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El alcance del evangelio en nuestra comunidad
Los Ángeles es una de las ciudades más grandes del hemisferio occidental. Su área metropolitana tiene una población estimada de más de dieciocho millones de personas. Los Ángeles también es una ciudad diversa. Se estima que el treinta y siete por ciento de la población ha nacido en el extranjero y más del cincuenta y cuatro por ciento habla un idioma diferente al inglés en casa.
Situada al sureste de Los Ángeles está Cristo Rey Lutheran. Recientemente, la iglesia se incorporó al Sínodo Evangélico Luterano para renovar su misión y su ministerio. Bell Gardens, una de las ciudades que funciona como puerta de entrada hacia Los Ángeles, también tiene una población grande y dispar. Los líderes locales estiman que más de sesenta mil personas viven dentro de sus 2.4 millas cuadradas. También se calcula que más del noventa y siete por ciento de la población es hispana o latina.
Esto significa dos cosas. Primero, no hay una escasez de personas para incorporar en nuestra comunidad. Segundo, el trabajo en nuestra comunidad es claramente intercultural. Nuestros esfuerzos de revitalización de la misión han estado en acción por aproximadamente nueve meses y la tecnología ha sido parte integral de este proceso. Esta presentación va a explicar algunas de las tecnologías que hemos utilizado y que seguiremos utilizando para dar a conocer en nuestra comunidad el mensaje del evangelio.
Producción y promoción de videos devocionales
Uno de los desafíos que enfrentamos en nuestro proceso de revitalización de la misión es que no somos una iglesia conocida. Muchos miembros de la comunidad pensaron que nuestra iglesia había estado cerrada por años. ¿Cómo podíamos hacerles saber que la iglesia está activa? Una forma fue publicando y promocionando fotos en Facebook. Algunas publicaciones contenían fotos de la iglesia mientras otras mostraban fotos generales. Estas publicaciones contenían pasajes bíblicos o información sobre la iglesia. Por un precio económico, promovimos estas publicaciones a individuos ubicados dentro del radio de nuestra iglesia. Nuestro objetivo era que los usuarios de Facebook vieran estas publicaciones y las asociaran con la actividad renovada en la iglesia.
Sin embargo, pronto nos dimos cuenta de que los videos parecían más eficaces que las fotos. Por lo tanto, cambiamos nuestro enfoque. Usando una cámara pequeña, un trípie y un sistema de micrófonos grabamos videos de devociones en la iglesia y en varios lugares dentro de la comunidad. Estos videos duran entre dos y cinco minutos y se basan en un tema o pasaje de la Biblia. Siempre incluyen subtítulos, ya que esto aumenta enormemente el impacto de la publicación. Cuando promocionamos estos videos, incluimos un botón en la publicación que permite a los usuarios comenzar fácilmente una conversación de Facebook Messenger con nosotros. Las muestras de nuestros videos evangélicos se pueden ver aquí.
Conectando con Instagram
A medida que nos involucramos más en la comunidad, tratamos de entender qué tipos de tecnología tenían mejor recepción en los miembros de nuestra comunidad. Rápidamente se hizo evidente que Instagram era la red social más popular. Publicaciones cortas en Instagram nos han ayudado a mantener contacto con nuevos miembros y miembros potenciales. Utilizamos Instagram para anunciar servicios como bautismos y XV (quince) años. Usualmente, cada semana, anunciamos el tema del próximo servicio de adoración por medio de esta red. Las publicaciones de Instagram del sábado por la noche y del domingo en la mañana han ayudado a animar a nuestros seguidores a asistir a los servicios de adoración. En el siguiente enlace pueden ver nuestra página de Instagram.
Transmisión en vivo de los cultos
Nosotros transmitimos nuestros servicios de adoración usando Wirecast . Este software nos permite transmitir a nuestro sitio web, al sitio web de iGlesia Luterana Cristo, y a Facebook Live simultáneamente. También nos permite grabar nuestros servicios. Los servicios grabados se archivan en Vimeo y en nuestro sitio web usando un plugin de Vimeo. Editamos nuestros sermones y los archivamos en Vimeo y en nuestro sitio web. También publicamos nuestros sermones directamente en Facebook.
De las plataformas disponibles para transmitir en vivo, hemos encontrado que Facebook Live es la más eficaz y la que ofrece las mejores características. Facebook Live nos permite programar nuestros videos en vivo con anticipación. Además, permite a los usuarios de Facebook recibir notificaciones y recordatorios de nuestros próximos videos. Incluye un sistema de cuenta regresiva para nuestros videos en vivo y permite a los usuarios comentar los videos e interactuar con otros espectadores. Nuestro Facebook está disponible aquí.
Otros usos de los medios de comunicación electrónicos
Durante tres meses, realizamos una Campaña de Conquista Móvil. Esta campaña fue organizada a través de una agencia publicitaria. La agencia colocó tres anuncios diferentes en varias aplicaciones de usuarios de teléfonos celulares dentro de un radio específico cercano a la iglesia. Si un usuario hacía clic en nuestro anuncio, se le presentaba un anuncio de pantalla completa con opciones de interacción como "ver video," "llamar" o "visitar el sitio web."
Utilizamos la función de Eventos de Facebook en nuestra página de Facebook para anunciar servicios especiales y otros servicios. Por ejemplo, este otoño vamos a crear eventos de Facebook para celebrar la remodelación de nuestra capilla, nuestro festival de Navidad y los cultos navideños. Por un módico precio, promoveremos estos eventos a audiencias específicas.
Hemos utilizado una promoción de Facebook para anunciar nuestro sitio web que consiste en la optimización en los motores de búsqueda (SEO). Facebook nos permitió promover simultáneamente seis imágenes diferentes con texto. Cuando un usuario hace clic en estos anuncios es llevado a nuestro sitio web. Hemos encontrado que esto es efectivo, aumentando nuestra colocación dentro de los motores de búsqueda. También nos hemos percatado de que es una solución más barata, a diferencia del uso de los servicios tradicionales de optimización de motores de búsqueda por parte de empresas publicitarias.
Preguntas de discusión
La tecnología nos ha ayudado a integrarnos en la comunidad. Nos ha ayudado a conectar con nuestro público objetivo y llegar a grandes cantidades de personas. Teniendo esto en cuenta, le exhorto a que piense acerca del alcance que la tecnología y las redes sociales pueden tener en su comunidad:
- Cuando llegué a Bell Gardens en diciembre de 2016 no tenía una cuenta de Instagram. Cuando comencé a relacionarme con los miembros de nuestra comunidad, me di cuenta de que la mayoría de latinos e hispanos de edad media y jóvenes no sólo usaban Instagram, sino que lo preferían ante Facebook y otras redes sociales. Rápidamente creé una cuenta personal y una cuenta para la iglesia y me percaté que Instagram estaba entre las redes más valiosas para mantener el contacto con los miembros nuevos y potenciales. ¿Existen alguna forma en que usted puede utilizar tecnologías específicas para conectarse con las personas de su comunidad?
- La producción de un video devocional corto me toma aproximadamente de una a tres horas. Esto incluye escribir el guión, configurar y retirar el equipo de grabación, archivar y editar el video, y publicarlo en Facebook. Sin embargo, estas devociones pueden llegar a miles de personas. Por esta razón, considero favorable la relación entre tiempo invertido y las almas alcanzadas. Aunque, si la producción de un video de devoción me toma más de un par de horas, puede ser que no sea la mejor inversión de tiempo. ¿Hay formas en que usted puede utilizar tecnologías específicas para llegar a grandes cantidades de personas invirtiendo poco tiempo?
Outreach in Our Community
Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the western hemisphere. Its greater metropolitan area has an estimated population of over eighteen million people. Los Angeles is also diverse. Thirty-seven percent of the population is estimated to be foreign-born. Over fifty-four percent speak a language other than English in the home.
Situated just southeast of Los Angeles is Cristo Rey Lutheran. Recently on the brink of closure, it entered a partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod to renew its mission and ministry. Bell Gardens, one of the Los Angeles Gateway Cities, also has a large and diverse population. Local leaders estimate that over sixty thousand people live within its 2.4 square miles. It's also estimated that over ninety-seven percent of the population is Hispanic or Latino.
This means two things. First, there is no shortage of people to reach in our community. Second, work in our community is clearly cross-cultural. Our mission revitalization efforts have been in effect for approximately nine months and technology has been an integral part of this process. This presentation will highlight some of the technologies we have used and will continue to use to reach our community with the gospel message.
Producing and Promoting Video Devotions
One of the challenges we face in our mission revitalization process is that we are not a known entity in our community. Many in our community thought our church had been closed for years. How could we communicate that we are operational? One way was posting and promoting pictures on Facebook. Some posts contained photos of the church while others showed stock photos. These posts contained Bible passages or information about the church. For reasonable fees, we promoted these posts to individuals located within a certain radius of our church. Our goal was for Facebook users to see these posts and associate them with renewed activity at the church.
However, we soon realized that video seemed more effective than photos. So, we changed our approach. Using a small camera, tripod, and microphone system we film short video devotions at the church and at various locations throughout our community. These videos are between two to five minutes in length and are based on a theme or Bible passage. They always include captions, as this greatly increases the post engagement. When promoting these videos, we include a button on the post that allows viewers to easily begin a Facebook Messenger conversation with us. Click here for samples of our devotional videos.
Connecting with Instagram
As we became more involved in the community, we tried to understand what types of technology were favored by our community. It quickly became apparent that Instagram was the social medium of choice. Short posts on Instagram have helped us maintain contact with new and prospective members. We use Instagram to advertise services such as baptisms and quinceañeras. We consistently announce the theme for the upcoming worship service during the middle of each week. Instagram posts on Saturday evening and Sunday morning have helped encourage our followers to attend our worship services. View our Instagram page here.
Livestreaming Worship
We livestream our worship services using Wirecast. Wirecast allows us to stream to our website, iGlesia Luterana Cristo's website, and Facebook Live simultaneously. It also allows us to record our services. Our recorded services are archived on Vimeo and on our website using a Vimeo Plugin. We edit our sermons and archive them on Vimeo and our website. We also post our sermons directly to Facebook.
Of the platforms available for livestreaming, we have found Facebook Live to be the most effective and offering the best features. Facebook Live allows us to schedule our live videos in advance. It allows Facebook users to receive notifications and reminders of our upcoming live videos. It includes a countdown system leading up to our live videos and allows users to comment on videos and interact with other viewers. Click here to view our Facebook page.
Other Uses of Media
For three months, we conducted an online Mobile Conquesting Campaign. This campaign was organized through an online advertising company. It placed three different mobile ads on various apps of smart phone users within a specified radius of our church. If a user clicked on our ad, it introduced the user to a full screen ad with engagement options of "watch video," "call us," or "visit website."
We use the Facebook Events feature on our Facebook page to advertise special worship services and events. For example, this fall we will be creating Facebook Events for the dedication of our remodeled chapel, our Christmas carnival, and Christmas services. For reasonable fees, we will promote these events to targeted audiences.
We have used an ongoing Facebook promotion to advertise our website to help with our Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Facebook allowed us to simultaneously run six different images with text. When a user clicked these ads, they were taken to our website. We found this to be effective, increasing our search engine placement. We also found it be a more cost-effective solution to SEO than using traditional SEO services by advertising companies.
Discussion Questions
Technology has helped us reach out in our community. It has helped us connect with our target audience and reach large numbers of people. With this in mind, I encourage you to think about outreach in your community:
- When I arrived in Bell Gardens in December of 2016 I did not have an Instagram account. As I began getting connected to individuals in our community, I realized that most young and middle aged Latinos and Hispanics not only used Instagram, but favored it over Facebook and other forms of social media. I quickly created both a personal account and church account and found it to be among the most valuable technologies to maintain contact with new and prospective members. Are there ways you can use specific technologies to connect with your specific target audience?
- Producing a short video devotion takes me approximately one to three hours. This includes writing the script, setting up and taking down the equipment, filing and editing the video, and posting to Facebook. Yet, these short video devotions can reach thousands of people. I view this a good ratio of time invested to souls reached. For example, if the production of a short video devotion took several hours or longer, it may not be the best allocation of time in an outreach setting. Are there ways you can use specific technologies to reach large numbers of people with little time invested?
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Discussion
I know your streaming is new, but have you had a chance to measure any response yet?
Pero todavía, hay usos para la transmission en vivo. Una anécdota interesante es que una vez una persona en nuestra comunidad estaba mirando en vivo nuestro servicio de adoración en su casa y decidió asistir en persona. Por lo tanto, salio su casa y mientras rumbo a la iglesia, continuaba escuchando a nuestra transmission por su celular en su carro hasta que llegó.
The easiest thing is to measure the numbers of our views through Facebook. Generally, we have between two to five people watching a live broadcast. However, we generate more views when we publish the file after the live broadcast so that people can see it at their convenience. According to me, the publication of the file is more important than the live transmission.
But still, there are uses for live streaming. An interesting anecdote is that once a person in our community was watching our live worship service at home and decided to attend in person. Therefore, he left his house and while on his way to church, he continued to listen to our transmission on his cell phone in his car until he arrived.
As a person who has been involved in the churches in the LA area, this presentation definitely hit home. My pastor has used similar tactics while spreading the gospel closer to the San Diego area.
One thing I really appreciated was when you mentioned trying to “understand what types of technology were favored by our community.” This shows an amazing want to grow as a church body, by going out into a community and making changes for that community to be more involved in the church. What a blessing to have the amazing gift of technology, at exactly the time we need it! God never forgets about His people; therefore, His Word continues to spread!
I had a few questions regarding items shared in your piece:
You touched on the different social media platforms being utilized in the church. How much of a growth in the church have you seen overall? How effective is the use of Facebook Live to stream worship services? Also, how has the involvement of technology impacted current members, and do you see excitement from them, as technology is becoming a bigger means of sharing the gospel?
Thank you for your contribution to the conference!
Thank you for your comments. You asked some great questions.
First, we haven't seen a direct correlation between an increased use in social media and growth. However, we have seen that social media has helped us build recognition in the community and helped us maintain contact with members and prospective members. It has served as a great tool to remind our members and prospective members of service times, special services, and events.
Second, Facebook Live seems to be the most effective live-streaming platform for us. We have significantly higher views on Facebook versus the live-streaming page on our website (a plugin from Wirecast). Facebook seems to be giving priority to live video. Our followers can create a setting to receive a "notification" when we stream live. If our followers are using Facebook when we are streaming live, they will likely see our video in their feed. We are also able to schedule live video's in advance. This publishes a post in advance saying that we "plan to go live" at the specified date and time. With one click, followers can then be reminded shortly before we go live. I feel all these features help increase our views. For those viewing our live-stream simply through our website, they have to remember the date and time and go to that specific page on the website at the appropriate time.
Third, some of our current members have been very involved in our live-streaming and social media outreach. It certainly take some explanation to the congregation as a whole. But fortunately, these initiatives do not have a negative impact on members who are not interested in them. I've found that getting members and new members involved in the live-streaming and social media initiatives has been a way to get more people involved in our mission and ministry.
Blessings on all your service to the Kingdom!
Quiero responder en español, pero hablo solamente un poquito - in spite of my lacking Spanish language skills, I have had the opportunity to be a part of cross-cultural ministry my whole life. I appreciated your realization and employment of alternate methods to reach people with the Gospel in a modern and simplistic way, as well as the feedback you gave on its effectiveness in your community. Outreach is such a crucial part of Gospel ministry and is sometimes neglected or carried out ineffectively in a cross-cultural setting. Your research of the community and your adaptability to the needs and conveniences of prospective members is an effective method of outreach and seems to be producing positive results in the area; praise be to God for your successes thus far!
I was intrigued by your presentation particularly because of its relevance to my home church. Our congregation is bilingual, almost evenly split between English and Spanish speakers, and is located in a town with a very high Latino population. We also incorporate technology as much as possible into our outreach, using social media platforms like our website, blog, and Facebook and Instagram accounts. One struggle we have had in the past is trying to reach two audiences, each speaking a different language, with the same message on the same platform. We’ve ended up creating two separate accounts - one in English and one in Spanish - for each social media platform we use. Have you found a more efficient and effective way to keep the approach to outreach consistent while still maintaining bilingualism? If so, how do you suggest we incorporate this into our outreach in the community?
Thank you for your contribution and your consideration of my questions!
Thank you for your comments and encouragement. It's great to hear about the work being done at your congregation too.
You ask a great question. We wrestled with the same issue, especially when it came to social media. Our website is completely bilingual. It's really two sites that share the same URL and have almost identical pages, just in the two separate languages.
However, for Facebook and Instagram we wondered whether or not we should a joint account or separate accounts. One of our long-term goals is to have one, unified congregation and leadership structure, even if we have separate services in different languages. Therefore we decided to consistently brand ourselves as "Cristo Rey Lutheran," incorporating both English and Spanish. We also decided to create one Facebook and Instagram account, both with the title Cristo Rey Lutheran. When publishing posts we either simply make two posts (one in each language) or make bilingual posts. I believe in the Facebook settings you can set your page up to accommodate different languages simultaneously.
There are some practical advantages to this approach too. For example, it allows us to have one page with more followers than we would have with two separate pages. I've heard that Facebook gives search preferences to pages with higher number of followers and so we hope this works out in our favor. It also is simpler to manage one account instead of two.
I've noticed that many organizations in our community also take the one page approach with bilingual posts or two separate posts (one in each language).
However, each congregation and setting is different and I can certainly understand how some congregations may need or even benefit from two separate pages. Many of our members are bilingual. If we had more a language barrier, I could see more of a need for separate pages.
Blessings on all your service to the Kingdom!
Según yo, hay que aprovechar todas las oportunidades para compartir las buenas nuevas, incluso la tecnología. Es cierto que la tecnología puede tener una mala reputación o connotación. También, es cierto que puede ser algo incómodo para algunas personas. Pero al mismo tiempo, usar los medios de comunicación social nos permite mantener y iniciar más contacto con más gente. Muy probablemente, contacto con personas que de otro modo no hubiéramos tenido. La tecnología es una bendición que debemos utilizar para la gloria de Dios. Lo interesante también es que hoy en día hay más ancianos usando la tecnología. Tenemos un miembro acá con 93 años que usa el Facebook.
De todas maneras creo que hay un deseo entre los jóvenes para más uso de la tecnología, incluso por la iglesia. Nuestros miembros más jóvenes tienen más expectativas del uso de los medios de comunicación social. Por ejemplo, algunos quieren que comencemos a usar Snapchat para entregar noticias o compartir información acerca de nuestras misas y eventos. Si podemos mantener contacto con más gente por Snapchat, tal vez deberíamos usarlo.
Dios le bendiga y que Dios bendiga todos su esfuerzos.
What good ideas! I do not have much experience with technology, but I understand that it is a very powerful effort. I think it's a very good way to inform the public about your church. I am Catholic and the faithful of my church have tried to do something similar in my community. My priest does not like the idea of using technology to spread the gospel message. Think that phrases like "watch video," "email" or "visit the website" work to create a sense of isolation in the population of older people; They are not used to things like that. On the other hand, there are not many young people who attend church every Sunday. Sometimes technology has a bad connotation, but it is a big part of the culture of young people. What do you think of this situation?
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Thanks for your comments and questions. It's good that you want to try to use technology to reach more people with the gospel.
According to me, we must seize every opportunity to share the good news, including technology. It is true that technology can have a bad reputation or connotation. Also, it is true that it can be somewhat uncomfortable for some people. But at the same time, using social media allows us to maintain and initiate more contact with more people. Most likely, contact with people that we would not otherwise have had. Technology is a blessing that we must use for the glory of God. The interesting thing is also that nowadays there are more elderly people using technology. We have a member here 93 years old who uses Facebook.
Anyway I think there is a desire among young people for more use of technology, even by the church. Our youngest members have more expectations of the use of social media. For example, some want us to start using Snapchat to deliver news or share information about our worship services and events. If we can keep in touch with more people with Snapchat, maybe we should use it.
God bless you and may God bless all your efforts.