Reaching Millennials for Jesus

What is a millennial?

The term "millennial" refers to the generation born between 1982 and 2004. This group of young people is the first to be born in a dominantly digital world, so it's no surprise they are usually associated with knowing and loving technology. 

There are more than 76 million millennials in the US alone, and millennials make up the most diverse and largest generation in history. What an incredible opportunity for the Church to engage such an influential group!

How are churches blocked in reaching millennials?

Most millennials are used to immediate and convenient access to almost everything. The Church has a unique opportunity to use the channels that are most likely to reach them, namely platforms that they interact with all the time like social media and apps, in an effort to engage them.

When churches don't take millennials preferences and tendencies into consideration, they struggle to engage with them in meaningful ways. By being slow to adopt new technology and methods of communication, the church is less effective in reaching this generation. Millennials have grown up with smartphones, so a customized app is the most effective way to reach them.

What can you do?

There are some very practical things you can do to take steps towards meaningful interactions with millennials. Here are 5 ways that we will unpack in part 2 of this series! 

1. Ask questions

2. Get millennials to volunteer at your church

3. Don't change your message, but the way it's communicated

4. Help millennials feel like they are part of the mission/story

5. Use your app

Get in touch with us to learn more! 

6 Benefits of Going Mobile

The mobile industry has revolutionized the way we interact with digital media, and mobile growth isn’t slowing down. How is your mobile strategy going? Here are six specific benefits of going mobile: 

1. Audiences spend 20% more time on mobile than desktop

With the majority of people spending their time on mobile versus desktop, building out a mobile strategy for your organization is no longer a luxury. The first step towards going mobile is a mobile-friendly website. By creating a website optimized for mobile you won’t only reach your audience where they spend their time, but you’ll also return higher in Google searches because of Google’s latest ranking signal based on mobile.

Your website is often your organization’s first shot at making a good impression. If resources are limited, consider only optimizing the most important pages of your site first, and then expanding from there.

2. Millennials Love Mobile

With millennials spending so much of their time on their mobile devices and making up 25% of the U.S. population, targeting this group as part of your mobile strategy will help you to increase your impact and help deepen the relationship between your brand and upcoming generations.

3. Access to your Audience 24X7

Mobile phones are no longer a practical accessory, they are planner, cell phone, email inbox, and entertainment source wrapped into one. With mobile phones always being in reach, you can access your audience with ease.

By adding a mobile app to your communication strategy, you can reach your audience with push notifications and connect with them anytime, anywhere.

4. Personalized Content

With all of the personalization opportunities on mobile, you can tailor your content to fit your audience’s needs. Using the information you already have about your audience, you can personalize your audience’s experience with your brand from their first interactions with your content.

Personalizing content for your audience increases customer satisfaction and causes people to want to interact with your media for longer periods of time.

5. Drive Brand Loyalty

Mobile app users tend to revisit the apps that they love frequently. By continually improving your content for mobile, you can grab your audience’s attention and keep them coming back for more, reinforcing your brand’s trustworthiness.

6. Delight Your Audience

Part of the draw of mobile is the ability to get information quickly and easily. Having easy access to content is no longer a luxury, but an expectation for audiences. Creating high-quality content that delights your audience and is easily accessible, is sure to create a stronger bond between you and your community.

5 Ways Technology Enhances Our Lives

Technology has undoubtedly become a fixture in our society–where most everything that we do and interact with during the day involves high-tech in some capacity. It might be nice to occasionally unplug from our technology-saturated world and just enjoy the simplicity and nostalgia of life off the grid; but the truth is, technology has brought about countless societal advancements and benefits that we might not even realize, or take advantage of. Here is a short list of some of the ways technology enhances our lives:

1. It Promotes Education

Multiple studies have been done in recent years that have proven that kids have an easier time engaging with technology, when learning new concepts, over any other method. The use of digital tools in the classroom has increased significantly in the past year, and many schools have seen an increase in their students’ overall performance thanks to the use of mobile devices.

2. It Helps Us Stay Safe

Natural disasters are devastating no matter what precautions are taken, but the recent development of mobile technology might help keep more people safe, and in some cases, even save people’s lives in the wake of events like hurricanes.

With power outages being a common occurrence during big storms, mobile devices can step in where regular news stations aren’t able to. Using your device to receive news updates and even watch videos can be supremely helpful during times of crisis.

3. It Saves Lives

Mobile health apps are becoming increasingly popular and are proving to be a vital asset to families in Africa, where resources are scarce and access to healthcare is difficult at times. For women all over the country, having a free and easily accessible tool like a maternal health mobile app can mean the difference between life and death for themselves and their children.

With the rise of exceptional maternal health mobile apps, the quality of life for moms in developing countries continues to improve.

4. It Keeps Us Connected

We live in a very unique time in history that is marked by interconnectedness and information. You no longer have to wait to hear about your childhood best friend’s engagement thanks to social platforms like Facebook, and you can find out what is going on halfway across the globe in an instant with up-to-the-minute information from online news sources.

Staying connected to the world around us can help with things like keeping the right perspective about what’s going on in your own life, and maintaining relationships with people you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. These advantages can be great for finding a job, reconnecting with old friends, and much more.

5. It Makes Life More Fun

Because of advancements in mobile technology, you can enjoy various types of entertainment like books, movies, or games instantly. In fact, you can store everything from news articles, to TV shows, to word puzzles, on one small device and take it with you wherever you go.

The dilemma of not having enough sources for entertainment is a thing of the past. The only decision you have to make now is what exciting, new thing should I choose to engage with next?

What are some other ways technology has enhanced our society? How has technology personally improved your life?