Every where you look people are text messaging. In fact, Americans on average send 357 text messages per month versus 204 cell phone calls. Those numbers are higher when the cell phone user gets younger. 72% of Americans have a paid for text messaging package on their cell phone which equates to 203 million people. Almost 60% of cell phone users who are 13 years old + are considered regular text message users. In another study 42% of teens indicated that they could text message blindfolded. The same study also revealed that a majority of teens preferred text to talking on the phone because it allows them to multi-task.
So you have an event coming up. A talk series for young adults, a semester kick off for your teen group, or even just a fun bowling night planned. There’s not anything different about this new event necessarily, but there IS something that separates you from the other things happening in your audience’s life: You want to talk to them about their life, challenges, triumphs and struggles. You want to talk to them about Jesus and the Church and THAT is a great thing. The not-so-great thing? You may have very little idea how to communicate these things through your church bulletin, a poster, a picture, a website, or social media profile. How can you design materials that are eye-catching and relevant if your best tool is Paint or Microsoft Word? You might even be lucky enough to have some Adobe products (Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign), but have no idea what interface is used for.
In the year 2000…
10 Years ago, I was in my second Parish youth ministry post at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Tempe, AZ. It was my first post as Director of YM and my second full time job in youth ministry. At the time I was “cutting edge”:
* I purchased $300 database software that helped me manage my teens information and contact them in what seemed like cool ways. Email was the best way to get the word out to teens.
* I was online – using AIM constantly. Teens would contact me all the time to chat – many of those conversations turned into some serious discussions which turned into phone calls or face to face time, praying together.
* I created cool fliers weekly to get the word out.
* Relational ministry was the way to go. Hanging out with teens, taking them to eat, having drop in times at the parish center or office.
For any of you involved in a ministry, I am sure you are aware of the growing difficulties of communicating with people on a very real level. Yes, you can tweet them or comment on their Facebook status updates, but when it comes time to have what I like to call a little ‘heart to heart’ discussion, it’s getting more and more challenging to promote your message in a relevant and competitive way.
And that’s the REAL issue – staying competitive in your approach considering the vast amount of media intake the average person consumes on a daily basis.
