Storytelling

TRANSCRIPT

The world church, through prayer and research, has adopted a story brand strategy in an effort to improve the effectiveness of our local churches. Again this is a global campaign, not just North America.

A story brand strategy works like this.

People in general are most familiar and comfortable with their lives being addressed as if it were a story.

The most successful books, movies, dramas, and all forms of communicating arts, whether in an advanced culture, or very traditional cultures – utilize a similar story structure…

It is what makes most people like a book or a movie, or remember a historical event, because it follows a seemingly predictable pattern… even though it isn’t always noticeable.

The best books and movies, use this structure without making it overly obvious.

In practice, it looks a little something like this, a traditional slogan, this company would taut that it is simply the best, and that’s why you should use them. They’re better than everyone else, and you would essentially be a fool to consider anyone except them…

However, a storybranded company would look something a little more like this.

Instead of making bold claims that they are just the best and you would be dumb not to use them. They come across as a company that wants to help you achieve your goals. I’m no roofer and I haven’t done the research, but my best guess is that the reason people call roofers is that their family, and their stuff, needs protection. And that’s what this company does, they help you stay protected.

You’re the hero, you’re making the decision, this company wants to help you fulfill that…

The pattern for a successful story, and storybrand is this…

A Character, with a problem, meets a guide who understands their fear, and gives them a plan, that calls them to action which results in success or failure.

That’s the plot to every good story…

From a marketing standpoint, local churches usually don’t fit into this idea very well…

But it doesn’t need to stay that way.

Our focus should be shifted to instead of making us as a local church the most important, the hero, we should rather present ourselves as the guide to the most important character, the hero of the story, individuals out there.

Here is what that looks like.

We need to identify what problem people are facing, and what we can do to help that problem.

To do this on a global scale, we want to target the ripe fruit. Not the fruit that we want to hurry through the development process and then pick.

Are we familiar with souls being compared to fruit? The Bible is full of comparisons with agriculture and our spiritual journey’s.

The reality is that some people are farther along in their journey to understanding the Gospel and knowing the true character of God.

It is more effective for us a church to reach out to the people that the Holy Spirit has been working on, and are the closest to making decisions that will draw them into fellowship with us.

There are many people that would easily come in to our churches and the Biblical understanding of God’s character… so let’s prioritize them.

So here is what we came up with as a world church. The Adventist Promise.

The Adventist Promise aims to deliver a clear message about what our movement stands for, and seeks to leave a lasting impression on people in the 21st century.

Church members around the world are being called to help deliver on the Adventist Promise by actively helping people understand the Bible.

In order to deliver on the Adventist Promise it is important to keep the focus on other people rather than the church, said Sam Neves. “It is about them. Our Promise is not a promise to ourselves, it is a promise to them. We are not the hero.”

The rest of the announcement article reads as such,

Adventists can help their friends and neighbors understand the Bible for themselves by going beyond mere intellectual study of the Bible. This can be achieved by inviting people to join members in their homes and churches, to help them experience a sense of Christian community as they study the Bible.

It is not the role of the Church to bring freedom, healing and hope --- The Adventist Promise is about helping people understand the Bible so that they get to know Jesus for themselves and through Him, find the hope they have been craving.

Adventist.org now features this promise, and an actionable strategy to find the answers people are asking.

When someone goes to the website, they are guided through the simple process that leads them to sign up for Bible studies online, they are given a few guide options through Voice of Prophecy, Lightbearers, and It Is Written.

Upon completion of these studies, they are given the chance to have a local representative reach out to them… that’s your church, your pastor, gets those lead cards…

Or they are directed to just come and visit.

In response, I have created some flyers, some sharing cards that direct people to this website.

You can hand them to people after having a conversation with them, perhaps you can leave them at gas stations and other places where you may leave GLOW tracts…

We can also advertise this from any church or conference because by promoting this one website, it helps all of our churches.

Things like web and television advertising like this...

We really have a lot of great options on our hands. And this isn’t the only people group we can appeal to… next time we will talk about more shareable material available to us

I'll see you in the next one.