Print is Toast.
"So, is print going away?" the Pastor asked me this week.
It's an interesting question. And I'm asked it a lot. The newspaper/magazine industry is asking the same question. It seems like the digital age is rolling over the traditional paper printing.
Is it going away?
I don't know. Except I do know this:
Print Media is losing paid subscription and ad revenues. New York Times recently admitted to a 8.9% ad revenue decline. Magazines keep lowering their prices so that more people will subscribe. Pretty soon, they'll have to give away subscriptions in order to have the numbers so they can sell advertising.
The digital options are saving money (once you set it up). The recession has made businesses, churches and people look for...
Your Church Needs the Nones.
I hate walking into a room full of people I don't know. My inner bashfulness kicks in and I scan the room to see if there's something to do (to look busy) or a small group that I may know.
Everyone wants to feel wanted. Or needed.
In the past, people developed friends at work, at parties, or in church.
But sadly, church has been dropped from that list. Some people don't feel welcomed in church. There's nothing that in "church" that calls to them. They don't understand the benefit of going.
Because churches don't know a clear benefit themselves?
A recent Pew Study has established a group called the "Nones". People who don't affiliate with a specific church. And this recent 2012 study says...