Ryan Nelson, Author at Faithlife Blog

March 24, 2017 By Ryan Nelson | 3 Comments

The 5 Main Ways People Find Your Church

Every person has a unique journey to your doorstep. A story that led them to your church.

Maybe they just moved into town after years of being highly involved in a church that’s now miles away—and you’re conveniently located near their new apartment. Maybe a friend has been inviting them for months and they finally gave in. Maybe your latest community service project impacted them personally, and they decided to come check you out. Maybe your last sermon directly addressed something they’re going through—and your church shared it on social media.

Whatever their story is, they discovered you and decided to show up.

You can’t control how people find your church, and you can’t force them to come back. But every time a new person discovers your church, you have the opportunity to become part of their story—and you give them the opportunity to become part of a much bigger story.

October 27, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | 1 Comment

Church Website Advice: Design Your Site for Visitors

“Think of [your website] as like your online home base,” says Justin Wise, author of The Social Church. When people arrive at your website, they should be able to find their way around and get an accurate feel for what it’s like to set foot in your church.

“Before people come to our actual churches, they’re checking us out online,” Justin says. If your church website isn’t optimized for visitors, people who find you online have a hard time deciding if you’re worth checking out in person.

October 11, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | Leave a Comment

The Subscription That Gives Logos Mobile Ed to Every Person in Your Church

Imagine if every small group in your church started with a 10 minute video lesson taught by a prominent seminary or Bible college professor.

The videos were designed for the classroom, so they’re perfect for watching together. The content is focused on a topic or biblical book of your choice. The teachers are known, respected, and depended on by pastors around the country. And the small group is the perfect setting to grow together.

This could be the reality for your church. Right now.

September 29, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | 2 Comments

Get a Free Ebook to Help You Recruit, Train, and Retain More Volunteers

Sign up to get your free copy of Can Someone Please Volunteer?.

Even when all the seats are filled, many churches and ministries struggle to find and keep enough volunteers.

It’s not a reflection of how well you share the gospel. But it’s probably an indicator that your volunteer program could use some work.

After pastors and church staff shared their struggle to train new volunteers, Proclaim Church Presentation Software produced Can Someone Please Volunteer? to help build volunteer programs that last.

Now, Proclaim wants your church staff to have a copy for free.

September 16, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | Leave a Comment

How Your Unique Christian Identity Shapes Your Digital Ministry

“What’s your calling?”

How you answer that question could change the way you see your entire life. The answer—and the process of learning how to answer—helps us find our place within the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4–30).

Every Christian is called to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:18–20), but where and how we do that looks radically different for every person.

September 14, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | 2 Comments

How Christian Conferences Are Becoming More Accessible

It’s no secret that conferences are expensive. Unless you live in the right city and incredible opportunities are in your own backyard, the biggest cost of that high-caliber teaching isn’t actually the teaching—it’s getting to the conference and reserving a place to stay for the weekend.

Thanks to technology, where you live or how much you make doesn’t determine who you can learn from. High-caliber education is increasingly becoming more accessible, and so are conferences.

August 9, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | 2 Comments

Online Church Bulletins: How to Create More Engaging Services

Every week, your church uses an ancient technology to collect contact information and track attendance: paper bulletins.

In addition to supporting the recycling and waste management services in your community, those paper bulletins create a lot of tedious work for your staff (or a very patient volunteer who deserves some appreciation). Someone has to collect all those bulletins and manually enter the information into spreadsheets—because what good is all that information if it isn’t organized?

That’s why Faithlife just made your bulletins digital. Collecting and organizing that information gets a whole lot easier, and your congregation stays more connected.

While you may not be ready to ditch your printer, technology is becoming increasingly valuable to churches. As of a year ago, about two thirds of your congregation has smartphones. The epitome of convenience is filling your pews every weekend. Your church can use that to your advantage.

Digital bulletins turn smartphones into assets, not distractions.

August 4, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | 33 Comments

3 Steps to Start Using Online Church Bulletins

Faithlife.com now lets you create online church bulletins your congregation can access online—before, during, or after your service.

Every week, churches print off thousands of bulletins—most of which never actually leave the building. It costs money, wastes paper, and fails to remind most of your congregation about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and the key takeaways from your service.

Digital bulletins leverage smartphones to keep your church more connected.

May 28, 2016 By Ryan Nelson | Leave a Comment

The Church Media Bundle for People Who Don’t Like to Choose

If you’ve been shopping around for church media, you probably noticed there are more than a few choices out there. You could wade through dozens of church media brands before you find what your church needs (or what you can afford).

Maybe you’ve been getting your church media a-la-carte, so you get exactly what you want and don’t pay for more than that. But buying sermon illustration videos, motion backgrounds for worship, church countdown videos, and still images for 10–15 bucks a pop adds up fast—and your church has a budget.

Proclaim Church Presentation Software is here to help.