MULTI-CHURCH COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE IN AUSTIN, TX CASE ST UDY
OVERVIEW OF EXPLORE GOD Explore God s focus is to equip individuals, groups, churches, and the community with free high-quality resources that make it easy to engage in spiritual conversations together. We provide content for people with spiritual curiosities, tackling tough questions about God, purpose, suffering, Jesus, the Bible, religion, and other topics that deserve intelligent and nuanced thought. AUSTIN, TX COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE In September 2013, 370 churches spanning 13 denominations united in Austin, Texas under the Explore God Community Outreach Initiative. The movement gained an unprecedented following early on among church leadership due in large part to the Pastor s Strategic Council who recruited local congregations and generated significant word-of-mouth buzz among churches. The churches involved in the Explore God Initiative hosted sermon series and discussion group series called The 7 Big Questions, which includes seven sessions on the following topics: Session 1: Does Life Have a Purpose? Session 2: Is There a God? Session 3: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering? Session 4: Is Christianity Too Narrow? Session 5: Is Jesus Really God? Session 6: Is the Bible Reliable? Session 7: Can I Know God Personally? GOALS OF AN EXPLORE GOD COMMUNITY GOALS OUTREACH INITIATIVE TO UNITE the Church and invite the surrounding community to Explore God TO PROMOTE the initiative with cutting-edge marketing and advertising TO TRAIN Christians on how to have spiritual conversations and facilitate discussion groups TO ENCOURAGE the community to Explore God online, in their relationships or in a discussion group
GAINING SUPPORT FOR THE INITIATIVE INTERNAL ORGANIZATION/ PROMOTION: Upon signing up for Explore God, participating churches were provided access to a Leadership Portal where they could download promotional materials, register to be listed on a Church Finder tool, and undergo discussion group training. The Leadership Portal was offered free-of-charge to any church hosting the Explore God series and included all sermon bumper films, sermon outlines, research notes, bulletin inserts, and film downloads. The Church Finder Tool allowed churches and discussion groups to register online so that anyone who accessed ExploreGod.com could find the location, meeting time, and contact information for their group or congregation. Logos and downloads for promotional materials and designs were provided free-of-charge. COMMUNICATION & CHURCH ORGANIZATION: The Explore God Communications Team distributed weekly newsletters to church leadership to keep them current on initiative updates and provide support leading up to the launch of the initiative. Typical newsletters included promotional updates, ideas for inspiration, local news and other pertinent information regarding the Explore God Citywide Initiative. FUNDRAISING: Since all of the discussion group material and sermon material was free, the only cost associated with the citywide initiative was the external advertising to the community through billboards, radio, and social media advertising. The Explore God Network committed to match funding for the Austin initiative up to $350,000. To take advantage of this opportunity, participating churches challenged themselves with raising the funds necessary to support the Austin initiative. They raised money through dedicated luncheons and reaching out to local donor networks. EXTERNAL ADVERTISING/ AWARENESS: Roughly six months before the September launch date, the Explore God team utilized various social media outlets (including, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, and Google+) to establish a strong presence online. Within that timeframe, they acquired more than 170 million media impressions. The social media campaign was followed up by a citywide advertising campaign approximately three months before the series launched. The campaign ran for three months and included 30 billboards around the Greater Austin area, as well as radio ads on various local stations. During this period, Explore God received significant news coverage from local news stations (KXAN, KVUE, KEYE), the Austin American-Statesman, The Christian Post, and other individual bloggers. All churches involved in the project were encouraged to print t-shirts, wristbands, and signage to display on church grounds (all downloads for designs were provided through the Leadership Portal) announcing their participation in the series generating even greater buzz about the initiative.
STATS RESEARCH Barna Research reports that 80 percent of people view Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, and anti-homosexual. Research also reveals that less than 1 percent of Christians will ever share their faith with others out of fear of being rejected and fear of not knowing what to say. These two statistics indicate that most modern-day Christians are failing to fulfill God s Great Commission to go and make disciples. The Explore God platform was developed to build the average church member s confidence in initiating spiritual conversations and to equip them with resources that make it easy to share and Explore God with others. PASTORS QUOTES I believe this is the kind of discussion that prepares for a long-term spiritual engagement between our people and their neighbors. Tim Hawks, Hill Country Bible Church For the non-believer, it shows that we take this seriously we take their questions seriously. We re going to be using it for many, many years to come. Arthur Hsu, Austin Chinese Church I was so grateful that our congregation really enthusiastically and passionately took hold of what this series and what this event was really all about. Robert Koke, Shoreline Church This should not be a 7-week campaign; Mike Stevens this should be part of our Bannockburn Baptist Church lives. RESULTS & STATISTICS FROM THE AUSTIN COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE Average 10% Increase in church attendance during Explore God Initiative More than 2,000 discussion groups, resulting in hundredss of thousands of spiritual conversations 73% 30% 71% 33% 95% of discussion groups included at least one non-church member of discussion groups included at least one non-christian of discussion group attendees examined their belief system of churches had people come to faith through the initiative of pastors recommend the Explore God series to other churches
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Access these important resources for more details about the Explore God Initiative: Explore God website: ExploreGod.com Facilitator Training: ExploreGod.com/training Discussion Groups: ExploreGod.com/discussion-groups Resources for Churches: ExploreGod.com/resources-for-churches Resources for Groups: ExploreGod.com/resources-for-groups Resources for Individuals: ExploreGod.com/resources-for-individuals If you have any questions, please contact us at info@exploregod.com