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Matthew 18:19-20

“Again, I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Jesus makes it clear that there is power when people gather together for prayer. It is a Biblical principle that has been understood and practiced for centuries.

Yet the power of groups is not limited solely to prayer. The American Psychological Association recently discovered that “groups of three, four, or five perform better on complex problem solving than the best of an equivalent number of individuals.” Think about that. A group of less skilled problem solvers performs better than the best problem solvers working by themselves.

Why? As 1 Corinthians 12 explains, we are all given different kinds of gifts, and we each a specific function within the body of the church. A body works successfully through the collective input of the various parts of the body. No one body part can make a body successful. Not even the greatest nose in the world can make a body successful if the other parts are paralyzed.

The same is true for your ministry. You are more effective if you work together. Don’t just pray together, but work together so that your ministry may benefit from the diverse giftings of your group. I like what Frans Johansson stresses in his book The Medici Effect - breakthrough insights are found at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures.

Working together will not only increase your learning and problem-solving, but it will build a highly valuable synergy for your ministry.

Special thanks to Emergence Marketing for highlighting AMA’s article.

An important key to lasting success is understanding the next generation. It is true for the church, and it is true for every company and organization.

So how well do you understand the next generation? They are known as the Millennials as well as a handful of other names such as Generation Y. Today, Three Minds highlighted a collection of interesting notes collected by Luke Wroblewski about Generation Y.

• “Thanks to their over involved boomer parents, (they) have been coddled and pumped up to believe they can achieve anything.” - Fast Company (January 2006)
• “These people want feedback daily, not annually.” - Fast Company (January 2006)
• “The last thing they do is read the manual. Instead, they pick up the controller and start mashing buttons to see what happens. This isn’t a random process; it’s the essence of the scientific method and it’s a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents. The fact that they are learning in a totally new way - means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption.” - Wired Magazine (April 2006)

Of course, youth pastors must be familar with Millennials out of necessity, but it would be wise for church administration and executive leadership to also develop an understanding of this new generation. This understanding is important not only in providing insight into how to relevantly reach them but also preparing the church for changes they may need to make in order to survive.

Each generation interacts with the church in a unique way. The Mayo Clinic published an interesting article this past July about understanding intergenerational differences in the workplace. Although written from a workplace perspective, there are principles that may be applied to your ministry.

Further reading on Generation Y includes:
Six Seismic Shifts in Global Teen Culture - Chief Marketer (February 2006)
Generation Y: They’ve arrived at work with a new attitude - USA Today (November 2005)

The New York Times ran an article today about Teen Mania Ministries hiring Tocquigny as their new ad agency. Since they took the account in February, they have redesigned Teen Mania’s website and been planning major outreach events. Previous clients aided by Tocquigny include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Wal-Mart, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. It will be exciting to see the results from Teen Mania’s new partnership.

A growing number of ministries are beginning to realize the benefits of a marketing agency. Ideally, the best situation is having a phenomenal in-house marketing team. However, those lacking their own marketing team can still find success whether using a secular firm like Tocquigny or a ministry-minded firm like Church Relevance’s own Bombay Creative.

Special thanks to As Pulp for highlighting NY Times’ article.

Florida Baptist Witness published an interesting article last week about the importance of both cultural relevance and sound theology. Nuggets from the article:

• “We have got to be known as the convention that believes in biblical fidelity and engaging people in the culture.”
• “We must contend for the faith and at the same time contextualize for the culture.”
• “The church is not the center of God’s plan but central to God’s plan.”
• “We have to recognize that there are cultural barriers, in addition to spiritual ones, that blind people from understanding the Gospel. Our task is to find the right way to break through those cultural barriers while addressing the spiritual and theological ones as well.”

Special thanks to Monday Morning Insight for highlighting the article.

The Navigators have posted a thought provoking article by Carrie Wagner about Islam and the community.

She notes the irony that since 9/11, the number of Muslim converts in the United States have increased tremendously. Many have become interested in understanding the Muslim mindset and have sought out such understanding. Carrie considers that the influx in Muslim converts may be because of an attraction to what is considered stage four of Muslim thought. Stage four focuses on the “development of ‘the people’ (Umma); that is, the community of Allah, to include new converts into Islam.” Carrie believes that people are seeking a community that functions like a family. Our country has diluted the family structure, and Islam seems to be filling a need.

Carrie also notes that the early Christian church was also found appealing because of its family-like community, and she considers it time for the modern church to turn its attention back to community.

It is certainly a great point. Perhaps the church needs to focus beyond small groups and Sunday school and purpose more to create a family-like community.

High in the mountains of northern Thailand lies the Maeap Children’s Home. Founded by Patti Culpepper, Maeap Children’s Home offers at risk children refuge from child prostitution. Their mission is “to heal, restore, train and disciple each child, enabling them to fulfill God’s plan for their lives.”

It was an honor for Bombay Creative to aid Patti and the Maeap Children’s Home by developing their website which was launched last week. To find out more about the Maeap Children’s Home or how you can support them, visit www.patticulpepper.com.

Time Warner Inc. has found immense success with Cartoon Network. Of course, a channel offering 24 hour cartoons is a hit with kids, but their most noteworthy success is Adult Swim. It is geared to appeal to 18 to 24 year old men, but its popularity has grown far past its target demographic.

According to the New York Post, twice as many teens are tuning into Adult Swim than are watching MTV.

If you are a minister to high school or college students, you should be aware of major influences in their lives. This does not mean you need to watch Adult Swim, but you should know about it and how it will likely continue to shape youth culture.

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding posted an article highlighting the influence and popularity of Adult Swim. Key points from the article include:

• “Adult Swim regularly beats out the late night talk shows (Letterman, Leno, Conan, etc.) among its core demographic, 18-24 year old guys.”
• “According to information from Nielsen Media Research, during one recent week, six of the top 25 programs for 12- to 17-year-olds were from ‘Adult Swim,’ including two in the top 10.”

CPYU also explains the factors attributing to Adult Swim’s success, as well as, a brief summary of its most popular programming. It is a definite read for youth ministers.

What advertising medium best grabs people’s attention? 

50% of US adults say television advertising
22% say Internet advertising
12% say magazine advertising
10% say newspaper advertising
6% say radio advertising

The survey was conducted by Burst Media, an online advertising network.

There are plenty of churches using newspapers and radio to advertise. Some even use television, but what about the Internet. According to Burst Media’s survey it is the second most effective medium to get people’s attention. Are you using it?

Internet advertising is still relatively cheap and may reap a huge response if chosen wisely. Consider what websites are a hub for the people in your community. If you have a college student ministry, you could take advantage of Facebook’s local advertising where you could reach 2,500 students of a specific college for only $5. There are plenty of forums and local websites that could be a great investment for your church advertising.

Before you buy online advertising, consider these three things:
1. How many different visitors will visit the website per month?
2. What is the average number of visits per person per month?
3. Are the visitors the target audience you want to reach?

Special thanks to The eStrategy One Buzz for highlighting Burst Media’s survey.