Church Ruins
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 1944 WWII PRESS RELEASE PHOTO MARIGNY FRANCE CHURCH RUINS 2 US TROOPS $9.99 Time Remaining: 1d 23h 36m |
 WWII Residents of San Pietro Italy Stand Amid Ruins of Church Orig Press Photo $16.99 Time Remaining: 26d 1h 14m Buy It Now for only: $16.99 |
 WWII ERA RARE 7X9 VINTAGE PHOTO CHURCH DESTROYED BY BOMB NAGASAKI RUINS LOOK $13.19 Time Remaining: 1d 15h 28m Buy It Now for only: $13.19 |
 WWII Ruins of Museum Church in Ukrainian City of Berdichev Orig Press Photo $13.99 Time Remaining: 29d 22h 21m Buy It Now for only: $13.99 |
 Meeting Street and Church Ruins in Charleston 1865 11x $7.81 Time Remaining: 13d 1h 44m Buy It Now for only: $7.81 |
 WWI Bombed Ruins of Church at Neidenberg Original Press Photo $13.99 Time Remaining: 12d 3h 26m Buy It Now for only: $13.99 |
 1918 91st Division Church Ruins in Belgium Oudenaarde Original Press Photo $27.99 Time Remaining: 20d 2h 11m Buy It Now for only: $27.99 |
 RUINS OF CHURCH ON MEETING STCHARLESTON SC STEREO $42.95 Time Remaining: 2d 3h 7m Buy It Now for only: $42.95 |
 WW1 LASSIGNY CHURCH a Mounted Print 10X8 of ruins recovered by French 1918 $6.10 Time Remaining: 4d 2h 29m |
 CHURCH RUINS AFTER BOMBARDMENT WW1 SOMME POSTCARD $7.95 Time Remaining: 19d 1h 52m Buy It Now for only: $7.95 |
 1940 German Soldiers outside Church Ruins + Civilians $4.99 Time Remaining: 16d 1h 40m Buy It Now for only: $4.99 |
 WWI PC Soissons Ruins Of The Church After The Bombing $12.51 Time Remaining: 20d 4h 32m Buy It Now for only: $12.51 |
 WWII War Ruins Russian Church Undamaged WW2 photo 1941 $22.40 Time Remaining: 6d 13h 36m Buy It Now for only: $22.40 |
 WWI War old Photo 1916 Somme Prise Church Ruins $14.00 Time Remaining: 7d 4h 2m Buy It Now for only: $14.00 |
 WWI War old Photo 1916 Souain Church Devastation Ruins $14.00 Time Remaining: 6d 13h 34m Buy It Now for only: $14.00 |
 German WWI Aidmen in Church Ruin in devastated Etain 1916 Photo $5.00 Time Remaining: 4d 1h 10m |
 Erbeviller Church Ruins WWI military scene war photo $21.00 Time Remaining: 6d 1h 20m Buy It Now for only: $21.00 |
 Samogneux Church Ruins WWI military scene old war photo $21.00 Time Remaining: 7d 3h 44m Buy It Now for only: $21.00 |
 Blown up Church Ruins WWI WW1 Old Photo 1917 $28.00 Time Remaining: 6d 45m Buy It Now for only: $28.00 |
 WW2 England Crowds Around British Tank Church Ruins $26.24 Time Remaining: 4d 1h 54m Buy It Now for only: $26.24 |
 WW1 France Ruins in Church at Arras 5x7 Official Photo $27.16 Time Remaining: 13d 6h 36m Buy It Now for only: $27.16 |
 1945 Okinawa Ruins of Church After Battle 8x6 Photo $22.99 Time Remaining: 25d 6h 6m Buy It Now for only: $22.99 |
Church Ruins
Church Visitor Retention Lessons from a Failed Search
Google just called me out.
I was translating an article into Spanish for work, and as part of a story I recount in the article, I wanted to include a few bits of text slang—basically the Spanish equivalents of lol and rofl.
For me, the Spanish word for "to text" is "textear." I've spent most my life going to Honduras yearly and everyone there uses that word. So, I did a Google search, for "un diccionario de textear."
The first page in the results simply said "Textear— Honduran slang for texting," and the rest of the results were all the same.
Yea, I totally got called out.
In the back of my mind, I know my Spanish has a bit of a distinctly Honduran flare to it, but I never expected it to be so obvious that a machine would pick up on it.
So what's the big deal about that? Well, my first reaction was pride. I realized that my vocabulary insures I'll never be able to explain the idea of texting to a Spanish speaker without lots of confusion and even humiliation, but I didn't care.
I was proud to be using a word so unique that only a Honduran could understand me, because I love that country and even if no other Spanish speakers can understand me, if I fit in with Hondurans, I'm happy.
What does that have to do with visitor retention?
It's an important lesson in the power of words to unite and to divide. By using an esoteric word, I had cut myself off from 95% of the Spanish speaking community, and actually I never found the dictionary because I never figured out the right word to trigger it. I was cut off.
Additionally, when I use words like that, most Spanish speakers don't understand that there's a dialect difference, but instead assume I'm an arrogant gringo who thinks speaking Spanish is nothing but putting an "o" at the end-o of every word-o. In short, they think I'm irrelevant to their life because they can't understand what I'm saying. It's a false assumption, but it ruins the relationship anyway.
The same happens with visitors when we use Christian-ese. They don't have a clue what sanctification is or why they need any remission for their sins. (Shoot, I'll even be honest with you and admit I grew up in church and have worked as a college English professor and I don't know what "remission" means if you use it outside that phrase). So, why do we think words like that will make visitors stick around?
In reality, theological words used in front of non-theologians build walls and convince people we're irrelevant to their lives and don't understand their problems. And accurate or not, visitors leave and that's all that matters.
Of course, there's a good side to this principle as well.
As I mentioned, even though my word choice isolated me, I was proud to be recognized as having a Honduran accent. The same goes for people new to the church. If you avoid overly church-ey language that might isolate, but make it easy for visitors to pick up on and use words or ideas common to your church, you're giving them the tools needed to become a part of your community and fit in.
A good example of this at my church is the idea of being planted in the local church. Probably a third of all services at some point contain a reference to Psalm 92: "those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in courts of our God." If you go through the first session of our introduction to church class, you'll hear that idea at least ten times. It's not an alienating idea the first time you hear it (unlike big, esoteric words that no one understands), but as visitors pick up on the idea, they know that anytime they use it they will be recognized as alluding to something the pastor said. That makes them feel like a part of the community.
About the Author
Trevor works for Excellerate church management software, which is is a cutting-edge system designed to help today's growing churches operate at their best. Successful churches know the importance of being good stewards of the people God has given them, so Excellerate provides tools that help them do their very best in all areas of ministry.
Learn more about Excellerate by visiting www.excellerate.com
are there any castle or church ruins near the city of york?
hi me and my friend have been doing some photography work recently and we were just wondering if there were any abandoned ruins of castles or churches any where near the city of york. or where the nearest ones are any help would be great
the official website is in the link - York itself has still part of the medieval wall - for ruins - there are spectacular ones not too far north at Melrose and Jedburgh for abby ruins, castles are even more - I d recommend a look at the northumbrian tourism webside - I m sure you can find some nice spots there.
If you want really old ruins - the Hadrians wall is also not far away (built in roman times)
Charlotte Church ruins someones wedding (well, not really)