The Starters Guide

to Sharing Your Story Better than Ever.

It Starts With The Story

You are sharing the greatest story of all time. When I say story I'm not implying that it's a ctitious story. I simply mean that storytelling was and is at the core of every culture, and the greatest story is that of Jesus -- a man who lived a perfect life and then gave it up for His enemies so that they could share in the riches that he had the rights to. He offered me His destiny in exchange for mine. The most lopsided, unfair, unreasonable trade in the history of mankind. Now I have an opportunity. The opportunity to respond to this offer. I'm not obligated to accept it, but I am required to make a choice. Yes or No.

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And that's why we do church. Simple. That's why we give up lives of pursuing personal gain and notoriety. That's why we choose the narrow road. We recognize the gravity of Christ's commission and are compelled to give up our lives for His cause. Jesus Christ + His Church = Best Story Ever. Simple. If you're anything like me, there is pretty much no other option for you. Sure, I could pursue secular work or other passions for awhile, but I couldn't sustain it. I am wired to serve God and His church.

So the question I have is, if we as the Christian Church have dibs on the greatest story of all time, why do we do such a poor job of sharing this story with the world? Why is it that the inuencers in my community aren't the churches? Why are the inuencers and pillars of my community the companies selling coffee, computers and cola. Why is that? Master storytelling. This e-book is a starter's guide to begin sharing your church's story better than ever before. In this

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little manifesto you'll nd introductory steps that you can implement immediately to start sharing the message of Christ and His church in ways that will resonate with your community and your culture. It starts with a story (and we have the best one) but thats not all. Its vitally important for us to understand what it takes to present that story in ways that will genuinely connect with people and in ways that will change our communities forever.

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Perception Is What Matters

What do people think of when they think of your church? Much time and money is spent on leadership development, message preparation and doctrinal certainty in our churches. These things are important because they help us understand who we are, and that in turn helps us make informed decisions because we cant share our story well if we dont even know it ourselves. Identity is essential in our churches. We need to understand our story, know it well and live it out. What are our values, emphases, strengths and weaknesses? Many churches have done a great job of guring this out and building a culture around them. However, perception is the language spoken by our culture today. In fact, the initial connections people make with your church will be based primarily on their perception, not on your content.

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This denitely presents church workers like us with some challenges. Essentially, sharing your story better than ever comes down this truth: its not about what YOU say, its about what THEY think. You want to reach your community. You want to be a city on a hill. You want to see people come into relationship with Jesus. Brilliant. But if people think your church is just another group of judgmental bigots, it doesnt matter if you are or not. Why are billions of dollars spent on advertising? Why does every Starbucks look exactly the same?

Companies are extremely intentional about crafting a story and controlling its perception. They frame their story so that you perceive it exactly the way they intend you to perceive it. What do people think of when they think of your church? We have the best story ever but we pay no attention to how people perceive it! We need to start sharing our story better. So what do we do? Well here are the actionable steps and introductory concepts we talked about earlier:

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Sharing Your Story Better Than Ever.
(What kind of Starters Guide would this be if we didnt offer some real solutions?)

Step One: Identify your churchs specific audience and your specific values/emphases. This is a problem many churches have. They want to reach their community. They want to be a city on a hill. They want to see people come into relationship with Jesus. Brilliant. But all churches want to do that. What makes yours different? This isnt about church competition. Its about understanding that your church has the personality and skills to perfectly relate to a specic audience. You want to be a church for everyone? Always? False.

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In reality, if you look at the churches across your city carefully youll begin to recognize that different groups of people go to different churches, its inevitable. However, if you let this simply be an inevitability, your efforts wont be targeted, your vision wont be sharp and you wont be sharing your story. Your story will get written for you. Identify your strengths. Identify your audience. Fulll your role.

Step Two: Create a style guide.

So you know who you are and your efforts are targeted. Awesome. The next step is to express that visually. Why do all Starbucks look the same? They want you to experience their story in the same way no matter which location you visit. Now, most likely you wont have 16,000 campuses spread across 50 countries, but creating a style guide should be an initial step in representing and communicating your churchs personality. The longer and more extensively your style guide and branding are used, the

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more they becomes synonymous with your church and the more you build culture and instill the values and emphases you determined in step one. Creating a style doesnt have to be difficult either. Start with developing a colour palette, select a few fonts and youre well on your way. The key to an effective style guide for your church isnt having the best graphics and trendiest style but simply using what you have consistently. This is a topic that will be thoroughly explored and explained at Pro Church Tools, so if youre interested in this, youre in the right place. Also, if you want to get started with a style guide immediately, we can hook you up with video announcements from Pro Church Tools and help you develop a style guide from there.

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Step Three: Dive into media.

Our culture lives under global media domination. Social media, movies, television, advertising and music are controlling our culture. Navigating and responding to this media-driven atmosphere is key to interacting with our communities and central to sharing our story better than ever. Video. Social Media. Photography. Design. Production. Music. These are all streams of media that your church can dive in to. Dont do them all. Choose a couple that interest you and go for it. Fortunately, the way that technology has developed over the last decade has made these streams of media very accessible and affordable for the average consumer.

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Want to start integrating video or photography into your church? Great! The market is incredibly competitive right now and it wont take too great of a nancial commitment to start producing high quality video or images. Using steps one and two as launchpads, you can use media to not only communicate excellence and passion, but to do so in a way that your community and culture are conditioned to interact with. Media is one of our biggest passions at Pro Church Tools. Video. Design. Social Media. Navigating the waters may be intimidating but thats what were here for. Look for our updates in your inbox and youll be comfortable in no time. Got a question? Suggestion? Problem? Give us a shout!

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It Ends With The Story

British journalist Simon Jenkins wrote these wise words that I want to share with you: In the end, it is the church members that make the brand [story] work. Do they live up to what their church promises? The brand has got to deliver. The brand is let down if the Sunday service is irrelevant, or you feel unwelcome. If you fail to deliver, then people get hurt and put off. The brand is more than a logo. It points to a service or product, and the people inside the church have to deliver it." It starts with the story -- and we have the best one. Then comes the perception -- sharing the story purposely and effectively. Finally, it comes full circle and ends with the story. Why do you sign up for a certain cable or phone service? Because the company uses cute animals in its advertising and makes big claims? If

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Men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. - I Chronicles 12.32

all they provide is a year of poor service and reliability youll still switch to another provider. Things are no different in the Church. We dont use media to create pretty shells that have nothing to offer on the inside. The Church has the best product around, offering real hope, real help and real community. Our goal at Pro Church Tools is to enable you and your church to share the eternal story so that people who need it will be compelled by it. Im convinced that people arent ashamed of Jesus but they are often ashamed of their churches.

Lets continue to build healthy churches and share our stories in compelling and inspirational ways. And as we do this our communities will embrace these stories and become engaged in what truly is the greatest story of all time.

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