an institution or revolution ready to help them be of service.
The Good News!
The good news is that our mission, our purpose, that change we and our congregations are (hopefully) called to make in the world — there are more people than ever interested in that. We know this because we’re increasingly networked together.
But…. (Drat! You knew there was a but.)
But the people we are trying to minister to and with are different now. You see, we’re all adapting to this new world. We are learning to do amazing things with the creative, collaborative, democratizing, gamified, hierarchy crushing, grassroots coordinating, rapid response, instantaneous, “fail often, fail fast, fail forward” tools and culture of this time.
We need your Unitarian Universalist religious leadership more than ever!
We just need you to be a religious leader differently.
We need you to understand the cultural shifts that are reshaping our human society, reshaping the world, and how to harness them to unleash our shared ministry in a world increasingly characterized by connectivity and openness.
You know culture and technology are changing at an accelerating pace. But what does this mean for our Unitarian Universalist ministry?
Join us, the Rev. Naomi King and Peter Bowden, for a series of Tweetchats and Facebook discussion exploring “Ministry in the Age of Collaboration,” the theme of our March 9, 2013 Minns Lectures. During these online conversation we will explore how social media and social networks are empowering people to risk and live faithfully. Because we know working faithfully together creates more positive effects in the world, we want to start the conversation prior to the Minns Lectures in March, as well as continue it once videos of the lectures are released.
Don’t miss these opportunities to ask questions, share ideas, and shape what we hope will be an association-wide conversation. You may share this page using social sharing buttons at the end of the post. Thanks!
Each Friday in the UU Growth Lab, the month leading up to the lectures, we will be posting questions. Join this Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/uugrowthlab and look for our Minns Lecture themed posts on the following dates:
Our hour long live Tweetchat on Feb 12th will share the themes and core questions driving our lectures. We want to here you ideas, stories, and have the opportunity to weave more innovation and real life examples into our talks. The month after the lectures, April 9th, after the lecture videos have been shared, we’ll have a follow up conversation.
How to Participate in Tweetchats
Log in to your Twitter account on date and time of tweetchat
This virtual chat room will bring together tweets sent with hashtag #MinnsLecture. While all tweets are public to everyone following you, using this Tweetchat room makes it easy to focus on our #MinnsLecture themed conversation.
Friends, here are details for the 2013 Minns Lectures. I’m honored to be offering one of the three lectures. Note that while this is a free event, there will be an online registration/RSVP. See http://www.minnslectures.org. ~ Peter
The 2013 Minns Lecture Series
March 8 & 9, 2013
Boston, MA
Young for Liberty: The UU Movement in the 21st Century
In the spirit of William Ellery Channing, who once said, “I was always young for liberty,” the Minns Lectures for 2013 will be structured around three lively interactive presentations on how our free faith tradition speaks to, and in the past reached out to, young people – and how today’s revolution in social media can reshape, enlarge, and invigorate that outreach today.
Join us on March 8 and 9 in Boston, in person or online, for these three important lectures. [I’ll be sharing more about the online details shortly. Peter]
Lecture 1
Friday, March 8, 7-9 pm
No-cost reception included King’s Chapel, 58 Tremont Street, Boston King’s Chapel House, 64 Beacon Street, Boston (Changed Location!)
Sticking with Stories: Unitarianism and the Creation of Children’s Literature
Delivered by the Rev. Andrea Greenwood
Rev. Greenwood has served congregations in Atlanta, GA, and Watertown, MA. A strong advocate for special education both in the church and in the broader community, she is currently writing a biography of the Newbery Medalist, Elizabeth Enright – a Unitarian and the niece of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Lectures 2 and 3
Saturday, March 9, 10 am-2:30 pm
No cost lunch included
First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough Street, Boston (Google Map)
Ministry in the Age of Collaboration: Congregations in a Hyper-Connected Generous World
Delivered by the Rev. Naomi King
Rev. King ministers locally and at large with City of Refuge Ministries, utilizing social media to join global houses of study, prayer, and action, and to grow faith communities in and beyond congregational walls. Via a mix of spiritually minded blogs and faith development programs, her ministry reaches around the world, engaging multifaith partners as well as Unitarian Universalists.
Ministry in the Age of Collaboration: Faithful Practices and Principles
Delivered by Peter Bowden
A television producer and parish consultant, Mr. Bowden runs Leading Congregations, [was the author of the UU Growth Blog, now archived on this site], and UnitarianUniversalism.TV. He is dedicated to helping religious leaders master changing culture and technology.
The Minns Lectureship Committee of King’s Chapel and First Church in Boston sponsors an annual series of lectures by UU ministers on religious topics of historical importance and contemporary relevance. Last year’s lectures by former UUA president the Rev. John Buehrens explored the renewal of Unitarian Universalism in the 21st century.
Video, audio, and texts for these lectures and for earlier ones, along with additional details on the 2013 lectures and how to register (at no cost), can be found on the Minns website.
Friends, this year I will be offering the keynote and series of workshops at the Joseph Priestly District’s 2013 Worship Arts Festival. My talk is titled “Worship & Social Media in the new Age of Collaboration.” Social media has opened amazing new possibilities for turning worship and sermons into just one part of a much larger conversation. Together we’ll explore new ways for engaging your community as you plan, research and design worship. There will be over a dozen workshops offered at this event. Scroll down for the full selection, including my three workshops. It is going to be amazing! I hope you’ll join us. Let me know if you have questions about any of my offerings. ~ Peter
Joseph Priestly District 2013 Worship Arts Festival
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Optional Friday evening session February 22, 2013
Hosted by the UU Church in Cherry Hill, NJ
Who should attend: Anyone interested in enhancing the worship experience of their congregation from ministerial, musical, and religious education staff to worship presenters and hospitality volunteers. You’ll find amazing resources, inspiration and connections at this event.
Social media is fundamentally changing how people form relationships, consume information and make important life decisions. This has significant implications for congregations. For our ministry to thrive in the 21stCentury, we must understand these changes and learn to use the communication tools of our time with purpose, skill and integrity.
Join us for this day-long social media event for congregational leaders with Unitarian Universalist growth, outreach and media consultant, Peter Bowden. With a focus on ministry and outreach, we will explore major social networking tools including blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Clergy, staff and volunteers from all dimensions of congregational life will benefit from this training.
Peter Bowden is a consultant working with Unitarian Universalist congregations across the United States, as as well as a TV producer working on multiple PBS programs. Known for his work with growth, outreach and media, Peter has led trainings for a growing number of UUA Districts, UUMA & LREDA Chapters, at UUA General Assembly conferences, Ferry Beach and the Star Island conference center. Peter lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife, the Rev. Amy Freedman, and their daughter.
Event coordinated and hosted by
the U Church of Silver Spring
Here’s the deal. Today we need to be intentionally integrating our social media, visitor greeting and other membership development efforts. If we don’t, we’re in trouble.
Let’s Connect!
Friday, March 8, 7-9 pm
Saturday, March 9, 10 am-2:30 pm
Ministry in the Age of Collaboration: Faithful Practices and Principles
