Promoting Purpose Driven to its Target Audiences
This post is inspired by Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcasts (available for free on iTunes).
In Andy’s podcast titled High Performance Teams, his first point is that leaders need to clearly defining a problem that must be solved. After listening to this podcast several times, I became inspired to do some creative thinking about how this concept can be implemented into the Purpose Driven model of ministry. Andy asks, “What will happen if we don’t solve this problem? If we don’t do this, something important won’t get done.” Let me clarify that this isn’t a change to the Purpose Driven paradigm. These thoughts are merely an new angle in the way I’ve thought about implementing it.
In Andy’s training, he talks about how ministry leaders need to always present needs as problems to be solved. Once a ministry team runs out of problems to solve, it ceases to have a reason to exist (that’s not a direct quote, but the gist of the message). People can get behind solving problems, pouring their hearts into a cause for the sake of reaching a resolution.
I’ve been at a loss for what effect that can have on implementing the Purpose Driven model into the lives of students until yesterday. This isn’t the application Andy is making, but it’s very applicable when we consider how to engage the hearts of students at all levels of the spiritual-maturity spectrum. Below are some concepts that came to mind. The ink is still wet on these ideas. They aren’t tested, but I think they’re worth trying. I’d love to know your thoughts. Have you already been thinking this way? What do you have to add?
Applying this to the Purpose Driven model would take each of the 5 purposes and reveal them as a problem that the potential audience would embrace and work toward solving. Doug Fields talks about creating ministries based on needs of your ministry. However, this is different. I’m writing about helping your potential audience see a need in their own lives and embracing the biblical purposes as the answer to each of those needs.
For instance:
Purpose: REACH |
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| Purpose | Market to the problem | Method of promoting the problem | ||
| Reach – draw in the unchurched community | Bored on a Saturday night? Wonder where everybody’s at? They’re having a blast at game night at 1st Church from 7:00 – 9:00 enjoying free refreshments and lots of fun. Be there and feel free to invite a friend to come with you. | Have students send texts, tweets on Twitter, Facebook | ||
| Unchurched members of the community will respond more to events that address non-spiritual needs. They choose not to go to church for a variety of reasons. If they felt a spiritual need, they would be in church already. Reaching them by meeting needs that they are already wanting to solve will increase the likelihood they’ll participate. | ||||
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Purpose: CONNECT |
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| Purpose | Market to the problem | Method of promoting the problem | ||
| Connect – draw the community into your crowd | Sample Facebook post: Have you lost your parents’ trust? This weekend 1st Church is going to show you how to get it back. You’re not going to want to miss it. It’s at 9:00 AM. Meet me there!
Sample text message: I know you and your parents haven’t been getting along lately. This weekend my youth ministry is talking about how to regain your parents’ trust. You should come with me. |
Have students send texts to friends, tweets on Twitter, or post notes on Facebook and/or MySpace | ||
| Once the community has been exposed to your ministry by meeting their social need, it’s easier to get them back to have their deeper needs met. You’ve already broken the stereotype that church is boring or judgmental. Build on that by showing them a deeper need your church is meeting. | ||||
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Purpose: GROW |
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| Purpose | Market to the problem | Method of promoting the problem | ||
| Grow – help the crowd become part of your congregation where they’ll begin to grow spiritually | Ever feel like there’s more to life, but you just don’t know how to find it? The answer to that emptiness is growing closer to God. We have the tools to help you experience that. | Promote this at your congregation program and through volunteer staff directly to students. | ||
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Purpose: DISCOVER |
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| Purpose | Market to the problem | Method of promoting the problem | ||
| Discover your God-given S.H.A.P.E.* for ministry – help the congregation become committed to getting involved in serving others through ministry | Don’t you hate being bored? You’ve been growing in your relationship with God, but you’re looking for a next step. Maybe you spend several hours a day playing Xbox or chatting on Facebook, but it’s just not fulfilling.
We have several ways you can have do what you like to do while also helping others through the church. Let’s meet one-on-one to talk about how you can get involved. |
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| *S.H.A.P.E. stands for Spiritual gifts, Heart (passion), Abilities, Personality and Experiences | ||||
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Purpose: HONOR |
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| Purpose | Market to the problem | Method of promoting the problem | ||
| Honor God with your life – the natural response to God’s work in our lives is to honor him | God is honored as we fulfill each of the purposes. The objective here is to help students realize how they honor God as they live according to his design. We need to help them understand that singing may be one way to worship God, but worship can be done in every aspect of our lives. | Challenge students to purposely worship God through their actions. In everything they do, they can glorify God by intentionally doing it to please their creator. | ||
Awesome!
Thanks, Dan!
[...] Dennis has a thoughful post today connecting the bibleical purposes for student ministry and it’s target audience. He uses a mash-up of some Andy Stanley and Doug Fields stuff to come up with some great observations. [...]