# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S46
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

46

OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
o Resources
o Blog entries
o Giving pages
o Locators
Marketing and Promotion
Using the Synod’s voice and brand, we promote LCMS ministries and
resources to the church and the public:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Brochures
Posters
Infographics
Scrolling Web tiles
Reporter inserts
Promotional videos
Public service announcements

Missionary Support

Over the past triennium, COMM has focused on increasing our
reach to, and engagement with, LCMS laity, rostered workers, and
confessing Lutherans worldwide. In this digital age, the most direct
and economical approaches to accomplishing this goal involve utilizing the Internet with various subscriber options. To that end, the
following online initiatives were planned and carried out on behalf
of the LCMS and its ministries:
Leader Blog—blogs.lcms.org/category/leader-blog
o

Global Content Feed—lcms.org/news-and-blogs
o A user-friendly location on lcms.org to find all online publications and
blogs
Life Together Digest—lcms.org/lifetogetherdigest/archives
o

Each network-supported LCMS missionary receives the following support:
o
o
o
o

Printed and downloadable prayer cards
Online giving pages
Communication training (photo, video, and writing and presentation
skills) to enhance support raising
Missionary news and stories featured in the Synod publications

Cultural Engagement

In the face of increasing attacks on the church and the values she
espouses, presenting and defending the Synod’s views to the church
and public has become an increasingly important part of our work
and includes such instruments as the following:
o Free to Be Faithful communication effort (more on this below)
lcms.org/socialissues/freetobefaithful
o Dissemination of position statements
o Engagement with the secular press:
• Answering press queries
• Holding press conferences
o

Defending theological positions in the wider culture:
•	Four-week campaign in the summer of 2015 defending life and
responding to the notorious Planned Parenthood videos involving
the harvesting and selling of baby parts

o

Lutheran Reformation website (done in cooperation with Concordia
Publishing House): LutheranReformation.org

Public Relations/Media Management/Marketing

We promote the Synod’s work and stances on societal issues by
fostering positive public and media relations through the following
means:
o
o
o
o
o

Press management
Media training and coaching for ministry leaders
Press releases
Marketing of key initiatives and ministry efforts to the public
Exhibit creation and presentation at synodwide and district events

Donor Communications

In support of and in collaboration with MA, we encourage positive donor responses and relationships:
o Write/edit appeal letters
o Create materials (brochures, case statements, videos, posters, etc.) that
promote special projects:
• Wittenberg Project: thewittenbergproject.org/
• Rosa Young film: lcms.org/thefirstrosa
o Online project catalog: lcms.org/givenow
o Lutherans Engage the World magazine
Key Accomplishments in the Past Triennium

Reaching the Laity
2016 Convention Workbook

A blog by LCMS ministry leaders to share their thoughts, ideas, and
approaches to ministry

Aggregate electronic newsletter of top monthly news, stories, videos,
photos, etc. As of this writing (January 2016), this still-new effort had
garnered more than 2,100 subscribers.

Social Media

Today, social media is the most immediate and far-reaching tool to
disseminate news and information and to discover audience opinions
and trends. It’s also very economical. We are constantly monitoring
our presence on the following social-media platforms even as we
research and consider new platforms where we might reach more
people with the church’s messages.
Facebook—facebook.com/TheLCMS
o

As noted above, we have a growing global audience of 100,000-plus
followers, adding hundreds of new followers weekly and more than
doubling the number of followers since January 2014. In terms of
“page likes,” the Synod has one of the largest (if not the single largest) Lutheran presences on Facebook.
o 15,000 of those followers come from countries outside the United
States, including the Philippines and Brazil, with some 5,000 followers, as well as significant followings in non-Christian countries like
Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
o Our most popular posts reach more than half a million viewers and are
shared hundreds of times by those who see them.
o We’ve begun to create and share Lutheran-specific memes and shareable content that teaches and reinforces the faith.
Twitter—twitter.com/thelcms
o The social-media platform Twitter is key to reaching the Millennial
Generation and Generation X.
o We’ve successfully promoted and hosted three tweet-chats aimed at
specific audiences and providing participants with direct access to
President Harrison.
Instagram—instagram.com/thelcms
With the addition of a staff photojournalist, thousands of photos depicting the Witness, Mercy, and Life Together work of the Synod can
be easily posted and shared. (More on this photojournalist immediately
below.)
Photo Archive—photo.lcms.org/#!/index

In November 2013, we added an award-winning professional photojournalist to our staff. Since then, he has visually shaped the national
and international Witness, Mercy, and Life Together mission work of
the LCMS through photographic storytelling in some 15 countries
and 20 states. We have amplified, through compelling imagery, our
disaster, mercy, and international ministry work centered on the mission priorities of the LCMS; created an image archive comprising an
array of galleries; and continued to teach new missionaries visual literacy for their ongoing work in the field.
o More than 170 photographically documented stories from America
and around the world.