The aim is to engage the Pastors in the Murewa UMP District in conversation for the purpose of informing, inspiring and engaging them to take an active role in building a robust communications ministry at the local church.

1. The Pastor as an advocate
for the Local Church’s
Communications Ministry
Presenter
Pastor Taurai Emmanuel Maforo
Zimbabwe Episcopal Area Communicator
& Web-Master

3. Introduction
• Africans at best we are proudly good story tellers, more so from
an oral perspective. Many stories have been passed on between
generations.
• The challenge however is the loss of the original content because
many variations to telling the story develop as different person
retell. In the past there would be one elderly person who would
know where to find herbs to treat certain ailments.
• The church is not left out either, hence the importance of looking
at how we can improve the process of communicating our faith,
documenting it and keeping the record under lock and key.
• Putting pen to paper is key in making this a possibility. As a result
I have come up with a thesis – “ANYTHING NOT WRITTEN, DID
NOT HAPPEN”

4. Disclaimer
• This presentation does not aim to
present itself as the ultimate or pinnacle
in the field of communications ministry,
but seeks to create conversations for
further exploration for the relevant
contexts.

5. Aim
• To engage the Pastors in the Murewa
UMP District in conversation for the
purpose of informing, inspiring and
engaging them to take an active role in
building a robust communications
ministry at the local church.
Aim

6. 4. Training Objectives
• Casting the communications advocacy
role within “order” in the four-fold
ministry
• Introduce the concept of Missional
Marketing
• Explore the communications mandate
and contextualizing the communications
activity
Objectives

7. Definitions

8. Communication
• Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which
participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information,
news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning. In
general, communication is a means of connecting people or
places. (businessdictionary.com)
• Communication (from Latin commūnicāre, meaning "to share")
is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of
ideas, feelings, intentions, attitudes, expectations, perceptions
or commands, as by speech, non-verbal gestures, writings,
behaviour and possibly by other means such as
electromagnetic, chemical or physical phenomena and smell.
• It is the meaningful exchange of information between two or
more participants (machines, organisms or their parts)
• In order to accomplish this, communication therefore requires a
sender, a message, a medium and a recipient

9. Ministry
• “Ministry is meeting people where they are
at and taking them to where God wants them
to be.” (J.R. Briggs.com).

10. The Pastor and the Four-fold Ministry
• With reference to the UMC Book of Discipline
2012, every pastor is called to a Four-fold
ministry of; Word and ecclesial acts, Sacrament,
Order and Service.
• Under “Order” every pastor is called, “To be the
administrative officer of the local church and to
assure that the organizational concerns of the
congregation are adequately provided
for.”(2012.340,2c)
• Here we will consider sections 1(a),(b) and 2(f);

11. 1(a) “To give pastoral support, guidance, and training to the
lay leadership, equipping them to fulfil the ministry to which
they are called.”
• Within this scope, it is the responsibility of the
pastor to take the leading role to ensure that
those involved in the communications,
publications, History and Archives ministry are
fully equipped to meet the contextual needs
of their local church.

12. 1(b) “To give oversight to the educational program of the
church and encourage the use of the United Methodist
Church literature and media.”
• It is within this oversight role of the pastor
that he/she assists both the education and
communications ministry in ensuring that
both come up with appropriate tools of
relaying the discipleship message using
current media.

13. 2(f) “To care for all church records…”
• The 2012 Book of Discipline paragraph 247:5a
lays out clearly the importance of preserving
history, that is by keeping “historical records
up to date” and provides for the production of
an “…annual report on the care of local church
records and historical materials no longer in
current use.”

14. What records are kept?
a. All documents (Contracts, membership records etc)
b. Minutes
c. Journals
d. Diaries
e. Reports(Charge Conferences etc)
f. Letters
g. Pamphlets
h. Papers
i. Manuscripts
j. Maps
k. Audio and video recordings
l. Documentaries etc.

15. The Communications mandate
• “As United Methodists, our theological
understanding obligates us, as members
of the body of Christ, to communicate
our faith by speaking and listening to
persons both within and outside the
Church throughout the world, and to
utilize all appropriate means of
communication.” (Bk. Of
Disc.2012,1801,p698)

16. “The responsibility to communicate is
laid upon;
• Every church member
• Every pastor
• Every congregation
• Every annual conference
• Every institution
• And every agency of the Church

17. Communications as a Strategic
Function for the church
“Communication is a strategic function
necessary for the success of the mission of
The United Methodist Church.”
(Book Of Discipline 2012, 1806).
NB - Communications is not optional but a
necessity.

18. The church’s communications system
must be understood or cast within
the scope or context of the nature of
our connectionalism.

19. Nature of the UMC
Connectionalism

20. Multi-levelled
• Section,
• Preaching point,
• Local church,
• Circuit,
• District,
• Annual Conference,
• Central Conference
• General Conference.

21. Global in scope
The UMC is a global denomination and thus
churches in Mutoko-Mudzi District may relate
with other churches in the worldwide church.
Examples – Crofton Community and the
Mashambanhaka partnerships.

22. Local in thrust
As much as the connectionalism is multi-
levelled and Global, it has a local thrust.
Understanding of the local context is also
critical in meeting the denomination’s goals.

23. Newswriting Basics
• Getting started...avoid
procrastination
• Tools for content gathering
• Definition of News
a.New Information
b.First Draft of History

24. Writing the story – 5Ws and an H
• What?
• When?
• Who?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

25. Focusing the story
• The Lead
a. Scenic lead
b. Introductory lead
c. Summary lead
• The Nut Graf - what makes the
story “The STORY”

26. News Values
• Urgency
• Prominence
• Bizare
• Proximity
• Conflict

27. Means of Communication
• Appropriate means of communication range from
usage of; word of mouth(announcements),
communiques, text messaging services, telephone, fax,
email, social media (eg. Whatsapp, facebook, website)
• A key component and point of departure in building
content, firstly is news.
• News is defined as new information and the first draft
of history. It is from that view that communicating
becomes the first port of call.
• After communicating our faith stories, then if well
archived becomes protected history.

28. Communicating in a Global Village

30. Social Media/Groups
1,39Billion Users(Feb 2015)
Facebook Messenger 900million
Over 1Billion Users
300hrs of Video Uploads every minute
1Billion plus users
468million users overtaking Google+
and Twitter

31. Important Facts – Opportunity
for the Church’s Ministry
• 12.4million mobile phone users
by 2015 third quarter
• Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration
106%
• Zimbabwe has 6.1 million
internet subscriptions with 99%
of those being mobile devices
based.
• The country has 6,900 km of
backbone fibre

32. Why social networking?
 Online space for individual to present themselves
 Articulate their social network
 Establish & maintain connects with others
 Examples
 Facebook connects you with people around you (400 million
active users)
 Twitter (65 millions tweets posted per day)

33. Things to consider when working with social media
 Target audience
 What tools to use?
 Costing
 Privacy level
 Community driven
 Stakeholders

34. The Pros and Cons of social
media and social networking

35. Pros of using social media
 Instant, real-time, Make the publication easier
 Reach a big audience group
 Low or no cost
 Good tools for sharing and consume content
 Real time communication and engagement
 Use hashtags to create twitter backchannel
 Allow chance for reticent student to express
themselves
 Work within their comfort zone and voice out in
writing

36. Sharing & learning
 Professional development
 Personal learning network
 Personal learning environment
 Self engagement

37. Cons of using social media
 Take time to create accounts
 Immediacy
 Emotional
 Privacy
 Impersonate

38. Social media in Education
 Technology take too much time
 Social media in school is dangerous!
 Social media is for entertainment only
 Social media increases off-task behavior
 You don’t need to learn about social media in schools

39. Marketing
• Marketing is the messages and/or actions that cause messages
and/or actions. Jay Baer – President, Convince & Convert. Author
with Amber Naslund of The Now Revolution
• Marketing is creating irresistible experiences that connect with
people personally and create the desire to share with others. Saul
Colt – Head of Magic, Fresh Books
• Marketing is helping your customers understand how much they
need something they never knew they needed. Doreen Moran –
Digital Strategist
• P.Tailor of www.learnmarketing.net suggests that 'Marketing is
not about providing products or services it is essentially about
providing changing benefits to the changing needs and demands
of the customer (P.Tailor 7/00)'
• Marketing is the ongoing process of engagement whereby
strangers are nurtured into advocates. Trey Pennington

40. UsingTreyPennington’smarketing
definition,letustryandtranslatethatto
disciple-making.
Theme:MakingStrangersAdvocates.

41. “Missional Marketing”
• “Missional Marketing” as a concept therefore may be
understood as the how, when and where to propagate
the discipleship agenda through connecting with the
market place and finally creating a transformative turn in
relationship exchanges.
• NB – Missional marketing therefore takes care of the
packaging of the messages. A church may have sound
theology but as long as the packaging is not attractive,
we may not meet the desired goals or at the very least
reach the target market.

42. What do we need to market?
• a. Mission and goals of the church
• b. Discipleship Programs
• c. Building projects – parsonage, sanctuary
construction.
• d. Outreach programs – eg. Community
action programs eg. Water and sanitation

43. NOW MINISTRIES
• This acronym depicts timeous
action; Nurturing, Outreaching
and Witnessing. These three
provide anchorage to the entire
discipleship enterprise.

44. NURTURING
• Nurturing – communications
ministry provides resources needed
for equipping of disciples. Eg.
Multimedia Christian Education kits
– projector, screens, television
screens

45. OUTREACHING
•Outreaching – prepares
packaging for all
outreach programs –
branding, posters, fliers.

46. RE-THINK CHURCH
•What if church does not
only become the place
we go to but something
we do.

47. Conclusion
Communications Ministry therefore has
and can become a powerful ministry
driver if taken as a strategic function,
prilmarily by the chief administrator of
the local church – the pastor who is the
advocate.

48. The End(Omega)