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.

How to become a missionary and other church communication conference notes

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One of the challenging statements from the Shaddleback Church Communication Summit 2015
One of the challenging statements from the Saddleback Church Communication Summit 2015

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Saddleback Church Communication Summit 2015 (also called "marcom2015" for church marketing and communications).

I wasn't sure what to expect. I hoped it wasn't led by a bunch of young, snarky tech types who had huge church budgets and were enamored with how cutting edge they could be in their social media wizardry.

Also, I had just injured my hip and would be hobbling around with a cane and felt hugely self-conscious because of that. I came close to cancelling at the last-minute.

But I went because I wanted to see what they had to say that might be useful for all of you--the members and readers of Effective Church Communications and I wasn't disappointed.

How I'm going to share what I learned at the conference

I'm going through my notes slowly, thinking and making notes about them. Some of the material will end up as articles on this website, but a number of things I learned are shorter and more of a conversational nature and I'll be putting those on the Effective Church Communications Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/EffectiveChurchCommunications

Please go to the page and "Like" it and you'll receive automatic updates when I post something new there.

About the illustration on this page

The conference started with one of the pastors from Saddleback Church and his challenge to base our church communications on a healthy, balanced vision for discipleship in the church. And the quote in the illustration was a challenge to all of us to prepare our people to be the kind of Christians that can walk outside the church and share Jesus.

When he said that I was reminded of the verse in Hosea 4:6 ". . . my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." In this passage and similar ones, the importance of teaching people God's will and ways and the consequences if we aren't faithful in our calling is emphasized. That is the job of church communicators—from pastor who communicates the Word of God clearly to the volunteer who creates clear descriptions and directions to discipleship small groups—our primary message is to help people first find Jesus and then grow to mature disciples of Jesus.

To help you remember the importance of equipping missionaries (all your church) in your communications, I made a PDF of the image above. CLICK here to download and print it out. It's 4-per-page and an odd size, but with a little trimming it would make a good handout or bulletin insert.

One of the most important things I learned from the conference

One more reason I hope you go to the ECC Facebook page and one of the most important things I learned at the conference is the importance of sharing with each other. We need each other's ideas, insights, comments, and questions. Church Communicators so often work alone--we especially need people to exchange ideas with, to ask questions, to make comments. Social media like Facebook is the perfect place to do it.

I haven't been the most involved person on Facebook—but after the conference and seeing how many of the church communicators I met use it in positive ways, I have a new vision for its value in creating a community. I will be posting on it lots more, so please go to the page, comment, post your ideas and questions and together we'll all grow in our effectiveness as church communicators.

How to cite Bible verses

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Just a quick note here to go along with Gayle's useful article about how to use numbers in print. Following are some of the ways you can cite Bible verses in text:

The first link will take you to the most common ways to cite Bible verses. The second link gives a variety of how various style guides apply the rules.
http://www.wikihow.com/Cite-the-Bible#Following_General_Bible-Citation_Guidelines_sub
http://www.wikihow.com/Cite-the-Bible

What “nobody reads what we write” really means and how to deal with it

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How to solve the complaint that "no one reads what we write" isn't easy, but important for the salvation and discipleship of people in your church.
How to solve the complaint that "no one reads what we write" isn't easy, but important for the salvation and discipleship of people in your church.

No matter what technology we use to communicate, print bulletins, multimedia announcements, websites, social media, a complaint I still hear from church communicators is: "nobody reads what we write." The statement is often spoken in frustration and often more than a bit of anger.

When I hear that, my first response is always, "How do you know that's true? Do people come up to you, throw the bulletin in your face, stomp on their smart phone, or send a nasty email in response to your website and announce 'I don't read any of this!'?"

After a few deep breaths, a laugh, and a little more discussion, the true reason for that statement comes out. When church staffs say that "nobody reads what we write" what it actually means is that people are not showing up for events or paying attention to the requests for action or to volunteer. They may or may not have read it--but regardless, they didn't show up.

If that is the real situation, what is the solution?

It's not what is often assumed

Today an easy answer is that people didn't read it because there was too much text. That isn't always true.

It's true that people have shorter attention spans today, but shorter attention spans does not mean people don't read what is important to them or respond to what appears to be of benefit to them, their families, and spiritual lives. People still have an empty place inside only God can fill. Once they become a Christian, they want to grow to discipleship maturity.

Another easy answer is that people are very busy today and don't have time to read more than a few words.

Again,it is true that people are busy, but ask any cook who was motivated to learn a new cooking technique, a reader whose favorite recent series just came out with a new book, or a fan who can't wait to grab the sports section when the newspaper arrives if they have time to read these things and you'll realize it isn't the amount of text that is the problem.

If the amount of text isn't the problem cutting back on it won't solve it

Because they don't properly diagnose the problem, the solution for many church communicators is to drastically cut the amount of material in the church bulletin and website.

In practical terms this often means:

  • No detailed explanations of activities, just general categories are listed, such as:  "Adult Bible Classes 9 am."
  • Complete information is not included, just overall statements about ministries are listed, such as: "Small groups are important and we urge you to be part of one, call Pastor Joe for more information."
  • Special events are simply announced: "Our church is putting on an incredible Easter Concert on Good Friday--be sure to invite your friends."
  • Using an impressive graphic and few words or replacing announcements with graphics alone (this is happening a lot with church slider headers on websites where the header doesn't link to more complete information.) The graphics may often be well done and contemporary. However, the problem with graphic images as the primary part of an announcement is that a picture is not "worth a thousand words." That great image may have meant something to the person who picked it, but whatever thousand words it meant to the creator is often lost on the person viewing it.

All of these solutions fail to solve the problem of getting people to read and to respond. They don't give enough information to communicate anything. They don't grab the attention of a visitor,explain what the church jargon title for an event means, or challenge a church member who sees the same thing week after week. The church may think it communicated something, but they simply filled an empty place on the web or on paper. If these common solutions don't work to get people to respond, what does?

Before you do anything else, be sure of this

Be sure your event is worth attending.

It may become painful here, but somehow, you've got to face that some people (dear, wonderful, members forever people) are really boring teachers; some small groups are a trial to attend, some leaders of events who think they are standing up for the truth are narrow-minded and mean. Some favorite church traditions may mean little or nothing to newcomers. Some ministries expect too much and don't train or thank volunteers. Some ministries who ask for volunteers make it impossible to become meaningfully involved (not everyone wants to help set up chairs or make coffee for the next 5 years).

The list of what is, in reality, a turn-off for people  (no matter who conducts it or how long the church has "always done it that way") varies from church to church, but if you aren't honest with yourself about whether your event is worth attending or your ministry a positive one to volunteer for, there is little you can do in print or the web to get people to attend the event or to become committed to a ministry.

Why these kinds of information don't work and what will get a response

Just one example for now, but let's take the Adult Class announcement above. Instead of  "Adult Bible Classes 9 am." You need specific topics listed each week and reasons why people should attend. For example, instead of the previous line, this is what is needed to get a response:

Q & A, an Adult Bible Classes
--we've all got questions, let's explore the answers

9-10:30 am, Sunday, Room 337, Our Local Church
For all adults, all ages, married, or single, visitors welcome
Come at 9:00 for coffee, fruit and pastry; followed by a teaching presentation and then lively, small group discussion of the topic.

Current topic: Did Jesus really rise from the dead? 

The resurrection of Jesus is the core belief and foundation of the Christian faith, but truth be told, many of us couldn't tell you why we believe it. Maybe we've heard that Jesus didn't really die; maybe we read a book or saw a movie that said he lived and later married.We aren't sure that's true, but we don't know why it's false either. Maybe we've heard it is one of the best-proved facts of history, but we don't know how that is true either. Maybe we always believed it, but have no idea how to share it with someone outside the church.

Whatever place you are at, come for an in-depth presentation by one of our class members who has studied the topic and then we'll discuss it in a small group, ask questions, interact. No homework required, all questions welcomed. Handouts will be provided with more resources for reading and website exploration. If you have questions ahead of time you want to be sure we cover, or questions about the class, please call John Doe, 555-5555 or email mary@ourlocalchurch.com. Past lessons, both video and audio versions are at www.greatchurchlessons.com. (not a real site)

Yes, the above announcement takes a lot more time and work to put together and it takes more paper and ink to print it (plus time to put it on the church website as you update it). But it also respects the time and mind of your church members and visitors because:

  • It does not assume everyone knows where the class is, how long it lasts, who it's for, or even that it meets on Sunday. You must state these seemingly "obvious" facts in every announcement if you want a visitor or uninvolved member to attend. And these facts must be in every announcement about the class.
  • To simply list "Adult Class 9am" in your church bulletin and then tell people to go the church website for more information will have limited results.  Few people will not take the bulletin home, find the link and type it in--ALL the necessary information should be there in front of them for them to make a decision.
  • At the same time, you must give all the information on the website as well for people who for some reason didn't get the bulletin. Past lessons and more information should also be on the website. The website is a great place to expand information about the class, look at a bio of the teacher, and have links to content for more information. Depth of information on your website will give credibility to short announcements.
  • A quick Facebook or Twitter announcement is a great reminder of what is going on, but it is only a reminder and should link to your website for more information. ***Remember though that visitors and newcomers probably will not be aware of your social media and often will not link to it or follow you consistently until they have been involved for some time. Remember also that social media is an ever-flowing stream and not useful when you forget a date and time and want to look up information--that is what websites are good for.
  • It is kind and lets folks know that coffee and munchies will be provided. This very important because for some people 9am on Sunday morning is really early and if they know coffee and sugar awaits, they may make it to the class.
  • It tells potential members that the class format so they can come knowing that they won't have to sit through an hour and a half lecture--there will be discussion and interaction time.
  • It states the teaching topic. When you don't tell people what a class is about, it becomes a "trust us, we know what is best for you" announcement and one few people respond to today. By stating that some people may not be convinced of the Christian faith, it opens up the class not only for church members who may have questions, but let's them know they can bring friends who are unchurched and they will be welcomed.
  • The fact that handouts and more information will be provided lets you know the teacher is serious about the topic and has spent significant time in preparation. It says that if a person attends the class their time won't be wasted.
  • It gives contact information if someone has questions.

A longer announcement like the one above doesn't waste time because it tells people what is going on in a way that they can make an informed decision. The shorter announcement actually wastes more time because it doesn't really give readers any useful content or a reason to respond.

More is more

Yes, people's time is valuable, but even more important is the destiny of their eternal souls. If you give people complete and useful information about worthwhile activities in your church, they will pay attention, they will read them, they will show up and lives will be changed.

Don't cop-out by saying people don't read what you write, when you don't write anything that is useful, significant, or worthy of their time to read. Don't work hard to advertise a class given by someone who you would be embarrassed to bring a friend to hear or a ministry that you wouldn't become involved in for any number of reasons. Be sure you have worthy offering and then pour your heart into making every ministry announcement worthy of your audience time. They will read them and they will respond.

Google is changing how it presents search results and here is what your church needs to know and do about it

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device friendly websites
It's essential people for people to be able to search our websites with their mobile phones.

What Google is doing sounds scary and has been termed "mobilegeddon" by some because of the potentially drastic changes it will have on search results on mobile devices. Should your church be worried and if so what should you do about it? You have so many things to do as church communicators, should you bother?  Following I'll explain more what it means and give you some practical suggestions on what you can do.

What it really means

Google is constantly changing the algorithms for how results are shown when you put in a search term. One of the primary reasons they do this is that there are always people who try to game the system and manipulate sites so their sites show up high in search results.

Though this isn't an article on Search Engine Optimization, Google and all other search engines have always said, and continue to affirm, that the primary reason sites show up on the first page or two of results are because of the quality of their content, not just because of artificial Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There is legitimate, intrinsic SEO, that systems such as WordPress make easy to use and search engines benefit from that. Artificial, SEO which consists of key-word loading and other false and always new ways people try to beat the system without the legitimate work of creating valuable content is what they are fighting against.

Sites with a depth of good content will always be found when people search for the topics they are about.Though this is a purely personal and anecdotal comment, I have always found that to be true. Ever since the earliest days of the Effective Church Communications ministry, I've always been too busy to concentrate on any Search Engine Optimization strategy. I've simply tried to create as much useful material for church communicators as possible and because of that, the Effective Church Communications website comes up early in many results related to church communications.

Though a depth of good content is still important, this algorithm change with Google is different because with the current changes Google is penalizing websites that are not mobile friendly and it specifically relates to when a search is done on a mobile device. This change doesn't care about the content of your site--what matters is how people access your site.

The changes do not affect searches people do from their desktop computers. Many of the articles written about the changes don't make that distinction clear (here is one that does).

One conclusion some churches might draw from properly understanding that this big change only affects searches made on mobile phones is that it really doesn't matter to them because they might assume that few people look up their church website on a mobile phone. That conclusion is incorrect and it's important we understand why.

Why this is important

In the NPR article cited above it says that 48% of search traffic now comes from mobile devices.

If we truly want to be all things to all people that we might win some, we definitely need to make sure our websites are easily accessible to the people who want to use them, no matter what device they use.  In many ways this action by Google is a great wake-up call for all churches.

We may not personally do searches on our phones (or even have a smart phone that allows us to do searches), but more and more people have them and constantly use them to look up everything). Many churches lament that they don't have young families coming to their church, but if you truly want young people to come, you have to communicate in the way they communicate. That means everything you want to tell them HAS to be accessible on their phones.

In many ways Google is simply helping us do what we need to do to share Jesus with our world.

What you should do at your church

First of all, check to see if you have a problem. The link below takes you to a very quick and easy test to see if your website is mobile-friendly. Just enter in your URL and in a couple of minutes you will get a quick evaluation of if your site is mobile friendly or not.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/?utm_source=wmc-blog&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=mobile-friendly

Second, be sure you understand this issue. To do that, this article will be helpful:  A primer on responsive websites, what they are and why they are important

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2012/09/a-primer-on-responsive-websites-what-they-are-and-why-they-are-important/

I wrote this article and did a short 4-minute video to explain what it means to make your site mobile- device friendly. "Responsive" was the term used in initially. It means the same as device or mobile-friendly today.

Practical suggestions on what to do

Before I get specific on some practical recommendations, it is worth repeating—this Effective Church Communications  site does not take any advertising. Also, we do not take part in ANY affiliate program or do anything in exchange for any product or service. If I want software or hardware,  I buy it (if I can afford it). I get no discounts or special deals. The important point of the preceding comments is that when I recommend something, I do it because I genuinely feel there is something of benefit in it for church communicators.

I'm bringing this up now because a number of articles I've seen about the Google changes then lead into a sales pitch for some tech group to help you make your site mobile friendly. Some may be genuinely helpful and if you have a person, a service, or website building system that has worked well for you in the past, you may want to keep using it. But if you are thinking about redoing your website or doing it at your church by an in-house person, here is one suggestion:

Learn WordPress and use a device-friendly template

Yes, there are many other great systems and companies, but I think WordPress is the best way to build a website, for many, many reasons, too lengthy to detail here. Also I think it is a skill every church communicator (and most staff members and pastors) should have. I have built many sites with it over the years and I continuously am amazed at all it does and what features are added to it. It is also free. You have to pay for hosting, but that can be minimal and instead of being locked into a proprietary system and cost, once you learn (and it is easy to learn) WordPress, it is one of the most cost-effective way for a church to have a complete and flexible site. If something else is working for you—great, but if you are checking out systems for websites, make WordPress on the top of your list.

This is an encouragement because now might be a time to take a deep breath, learn WordPress, and finally take charge of the website at your church.

HERE IS THE BEST RESOURCE for Google Changes and a great thing you can do for your church

The resource below is a WordPress church template company.  Their themes have all the mobile-friendly features you need for the Google changes built-in and you don't have to do anything extra to make them an intrinsic part of your site.

Church Themes http://churchthemes.com/
Though I've known about this group for some time, I recently did an extensive search to find new templates for several sites (including this one) that I am redesigning. After spending way too much money trying templates that had great marketing examples, but were impossible to replicate in my office, I was very frustrated.  One group actually said something like this "we know you can't build a site like our example and for several hundred dollars more we'll help you do that." I felt this was wrong and even if I did have the money to do that, it wasn't anything I could later recommend to other churches.

I didn't have personal experience with this Church Themes products, but I knew churches who spoke highly of them. I'd corresponded with them and felt they were genuinely people of integrity. So I decided to try a template—I was at the end of my rope and thought, what's one more frustrating trial? But things were radically different here.

Finally here was a beautifully designed template that did all I wanted it to do! But best of all were their tutorials for how to use their themes. The theme creator walks you through each step; they made sense and worked!

I am still working on some things behind the scenes that I am building with these, but I'll share them as soon as I get them done. I didn't want to tell you about them or the company until I did, but this Google situation required it.

Their templates can really work for any church and for staff with very little tech experience. You don't have to be a tech genius to create a fantastic, contemporary looking site with these templates. Plus all the tools you need for church sites:  great looking slider header, sermon text, podcasts, video, events, blog, photos, videos, staff, locations, calendar, and donations are all built-in and best of all—demonstrated and explained!

You can either build your church website from nothing using them or switch your church website to one of their templates. It will take you more than a couple of days to do it, but the results will be worth it, device-friendly and something you can update at your church.

Now for ways to learn WordPress or more about it

WP101, https://www.wp101.com/
This is one of the best ways to get up and running quickly with WordPress. It has easy-to-follow and understand tutorials. Sure, you can view a million of them on YouTube, but you never know what version they are demonstrating.  I have had some training on WordPress on the Effective Church Communication site, but I can keep up with changes. This site constantly updates their training. In addition to basics, more advanced topics easily explained.

Note: http://www.Lynda.com,  that I recommend for a lot of other training, does have a number of WordPress tutorials—but for some reason, I think they are some of her weakest courses—this company is much better for learning WordPress.

WP Beginner, http://www.wpbeginner.com/
Not only beginners, but everyone who uses WordPress can benefit from the blogs and resource links on this site. Not terribly advanced, but very useful materials.

"a free WordPress newsletter" http://wpmail.me/
This is the geeky newsletter with the latest news from the WordPress organization, developers, and gurus. However, it has a lot for ordinary users, including great articles about plugins and overviews of new themes that have passed the WordPress standards. It comes out once a week and I always find something useful in it.

In conclusion

We don't make changes on our website because we're bored and have nothing else to do, nor do we do them just because Google makes a big change. For this change, making our sites more device and mobile friendly, may be one of the most important changes we can make to help unchurched people find us and ultimately find Jesus.

 

 

Event evaluation resources and FREE e-books

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Here are some additional resources to for post-event evaluation and some free e-books:

Make special event evaluation a habit for continuous improvement–3 forms and a book that will help, to download, CLICK THIS LINK:
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/make-special-event-evaluation-a-habit-for-continuous-improvement-3-forms-and-a-book-that-will-help/

A primary link to a free e-book on church communications PLUS a number of others, CLICK THIS LINK:
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2013/11/free-ebook-on-connection-cards-essential-to-link-with-holiday-visitors/