Discover how First United Methodist Church of San Diego transformed its ministry through digital innovation, community engagement, and the rewilding process.
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In this episode
Get ready to rethink church communications and ministry! In this episode of the MyCom Church Communications and Marketing Podcast, host Ryan Dunn sits down with the leadership team from First United Methodist Church of San Diego to explore their journey of transformation in the aftermath of the pandemic. Discover practical strategies for "rewilding" your church—embracing digital innovation, shifting mindsets, and inviting your congregation into the future of ministry.
Joining Ryan in this episode are:
- Rev. Trudy Robinson, Lead Pastor
- Rev. Dr. Hannah Ka, Pastor of Discipleship
- Rev. Brittany Juliette Hanlin, Pastor of Connection and Care
- Meghan Claussen, Director of Communications
Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction & What’s “Rewilding” the Church?
02:26 – Meet the FUMC San Diego Leadership Team
04:15 – The Catalyst for Change: Shifting Church Culture
07:47 – Visioning Process: How the Journey Began
10:08 – Proposals for Ministry Innovation
14:10 – From Bible Study to Podcast: Transforming Discipleship
18:00 – Digital Evangelism, Workshops & Empowering Congregants
22:33 – Overcoming Resistance & Building Buy-In
26:39 – Key Performance Indicators: Measuring Engagement
29:04 – Defining and Celebrating Success in Today’s Church
33:49 – “Rewilding”: Following the Wild Spirit
36:29 – Lessons Learned & Language Barriers
41:43 – Empowering All Generations for Change
44:36 – Takeaways & Next Steps for Your Ministry
Related episodes:
- [108] Thriving ministry online with United Women in Faith
- [105] Revitalizing church models and communicating change
Sponsored by:
- wearesparkhouse.org
- umcom.org
Chapters:
Episode transcript
Ryan Dunn:
The ways we connect in the world are changing. Are the ways we connect with one another in the church changing too? Welcome to the MYCOM Church Communications and Marketing Podcast My name is Ryan Dunn. The leadership at San Diego First United Methodist Church were asking questions about how they can effectively connect their congregation and community, especially post Pandemic. I was fortunate enough to get to sit with several people from the church's staff and discuss their journey of transformation and adaptation in ministry. So they're going to share some insights on their visioning process, some innovative approaches to digital ministry, and the importance of engaging the community. This conversation highlights the concept of rewilding the church, which emphasizes the need to embrace change and reach new audiences while still maintaining a connection with existing members. The team reflects on key performance indicators for measuring success in this new era, and they share some valuable lessons learned throughout the journey. This episode of MYCOM is sponsored by Sparkhouse, a publisher of innovative curricula for children, youth and adults.
Ryan Dunn:
Check out their Bibles, books and other [email protected] where you'll find better curriculum by design. If you find value in episodes like this, you can definitely share your appreciation by hitting the subscribe button on your podcast listening platform. Then go ahead and leave a comment or review about what you appreciate regarding MyCom and maybe even suggest a topic or two that we can explore for you in the future.
Ryan Dunn:
Thanks a lot.
Ryan Dunn:
We're exploring in this episode the rewilding work of First UMC in San Diego, and for this conversation I was joined by lead pastor Reverend Trudy Robinson, pastor of discipleship, Reverend Dr. Hannah Ka, pastor of connection and care, Reverend Brittany Hanlon, and their Director of Communications Megan Clawson. It's a full house, so we'll get to to each one of them, let them introduce themselves and we can put voices to names and it's all coming up here on the MyCom podcast.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, we have a pretty full digital room here on the My Comm podcast. It's first time I've really talked to so many people at one time, so it's going to be interesting to see how this goes. I think we need to get everybody to kind of introduce themselves so we can align some voices to some names. And I'm just going to call on people as it's kind of lined up on my screen here. So Britney, can we begin with you? Can you tell us who you are and what your role is at first umc?
Brittany Hanlin:
Yes. Hi, I'm Brittany Hanlon. I am the Associate Pastor of Connection and Care at First United Methodist Church, which is essentially, I do a lot of the pastoral care and handle those needs for our congregation.
Ryan Dunn:
And, Trudy, you want to go next?
Meghan Claussen:
Yeah.
Trudy Robinson:
I'm Trudy Robinson. I'm the lead pastor of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego. And it really is a team effort. Everything we do, I'm grateful to work with these people.
Ryan Dunn:
Wonderful. And Hannah.
Hannah Ka:
Hi. I'm Hannah Ka, pastor of discipleship here at First Church, serving in my sixth year and enjoying all the rewilding aspects. And I do everything that Brittany or Trudy do not do, so. So.
Ryan Dunn:
And that brings us to Megan.
Meghan Claussen:
Hi, I'm Megan Clawson. I'm the director of communications here at First Church. And I like to say that means that I am really charged with our digital evangelism.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, we've heard the word rewilding. It's part of the vision that has come to life here at First United Methodists there in San Diego. What began this vision process at First Church, as it began a few years ago, what was the impetus for saying, well, let's start looking to do something new or different?
Trudy Robinson:
Absolutely. You know, honestly, it started a long time ago when I was first in ministry, when we began to realize that, you know, the things that worked in ministry in the past that really aren't working much anymore and to recognize those changes is gradually hitting churches more and more through the years. But the pandemic just really emphasized those changes.
Meghan Claussen:
Right.
Trudy Robinson:
And we couldn't ignore them anymore. And as the pandemic shut us down for a while, we weren't sure how we would emerge and what kind of impact it would have on an already kind of declining membership and funding, all of that kind of stuff. And so we really began to look for some sources of inspiration. And I came across the United Methodist Communications podcast. Ryan Dunn, you had a couple of different podcasts about the digital ministry and the digital world.
Hannah Ka:
And.
Trudy Robinson:
And so many things just really hit and set off the light bulbs for me that we decided we would lean into what we can learn about this digital world. And as I was doing some of that advance work, I wanted my congregation to understand the language that we were using that I was beginning to embrace with identifying what's happened in the world as a result of the digital revolution, if you will. And so that really was the impetus for, you know, we got. We got to do church differently. We got to come out of the pandemic with a vision that's going to be something that's not going to be like it was in the past, which is a really hard temptation. Right? Yeah, we. We. We really wanted to be able to come back and get back to normal.
Meghan Claussen:
Right.
Trudy Robinson:
And we had to really be careful about whether or not normal was going to be sustainable and helpful for us as a reference point as we come out of it. So that's kind of how it started.
Ryan Dunn:
So it sounded like you were feeling a sense of shift in the culture of the church prior to the pandemic. Is that true?
Trudy Robinson:
Absolutely. Absolutely. I've been in ministry for close to 25 years, and, you know, every church I served had dreams of certain kinds of ministries. And no matter what, we tried and nothing seemed to reach, you know, young adult ministry is one of the hallmark ones. You know, everybody wants a young adult presence in the church. Right. And it was. It just wasn't reaching.
Trudy Robinson:
My own young adult kids were not interested. And so we began to. I tell you what, the podcast that you gave, some information and some really good sources of inspiration. As I began to look at those things, there was such a relief for me to realize that the whole world is changing. It's not because we've been ineffective. It's not because we just couldn't pull it off. The whole world is changing, and we just really hadn't had a grasp on that yet. And so to hear that, to be able to say, wow, we can let go of those old models, those old expectations, and we can learn something new and just lean into being creative and doing some things that are really, really different than anything we've ever tried.
Ryan Dunn:
So what did the visioning process look like for you all?
Trudy Robinson:
Brittany, you want to talk about that?
Brittany Hanlin:
Well, yeah, so we started off with a book study. Correct me if I'm wrong, anybody, but we. Hannah?
Hannah Ka:
Yeah, it started with report to the church council, showing all the trend changes, and then followed by book study. Sorry.
Trudy Robinson:
There you go.
Brittany Hanlin:
Thank you for that. So, yeah, we started off with showing the congregation, obviously, what was going on in culture. We also showed them some of our budgetary numbers and some of the things that were happening there. And we brought folks together via potluck so that we could kind of share where we were as a church and what was going on in the culture. And then from. We invited the staff and the congregants to join in on a book study. And we read Church's Network by Jeffrey Mahan, and that's one of my favorites. And that was kind of our launching pad to give us some more information so that we might be able to learn together as a congregation about this culture shift.
Brittany Hanlin:
Because, like, Reverend Trudy said, we didn't want folks to feel like it's their fault or it's our fault with this changing culture, but we wanted them to understand that this is kind of a part of the history paradigm time. Okay. So we did that and invited folks into the congregation to. To participate with that. And then from there, we also created a task force for various departments in our. In our congregation, various ministries. So we had eight task forces that met throughout the summer to kind of discuss the book and to discuss the. What they were tasked with, whether it was the building or music or children.
Brittany Hanlin:
And they had these conversations to kind of figure out where we go from here and then from those task for they came up with proposals that we presented to the congregation in a church council meeting. Essentially we had a. What we called a potlucks and proposals. And so we came together for not to, you know, break bread together, but also to discuss these proposals and what would come from them and how our congregation would shift. And then from there, our church council voted to approve those proposals so that we might move forward in the tasks that were presented.
Ryan Dunn:
All right, so if we get down to the nitty gritty, what were some of the proposals?
Hannah Ka:
So one of the biggest changes that we recommended is to change pastor's Bible study that used to meet at 10:30am on Wednesday morning. Ryan, you can imagine who the main audience was for Wednesday morning, 10:30am and out of my engagement and discipleship task force, I asked people, where do you learn, how do you learn, and what's the format you learn the most? And they said, conversation and YouTube and other things. So why don't we try this? And they came up with recommendations to switch our platform from in person and zoom only to podcasts and other digital library contents. So I didn't have. We came up with the ideas and our task force members backed it and they recommended it. We didn't have any mean to make that happen. And that's where Megan came on. But before we went there, we presented all those proposals.
Hannah Ka:
I'm just sharing one example. Out of 30. How many proposals, recommendations? 38, 36. I'm just representing one out of those. And the church council. No, before we went to the church council, the entire congregation had an opportunity to hear our recommendations and rationales. And then about a few weeks later, we voted on it with the church council. So from the presenting information in January to book study in February, and then rewilding conference at the end of March or April, and then task forces over the summer and proposal and Potluck and proposal in September and church council later.
Hannah Ka:
It was a year of journey, like massive journey. But we weren't the leaders. We actually packed each other's brain and gathered our voices and made that happen. So now that the task force members are invested in it, they're proud of it and proud of the direction we are heading towards. So that's one example. And it wasn't just change in the format. We also had a task force on Faith and practice, belief and practice, where we revisited our understanding, what's our theological stance, let's get together and understand where we are speaking from. And the format change actually captured the theological shift and it was.
Hannah Ka:
It set sail easily. It wasn't easy. But the trouble will be shared by Megan.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, before we get into the trouble, then, I do want to, I want to commend your process in, in one respect, because a lot of times when we start thinking about innovation within ministry, there's just this temptation to grab on to like the cool new technology. So a church will hear that, well, technology or podcasts are reaching people, so let's have a podcast. But your approach, it sounds like, was to say, well, we have our Wednesday Bible study. We know that that is important. How can we make this accessible to a greater number of people or how can we bring it out in the community? And the podcast then became the answer for that. And it sounds like that was the approach with quite a bit of what you were doing. And then, Megan, maybe this is where.
Ryan Dunn:
We lean into you.
Ryan Dunn:
Then that was the great stuff. I'm sure it was all just easy, right?
Ryan Dunn:
Was it?
Meghan Claussen:
Well, you know, actually, Ryan, I wasn't here for most of the year discernment. I am one of the recommendations that came out of the task force. So we used to have a director of communications that was much more focused on like the internal congregational communications print materials. Back in the day, we actually had a print shop in house here where we were producing weekly newsletters and also doing bulletins and other things for other churches in the area. So really like old school traditional. Right. But coming out of these task force was the recognition that if we truly are going to go and lean more in the digital space, then, you know, we need someone that has, you know, a bit of experience in that. So I was really lucky because I stumbled across the job opening.
Meghan Claussen:
I think it is a God thing. I wasn't looking for a new job at the time, but I was really ecstatic because I have a whole career in marketing communications, most of it in the digital space. And I'm a lifelong United Methodist, and I was just really excited to see one of the local churches really wanting to embrace this. And so I didn't participate in the task force, but I have participated in helping to launch all of those proposals the year after. So that's been quite fun and exciting. So part of that, when I came in, it was really important to me that I reassured everyone that we aren't just going to throw everything out and do it the way I wanted to. I recognize that technology is constantly changing. I even sometimes struggle with, like, what's going on now with this platform.
Meghan Claussen:
Right. And so we really reassured everyone that we were taking them along for the ride. We weren't going to leave anyone behind. So one of the other recommendations that came out of task force was that we did some digital workshops that we could help help the congregants that aren't as comfortable with technology start to learn some of these things, that they would know where to access all the resources, much of which already existed, actually. It was just they didn't know that it existed or where to find it. And so one of the first things I did when I came on board was to work through those workshops and start educating everyone on. This is our website, and this is where you can find sermon recordings, and this is where you can find all of our events. You know, this is our YouTube channel, which houses all of these things, and it has for quite some time.
Meghan Claussen:
And then also teaching them how to use Facebook and Instagram and how they can really become a digital evangelist and develop that skill so that they can continue to answer that call as technology continues to evolve.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah. I found those resources in surfing through your website myself, and it occurred to me that just what a wonderful tool that is for people who may feel that discomfort in moving into the digital space, feel like they're losing their sense of connection and in a way of inviting them into that and also to let them know that they're seen and valued. I would imagine that you're probably not getting hundreds of views on those YouTube videos, but there's so much value in just, you know, the couple dozen views that you do get. Is that how you feel about it?
Meghan Claussen:
Right. So I. I was hesitant when I came into this role because I was like, oh, my gosh, I hope they don't think that we're going to just magically go viral overnight. I hope the expectations are really like, sound. And I was thankful to hear that. Yes, everyone, like, recognized that, but the numbers we've gotten have really surprised Us in a good way. We're not viral, we're not making money off of this. But as an example, our.
Meghan Claussen:
Our weekly in person pastor study and also when they were doing it via Zoom. So the hybrid approach was attracting maybe 30 people a week or less. But I'm just looking for the number here. Looking back at from January 2024, which is when we launched Perspectives, through this past month, so July, we've had 9,300 views of collectively of all of our episodes across YouTube, Apple, podcasts, and Spotify. So we are reaching quite a quite a number of people outside the walls of our church.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah.
Meghan Claussen:
Which is really exciting. This past month on YouTube, we've had, I think, more than 500 unique individuals that watched one or more of the episodes. And so it's just been so exciting for all of us on staff and also in the congregation to see how many more people we can reach and connect with when we're willing to take that scary step to do something brand new for all of us.
Ryan Dunn:
How old of a congregation is first UMC in San Diego? I mean, not demographically, but was it founded in 1930s? 1940s?
Trudy Robinson:
Yeah, shoot. I'm 1859.
Hannah Ka:
Thank you.
Trudy Robinson:
Thank you, Hannah. 1859. Yeah. We just celebrated our hundred or our 60th anniversary of moving from a downtown church to a church kind of a little bit more in a suburb area. And so, and, and folks have wonderful connections to this church and they call it their home. And they're all aging, right? We all are aging. But, you know, we look out across the congregation and more often than not, we saw folks with white hair or, you know, and wonderful, wonderful people. But now we're looking out over the congregation and there's a heck of a lot more young people.
Trudy Robinson:
And it has just been so rewarding to be able to know that what we're doing is actually serving a need for folks. And not just are they listening to the podcast, but they're finding their way to the church to be with us, to learn more about what we think about faith.
Hannah Ka:
And that was one of the major change that happened after rewilding the four rewilding. Most of the people who come to discipleship effort were older, but they were willing to welcome fewer younger people. And just for example, yesterday we had our quarterly new members class, and 15 came, and there are only three people that's older than 60, and most of them were younger than 40s.
Ryan Dunn:
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Ryan Dunn:
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Ryan Dunn:
Do you feel like you had to do some convincing or a lot of teaching for the existing, maybe even a little bit older congregation to get a sense of mission mindedness or.
Trudy Robinson:
Some absolutely.
Ryan Dunn:
Imagination about what could be. Yeah. Okay. What did that look like?
Trudy Robinson:
Yeah. And that's, that's really why we took a whole year to figure out to do a visioning thing. You know, it wasn't going to be any kind of Saturday one and done kind of things. We took a whole year to really be able to understand the world we live in now. And, and even then we had so all. We had so many of those activities scheduled throughout that year as an effort to, to have entry points for more and more people to come and learn more about this. We did a lot of sermon series on God working in the change on the movement of the Holy Spirit. That is wild.
Trudy Robinson:
That's actually where the rewilding came from, that title. So we tried our best to give the congregation, those who were interested and committed to the church, ways to understand why we need to change and how we might change. Understanding the world we live in gave us that how. And then to be able to add on that theological message, the biblical message that shows so many pivot points of change within the movement of God, within the church and the faith tradition, that we were comforted, I think, by some of those changes. Most of us, right. Not everyone took advantage of what we were learning. Not everyone wanted their beloved church to change. And that took some courage for all of us to be able to say no, this is what we need to be doing.
Trudy Robinson:
And the fact that we had invited so many people in to help us make those decisions and to offer those proposals to figure it out. We had the support within our congregation, within the leadership to be able to have that kind of courage.
Meghan Claussen:
Mm.
Brittany Hanlin:
And I think, Ryan, that's what, for me, was the most unique part of our rewilding process, our year of discernment, is that there were a lot of entry points for people to get in, but there was always. We always came back to it. You know, sometimes churches do strategic plans, and they just kind of like, go on the shelf, you know, talk about it once. We're like, we need to change. How do we do it? We don't know. But this process was very much like, oh, this is step one, and then this is step two. And like, the education was really, I think, an important part of getting the congregation on board because it helped them to understand and to see it rather than us just giving them facts and figures. They were a part of the conversation as well.
Brittany Hanlin:
So it helped them to have ownership and to feel pride in some of the changes that were happening.
Meghan Claussen:
And after the fact. Also, we even now continue circling back to rewilding and talking about the facts and figures and anecdotal results to show people, you know, this is the result. Reverend Trudy mentioned that last year we celebrated the 60th anniversary of our current sanctuary. And during that service, we. We used the opportunity to do a church reunion, calling everyone back in person and talked about the history of the church. And. And I had the honor of being able to get up there and talk about some of the new things we're doing and provide some of the KPIs of that I've been tracking. And ever since then, so many people pop into my office and they're just like, wow, we can't believe that this is what the results are.
Meghan Claussen:
And now we understand it, and we're so excited. And those are people that, you know, they grew up in the church. And so really hearing and seeing those results is giving them a lot of hope and courage to continue in the process.
Ryan Dunn:
All right, you brought up KPIs, Megan. Key performance indicators. Yeah, Some people are just love those numbers. And of course, in church world, oftentimes we. We equate that to being, you know, people who are in attendance at our Sunday morning worship event. Right. So.
Meghan Claussen:
Right. Yeah.
Ryan Dunn:
But it's in. In this new vision I'm curious about. Like, what are some of the KPIs that you are looking for?
Meghan Claussen:
Right. So I'm a big data nerd. So I have a huge. I have a whole deck that I put together monthly that's like 16 pages long, but I'm looking at different stats across our platforms that I bucket into either awareness or engagement because, you Know, I don't want just the vanity metrics of, oh, you know, it was viewed this many times, but really, like, how are people actively engaging? So some of the key things that I look at really are how many people are actually following us. Right? We got this many new followers on Facebook, on Instagram, on YouTube, you know, how many times is the podcast actually viewed? Not just found, you know, sharing our videos. Right. We've been. I'm really big on what I call less but louder.
Meghan Claussen:
And so looking at what are the things we're already doing that we can then repackage in different ways across the platform. So this year I've been doing a lot of sermon clips because the three reverends just have amazing wisdom. And so we've been. Almost weekly I've been putting clips out there, and it's really fun to see, like, that people are actually watching it more than just a second, you know, so, like, how long are they watching it and are they sharing it, et cetera. So really making sure that people are finding value out of this digital content that we're putting out there.
Ryan Dunn:
I would love to know with those.
Ryan Dunn:
KPIs in mind, then maybe.
Ryan Dunn:
How does success of church in 2019 look different than success in church now in 2025?
Trudy Robinson:
You know, it's interesting because we as a denomination, I'm not sure any denomination really knows how to measure growth or, you know, reach engagement, especially when it's changed so much. So I wish. I wish there was an easy way to figure out the number, but we can't. And so what we. And this is my. My greatest pride, if I could say that we. We really sense a change in the congregation on a Sunday morning. And so it's really about seeing.
Trudy Robinson:
Having people embrace the spirituality of trying new things and to trust in God, having some of those efforts be bringing newer people into the church that are excited about what we've got going and to be able to see the engagement that. That people have with one another and with each other. So. So we're seeing people really take their faith to a different level now in these ways, to be able to look for God and to learn with each other a little bit more deeply than we saw in 20 at the beginning of 2020. And just the spirit of being together. There's a lot more vitality, a lot more expectation, a lot more just. Honestly, I think it's pride for the congregation, too, to be able to look around and say, we've done this, we've done this. This is pretty awesome.
Hannah Ka:
So if I May add a couple sentences to that word. I'm the person who welcomes all the people, organize the hospitality team, and when, I don't know about 2019, but between 2022 and 2025, I see our older folks welcoming people who may be new to them. So that's where the vitality comes around. Three months after we started online digital discipleship efforts, we started seeing average of 4 to 6 weekly visitors. That's now 8 to 12 weekly new visitors who are coming to check us out. And they already know the church, they already know the contents, and they already know our names. And they walk in to say, hi, Reverend so and so. And I would ask, have I met you? And that person would say, oh, I watched you guys.
Hannah Ka:
So for those people who may be curious about how the KPI is translated into the vitality that Reverend Trudy is talking about and the number of people showing up on Sunday morning, that's the complete picture.
Brittany Hanlin:
Yeah.
Meghan Claussen:
And we've actually gotten new members that found us because of the podcast, so it's really interesting. We also have a unique location where we're very visible from one of the main freeways that go through San Diego. And so we hear kind of a hybrid experience. A lot of people will see us going by. We have this big digital marquee, and we make sure to use it to show some of our. Our inclusivity, our justice. We also are able to light up our sanctuary with colored lights on the outside at night. So we'll do like, rainbow colors or whatnot.
Meghan Claussen:
So a lot of people will see that and be like, that looks interesting. So then they go online. They'll watch us online for a couple of weeks. They'll look at some of our recordings of the sermons. They'll start listening to the PODC to. To confirm that, yes, you know, they really are open and welcoming. They're. They're doing more than just talking the talk.
Meghan Claussen:
Right. And then they'll come in person. So it's so interesting to us to see that it's really that blend. And if we didn't have those digital assets, they might have not come because they've had bad experiences elsewhere. And we've also received a lot of communications from people saying that they're not ready yet to come back to a church. But they're really finding it so encouraging to be able to listen to the podcast and see that there really is a more openness to theology than maybe what they experienced elsewhere.
Trudy Robinson:
And I think, just to add to that, Megan, what I'm also hearing as well. Not just to kind of get to know us through the website and the podcast, but there's still one more test, and that is. Is that just what they say over there? And they don't feel it inside the building, you know, which makes it so much more important for the ways in which we went through this whole rewilding process to get the congregation to understand and to be in that mindset that we're doing this to fulfill our mission, right, to reach outsiders, to reach those who are not within the walls of the church, and to be able to welcome them with love and grace that we have been bestowed by Jesus. So, yeah, we're matching. You know, we're matching in all of that.
Ryan Dunn:
I don't know if we have actually described rewilding yet. Talk to me about that. You talk about rewilding the church. What are we doing?
Trudy Robinson:
Yeah, we are. We are trying to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in this age. That's, I think, the simplest way I can say it. And it comes from the Pentecost story where the Spirit descended upon the disciples and those gathered there in wild ways. Wild ways. There's nothing orderly about that. And so that kind of set the whole posture that we as a congregation need to have towards what we may discover and to think beyond the box with the Spirit. You know, they were speaking in all sorts of different languages, and that means they could be coming from all sorts of different sectors of our community, of our social network here in San Diego.
Trudy Robinson:
And we can't ignore what we might be seeing out there, what might be happening out there, because God's moving out there, too. That's really rewilding.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, no new vision comes about without there being a misstep or a broken egg along the way. Is there something that maybe you all tried early on that, or maybe not even that specific. Let's think about it like this. Like, what kind of learnings do you have now that you wish you knew back at the start of this whole process?
Trudy Robinson:
Yeah. Anybody else want to start with this one?
Hannah Ka:
Well, I can't recall any. There are a lot of conversations and listening sessions along the way with questions to the community and one on one conversations along the way. But I am learning from this shift, is that when you change the platform, you also need to change the theology, but also the language if you're reaching out to spiritual but not religious. A lot of people don't understand the Methodist terminologies and the concept of justifying sanctifying grace. So every day I try to translate My theological education into today's world and using my 18 year old as a, as a test. Is there anything that you don't understand in these language, in this concept? So that has been a major challenge. As a person who was born and raised as a Methodist, you have to think twice about the language you use, the examples you use in podcasts and in sermons and in other conversations, so that you're playing in the language of people you're reaching out to, not bringing them to your court.
Brittany Hanlin:
I agree with Hannah. I think there are moments when I think I'm like, just so open and liberal and having these conversations about all these things and I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I'm really a church lady. Like, I'm really actually like a very, you know, and so I, I come from, you know, you know, there are certain, like, hills that I'm like, no, we can't get rid of the bulletin type thing, you know, like, relax, Brittany. So those are some things that I think I'm still working on is like, I am, like Hannah said, born and raised in the church. And I often am speaking from that standpoint, not realizing that not everybody understands what I'm saying or not everybody's coming from that same standpoint, or not everyone has had church experiences where there wasn't pain associated with church, you know, so I'm working on experience, acknowledging that, that I am a very church woman. And if I want to reach folks who are not in the church, then I also have to meet them where they are and not expect them to come where I am.
Trudy Robinson:
I think that one of the big surprises for me, just talking about the digital workshops that Megan was, was doing for some of our older folks, I, I think I assumed the knowledge that our older congregation, what they know and what they don't. And I was surprised on the one hand to think they don't know how to find this on the website, you know, that kind of stuff. But then on the other side of that as well, I've been really surprised by some of the older folks that are just running alongside us towards all of these wonderful new changes. And so I think that has been a wonderful, humbling experience to know that, you know, we might think we know what we've got to work with, but maybe we don't. And to learn to let the congregation teach us and for us to not only be able to serve to an outreach to people who aren't here yet, but to also bring along the current congregation and to learn from them and to see the ways in which they have made everything we do better. So that's been a humbling learning. I think.
Meghan Claussen:
I'd have to echo what Reverend Trudy said. There have been ideas that I hadn't thought of that came from, you know, congregates, like, why aren't we on this platform? Have you thought about this? And I'm like, oh, I guess we could do that. And then also, you know, struggling to figure out what's going to be that language that's going to connect with our current membership, but then also outsiders. And how do you bridge that gap?
Ryan Dunn:
I. I think one of the really important steps that you took, and I don't know if this was intentional. It. No, there were definitely. This was intentional. And offering all these training videos was a sense of empowerment for people who are there to be a part of the mission. Because so often it just kind of gets left to the wayside to say, well, we are going after this new audience, or we want to connect with younger people. And that becomes the focus without the sense of cooperation.
Meghan Claussen:
That's right.
Ryan Dunn:
The people who are there. So. Right, I see that. And so I definitely encourage people just to go look at some of the tutorial videos, the digital library that has been developed there, just to see that process and how that can be created within other congregations too. It's not just about leaving the current congregation behind, but really empowering.
Meghan Claussen:
Right. And that's ever evolving. I actually need to go back and update those tutorials because we launched a new website during this whole process as well as part of it. So I need to refresh part of that. And then also, like I said, that less that louder concept also means that it's looking to see what we're producing over time and how we can leverage it there in that, that digital space. So it's not like a one time thing. Our hope is that it will grow and evolve over time with what those needs are that are identified by the community. Right.
Trudy Robinson:
Circling back to the pastor's Bible study, that took a change in this process. And we didn't leave the folks who love to be together and talk about it. We didn't leave them by the wayside. We actually have a listening party, if you will, weekly listening session where they gather together to be able to listen to the podcast. So there are some folks that, who, you know, those folks who said, what's a podcast? Again, you know, we said, just come and listen and you'll. That's it. That's all you need to do. And then they have some conversation together about what what has been presented.
Trudy Robinson:
So yeah, we tried really hard to either come alongside with something new and and not upset too many people or to find ways to bring people along.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, everybody, Brittany, Trudy, Anna, Megan, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us on my appreciate just the transparency in the journey and it sounds like your community really appreciates the transparency and knowability as well. Blessings to you and thank you so much.
Trudy Robinson:
Thank you, Ryan.
Meghan Claussen:
Thank you.
Ryan Dunn:
All right, thanks to you listener for taking this journey with us. I'll offer a few key takeaways after this word from Sparkhouse Sparkhouse offers curriculum including Frolic, Spark, Activate, Faith Whirl, Holy Moly, Reform, and Echo the Story. Sparkhouse is your trusted source for faith formation resources that connect with kids, youth and leaders, and you can access all their curriculum, plus hundreds of bonus resources on their online platform called Sparkhouse Digital. They add new content quarterly, including children's messages, intergenerational events, and Christmas programs. Yep, it's coming up. Subscribe today. Make Sparkhouse Digital your go to source for children and youth ministry resources that are fresh, fun and relevant. To learn more, go to wersparkhouse.org it's better curriculum by design all right.
Ryan Dunn:
I think that we can agree that inherent to the church's mission is to reach beyond our existing congregations. We need to be asking our congregations, though, how they envision our churches meet people wherever they are on their faith journeys, and I appreciated that invitation from First United Methodist Church in San Diego also. So it's vitally important to invite the congregation into a process of digital transformation if that's what you're undertaking. And we can learn a lot from how FUMC empowered their existing congregation to embrace the digital digital changes as they sought to rewild the church. It's good stuff. If you haven't already, hit the subscribe button on your podcast listening platform or on YouTube, it's if you're ready to take the next step in support, leave a comment, rating or review that helps us know what's valuable for you in a podcast like this, and it helps us reach out to new people. MyCom is a production of United Methodist Communications. Thanks to Renee McNeil, Patty Dellibovi, AJ Thurman, and Andrew Slyker for production and marketing support.
Ryan Dunn:
My name is Ryan Dunn. MyCom comes out near the end of the each month, so I'm going to be back with you in a month's time providing some support for your church communications and marketing. Until then, peace.