The Commons · Start Here

Your digital ministry foundation.

Here's the thing: your church already has more to say than you realize. This workbook hands you the framework and your first practice. Everything in The Commons builds from right here.

IFramework
IIStories
IIIChannels
IVNext move
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Part I

The framework.

Nobody decides to visit a church in one single moment. They move through stages. First they know your church exists. Then they like what they see. Then they trust it enough to walk through the door. Your digital presence is what carries people through those stages, and that's exactly what we're going to build.

"Every platform you use has one primary job. Most churches use them all for the same thing, and miss what each one does best."

Leslie Smith Kons, Studio Kons
KNOW Discovery social media LIKE Depth your website TRUST Belonging email
Know
Social Media
This is where people discover you exist. Social is for the strangers out there. Its whole job is to make someone feel something before they ever land on your website.
Trust
Email
People who opted in are already leaning toward you. Email is the most personal channel you have, and it's where relationship gets built between Sundays.

Now let's make it personal. Where is your church strongest right now? Where's the gap? Be honest. This one's just for you.

▲ Know
What are you currently posting on social that a complete stranger would understand and feel drawn by?
Does your website go deep enough for someone who wants to know who you really are?
▲ Trust
What does your email list receive that actually builds a relationship, beyond the announcements?
Part II

The story sweep.

Your church doesn't have a content problem. It has a noticing problem. Stories exist in five places every single week. The question that unlocks all of them: What happened, and what does it reveal?

"Write everything. Filter nothing. You'll know which three matter when you see them."

First: the brain dump What happened in the last two weeks at your church? Don't filter. Don't edit. Just write. A volunteer moment, a visitor's question, something your pastor said, a space that felt alive, a practice you keep coming back to.

Now look at what you wrote through five lenses. Each P is a category of story your church already has:

P People Who showed up, served, changed, led, or was welcomed?

The person who's been volunteering every Saturday for twelve years. The family that found community here after a hard year. The kid who sang in choir for the first time. These are your Know and Like stories, the ones that show people outside your church who belongs here.

P Process What happens before Sunday becomes Sunday?

The flower guild arranging the chancel at 7am. The choir rehearsal Wednesday night. The pastoral staff preparing for a hard conversation. Behind-the-scenes is Like content. It shows the depth of care that usually happens where nobody can see it.

P Purpose Why does this matter to your church specifically?

This is the why your community matters to this particular congregation. The history. The conviction. The thing your pastor says that makes people stay. Purpose stories almost always build Trust.

P Place What does your building reveal about who you are?

Light through old windows. The parish hall where generations have gathered. The garden a member planted in 1978. Place can serve all three stages depending on how you frame it, and it grounds the abstract in something physical.

P Practice What rhythms shape your community week after week?

Coffee hour after every service. The tradition of ringing the bell. The way announcements are always greeted with laughter. Practice stories reveal what a community actually values, the things it keeps returning to week after week.

Now: develop three stories

From everything above, which three moments deserve to be told? For each one, answer the question that turns any ordinary moment into a story worth sharing: what does it reveal?

01 What happened
What does it reveal?
Funnel stage:
02 What happened
What does it reveal?
Funnel stage:
03 What happened
What does it reveal?
Funnel stage:
Part III

One story, three channels.

Here's the move most church communicators miss: the same story belongs on all three platforms, and it tells differently on each one. The magic is understanding the job each channel has, then letting one story serve all three.

"One moment from Sunday. Three completely different pieces of content. Same story, same church, three different jobs, three different sets of people."

Pick one story from Part II Copy or paraphrase one of your three story captures here. This is the source material you'll route through all three channels.
Know · Strangers Social Media "What glimpse makes a stranger feel something before they know anything about you?"
Trust · Your people Email "What version of this story moves someone in your community (or right on the edge of it) to show up next Sunday?"

Notice what happened: The moment didn't change. The church didn't change. The frame, the depth, and the call to action shifted for each channel, because each channel is talking to someone at a different point in their journey. This is the practice, and you just did it once. The Commons Concierge helps you do it every week.

Part IV

Your next move.

Sustainable digital ministry lives in small, consistent decisions, the kind you make week after week. Leave this workbook with one thing sharpened and one block of time protected.

One P to pay attention to "Starting this week, I'm going to look for moments that fit the ________ category that I've been walking past."
The weekly block Thirty minutes, once a week. The five questions: What happened? What's coming up? What story serves which stage right now? What goes where? Who owns it?
Day
Time
Who else
One story I'm going to tell this week From everything you've noticed today, what's the one moment you're going to actually share?