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; Effective Church Communications can help.

Don’t only master church communication technology—measure results

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Figure measuringHow is your church doing in technology? Did you finally get a church Facebook page and Twitter account? Did you make your website smartphone and tablet-friendly? Did you create an app for your church or put QR codes in your bulletin? Did you move back-up files to the cloud?

Though all of these accomplishments might count for bragging rights at church geek gatherings, there a more critical question for Christian geeks, techs and communicators and that is:

How does your church communication technology help your church fully fulfill the Great Commission?

Though we all love technology, the foundation for all we do in tech, communications and life is found in Jesus command to us:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt. 28:18-20.

Our Great Commission, the command to share the good news of salvation in Jesus alone with others and to help them become mature disciples is what it means to fully fulfill the Great Commission. This is not only the North Star and measure of success in our Christian lives; it should be our measure for success in everything we do in our church technology and communication ministry. [Read more...]

Free and inexpensive church communication images, a video review

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Following is a video review of a very useful church image and communication website: www.creationswap.com.

This site not only has free images for you to download and use in your church, but it also sells complete template sets at very reasonable prices. Though you need to have Photoshop to modify them yourself, they offer printing and personalization services on the site. Check it out below.

****PLEASE put in the comments section if you have used this company. Also, share what other image, printing, or other services you find useful.*** I'll try to do video reviews so people have a brief idea of what's on the sites. Thanks so much!

The importance of complete church communications if you want people to connect with church events

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details thumbIf there is one thing that I think would change the destiny of the Christian church and make it far more successful at reaching our world today and effective at communicating our message,  it would be for church communicators to stop assuming that everyone knows what they are talking about and to communicate the church message completely.

In communication after communication, in print and online I see incomplete messages. As a result people don’t respond. Then church leaders get discouraged and think people don’t care anymore.

But they do! People care about their earthly well-being and eternal destiny, as the huge following of every new self-help or spiritual guru program shows us. But many are not responding to the Christian message because church leaders and communicators forget what it’s like to be an unchurched person or a casual church attendee. [Read more...]

The importance of complete church communications if you want people to connect with church events

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If there is one thing that I think would change the destiny of the Christian church and make it far more successful at reaching our world today and effective at communicating our message,  it would be for church communicators to stop assuming that everyone knows what they are talking about and to communicate the church message completely.

In communication after communication, in print and online I see incomplete messages. As a result people don’t respond. Then church leaders get discouraged and think people don’t care anymore.

But they do! People care about their earthly well-being and eternal destiny, as the huge following of every new self-help or spiritual guru program shows us. But many are not responding to the Christian message because church leaders and communicators forget what it’s like to be an unchurched person or a casual church attendee.

Why complete communication is more important than ever

The world today is post-Christian. Many people grow up not knowing anything about church, the Bible, what it means to be a Christian. One part of our brain knows this, but from over 20 years of evaluating church communications, I’ve found that churches in general seem to forget this reality when they sit down to create their communications both in print and digitally. Because of that, we need to evaluate our communications when people have a hard time connecting with us and understanding our message.

For example, churches might think they are “seeker-friendly” and really want others to come to faith, but if your bulletin is filled with phrases such as:

“Adult Bible Study at the Johnson's, same time, same place.” (Does this mean only people who know the Johnson’s can attend?)

“The kids will be doing their yearly Lock-in & Movie Marathon. The cost and format same as last year.” (What is a “lock-in?” What if I was there and can’t remember what it cost? What if I’m new and my son is shy, who do I call?)

“Fill out the form on the website if you want to be part of a small group.” (What if I’m really lonely and want to be in a group, but don’t have a computer?)

Additional note on this last one: for all of us working at the church or if you are reading this on the web, it is difficult to comprehend that many people today (I'm writing this in March 2012) still do not have computer access at home. If we don't provide options (print, email, mobile phone) for contact and sign up we automatically exclude some people from some church activities.

The list of examples such as these is almost infinite. The details that connect people to ministry may seem small, but they are the vital links. Today few people will take time to call the church office for more information. Many people do not have access to the internet. We need to put COMPLETE information about events in every communication piece we produce. It is impossible for people to connect without these details.

It isn’t easy

Putting in these details is excruciating, detailed, hard work, impossible to understand in its difficulty if you have not had to personally track down the details of the multitude of events going on in a church and then put them into a pleasing, clear form in the church bulletin, newsletter, and now website. But these details are the keystone; they are the foundational links that if not there, all the hard work of praying, planning and putting on a ministry event will not accomplish our prayed-for results.

People are not universal mind readers. If you don’t completely communicate about an event people simply won’t show up. It is not the responsibility of the audience to find out all the details needed to connect with you—it is your responsibility.

 

What customer service confusion can teach us about communicating the gospel

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I just finished a customer service interaction after several days of frustration, phone calls, incomplete information and finally a satisfying answer. At the end of this process, I realized that my interactions with the customer service representatives had some valuable lessons for church communicators as we share the gospel. We may not like to think of ourselves as customer service reps for Jesus, but consider. . . .

What happened and how it applies to us

The typical customer service phone call goes something like this:

  1. We call "customer service" because we don't understand something.
  2. The person we call totally understands the issue—they were trained in all aspects of it —they probably had to pass a test on their knowledge of the product before they were allowed to answer the phone.
  3. When we ask our question, it isn't new to them. It is issue #3 on the list, or however they categorize it, and they know the answer, even before we are finished asking.
  4. The customer service person rattles off the answer.
  5. We have no idea what they are talking about—we haven't been involved with the product for years and it makes no sense to us—that's why we are calling.

At this point, one of two things can happen:

  1. We ask for clarification and the customer service person is kind, listens, and takes the time to explain what we don't understand and makes sure our question is answered in a way that makes sense to us.
  2. The customer service person lets us know subtly or blatantly that if we don't understand, that's our problem. Sometimes, they act insulted that we don't understand.

For my recent customer service interaction, fortunately my call ended with option #1--the person realized I had no idea why they couldn't do what I needed their company to do. She courteously explained what was going on, the options, and finally, though I wasn't happy with the answer, why what I wanted was not possible.

In this instance, I was calling because my charge card processing company couldn't process PayPal for someone who wanted to buy a membership in my church communication training site. I had been trying to get an answer on this for two days. I talked to fairly nice people who told me it should be possible. They said someone else would check it out. They said they would work on it. They said they would get back to me. None of this happened.

The final person I talked to listened, explained, and though her answer was finally that what I wanted wouldn't work, I now knew what I had to do next.

Why this is like communicating the gospel

 

For people coming to our churches who have grown up in our post-Christian society, we are a Customer Service rep for the gospel. We know the message well. Some of us have even been trained in well-reasoned answers if someone has a particular question. All of that is well and good, but what happens when we are engaged in conversation with a real person who is considering Jesus?

  • Do we rattle off stock answers?
  • Do we make them feel like if they don't "get it" or agree immediately, that it is their problem? Do we write them off as sinful or having moral issues that prevent them from immediately responding?

or

  • Do we listen? Not for what quick answer we can plug in, but really listen to their question?
  • Do we ask additional questions to make certain we understand what they are really asking?
  • And one of the most important questions: Are we honest with our answers?

Once we listen and understand the question, an honest answer is all important

The bottom line for me was that I needed to know if the company would process PayPal. The answer was "no." If I'd gotten an honest answer from the first that I contacted the company, it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. I have other ways to bill with PayPal and now I'll work on that.

When we are sharing the gospel, we first of all need to carefully listen to what people are really asking. One of the key underlying questions today, that can be asked in all kinds of ways is:  "Is Jesus the only way to God?" This may be asked in many ways including:

  • Don't you think all religions teach the same thing?
  • Aren't all churches really alike at their core?
  • What does it matter what religion a person has if they are a good person?
  • If someone is sincere in their belief, isn't that enough?

We can put people off, we can say kind things, we can walk all around the issue, but the kindest response (after we make sure we really understand the person asking the question) might be to say:

I know this can be frustrating and confusing; it might even seem narrow and bigoted, but the kindest, most loving, most truthful person that ever lived, Jesus , said he was the only way to God. In John 14:6,  he said, "I am the way, the truth the life. No one comes to God except through me." This is the Bible's view. This is the view of the Christian church. I'd love to share with you more about Jesus so you'll understand why this is true. Will you join me in that exploration?

Once I knew I had to learn a different system if I wanted to use PayPal, I knew what I had to do. Either believe the lady and learn PayPal or try to make the system work that simply would not accept that payment method. In the same way, we need to let people know that the exclusive claims of Jesus are non-negotiable. If they want eternal life and forgiveness of sins, they need to learn about Jesus. Real life and true salvation won't work any other way.

Good communication of the gospel means thinking like a good customer service representative

Even though I wasn't happy with the answer, after two days of frustration, I was happy with the company because someone listened, explained and was honest with me. In many ways I realized, she was doing what we are all commanded to do as we communicate the words of eternal life:

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

People have many questions when they come to us, when they visit our churches or websites. To communicate effectively, take time to listen, understand, honor them as a person and carefully, honestly answer their questions. It isn't a product sale or satisfaction that's at stake but the destiny of an eternal soul.