Jul
7
Written by:
host
7/7/2009 7:00 AM
Bulletin or newsletter announcements often end with the phone number or email address of the person to contact for more details or to sign up. But how often do you indicate if a person may be contacted by text message, or Twitter for that matter? Some people in your congregation (youth in particular) likely prefer text messages over emails or phone calls, while others can't imagine why anyone would want to type on their phone.
The solution is to begin to develop your own database that lists both acceptable and preferred contact methods, or to add this information to your church database. Start by giving your team leaders a form with blanks for email, home and cell numbers, Facebook/MySpace/Twitter usernames, and so on. Then, provide checkboxes where they can indicate preferred contact methods and any methods that should not be used. Later, you can expand your database to include the acceptable and preferred contact methods for everyone in the congregation.
In addition, begin to build a culture in which texting becomes one of the contact methods listed in those bulletin, newsletter articles, congregational emails, brochures, websites, and other forms of communication. Ask those who turn in articles to be sure to include the forms of communication that are acceptable. For example, a team leader might say, "To sign up, call or text me at [phone number], email [email address], or Tweet me at [Twitter address]." While keeping track of these details may seem inconvenient at first, the benefit of connecting people using the methods they use the most generally outweighs any disadvantages.