Our Discern process is alive and well! Here is the first of many updates to come:
Turning Great Ideas into Realities for the Next Generations (Update on Goal 3 of 5) – “Develop a relevant communication infrastructure that targets Next Generations so that we may connect and actively network with our internal group of students and young adults and keep an open door for those outside our church.”
Our Student and Young Adult ministries were already using group-specific E-newsletters to provide basic one-way communication on a weekly basis. To take it a step further, at the beginning of 2015, parents, students and young adults began benefitting from new communication channels. Announcements are being regularly updated and managed on Facebook and Twitter. Elevate members can review photos of fun youth group activities weekly on Instagram. The Discern Initiative team also encouraged them to set up a text tool so members can sign up for free text alerts/reminders about special deadlines or activities. Lastly, there is a new Student Ministry-centered website (www.elevate4.us) linked from the main church site providing an easy place for new and current members to check out the ministry.
Church staff and volunteers put forth an amazing effort to establish these channels of communication. They continue to improve the process of updating posts and pages to keep the material meaningful, inspirational and informative.