Last Wednesday we sent an email to all CRC pastors and church offices. It's something we do very judiciously — in fact, it was our first email to pastors about The Network since the launch last February.
We asked you to forward the email to your congregation, or at least your ministry leaders. Here's a copy of the email we sent.
So what happened?
By our best estimates, 15% of churches did send this along. If that's you, THANKS! Your church must have appreciated it — because traffic to the site jumped 50% last week!
But what about the other 85% of churches?
I know how easy it is to miss an email, or get busy with other things. But there are people in your church who have no idea The Network exists. Some of them would love to connect with others who share their ministry passions, but we need your help. What easier way to connect and equip your leaders for a new ministry year?
If our email dropped to the bottom of your inbox, please find it (date: 9/15/10, subject: "The Network - Connecting Churches for Ministry") and forward it to your congregation. If you can't find it, let us know and we'll send it to you again.
We've run Banner ads (very expensive!) and bulletin announcements (do they make it in?), but there's nothing like receiving an email with a link right to the site. And only you can send that email to your church.
Thank you for giving it another look and sending that email along to your congregation! If you want to take it a step further, we've got other ideas on our Spread the Word page.
Comments
The Banner charges the CRC for ads?! Isn't that like robbing Peter to pay Paul?
I was one of the pastors who didn't pass along the email, but that's because I've been forwarding specific Network articles and discussions to Telkwa CRC people.
Stanley
That's great, Stanley. Forwarding specific articles to specific people is going above and beyond. It gets the RIGHT content into the hands of the right people. Thanks!
re: Banner ads - Yes, it's all one 'family' of CRC ministry so it's basically an internal transfer. But if they didn't charge us anything, I'd be asking for a Network ad on the back of every issue (market value: $4,500). CRC ministries get a discount, but by 'paying' something close to fair market rates we don't crowd out important income from outside advertisers.
Any way you slice it, print is expensive. So that's why we're so appreciative of pastors and staff that help get the word out through email, bulletin announcements, etc. It doesn't work for everything, but when it does it means we can spend less on paper/postage and more on ministry.
Let's Discuss
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