Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.

Multi-channel communications advice from the publisher of USA TODAY

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Multichannel communication is needed in churches
We live in a time of Multi-channel communication and here is advice on how to work together as a team  to make the most of it.

When Larry Kramer, founder of the successful MarketWatch website, took over as the new publisher of USA TODAY he made some comments that provide a challenge to communication ministries in churches when he talked about how he wants to give people the news. He said, “The paper will build ‘closer relationships with our readers’ through new uses of technologies. ‘We’re going to give people what they want, when they want it, where they want it. You want it on your watch, I’ll give it to you. Or inside of your sunglasses.’ ” (http://wapo.st/Jw8EBg ) In the church, we may not have all these options to communicate through all the channels available to Kramer, but we have a world to reach with the gospel, so what can we do?

We don’t have the money, but we have the resources

Individual churches don’t have the money to provide communications in the multitude of channels—print, digital, and every variation imaginable in both these areas—in the ways that USA TODAY can. But that doesn’t mean churches can’t keep up with this constantly changing communication revolution with the resources that make them successful in every other ministry endeavor. That way is to realize that the task of providing communications in every channel needed for the church, isn’t a one-person job, but a challenge for the church body. No one person can keep up with technology; no one person can create all the communications needed for a church communications that ministers to all the people at all the church. In practical terms this means:

You need a communications team made up of people who are proficient with the various channels

Quit looking for one person who can do it all. You need a team made up of some who love print; some who dream in HTML code; some who love images; some who love type and words in order; some who can create a great postcard and others who can text with their eyes closed, some who love the discipline of a monthly newsletter with consistent columns and articles, others who gravitate to the free-flowing forms of social media. You need people who are good in person-to-person communications, people who love the web, and people who manage databases effortlessly.

Please reread the paragraph above. Many churches today think they only need to work on what they consider "cutting-edge communications" and that they need to get the youngest, most tech savvy person available to do them. But the church is made up of many people of many ages and skills, of many degrees of access to different technologies. As a church body, we must be committed to serving all of them.

As you do that, here are Four Suggestions on how to create and manage multi-channel church communications: [Read more...]

When you need some help for Church Communications: a FREE e-book–Divide your communication team into 2 production levels

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There is never enough time to get all the work done that needs to be done in church communications. One way to solve this problem is to have volunteers do some of the work. However, many church office administrators and church leaders aren't comfortable doing this because they are concerned about the level of quality that volunteers product. Or they worry that they won't really be able to control what volunteers do.

Click on image to download this free ebook.
Click on image to download this free e-book.

This e-book has a solution to this challenge: Divide your communication team into 2 production levels.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK HERE or on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

Why ministry leaders aren’t always good communicators and what to do about it

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Leaders communication challenges
Leaders can't sit at their desks to create all communications needed--they need a team to help.

The important term in the headline here is "aren't always." Ministry leaders, including pastors, leaders of groups like Young Life, and missionaries are almost always great verbal communicators or they wouldn't be in ministry. They do great talking to groups, teaching, challenging, motivating. But in today's multi-channel communication universe, that isn't enough.

What's needed today

When the Apostle Paul said he needed to be "all things to all people that he might win some," he had no idea of the multitude of communication tools and effective ministry program needs today, but his words couldn't be more true in this area.

You need a variety of communication tools because no church or ministry is a homogeneous group when it comes to what communication tools works best for each person in it.Your message stays the same, but for different groups of people to take it in and act on it, you need different ways to reach them. Here are some examples:

What works in a church

In the church, some people like the traditional bulletin and print newsletter to find out what's going on at the church. Others prefer to get their church news online. Others will only pay attention if they get a text message just before an event and others need large print format to stay informed. In the church if you want your people to know what is going on and to take part, it doesn't matter what you as a leader like or think is useful and proper for the church. What matters is what channels of communication are the various people in your church are responding to.

In the church we always need to remember that the majority does not rule when it comes to being a servant to all. There may only be 4-5 or 10-20 people who still need the newsletter printed out and mailed to them, but we must always remember that our Lord went after the one little sheep. He expects us to value the straying and weak in the same way. [Read more...]

Church Communicator’s review of Six Strategies for Effective Church Communications

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Six Strategies BookI try very hard to create materials that are useful to all church communicators. I do pour heart, soul, and many prayers into them and I send them off (typos and all) trusting God that they make sense and are useful.

It is wonderful to get positive feedback from people and following is a review of Six Strategies For Effective Church Communicators. I'm passing it along because I think the author covers many of the major points of the book well.

Please if you have comments, do send them to me and please put them in the comment sections of the books and even more on my books on amazon CLICK HERE to go to that link. Your opinion is what is so important--I don't do these to talk to myself, but to serve all of you as you create communications that will help your churches fully fulfill the Great Commission.

I don't do these to talk to myself, but to serve all of you as youelp your churches fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Email review of Six Strategies of Effective Church Communications

The Six Strategies are written in a concise style and makes for quick
reading... It should be very useful to help "train" those involved with PR
and church communications (the style should make it easier to get those who
don't like to read, to at least skim through the book).

I agree wholeheartedly with all the observations, insights, strategies and
advice you give, and especially relate to, and identify with, your thoughts
that there are too many media channels to leave to one individual to
effectively communicate with, and that there should be a "communications
team" where individuals from the same "Body" work on different areas
according to their areas of familiarity.  Also, that a congregation's
communications should reflect who they are and not try to convey an image
that does not match who they are.

As I am in the printing business, I am "painfully aware" of the enormous and
fast changes happening in communications and the multitude of "channels"
that are appearing and evolving.

[ I also notice you used some expressions from the OIKOS book (great
recommendation as well... I read it, although I don't agree with all the
content, but the basic message matches what I was taught in a "Master's
Plan" bible study from the 1980s.) ]
. . . . .
Again, thank you, thank you, thank you, for what you've assembled and
written in this book.  I give this a big thumbs up!  You put into easy to
follow words, thoughts that I have had for the past few years.  Even the
bible passages caused me to smile, as I just completed working on quite a
number of them in the last few weeks for the liturgical scripture readings
in our PowerPoint for worship.

In my opinion, the only thing needed to complement the strategies of the
book is a bit more explanation of the Five Steps so readers remember them
better as they read references to The Five Steps in the strategies. But I
guess I can look forward to that in the book you will publish soon: "The
Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing".

from EW, Canada

If you want a copy of  The Six Strategies of Effective Church Communication, CLICK HERE.

Jesus and Perfection in Church Communications

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Jesus Christ our Lord
Of course we want our work to be pleasing to Jesus, but let's look at what really matters to Him.

Sometimes people don't think they are doing all they can for the Lord, that they aren't excellent or perfect enough in their communications ministry unless what they produce professionally perfect, high-tech exciting creations day-after-day, no mistakes allowed. Now all those qualities can be wonderful, but  sadly, it also often means that no one in the church is good enough to create the communications in print or on the website, so an outside, professional firm must be hired to do it. Or, if the work is done at the church, only a select person or two in the church is good enough to produce the quality needed. In other words, the church needs to have the design standards of a professional advertising agency to be pleasing to the Lord.

Being expensive and professional, as defined by using the standards of a professional ad agency, though it might be commendable, isn't the only standard of perfection for the followers of Jesus. [Read more...]