You may already be aware that MarriedPeople has a private Facebook group for church leaders who work in marriage ministry. You may even be one of the more than 1,400 members in the group. But just in case you didn’t know about the group, or aren’t already a member, here’s a few reasons why you should consider joining.
1. Live Webinars
Back in 2017, we started hosting free webinars on Facebook Live within the group. The first one went so well that we decided to make it a regular thing.
But you’ve got to be a member of the group in if you want to watch the webinars live. Interested? You can watch that first webinar below.
2. Ask Questions
If you’re new to marriage ministry, you probably have questions. Even if you’ve been in the game for several years, you’ve probably still got questions.
The Facebook group is the perfect place to ask these questions. The MarriedPeople team checks the group on a regular basis and when lend a hand where we can.
Even better, these questions are also seen and answered by other church leaders who also have a great perspective on what works, and what doesn’t.
3. Discounts on Products
We frequently offer discounts on our resources, including our annual partnership. Leaders in the Facebook group are usually the first to hear about these great deals. Not to mention, we also share sneak peaks of future resources and share news about our parent organization, Orange.
By joining the Facebook group, you become a MarriedPeople insider. It’s the best place to hear about everything that’s going on and get the latest resources first.
4. Network with Your Peers
Probably the best aspect of the group is the opportunity to meet and talk to other church leaders who are in the same situation as you. The group has got leaders from different-sized churches, from across the United States and world.
They’re all a part of the group for the same reason—to improve marriages. We want to share the best ideas to make that happen. We want to encourage one another to keep going. We want to help each other win.
Join Today
If you’re looking for any one of those four things, you should probably join the group. It’s private, so you’ve got to request to join, but we promise we’ll let you in. (We keep it private to keep out unwanted spammers).
If you’re already in the group, comment below with your favorite part of being a member! And feel free to invite any other church leader friends to join, too. We want to keep growing the group to make it even better.
Robert Carnes is the editor on the MarriedPeople team. He’s worked in marketing and communications for a number of churches and nonprofits. Robert lives in Atlanta with his wife, Victoria.
Valentine’s Day happens on February 14 every year. In 2018, that day also happens to be Ash Wednesday.
These are two pretty different holidays. Valentine’s Day mostly involves excess—cheesy love songs, over-the-top romance and elaborate gifts. Conversely, Ash Wednesday is primarily about moderation. It marks the start of Lent, when most people give up something for 40 days.
Despite these differences, there is one similarity between these two days—love. Valentine’s Day revolves around romantic love. Ash Wednesday is a solemn reminder of Christ’s sacrificial love for us.
What Does This Mean For The Church?
What is the church to do when one of our traditional Christian holidays falls on the same day as a flower-filled, Hallmark-driven, love-fest? This is actually a great opportunity to connect with those people in your community who don’t know about your church.
Ash Wednesday is an event some within the church know. For others, it’s a tradition that’s at least vaguely familiar. However, it’s not something those outside the church know at all.
The fact that these holidays fall on the same day gives us the chance to make a church tradition relevant to what society does. We have the chance to spread God’s love on a wider scale.
Connect Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day
Combine your traditional Ash Wednesday service with a Valentine’s celebration; find a balance between the colorful Valentine’s decor and the humble trappings of Ash Wednesday
Send out handwritten love notes to every house in a one-mile radius of your church—this could even be an opportunity to explain why we celebrate Ash Wednesday
Partner with a local restaurant to give couples a discount on their date night meal if they mention your church’s name
Host a relationship/marriage focused sermon series leading up to the big day that focuses on the humility of Ash Wednesday
Give away relationship/marriage books that your church can read during Lent
Instead of giving something up for Lent, give couples ideas of things they can start doing to improve their relationships
Give your the couples in your church date night ideas—each date could start at the Ash Wednesday service so the couples can connect spiritually
Host a free fancy dinner at your church for everyone in the community who can’t afford one—offer childcare so couples are more likely to attend
Publish a short Lent devotional with the theme of God’s love
Organize a service project to help those who don’t feel as loved in the community—encourage couples to come serve together, or singles to be a part of something that’s not all about coupled romance
Post quotes about love on social media to let people know you care; then post a few verses of scripture referring back to Ash Wednesday
Write words of encouragement in chalk on the sidewalks of your town—chalk isn’t the same as ash, but it’s close enough (it’ll look even closer if you use those sticks of black chalk you normally avoid).
Instead of marking people’s foreheads with ash crosses, draw some ash hearts on foreheads
Buy extra Valentine’s Day cards and flowers to give away to any of the busy significant others who forgot at the last minute—they can pick them up while getting their foreheads ashed
What is your church planning on doing this February 14?
Robert Carnes is the editor on the MarriedPeople team. He’s worked in marketing and communications for a number of churches and nonprofits. Robert lives in Atlanta with his wife, Victoria.
Email is an effective way your church can communicate with married couples. That’s why we created MP Monthly—a ready-made monthly email newsletter. It’s full of wise advice, dating tips, and conversation starters.
One option for sending out MP Monthly is to upload the pre-made template into MailChimp and send as is. But what if you want to customize the template specifically for couples in your church? We’re so glad you asked.
Upload the Images
One way to customize the MP Monthly Ezine is by recreating the template within MailChimp. This starts by uploading the image files.
Download the MP Monthly zip file from your Strategy Pack.
Inside the folder is a subfolder labeled Images
In MailChimp, navigate to Templates from the main menu
Click on the Content Manager button in the top right
Drag and drop all of the image files from the MP Monthly folder into the MailChimp window
This will automatically upload these images into your media library
Start a Campaign
With the images successfully uploaded to the library, it’s time to create a new email campaign.
Navigate to Campaigns in the MailChimp menu
Click the Create Campaign button in the top right
Name the campaign and select Regular as the campaign type
Select your audience and write a compelling subject line
Now it’s time to recreate the content of the email from the template provided. This will allow you to fully customize the email you create.
Select a Basic One Column template
Click Next to Design the content
Return to your MP Monthly zip folder and locate the HTML file
Open this in a web browser (eg. Chrome) to preview the email template
Using MailChimp’s content blocks, recreate the structure of the sample email
Copy and paste the text from the HTML email into the text blocks
Add image blocks and browse your media library for the files you previously uploaded
Recreating the email in this way allows you to customize the content to fit your needs
Feel free to edit the text, add your own images or change up the layout
The Advanced Method
There is another way to customize the MP Monthly email, but it requires knowing how to read and edit HTML. This way is quicker, but much more technically complex.
Robert Carnes is the editor on the MarriedPeople team. He’s worked in marketing and communications for a number of churches and nonprofits. Robert lives in Atlanta with his wife, Victoria.
