At Faith Lutheran in Northeast Philadelphia, the congregation were admittedly “amateurs” at using social media when they won a communications audit from Forward Together in Faith at the 2015 Synod Assembly.

“The consultant from Kairos was very affirming to us in that at least we were trying,” says Pastor Owen Griffiths. “We were stabbing in the dark, but we were trying to get the message out there.” (Watch video, below)

The consultant noticed that Faith has a great logo, painted on the wall of the church near the parking lot entrance, but it wasn’t used consistently. The congregation is now intentionally using the logo in more of its communications.

“The whole branding thing, I love it,” says Lauren Aviles, a communications volunteer. “It helped me out so much.”

The congregation also learned to leverage its social media presence. Social media only reaches people you have connection with, and the audit helped Faith realize that reach comes from having members and others already in relationship with the church’s Facebook page share its posts to their friends.

For this year’s Easter breakfast the church encouraged members and friends to share their publicity each time it appeared in their news feeds. Many more families and children attended the breakfast as a result.

Griffiths attributes the congregation’s maturing in social media to “what the synod did in helping us with communications.”

As part of a drawing at the 2015 Assembly, Faith won a professional communications audit by a consultant for Kairos and Associates, valued at $1,000, paid for by the Forward Together in Faith campaign.