Focus Group Report NAD Church Resources Consortium Product Awareness and Evaluation by Local Church Leaders in Atlanta

Transcription

1 Focus Group Report NAD Church Resources Consortium Product Awareness and Evaluation by Local Church Leaders in Atlanta November, 2002

2 Introduction Two consumer panels were conducted for the North American Division (NAD) Office of Information, Research and Strategic Planning in the fall of 2002 by the Center for Creative Ministry. The purpose of these consumer panels is to explore the needs in local churches for resource materials as well as evalute the impact of products developed in recent years by the NAD Church Resources Consortium, including its affiliated resource centers, publishing houses, etc. This report describes findings from the consumer panel conducted in Atlanta, Georgia, and including pastors and lay leaders from local churches affiliated with the South Atlantic Conference. All of the participants are African Americans or Black immigrants from the Carribean. A total of 22 individuals participated in a full day of group interview and related activities at a commercial market research facility. An experienced focus group moderator conducted the process. During part of the process a copy of the most recent AdventSource catalog was placed in the hands of each participant for them to look through. During another part of the process an array of products developed by the Church Resources Consortium were displayed on tables and participants were encouraged to select products for careful examination and evaluation. A copy of the Moderator s Guide is included in the appendix. The participants in the Atlanta panel included nine clergy and 13 lay leaders. A total of 15 participants are men and seven are women. One participant is from Generation X (born from 1965 through 1976), eight participants are from the Baby Boom generation (born from 1946 through 1964), and 11 participants are from older generations. The local churches in which the participants function as leaders include seven with 100 or fewer members, eight with 101 to 300 members, six with 301 to 700 members, and one with more than 700 members. Eight of the congregations are located in urban neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta, and seven are located in suburban communities in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The location of the other churches was not identified. It should be kept in mind that this panel is not representative of the actual gender and generational profile of local church leaders as found in a number of surveys. A consumer panel is a form of focus group research, a qualitative research method and not reliable for quantifiable results. The findings of this study need to be tested in a random sample survey in order to quantify the various views. The start the group interview, participants were asked to identify the one or two strongest ministries in their local church. The results of this question are displayed in the graphic on the next page. Page 1

3 The Strongest Ministries in Your Local Church Community Services Youth Ministries Music Inner City Ministries Outreach Children's Ministries Men's Ministries Sabbath School Pathfinder Club Health Ministries 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Strongest Ministries in Local Church by Community Context 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Youth Ministries Community Services Music Outreach Sabbath School Health Ministries Children's Ministries Pathfinder Club Urban Suburban

4 Overview The resources developed by the Church Resources Consortium are being used in local churches. Almost every participant is familiar with at least one product and describes how he or she has used it in church ministries. Most of the participants are familiar with more than one product. Yet, almost all of the participants noted many products that they did not remember ever seeing or hearing about prior to the day of the consumer panel. There is a general consensus that most local church leaders are not aware of the range of resources available and more should be done to get information out to local leaders. The participants want more practical tools: worksheets, easily reproducable masters, visuals, especially presentation aids in PowerPoint software. They want more flexible, generic products that can be used in a variety of ways and fitted into many different kinds of local activities. At the same time, they especially like the Pathfinder Club curriculum because it includes a full support system with a constant flow of new information and products, training and networking events, despite the fact that it is a highly structured program with little local flexibility and major blind spots in the opinion of the participants. The participants are concerned about resource materials that are too idealistic, not practical, and written by individuals who are dreaming or have not worked at the grassroots for a number of years. They want program ideas that can be done by the small church with limited human resources, time and sophistication. It is likely that some of these wishes are unrealistic. There is an urge to find tools that will yield results far beyond the investment being made. At the same time, there is a great deal of interest in resources associated with relatively recent and plausible success stories in other local churches. The group also has deeply felt concerns about the involvement and visibility of ethnic minority writers and producers. Despite the fact that one of the participants told the group she helped to write some of the materials they were examining, most are convinced that NAD Church Resources Consortium product development by-passes the African American churches. They want greater involvement in product development and they seem to want this more than the development of resources that are targeted specifically to American American churches. In fact, one product authored by an African American who is a departmental director in a Regional Conference and specifically addressing needs in the Black community was pointed out as a negative example. There seem to be unresolved feelings about inclusion and separation which clearly indicate that more must be done to understand and constructively deal with the great diversity within the Seventhday Adventist Church in North America. The strongest feelings may be related to what the participants feel must be done to increase awareness and marketing of Church Resources Consortium products. They were very positive about the catalog and became more enthusiastic about most of the products Page 3

5 as they spent time getting better acquainted with a wider range of items. They urged much wider distribution of the catalog, but more than that they want to see a consistent strategy of personal contact by Church Resources Consortium representatives with local church leaders. Nearly unanimously the participants urged that AdventSource continue its displays and book table sales at more and more events, and that a process of testmarketing be instituted so as to develop a network for word-of-mouth promotion and sales. A few participants were concerned about the seeming competition between the direct marketing program of AdventSource and the other resource centers and their local Adventist Book Center. They urge that more be done to increase collaboration and that the ABCs stock more of the Church Resources Consortium products. A quick summary of the most important likes and dislikes of the participants is displayed in the table below. More detail on all of these points is included in the following sections with key qoutes from the transcript of the all-day session. Consumer Panel Views of Resource Materials What they like... What they don t like... Graphics, especially PowerPoint A support system that comes with each prodeuct and provides a constant stream of information and new ideas along with opportunities for networking Field representatives who are good listeners and facilitators of group process The AdventSource catalog Most of the products they examined, once they became more familiar with each product Lack of sufficient communication about the resources available Overly idealistic presentations, not realistic portrayals, not practical for the small church Too few authors on any topic, lack of a range of choices of products Lack of Afrocentric content and African American authors Unresolved role clarity between the Chruch Resources Consortium and the Adventist Book Centers Page 4

6 Are CRC Products are Being Used? There is clear evidence that resource materials developed by the NAD Church Resources Consortium are being used in local churches. At the beginning of the session, the moderator asked the group, What kind of resource materials are you are using in your local church? Several products were mentioned immediately. A pastor said, Responsibilities in the Local Church, our church is using it a lot. Most of the other participants immediately agreed. Several mentioned the need for more materials related to the recruitment and management of volunteers in church ministries. Pathfinder Club materials were quickly mentioned by several participants. Participant A-18 argues that the uniform... is a witnessing tool, and that the supplies related to the uniforms themselves are very important resources for this program. A pastor then mentioned the Revelation Seminar materials. It is a new approach to evangelism and I like it and use it. Another pastor mentioned Childen s Baptism Class and related Children s Ministries materials distributed by AdventSource. I use this, he said. Every Wednesday night we have the head elder... this is his job to handle that class. We [also] have a children s church and we are going to take it to the next level this year. I just wanted to highlight this material. It is highly effective... [I am] very positive about this resource. One resource from a non-adventist publisher was mentioned. A pastor (Participant A-14) said, in the area of family life I ve seen resources from the Church, but I ended up with a product from Minneapolis, Prepare and Enrich. It is not only preparation for marriage, but also marriages in crises and beyond. I don t see that [kind of] resource developed in the Adventist Church at this point. [I like] the feedback mechanism [and] we don t have something like this. He seemed somewhat defensive about stating that he was using a non-adventist product. He indicated that he was aware of the Family Ministries materials published by Adventist sources, but our materials... deal with Biblical issues and, in his opinion, lack sufficient practical assistance. Put a little bit more meat on them. Expand them so that we can actually have the practical tools he finds in Prepare and Enrich. Later, this same participant went out of his way to mention an Adventist resource that he has found valuable in his minstry. The newest thing that I would like to complement you for is the E. G. White writings on CD... I appreciate this! As the group moved into the evaluation of specific products, it became clear that although many of the participants had not previously seen or heard of each item, in most cases there were one or more individuals who recognized the product. In several cases, participants identified themselves as users of particular products. Page 5

7 Resources from Outside the Adventist System A few of the participants mentioned using resource materials from publishers who are not associated with the Adventist Church. A pastor, Participant A-16, specifically asked about the policy of the Church Resources Consortium. Is it the intent, when we develop our resources, to reinvent the wheel every time when we could share resource materials with other churches? There was hesitation among the participants in responding to this question, so the moderator asked, Do we respect more the materials that are from the Adventist Church or do we respect more something that we have seen outside of the Adventist Church? Several participants agreed, It all depends. There is a very pragmatic attitude on the part of pastors and lay leaders, but more decidedly among the pastors in this group. Participant A-8, a pastor, said, I use them regardless of the source if they are good. Participant A-13, also a pastor, said, I have reached out to other resources, but I brought them into the light of Adventism and flavored it. A lay leader, Participant A-3, said, Our materials are too far off. They do not deal with [families] from the real world. There are perfect women and men in the material, but in the real world it is different. You need some substance when you are counseling people about what is really going on. She stressed the importance of the real-world flavor that seems to be lacking in many materials written by Adventists, who are often more interested in holding up ideals than providing practical assistance. I want a handbook... to do my work. I don t want to have to go through all that theological material. This may be an indirect way of saying that local church leaders believe that some issues will not be handled in as practical and objective a way by Adventist writers and publishers as they will by nondenominational or even secular sources. Page 6

8 What People Want in Resources PowerPoint presentations and other materials on CD-ROM were mentioned time and again as a prefered format for resources today. For example, Participant A-3 described the product she is looking for. It should be [a] the leader s manual [with] CDs, PowerPoint. forms and worksheets to download on the computer and use what you need. a lot of examples And a number of participants said, We need more videos on CDs [DVD]. Local church leaders also want a variety of authors and viewpoints. For example, Participant A-14 was critical that in the area [of] Church Growth. Page 91. I see all the books by the same author. There is no variety of approaches. Participants want more than just products. They prefer resources that come with a complete support system. Participant A-6 describes why she likes the Pathfinder Club resources. New materials are always implemented and that is why people are attracted to it. This started in 1970, and each month you hear about something new. You get a newsletter in the mail and all kinds of things like that. There is constant change and new ideas [and] they have a lot of seminars. In February they had seminars downtown where they call all the leaders and somebody in Atlanta might be doing something very good, or in Georgia somebody might do something and when everybody gets together we change ideas and get resources. I like those gatherings. I try to go to all of them. Page 7

9 Evaluation of Specific Products Participants were allowed to select items from an array of products developed by the Church Resources Consortium laid out on tables. One by one these products were discussed individually by the group with the moderator asking for both positive and negative features for each product. The products are listed here in alphabetical order, not in the order they were discussed in the consumer panel. 52 Easy Programs for Kindergarten Positive comments: I used to work with children; very good information on how to start up a Sabbath school for the lower divisions from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. No negative observations could be generated: I could not say that I would add something to this. Children s Ministry Positive comments: This is a good resource... No negative observations and not much said about this product. Why did it generate so little response one way or the other? (One explanation would be that some basic resource books are very likely taken for granted. Participants may think, Of course the Church publishes a book about children s ministries. So what? ) Coming Together Series Positive comments: I would encourage everyone who wants to increase his/her process with the Lord, to look at this series.... helps start small groups who might benefit from this series: elders, pastors, Sabbath School leaders, teachers. encourages intimacy with God so that we can build our spirituality this is ideal for small groups. No negative observations could be elicited. I wouldn t add anything to it. Simple, very easy to read, easy to comprehend, it is for each level and yet there is Spirit. Connections Positive comments: The concept is important, implementing spiritual gifts in the church. It talks more about the persons gifts and how to find them. It is an intensive and extensive program. It takes a lot of study, it requires a lot of testing. I like all of this.... It is needed because there is a lot of frustration in the church because there are people who don t even know what they are doing and then there are people who are doing something but that is not their gift, or passion, In nominating committee we spend a lot of time really getting people where they need to be. It is a tremendous program, it is one that I would like to use and implement in the church where I am. There are a lot of independent sections in the church and the Connections resource shows you how to work that out. I think it is a great program. Negative observations: It is very intense, Page 8

10 and that may be a concern for certain churches because it is an intensive and extensive program.... For some people it might be too much. Extending a Warm and Caring Welcome Positive comments: This book is very good. It starts from the church sign, buildings, grounds, parking, church entrance, greeters, the materials used by greeters, securing guests names: guest books and other devices. Even guest follow up. No negative observations could be had from the group. Family Friendly Church Positive comments: a very practical resource. a very good blend of pictures, and there are some Afro-centric pictures there. you can do a 90 minute clip or one hour clip. If you want to use the whole program, it takes about 6 to 8 hours. They have a survey in the back that deals with how your church ranks as being a family friendly church. And they also have a children s ministries volunteer information sheet that covers sexual abuse and other things. It speaks about volunteers and the need to have the background checks I thought that this idea was very good.... This is a very, very, very good resource. I like the premise that God asks us for accountability and what do you do as a church to support parents in keeping the kids in the church. the Valuegenesis report shows what age children leave the church. Now we are trying to do something as a church. Negative observations: What I would change in this book is the presentation slides code them by color. Famiy Ministries Planbooks The group examined four titles from this annual series that now includes 12 titles all together. Positive comments: ready to use materials, to conduct seminars good basic information for those who are getting into this area a tool to use in a number of areas. [Likes the concept that] the home is an largely untapped source, speaking about evangelism. Christian homes can make converts more than all the preachers put together. An enormous source of family evangelism surrounds each church.... Every once in a while they give you a chart in which you can see percentages and how things have worked. every page has a title, so it is easy just to go into that thing and get what you want. That is what I like about it. Negative observations and suggestions: The problem with this material is that it is prescriptive. it should deal more about hurting families, the families under stress. It is too much of the good husband, good wife.... I think it is too condensed. It needs to be a little more detailed.... my concern is that some of the ideas that they have do not address Black families. My desire would be that this book contained more information concerning Black families. They do not give you activities to do. It is just reading, interesting, but just that. So I never used it. I don t have time for those readings. It is not an activity book.... For Black families... many things do not happen in reality. There is a little section here that talks about a design for sexuality. I Page 9

11 am a social worker and I know, in reality, it doesn t happen that way. When people come because they have marital, sexual problems, you cannot pick up the Bible and give it to them. They know that already. They are coming in for specific things that they should do. We don t go to the depth of the problem. We just skim the surface. Learning Styles Positive comments: Participant A-16 said, I have always beem interested how people learn in church. I want to know how adults learn, and this book provides a lot of practical information that is easy to pick up and follow. Great practical information in terms of small groups and that sort of things, useful for Sabbath school teachers a very good resource.... You have to listen to people, and listening to people, you can determine how they process information. Negative observations, I thought it was supposed to go a little bit more on the intellectual side. By looking at the title of the book, I thought I would see more on how adults learn, how the information can be assimilated into the various learning styles. Ministries of Compassion Positive comments: There is a lot of information. I am familiar with it. I have used it many times.... What I like about this is a little bit different from what [Participant A- 3] is saying. The way they present it in the form of a ministry provides you with [motivation]. A program most of the times you look at the forms and say we cannot afford to do this, but if it is mission-driven, and if you set a goal, design programs that help you reach your goal,... then financially there is no problem. if people see how important is a ministry. Negative observations: if I were to look at something negative about it, it would be the amount of information in any given area, that it does not provide enough how-to. I mean, it tells you how to do this and how to do that, but... for a person in an average church to pick up the book and say, I want to get started on this ministry. They will read the chapter and then close the book and say, Here is more than I can do. it does not show a little church how to have ministries Participant A-3 responded, Well, I know a lot about this book, because I have a piece in there. The best [format] would be a series [of] a practical guide for each ministry. there is too much information in one piece for people to have something to guide them when you have not done anything at all. But otherwise it is a really good piece. Ministries of Health and Healing Positive comments: a tool for the leaders on how to start a health program in a church. it has a systematic way to start a program. provides you with a program that offers guidelines, keeps you aware... It gives you a whole list of resources.... It breaks things down into boxes They have an 800 number for you to call and they will tell you where to find material. It is excellent, it also has the document pieces and everything is in there. Negative observations: Our ministry of health is geared towards one subject, Page 10

12 vegetarianism. That is basically what this material is saying. Actually to help a person stay healthy you must go to other things, not only about vegetarianism. Pathfinder Club Materials Pathfinders do wonderful things, but there are some things that I would like to see regarding the material that they are putting out. One would be a fund raising piece. There are more things that Pathfinders can do to sustain their program. Then there is the parent component: How to recruit parents and get them involved in the children s activities. I would also like to see discipline, the behavior piece, in there. Then the outreach piece. There should be some kind of community service requirement built into the curriculum. The child should have so many hours [requirement] to encourage them. Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts have to do so many hours of community service as part of their curriculum.... I would add something [to Pathfinders]. When the children reach age 15 they are no longer Pathfinders and at 16 the only thing you have is Master Guide. Some of the youngsters do choose to go to Master Guide, but very few and that is a mistake! this is the time when we really lose them because there is not anything for them to do. There is a big gap between the ages of, I would say, 16 to 20. Practical Guide to Personal Ministries Positive comments: an excellent book for persons who want to lead Personal Ministries. It tells you how to do a lot of things, different types of ministries. This book is a really good book because if you haven t ever been a Personal Ministries Leader before, you can take this book, it has boxes and agendas, different things that you can do. No negative observations from the group. Responsibilities in the Local Church Positive comments: Excellent book in a nice format. our church is using it a lot... it is a good book.... this book should sit in every church. Most participants agree that this is an essential tool for each congregation. Negative observations and suggestions: This manual is too functional too little emphasis on the conceptual framework of the leadership too task oriented, while 90% of leadership is relationships.... I think we should have something on how to get volunteers involved in the church.... It does not list all the church offices... as they are listed in the Church Manual and this is a weakness of this book.... Another thing is that it costs too much. I think it should be given free to churches. Revelation Seminar Materials Positive comments: It is a new approach to evangelism and I like it and use it. Negative observations and suggestions: I wish it were made more relevant for today, to bring current events into it like 9/11, and with materials in PowerPoint If you do it as they Page 11

13 say, four night out of a week, this will last six weeks you lose the people It would be good to be shortened. Design could be enhanced. Seven Principles for Youth Ministry Positive comments were few: At the back of this book there is a directory, actually there is a lot of information... But, no participant had any negative comments either. One woman said, I ve seen it before at Pathfinder meetings when AdventSource had their display. Does not seem to spark much excitement. Strengthening Your Church through Women s Ministries Positive comments: gives ideas on how to do things... I find that it is not very complicated. It is very easy reading and very easy ideas that we can use. I find that it is very helpful I work in the Women s ministry and I think that it is a good resource. Could not get any participant to make negative observations or suggestions. The ABZs of Youth Ministry Positive comments: Any person working in this area should have this book as a resource because it is very good. When Participant A-15 stated, This book deals with youth evangelism, that brought a positive response from some who have never looked at the product. Participant A-7 explained, Youth are the greatest resources in evangelism they are great motivators and wonderful channels for evangelism. This is an important topic to participants and no negative observations could be generated. The Personal Giving Plan Positive comments: an excellent kit to share with new members and older members. I am excited about the color and the illustrations. Every church needs it. Negative observations and suggestions: This is [something] we should give to the local church, not sell! Page 12

14 What New Products are Needed? A number of times throughout the day, participants report that they don t see some particular kind of product in the resource catalog on the display table, when in fact it is there. Often another participant pointed out the item they were looking for. This happened, for example, with the Spiritual Gifts Inventory. Bottom line, very little was suggested that is, in fact, not currently available. A pastor said, I don t see it here, maybe I am blind, but there was a resource on Spiritual Gifts. It is called Spiritual Gifts Inventory. And then Participant A-4 spoke up, On page 99 there is the book, Practical Spiritual Gifts, indicating that this was the item the pastor was looking for. Participant A-10 pointed out that there is nothing about Religious Liberty in the AdventSource catalog. This is true simply because the NAD Religious Liberty Department does not participated in the Church Resources Consortium. Participant A-15 said, For community services, we used to order signs or signage from AdventSource, but they discontinued that. And there is no sign for the churches. Perhaps the Adventist Community Services signs are simply not included in the catalog because of the specilized nature of the products, but on page 5 of the catalog there are several products and information about church signs. Participant A-8 said, I cannot find here material on different official stands of the Adventist Church on certain things. I am not talking about the 27 beliefs of the Adventist Church. As leaders in the church, we need to know the official position of the church on certain issues. On page 6 of the catalog is listed just such a product. Participant A-14, a pastor, said he did not a resource for marriage preparation developed in the Adventist Church at this point, or at least one with instruments designed to provide the couple with a feedback mechanism. In fact, on page 22 is listed Preparing for Marriage and it is described as a 228-page volume with testing instruments... and suggested homework assignments for the couple. One of the problems noted by the participants is that the impression may be given that a particular product does not exist simply because the departmental system gets in the way of access to it. When a participant said that he would like to see something available to encourage congregations to show appreciation to their pastor, Participant A-16 responded, There is something that comes from the NAD Ministerial Association for Pastors Appreciation Day. All the conference ministerial directors get this material, but the material does not get into the local church. This is the problem. It is sitting there at the conference office. Page 13

15 The Unique Needs of Black Churches The moderator did not ask participants to specifically speak about the unique needs of Black churches and African American communities, but the topic came up. There is a strong consensus among participants that Blacks are largely left out of the process of creating resource materials. This was not shaken even when one of the participants stated that she has helped write some of the materials that were being examined and when titles were found in the catalog that are by Black writers and address the needs of the Black community. Participant A-15, looking over the array of materials on display and in the catalog, said they have large amounts of materials in every area of the ministry, however I don t know, some of the stuff, I am not sure if it is useful in our [Black] churches. He explained his concern, Most of our materials that we come across do not yield to the different complexities found in the ethnic community. Participant A-12, another pastor, pointed out the array of materials on page 102 of the catalog about worship and said, There could be more information about Afro-centric styles of worship. Later, Participant A-15 noted the book entitled Doors of Hope for Wounded Black Families and page 20 of the catalog. My question is, Are only Black families wounded? I appreciate the book they have here, but I am wondering if we are the only ones that have wounds in the Adventist church. He explained his reaction by describing his experience with another publication. Back in 1980s there was a book, Your Adventist Neighbors. It had a statement that Blacks are incorporated into the mainstream of the Adventist Church. A man, a white banker was very interested in the Adventist church and he read this statement and said, I thought you were an Adventist. I said, Of course, I am an Adventist. He said: No, you are not because you are not in the mainstream of the Adventist Church. And technically, wherever you go, there is the Adventist church and there is the Regional work. If the president of the General Conference wants to visit Columbus, Georgia, and they call and make arrangements for him to visit they will not be calling my church. They will automatically call [the white church]. Why is Regional isolated from the work? When I see page 20, I once again see the isolation there because the needs of the wounded white families are automatically covered in the rest of our periodicals. In fact, some participants questioned the very nature of the focus group. Participant A-7 asked, Is there a reason why there are only Blacks present here when it said that it is a NAD project? Participant A-14 asked, So is this study geared to try to look at the thinking of the African American churches? What they think about the resources of the church? The moderator stated that all of the participants had come from churches affiliated with a particular conference and the participants accepted this. Page 14

16 One participant stated, They develop materials [and] only after the materials are ready, they ask us what we think about them. Several other participants responded, Yes, yes. The participant who spoke first continued, My question is: Whoever is doing the development, why aren t Blacks brought in on the development stage? I appreciate this conversation, but I would like to sit in the beginning stages. I would like the pastors to be asked, How does this help your congregation? In this way we can know that our needs are met. Participant A-3 challenged him. I do understand how this system works. I don t think that this is so much a White and Black issue. I myself was involved in the creation of the materials [on] page 8. But, she too does not feel that the current process of developing resource materials really allows everyone who wishes to participate to do so. Somehow they should be open and let people who want to contribute and who have the expertise. I know that there are not a lot of Black writers. But they are closed. Despite the fact that she has been involved in writing materials for the Church Resources Consortium, Participant A-3 has the impression that NAD departmental staff do much of the actual writing of resource materials. They have... people the Church has endorsed and they are the ones who create. So if there is a Black writer, it is very hard for him to get in. Participant A-17 responded to this description by stating, They need to initiate and call individuals from Black churches and trust the expertise of those individuals... This is one of the reasons a lot of materials do not sink in because they were not really written for some groups. We are not being considered and this has to end. It has to end not in 2003 but now. Participant A-7 pled, Give us a chance and we can do as much as and as well as anybody else. One specific concern has to do with the pictures in materials designed for use among non-members. Participant A-16, a pastor, speaking of evangelistic materials, said, One of the problems... we have especially when we speak about the minority church, is that there are too few pictures. He feels strongly that this need has long been ignored. Seminars Unlimited knows this but they don t seem to take care of that. I don t know what it takes to get that across Participant A-15, a retired pastor, gave another example. Amazing Facts [Bible lessons] [in] the 14 lessons only three or four people are from multi-ethnic backgrounds. Participant A-14 said, There is some new resource that is coming and making a difference now. We have a Brother James who has come aboard at the Conference office. He is dealing with the visual, with PowerPoint... What he has been able to do, there are many positive resources that are available now that allow Afrocentric pictures to be brought into presentations. There are strides that are being made in that direction... but from higher up you need to... have a balanced approach. Page 15

17 Awareness and Marketing Issues Participant A-16, leafing through the catalog and looking over the display table, said, I don t know if the people know that we have so many resources! This is a common response that Church Resources Consortium personnel often tell about. How come we don t know about these things? What is the impact of the Church Resources Consortium awareness and marketing strategy? Several times the moderator asked questions related to this topic, including follow-up questions when there was discussion of whether specific products were widely enough known among local church leaders. About half the group has seen advertising for AdventSource in the union paper. In any other paper? the moderator asked. Several people answered, No. No one spoke up otherwise. It is surprising that with nine pastors in the room, none of them remembered the ads for AdventSource in Ministry. What about the resource catalogs which have been direct mailed to local churches by the Church Resources Consortium for more than a decade? The moderator asked for a show of hands, How many of you have seen this catalog before today? All the participants had the most recent edition in front of them. The majority of the group, maybe two-thirds of the group, reported they have seen the catalog. All of the participants like the catalog! Participant A-8 said, I think that this catalog should be in every church. I think that the average leader in the church has not seen this catalog. Almost all of the others chimed in, Yes, yes. Participant A-3 said, I think that the pastor should give this to every new church leader together with the job description. A pastor enthused, If you send me a box of these catalogs, in no time they will be gone. I think that it should be available in every church and everybody should know it is there. There are problems with direct mail in the opinion of a number of the participants. Participant A-8, a pastor, said, This organization should have the address of every Adventist minister and mail out the catalogs regularly. Someone suggested that it should be sent to the church address, not the pastors home addresses. But, Participant A-16, objected, most of our churches do not have attending secretaries to deal with the mail. Most of the mail will get lost. Most mail does not get opened if it goes to the church. The group got into a debate about how widely the catalog should be distributed. One proposed that every person when he is baptized... should receive this catalog, while others agreed with Participant A-10. I think that only the leaders should receive it. Participant A-7 pointed out that lay people can look through this catalog and... get ideas Page 16

18 of doing something active in church. So, I would not confine it only to the leaders of the church. Participant A-15 continued with this idea, expressing the view that open access to resource materials can be empowering. If the people know what is available to them, they will take hold of more of the materials and get involved more in ministry. In the past, good information was held back from our members and only certain people got hold of certain materials.... Now things have changed. There is an open door. You can grow, develop, become efficient in your ministry. A participant suggested, as a compromise, that the catalog should be available in the church library. The moderator said to the group, Let me ask a quick question: How many of you have a library in your church? With a quick count of hands, the response was 4 out of 22. Participant A-13 suggested distributing the catalog though the NAD Edition of the Adventist Review. Why would they not... just send it out [as an insert]? There were few specific suggestions regarding the catalog itself. A pastor remembered that some years ago [the catalog] was segmented into different areas. He did not like that because, from area to area, I did not know what is available. Now everything is together here. I like that! Participant A-3 suggested that the listings in the catalog should let people know what [reading] levels the material is going to be. Later in the day, the moderator said, I ve noticed is that there are a number of these resources that [participants] are not acquainted with. What would be ways to acquaint people with them? How do we get these resources to the local church leaders and pastors? This led to brainstorming about ways to increase awareness of the Church Resources Consortium products among local church leaders. Face-to-face marketing and building networks of relationships as a marketing process were the suggestions that the largest number of participants felt the most intensely about. Participant A-16, a pastor, proposed a test-marketing process. Selected individuals should be given materials [to] test... to really get familiar with the materials. Something like trade shows should be organized, and... give away samples because the greatest way of advertising is word of mouth. Participant A-14, also a pastor, picked up on the trade show idea and emphasized that it should be localized, not NAD or union meetings. You could have departmental councils, leadership conventions, training for lay leaders, where the churches come together to have one big event with training from all the departments. Have AdventSource present and provide a contact point with a display of materials. Page 17

19 Other participants felt that it would be better to distribute information about resources through the existing meetings held within the denominational system rather than call meetings specifically to display resource materials. Participant A-16, a pastor, said, every time we have a workers meeting, we promote the same things. But very seldom do we promote things that in my opinion really help ministries like the things we ve seen today. This could be something added to workers meetings, pastors meetings throughout NAD. We would be glad to hear about some resources that would help me in the churches. We don t want to hear about the other stuff that we are hearing. Another pastor, Participant A-12, suggested that the Church Resources Consortium make these materials available to different department heads when there are different gatherings organized by the local conferences. A third pastor, Participant A-13, objected to this idea and expressed the feelings that it is not working. This week our departmental man has been down at Daytona, and every year this happens. the material is left in the basement. Or, another participant suggested, it never makes it home on the plane. A lay leader, Participant A-3, suggested, I would like to see kits of different kinds of materials, and you could be able to pay a deposit and use it like a month or so and [if you] keep it you pay for it and send the rest back. Others agreed with this suggestion, but the pastors felt strongly that meetings focused on resource materials are necessary to get the word out. Participant A-14 said, with more exposure, I see the benefit today more than I ve seen it before. Minds have been opened because we have seen these materials. Just as you divided us in groups to be resource persons, to read, research and give information back, this is how they should do. At least this gives the opportunity for a greater exposure to what has been brought instead of one person going to all these meeting and presenting. I like to put my hands on [things] That is what is going to make a difference. Another pastor, Participant A-16, agreed strongly. What you are doing here today is really making a difference. In every local church we get hundreds and hundreds of brochures, and this is what happens. [Body language for throwing it away.] The only reason this will stand out from this point on is that you ve done what you ve done. You don t need to change anything, it is just the awareness of knowing that these resources exist. Participants also felt that it was very important to have spokesperson for resource materials who have actually used the resource in a local ministry. One man said, if you begin to identify people who are familiar with a resource, you can use them to present it. I need someone who knows the resource. This kind of information is not going to come out from the office. It is from among us. Another man agreed, when you couple information with practicality it becomes powerful. The biggest problem we have in the NAD is individuals that have been in office, away from ministry for 15 to 20 years, writing programs that are not realistic. Go back to grassroots. You have to go to Page 18

20 people who are doing it, and ask them, Is this successful? This is what is powerful about today. Because you asked those questions If you ask that to somebody who has been in an office for years, and has not had the opportunity to touch base with people on a daily basis, you ve got a skewed vision of what it is. Marketing to the Black churches means involving African American spokespersons, several participants stressed. Participant A-16, a pastor, said, Speaking about the Black churches... involve Black people in the process. If we are involved in the creation [of resources], automatically exposure comes. Then we become carriers of information because we are deeply involved there and there is our best interest there. Is pricing an issue? When the catalogs were first spread out and the participants started to page through them, several people reacted immediately, The materials are expensive. But, this issue never came up again. No matter how many times the moderator returned to questions about how to increase awareness and distribution of the products, no one suggested lower prices or subsidies. This is an indication that cost is considered a barrier only so long as people are not fully aware of the value of the materials produced by the Church Resources Consortium. Once a person begins to get some sense of the value of the products, pricing disappears as a concern. Page 19

21 The ABC vs. AdventSource Three or four of the participants brought up the question, What is the role of AdventSource relative to the Adventist Book Centers? Participant A-14, a pastor, said, I have seen [the catalog] on my desk, [and] I looked in the catalog for materials, but I got them from ABC. I never ordered directly from AdventSource. Another pastor, Participant A-19, said, I think this [catalog] gives the impression of competition, of separation that I would not like to see. He posed the question, Is there duplication that is unnecessary? A lay leader, Participant A-3, spoke up and said, I think you have to have both. But later, she conceeded, The ABC should [sell the] materials from AdventSource. The ABC is the place to handle the material. Another lay leader, Participant A-4, felt that the ABC was not the best organization to distribute resource materials. I ve been to some workshops for Pathfinders and AdventSource is always there. Another pastor, Participant A-15, did not see the situation as competition or duplication and insisted, The ABC and AdventSource could work as a team. Participant A-3 agreed and suggested maybe they should mention [in the catalog] that there are stores where you can buy these materials... A number of participants agreed that the catalog should have a page listing resource centers, publishing houses, web sites where leadership resources can be obtained to provide networking as well as just the addresses of the ABCs. Page 20

22 Appendix A Demographic Description of Participants Participant A-1: A Baby Boomer woman, Caribbean immigrant, employed as an administrative assistant, who has served as an Elder and worked in Children s Ministries in her local church, a suburban congregation of 300 to 350 members. She has given Bible studies to non-members, but has not led a small group in the last year. She has not conducted any seminar in the last five years. Participant A-2: A 62-year-old woman, African American, employed as a care giver, who has served as a Deaconess, Church Clerk and Sabbath School teacher in her local church, a suburban congregation of about 20 members. She has not given Bible studies to non-members, nor led a small group in the last year. She has not conducted any seminar in the last five years. Participant A-3: A Baby Boomer woman, African American, self-employed as a writer and training consultant, who has served as a member of the outreach committee in her local church, an inner city congregation of about 30 members. She has led a small group, but not given Bible studies to non-members in the last year. She has conducted seminars in the last five years. Participant A-4: A 62-year-old woman, Caribbean immigrant, employed as a real estate appraiser, who has served as Church Clerk and worked in teen ministries and the Pathfinder Club in her local church, an urban congregation of about 250 members. She has led a small group, but not given Bible studies to non-members in the last year. She has conducted a seminar in the last five years. Participant A-5: A 77-year-old woman, Caribbean immigrant, retired R.N., who has served as Church Clerk and worked in Women s Ministries in her local church, an urban congregation of about 250 members. She has led a small group, but not given Bible studies to non-members in the last year. She has conducted a seminar in the last five years. Participant A-6: A woman who did not identify her age, Caribbean immigrant, employed as a social worker, who has served as an Elder and Sabbath School Superintendent in her local church, a suburban congregation of over 200 members. She has led a small group, but not given Bible studies to non-members in the last year. She has conducted a seminar in the last five years. Participant A-7: A 72-year-old woman, African American, retired school teacher, who has served as leader of Women s Ministries in her local church, an urban congregation of about 350 to 400 members. She has led a small group, but not given Bible studies to nonmembers in the last year. She has conducted a seminar in the last five years. Page 21