Here is a shocking statement. It was made by Matthew Schiller, business and advertising manager for Catholic New York, after reading the 2012 study titled “Catholic New Media Use in the United States.”
He said, “Basically the study found that when the Church converted its distribution of news from print to online, there was a direct correlation with less giving, less volunteers and fewer (people) in the seats.”
Could the same thing be true for Alabama Baptists?
Most Baptists are aware that Cooperative Program (CP) receipts from the churches are falling. In 2008, for example, Alabama Baptist churches gave $44,782,408 to missions and ministries through CP. In 2014, CP receipts were $40, 216,408. That is a decline of 10.2 percent. For 2015, projections are that CP receipts will fall short of the $40-million mark.
Decline in total receipts
Alabama Baptist churches have faced their own declines. Stated simply churches are receiving less money in their collection plates. In 2008, Alabama Baptist churches reported $788,334,331 in total receipts. In 2014, receipts totaled $720,458,504. That is a decline of $67.8 million or 8.7 percent.
Part of the reason for the decline in receipts is a decline in church participation. Again from information reported by the churches, the combined participation in worship services on an average Sunday for all cooperating Alabama Baptist churches in 2008 was 352,665. In 2014, that number had fallen to 291,380 participants on an average Sunday. That is a steep decline of 17.4 percent.
Like Roman Catholics, Alabama Baptists have fewer dollars, fewer people in the pews and fewer volunteers today than we did in 2008.
The decline cannot be blamed on the world becoming more secular. That is a part of the challenge, to be sure, but the 352,665 people in church on a typical Sunday in 2008 were people who were open to belief in God. In fact most of them would have described themselves as Christians. Many of them, perhaps most, still live in the same communities and might still claim affiliation with the church. They just do not participate.
Said another way, local churches face the continuing challenge of communicating with members in an effective and efficient manner that results in participation within the body of Christ. Take away that information and disintegration begins.
That is why the Catholic study and its implications for Baptists is important.
Churches and religious organizations initially hailed the arrival of emails and websites as an answer to prayer. For little cost churches would be able to communicate with members anytime anywhere. Information could be placed on a website and everyone could be reached.
Unfortunately that vision of the future was little more than a pipe dream. The Catholic media use study found only 9 percent of Catholics visited a church website as often as once a month and only 4 percent regularly visited their local church website.
Lack of contact
Only 14 percent of Catholics reported visiting at least one Roman Catholic-related website in the last three months. Only 5 percent followed blogs related to Roman Catholics, the Christian faith or spirituality.
Adding to the lack of contact through digital communications is the ineffectiveness of such communications. Two studies by reputable secular organizations — Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Chief Marketing Officers Council (CMO Council) reached the same conclusion. The response rate to existing customers for an email campaign was 0.12 percent. Part of the reason for such a low response is that almost 80 percent of all emails sent globally are spam, said CMO Council.
Catalog marketers compared results of a direct mail campaign with revenue generated from an email and website promotion. They found direct mail generated 65 percent more revenue than digital communications. DMA supported that conclusion by reporting that print results in a 10 to 30 times greater response than emails.
In addition to the lack of market penetration and lack of response is the problem of the way digital communications are read. A study reported in the Washington Post in September found readers of digital communications tend to skim on the screens, distractions are inevitable and comprehension suffers.
The study was done at American University in Washington and found that 90 percent of digital readers were likely to multitask while reading compared to only 1 percent for readers of hardcopy material.
When participants were asked what they liked least about reading print, a prominent response was, “It takes me longer because I read more carefully.”
To the surprise of many the survey found that Millennials (ages 18–35) strongly preferred print over digital for pleasure and learning.
The preference for print is not limited to Millennials. New York marketing firm JWT (formerly J. Walter Thompson) found 8 out of 10 Americans would rather read magazines in hard copy than online and 67 percent would rather read a book with a spine than one that glows. That is true for Baby Boomers, Gen X-ers and others.
Effective communication
Back to the Schiller statement. Many Alabama Baptist churches, like Roman Catholic churches, embraced a method of communication that does not reach the intended audience, generates minimal response, results in decreased comprehension and is not the preferred method for pleasure or learning. Should we be surprised that the result has been a decrease in the effective and efficient functioning of our churches and denomination?
The best communication strategies include digital and print communications. That is why The Alabama Baptist offers both print and digital formats for its regular edition and for local church editions. There is no better communications strategy available to a church than a local edition of the state Baptist paper in both print and digital form.
In one award-winning publication the news of what God is doing through Baptists in Alabama and around the world is combined with news and information of the local church. Each week members get the news that helps the church function effectively and efficiently as well as a report of issues facing Christians in America and around the world.
Every Alabama Baptist should read their state Baptist paper and every church should use a local edition. It is an efficient, effective and inexpensive way to provide the base of trusted information that makes cooperation possible and, perhaps, turn around the slide toward fewer dollars, fewer volunteers and fewer people in the pews.
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