The Importance of Persuasion

"There is a certain wisdom not of secularism but of what secularism has taught us: if religion is to be a vital part of the culture it must persuade."

Seeds of the Word - Orthodox Thinking on Other Religions

by Father John Garvey.

Becoming Fishers of Men -- Finding and Attracting Fish

An Orthodox Moment

Whether the product of pandemic isolation, a focus on 'ultimate questions' or simply greater "approach-ability" due to online streaming of services, more than a few Orthodox Churches are experiencing an "Orthodox moment" - a significant increase in inquiries from persons curious about Orthodox Christianity.

Though your parish may not be feeling this 'moment' as yet, it seems reasonable that there are similarly curious, thirsty people near your parish.

How will we react? Retreat? Continue "business as usual"? Can we persuade?

As fishers of men, will we hope that interested persons just jump into our fishing boat ? Or, will we be active fishers of men? (See Attitudes that help the church grow.)

Invitation and the Public Square

We’re told the most potent evangelism tool is personal invitation of friends, relatives, associates and neighbors (FRAN). Yet for good and less good reasons, few Orthodox invite friends to church! (A future topic?)

Furthermore, is there a "broadcast" approach? Fishing with nets vs. individual hooks? Something more effective than walking around with a "sandwich board" at the mall?

In the early church if Paul, Apollos and Aquilla wanted to actively share the Good News (persuade) they went where the people are - the marketplace.

Today social media is where the people are. Like it or not for us Facebook is, in many ways, the public square.

Uh oh... now we've no doubt lost many readers who've sworn off, or intentionally never touched, Facebook. We get it. There are numerous reasons to eschew Facebook. Uncivil discourse. Misinformation. Anti-religious bias. Culture wars. Short attention spans. Addictive/mental health damage. (Insert yours here.)

However, we're not talking here about using FB as social media -- the place to argue incessantly or 'look at kitten pictures’. Nor are we talking about using FB to talk among ourselves -- to chatter with other Orthodox "followers" about the date of Pascha in 2027 basket or obscure liturgical detail.

Facebook: Outbound Communication Platform

Rather we're talking about reaching out to those who may be seeking the authentic, alive, Church of the apostles via a structured, intentional use of an outbound communication platform. A platform which can generate awareness, curiosity and inquiry about your church and what it offers.

When used for the explicit purpose of broadly casting our fishing net, FB offers the unique ability to gracefully "push" persuasive messages to thousands of people within (e.g.) ten miles of your parish for a very low cost. You can warmly deliver hopeful, dignified, uniquely Orthodox messages with a clear call to action. "Come and see!" Messages can be in video form which are far more personally persuasive than words or photos. And you can track who views your video and push follow up messages to only those showing some interest.

An "Inquirer Pathway"

It is wonderful when inquirers show up at our church door. (Hopefully we're prepared -- "We've been waiting for you!")

Even better is to create an invitation oriented "inquirer pathway" to to help them discover you.

We don't have space or time here to discuss the mechanics (its not that difficult) but in outline form one approach might be:

1. Create a brief 60 second video from the priest welcoming guests and inviting viewers via a clear call to action. This call to action is critical. Ask viewers to do something. The call might be either 'come to church next Sunday' or 'join us in an upcoming study class'. What to say? See example. And another. And, an older example shared years ago.
2. Post the video on the parish Facebook page and include a link to a specific visitor "landing" (single purpose) page" on your website. Then “boost” the post. This means you identify a target audience (characteristics of persons within a specific parish radius) who will receive the post. The parish will pay a few pennies for each Facebook viewer that fits those characteristics and clicks to watch the video. Set a budget limit -- say $10-20/week.
3. Follow up via FB with viewers who were interested enough to watch all or a portion of the video. Create a targeted message for those viewers reinforcing your invitation or simply expressing a willingness to answer questions or talk.
4. Repeat the above –perhaps alternating two brief videos –weekly for 6-8 weeks.

Early returns from parishes piloting this approach show promise. One parish received three Sunday visitors and one participant in an ‘Intro to Orthodoxy’ class with a single simple video post. That person is now a catechumen.

For less cost than your past newspaper or yellow pages ads you will have persuasively presented your parish story to hundreds or thousands of potentially interested persons within a specified radius of your parish and followed up with those interested -- all without printing or mailing costs and envelope stuffing.

There seems little doubt that we’re in the midst of a period of unprecedented opportunity to invite people to experience post pandemic community, fellowship, solid doctrine and authentic Christian worship. What is our response? Shall we wait for fish to jump in the boat?