What if you could reach thousands of your congregation in their everyday work life to encourage them to read Scripture daily that may be wrapped around next Sunday’s sermon topic, the focus of your marriage conference in two weeks, or the focal point of a new set of small groups that you plan to begin at your church in a month? How would you try to coordinate that process, engaging every single phone number on a list that is simply too long to manage, with a passage to be sent out every single day?
David’s Story
David Ray, Administrative Liaison to the General Overseer of the Church of God International, has come up with some interesting uses for text messages that looks to get people more into the Word. For the past 45 days, he has been using TextMarks, an SMS marketing company, to promote the Church of God’s READ Initiative — a program that asks people to “be one of the thousands around the world that commit to reading the scriptures every day.” They use TextMarks to text out the daily reading “assignment” and so far, they’ve sent over 10,000 messages.
I rely on TextMarks to help me spread God’s word to thousands of followers every day.” – David Ray
A little over a month ago, David signed up for a trial at and Tweeted out his keyword “READ.” Within hours he had a few hundred sign ups. Within days it was over 1,000. And his list just keeps growing. He’s already sent over 25,000 this month. All of the subscribers to the READ SMS program are in the US, but they are distributed across almost every state. David keeps his messages very short and includes the day’s bible verse along with a link to background materials. Is this way, his usage is just like many of the high school and college teachers who use our platform. It’s incredibly efficient and very effective. And it takes him no more than 2-3 minutes per day.
Reach Your Congregation
If you are looking for a way to send out daily Bible “reading assignments” to hundreds, even thousands, of people, text messaging is the most effective way to cut through the noise of life. Other forms of communication like daily email, phone calls, and social media simply do not have the direct visibility that SMS does, both with older and younger generations. If you want to connect with a group of people, you must start with texting. Here are just some of the possibilities for your church:
– Set up separate groups for the whole congregation, just church leadership, youth group, etc.
– Send daily or weekly prayers
– Notify people of what’s happening in your church
– Instantly communicate last minute changes and emergency notifications.
What could your church do with something as powerful as this?
I’m curious to know what other churches of Christ focus on during Sunday sermons. Are the messages centered on practical life applications, deep theological insights, Bible studies, or advanced concepts like preterism or eschatology? How do your pastors keep the sermons engaging and relevant for the congregation?
I relocated to a different place and found a church of Christ there. I’ve noticed that the preacher/pastor has been preaching on the same theme (preterism mostly) for several weeks. Couple of members say it’s been the same for more than a year. The sermons sometimes go off-topic, include unnecessary remarks on pastors of other denominations, and occasionally even sound rude. It’s starting to feel disengaging, and I’m unsure how to handle it. Has anyone else experienced this?
I am sorry if thinking like this is wrong, do let me know.
Instagram – @KENNYLARKINSOFFICIAL
I would totally disagree. People block more texts now than they do spam. People are getting burned out now on text messages and anything that is not from a real person is being blocked. Churches jumping into this area are already abusing this technology to the point that people will truely ignore the you, thus the important stuff is diminished.
http://www.TEXTWIK.com is the highest- rated easy-to-use SMS marketing and integrated email marketing software on the market with robust features built for businesses and nonprofit organizations like churches to communicate with their congregations.
One of the key reason why SMS(Text) Messaging is becoming more popular among churches is the fact that is such accessible and widespread way of contacting people.
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