Kenny Jahng

REACHING MILLENNIALS AND YOUR COMMUNITY

Kenny Jahng shares tips on reaching millennials, your community, how to use social media to create a conversation and produce a ton of content.

Show the journey, people want to see that & then they will show up for the final act. @kennyjahng Share on X

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Show Notes

A few things that Kenny said that I had to write down:

  • What is working is the churches that have a posture that understand they are no longer only talking to the people in the building.  You’ve got break up that holy huddle.
  • Do you know the mayor?  Do you know the principles of the local schools? Counselors of the local schools? Do you know the non-profit leaders serving your community? Have relationships outside the church building.
  • On reaching millennials: Every church needs a cause. This next generation, millennials, are looking for significance. They are not looking to just sit in seats. They want to have meaningful experiences to put their faith into action. Millennial don't want a silo approach. They want to see you as part of their life. They are not afraid to bring faith into the other public spheres of life as long as you do it authentically and relationally.
  • Just appreciate what people are doing. Don’t ask for anything in return. Don’t try to evangelize. Start local.
  • Partner with other non-profits in your area that are already doing the work. There is this arrogance that says we need to have our own program. Make friends. Be the slacker. Be the church that just brings the volunteers and let someone else do the planning.
  • Two things you want to do with volunteers and community members: Appreciation. What they are doing is critical and needed. Recognition. Highlight a volunteer or someone in the community on social media. When you are the person facilitating that discussion you become the authority and the trusted resource in the community.
  • Don't be selfish, give props to the people in your community that are doing good work. Make relationships. Those are the things that people are going to notice. People become interested in what you’re doing.
  • Churches are using social in the wrong way. They are using social media as a megaphone, put it down. Think of it as a telephone, a conversation piece. Stop thinking you can lazily broadcast to people and talk about me, me, me. That’s not the way to do it. Give, give, give, until you earn the right to ask for something.
  • We need to be comfortable in who we are as a community, confident that we have something that is attraction at it’s core, that we are not afraid to be generous and invite others into our story and us being a part of others story.
  • Have a bias for action. Press the publish button.

Amplified Impact Round

Q: What’s the #1 thing any new church communication director needs to know?
A: They need to know their people and fall in love with the people they work with and the organism they
represent. Relationships trump everything.

Q: What’s the best thing you’ve done to attract new visitors to church?
A: Partnering outside and using social media in a way that is generous. Be generous in content.

Q: What’s the most important aspect of a church communication strategy?
A: Intent.

Q: Any tips for planning or promoting sermons/series?
A: Share initial thoughts. Why did you pick that topic? Why do you think that is relevant to your audience? What are you discovering about yourself as you’ve been marinating on that topic? Share that experience. Don’t show up on Sunday and say, “Ta da, here’s the final product.” Show the journey, people want to see that and they will show up for the final act.

Q: What’s your favorite tool for ministry?
A: Facebook. Status updates from a page perspective, there is group interaction, and Facebook Live. You have the largest reach on this network over any other one out there.

Q: Any ideas for empowering church members to invite their friends?
A: Create an event. I have this framework called TED. T is to frame things in terms of a trend, E is for event, D is data. Create an event, a big day, an excuse, so they have an excuse to talk about it. So they can bring their friends and family to church.

Reach Out

You can reach out and thank Kenny via his website kennyjahng.com or on Twitter @kennyjahng.

Suggested Guest

Kenny suggested that I interview Rich Birch next.

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