Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul [Paperback]

Lynne M. Baab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 2008

A congregation communicates its heart and soul through words, photos, actions, programs, architecture, decor, the arts, and countless other aspects of congregational life. In Reaching Out in a Networked World, communications expert and pastor Lynne Baab examines technologies such as websites, blogs, online communities, and desktop publishing. She demonstrates how a congregation can evaluate these tools and appropriately use them to communicate its heart and soul, to convey its identity and values both within and outside the congregation.
Baab urges congregation leaders to reflect on the way they communicate. The recent explosion in communication technologies offers many new ways to present values and identity, but no one has much experience thinking about how best to use these tools. Baab seeks to help leaders use these new technologies with more precision, flair, and consistency. When congregations are intentional about communicating who they are and what they value, people in the wider community can get a clear and coherent picture of the congregation and its mission. Newcomers and visitors are more likely to see why faith commitments matter and why and how they might become involved in this congregation, while current members and leaders will greatly benefit from having a unified vision of the congregation's heart and soul.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is the book pastors and lay leaders need to read if they care about the face their congregation presents to the community. In a thoughtful yet accessible way, Lynne Baab discusses the ways congregations communicate (or fail to communicate) their heart and how communication technologies can be used faithfully and effectively. --William Dyrness, Professor of Theology and Culture, Fuller Theological Seminary

Every church I know is adopting new technology in their communication, but often without considering whether it is being used to express the personality and values of the congregation with clarity, authenticity, and beauty. After reading Lynne Baab's book, I will never look at websites, newsletters, worship bulletins, projected images, or even e-mail messages the same. Here is a practical, understandable, and faithful guide to the use of new media in congregational life. --Dr. Stephen Hayner, Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth, Columbia Theological Seminary

If you're looking for Church Communications 2.0, you've found it. Lynne Baab leaves no technology unturned in this marvelously practical, thoughtful guide. Reaching Out in a Networked World helps your congregation express its unique identity with authenticity, style, and coherence. --Sally Morgenthaler, author of Worship Evangelism

About the Author

Lynne M. Baab is a Presbyterian minister and author of six books and a Bible study guide. She recently completed a Ph.D. in communication at the University of Washington. She lives with her husband in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she is a lecturer in pastoral theology at the University of Otago. She is the author of three other Alban Institute books: Personality Type in Congregations, Embracing Midlife, and Beating Burnout in Congregations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: The Alban Institute (December 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566993687
• ISBN-13: 978-1566993685
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm so excited about my 2011 book, Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World, because it reflects many of the lessons from all my childhood moves and it draws on interviews with dozens of people about what friendship looks like today, with Facebook and so many other new ways to communicate. In the videos on this page, I talk about what I learned from writing Friending. I invite you to visit my website, www.lynnebaab.com, to learn more about my books and to read articles I've written on some of the same topics as the books.

I lived more than half my childhood overseas, which gave me an international perspective that has borne fruit late in life with our 2007 move to New Zealand. I've been thinking about friendship all my life, and moving so far away made me even more convinced that I wanted to write a book on friendship.

I currently teach pastoral theology at a university in Dunedin. I am still deeply engaged with the topics I've written about it my books. I keep a sabbath every week and I still see fasting as a significant way to disengage with the consumer culture. I love and practice a variety of spiritual disciplines which are meaningful to me and have shaped my spiritual life. I still enjoy thinking about and talking about personality type and issues of midlife, and I continue to speak and teach about preventing burnout among Christian leaders.

I am so grateful for the privilege of being a writer. If you have read my books, thank you. If you choose to purchase one of my books for the first time, I hope and pray that it will encourage you to live a richer and fuller life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Your Church: A Necessary Read in a Hi-Tech World, December 10, 2008

By 

Rev. Monica McDowell, MDiv (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul (Paperback)

According to Lynne M. Baab, "everything about a church communicates something." When I read this, I immediately began asking myself,"What are the different things my congregation is saying? Do the messages contradict each other? Are they theologically sound? What can we do to make sure we're communicating in the most effective ways?"

Fortunately, Baab's newest book answered all of these questions and more. Covering everything from iPods, blogs, and Facebook to fonts, graphics, and PowerPoint, Baab skillfully guided me through the maze of how to utilize new technology in order to effectively and ethically communicate a church's identity and values.

Although marketing isn't a word I'm totally comfortable with, Baab defines it in such a way that makes it accessible to Christians: "reaching out with the purpose of making known that a congregation welcomes new people." She also includes several helpful tools to help increase your church's outreach: a sample communication audit, a website plan, many examples of creative ideas from other congregations, and each chapter ends with questions for reflection, journaling and discussion, making the book useful not only for individual study, but for group study with staff, committees, and boards as well.

The challenges facing churches as they try to adapt to swift changes in communication media can seem insurmountable. But whether your congregation is computer savvy or technologically challenged, I found this book a crucial read if you're a church leader who wants to stay relevant and faithful in reaching out to a networked world.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Church Leaders, December 27, 2008

By 

Kimberlee Conway Ireton (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul (Paperback)

Lynne Baab has a gift for communicating technical information concisely and clearly so it is accessible to ordinary people. In this thought-provoking book she walks readers through a plethora of new communication media and the ways they can be wisely used in congregational life.

Now, I am a skeptic when it comes to new technology. Prior to reading Baab's book, I thought Facebook was a faux community, projection screens in worship were obnoxious and distracting, and blogs were an embarrassing form of public self-indulgence.

Baab blew these self-righteous assumptions right out the water. While she articulates concerns about the thoughtless use of these (and other) media, she also convinced me that in order to reach out to Generations X and Y, churches need to carefully consider how to use these technologies in ways that will help draw people to God, express their unique identity as a congregation, and even encourage congregations to live into that identity.

Her book provides a guide to navigating these new technological waters and implementing them in life-giving, community-building ways.

Anyone who is involved in congregational leadership, whether pastors or lay leaders, should read this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Church communications strategy? Start here!, January 31, 2009

By 

Seti Afoa "Seti Afoa" (NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul (Paperback)

There is a word, usually a hyphenated one, for people like Lynne Baab, who visit churches not so much to listen to the sermon (that too is part of the communications process) but to assess, evaluate, pick to pieces and scrutinise the words, sounds, visuals and appearance of a Church or place of fellowship. That word is `nit-picking'. There is another, `picky-picky'. Such is Baab in her continuing scholarly approach to ministry in a highly networked world where the use of communication tools in a church can be a help or a hindrance. I'll admit to it, I have done it too and my guess is we all have. I have judged places I have visited. The music was too loud, or the newsletter was too busy, or the overheads were messy with too many words. These perceptions all help form one's opinion of places we have visited and help us decide whether we will return or not. This is precisely the aim of this book: Reaching Out in a Networked World. It implies that churches are continuing to reach out to their communities and their people. From Baab's perspective we may be reaching out but using outdated methods of communication, or worst, trying to use current communication tools without knowing how to apply them properly.

We all want clear, precise, to-the-point communication with a bit of a challenge to our intellect and spirits. We want messages - audio and visual - to impact us and to impact others. And we live in a formatted and branded world. We are branded individuals who like to see things in a certain way because we are, often without our knowledge, trained to. And we know a fake when we see one, or better still we appreciate class when we see it such as when we see a nicely presented Church newsletter that is not busy and the right font is used and the spelling and grammar is correct. Bear in mind that the new front page of today's Church is the website. This is Baab's specialty. Thousands of people, Christians and non, will read our Church websites to find out what we are like and whether we look like a Church they could be comfortable in, or find God in.

Baab addresses these issues with a thorough evaluation of today's communication tools that churches are using. The book is written in a simple easy to follow style. The format used starts with analysis of how communications and networking has helped the church to this point and follows with how to get there (not just reaching our target audience but our message and communication being received by them) and maximise the opportunies that are now available. Baab evaluates the best uses of websites (Baab looked at hundreds of Church websites for her PhD thesis) and Email. She looks at Blogs and offers valuable suggestions on how to organise an effective blog whether personal, organisational or professional. There is a rise in online communities and this book evaluates what is driving people to online communities and offers helpful suggestions on how best to reach out using this form of networking. Baab also evaluates Mission Statements and their value. This book will assist organisers to formulate effective communication strategies. Big or small, every church, group within churches and ministries need one and this book is a great place to start.