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.
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What customer service confusion can teach us about communicating the gospel

13 March, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

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.

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: church as servant, Customer service at church

What customer service confusion can teach us about communicating the gospel

26 January, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Customer service can teach us to listen 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

[Read more...]

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: 1 Peter 3:15, church communications and customer service, church customer service, evangelism, John 14:6, sharing the gospel, witnessing

Don’t only master church communication technology—measure results

21 January, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

How did your church do this last year in church technology? Did you finally get involved in new social media beyond Facebook and Twitter? Did you make your website smartphone and tablet-friendly? Did you create an app for your church? Did you move back-up files to the cloud? Though 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 did 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.

Just because you love Jesus and want to serve Him, don't automatically assume that your hard work in technology, especially in the church communications area, which is vital to the spiritual success of any church, is contributing to fully fulfilling the Great Commission. Though it isn't always easy to measure precise spiritual growth, we can measure whether our audience is accessing the communications we create with the intention of  helping them come to know Jesus and grow to discipleship maturity. To begin to measure our spiritual effectiveness, a good place to start is to measure how much people access our communications. However. . . .

Humans are notorious in our ability to deceive ourselves

We do this all the time. "Donuts aren't really fattening on Sunday—this is the only time I eat them and besides, they are in pieces and everyone knows that the calories drain out in cut-up donuts." is one of my favorite self-deceptions. This is closely followed by, "A big meal after church and/or on Sunday night is OK because I'm doing it for fellowship in ministry."

Another one that is easy in church communications and technology is: "We've just finished redoing the website and people will love it and access it a lot." A close one to this is: "Facebook and Twitter and oh my, my Google Circles really keep our church connected." Or "Our videos are greatest -- people are looking for humor when they want to find a church--and they are smart phone accessible!"

Honest measurements help keep us honest

I may love my Sunday donuts and overeating in the name of ministry, but I am also attempting to lose weight and when Monday comes around, there is one infallible way to test my Sunday food assumptions: I step on the scale.

If we want to be honest in how well our technology preferences result in real ministry impact in the lives of church members and the people outside the church, we need a scale to decide whether our assumptions are true or not. One scale that is useful is to take a Technology and Communication Survey of your congregation. Following is one you could use. At the end of this article is a link to a ready-to-print PDF of it and other resources on Church Communications Planning.  Using the survey is like stepping on the scales--it can give a useful shot of reality in how impressed your audience is with your communications, how often they use them and if they are helping them grow in their faith.

 You want an honest measure and to help you get that, the following two guidelines are very important:

  1. The ONLY way you will get enough answers for it to matter is for you to hand it out on Sunday morning (yes, gasp), have people immediately fill it out (it will take no more than 5 minutes) and immediately turn it in.
  2. It has to be totally anonymous.

If you don't do BOTH of these, don't bother—you won't have a true representation of your church and/or it won't be an honest response.

Formatting note for the sample survey below-- the PDF and editable MS Publisher file of this survey has boxes where the bullets are.

Church Technology and Communication Survey

What technology do you have to receive messages from the church? Check all you have; put a star by the ones you use frequently.

  • Computer at home
  • Computer at work
  • Computer at school
  • Laptop
  • Mobile phone
  • Smart phone
  • Tablet computer

Which of these channels do you regularly access for church information or teaching? Check the box.

***Please a star by the channel or channels YOU PREFER to get your information from.***

  • Church Email newsletter
  • Church Website
  • Sermons online/podcasts
  • Church or pastor's blog
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Circles
  • Printed Church Bulletin
  • Printed Church Newsletter
  • Others (please put in any other communication channels you use here)

Three additional questions, please be honest in your answers:

How well informed are you about church events? How can we do better?

Do the church communications encourage you in your Christian life, help you grow as a Christian, and teach you to share your faith? How can we do better?

Anything you'd like to ask or tell us about the technology or communication ministry of the church? Overall, how can we serve you better in technology or communications?

What this will help you learn

A survey like this will put your excitement about what you are sharing on the scales of reality and will help you answer and analyze some of these questions:

How many people in your congregation have the technology to receive what you create?

It is easy to forget that not everyone has the same tech tools you have. For example, creating videos for mobile phone access and QR codes might not be time-justified if very few people have phones that can access them.

In my own experience in a church that has been hard hit by the recession, I know several pastors and leaders with iPhones and Blackberries, but the congregation members who are out of work or underemployed and who are concerned with their ability to pay for one phone line of any kind greatly out-number them. But that's my church—yours might be completely different. You won't know unless you survey them.

How often do people in your congregation access the church information in the channels you send out?

This is important for you to know how often you need to update your material—but this also needs to be paired with the additional comments people make because your responses may be a little circular in results. What this means is that if you frequently update your website and social media, people will probably access them often. If people don't access them or if they are not starred as something they access frequently, even though you may update them often, it may say more about  the quality of your information.

If you update things often and your people don't access them, take some time for one-on-one conversations and in a nonthreatening way try to find out why they don't.

What is your congregation's preferred method of receiving information from you?

It's great if the way they want to hear from you is what you are doing. If not, it may be they don't know how to use the channel or they don't understand why it is valuable to them. If that is the situation, you may want to do a demonstration on "How to use our Facebook page" or "How to receive Twitter updates from the church" or "What our church website has for you."  After you do some training in these areas, track to see if it makes a difference in who is accessing these areas. One great thing about websites and social media is that we get statistics on access, which is one more way of stepping on the scale for a reality check. You may think you have the most clever and interesting twitter feed ever, or the most clever church Facebook page, but if your stats are flat or declining, your congregation may not be as impressed as you are.

Beyond the channel, evaluate the content

The questions following the check boxes on the survey above, specifically:

Do the church communications encourage you in your Christian life, help you grow as a Christian, and teach you to share your faith? How can we do better?

are one of the most important parts of the survey because people don't go to a church website for fun or entertainment value. They go there looking for help in their spiritual lives.

That help is most often expressed by a simple desire to find out, for example, what small groups are available and when they meet, or what the pastor is like as a person as revealed from his or her blog, how to become a Christian, or how to grow in your Christian life. If your website  or other social media don't have significant, useful content, it doesn't matter how many images scroll on your home page or how fancy are your images.

Fancy moving images are everywhere on the web.

Significant, eternity changing content is hard to find. No matter what channel you use or how technically advanced it is, if the content is challenging, useful, uplifting and spiritually helpful, your people will access it. If it is just a pretty shell, they'll bypass it.

Make your content worthy of the Lord and reflective of Him. Use your content to help people come to know Jesus and grow in their faith and not matter what channel you use, your people will access it.

Don't lose track of your North Star

Technology has its challenges and it can be great fun to learn new technologies and to create new communication systems. But we must never lose sight of the people we are creating the communications for. We must always make sure that we are serving them and in doing that fully fulfilling the Great Commission given to us by our Lord.

_____________________________________

 CLICK HERE To go to the PDF of the survey, an editable MS Publisher file of it and a png image (so you can use it on a PowerPoint to tell your congregation what you want them to do).

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: church communication membeship, church communication technology, church leadership, church planning, Communications

Don’t Judge! Invite! motivation for your congregation to invite others to church

16 January, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

I LOVE THIS! We can preach and preach to encourage our people to invite people to church, but sometimes nothing beats a motivational video. One little note . . . . the impact wouldn't have been nearly so powerful had it not ended with one person sharing a piece of paper with an invitation on it!

Check out the video and below it is a link to a resource that will help you create invitations.

Invitation Cards are great tools to have for times like this

Business Invitation Card CoverEffective Church Communications has created an ebook (FREE for ECC MEMBERS, cheap download for all) that  will give you lots of ideas on how to create invitation cards so you can always be prepared to invite people to your church. CLICK HERE or on the image of the book cover to go to it.

ALSO, please check out the video at this link that will illustrate and train you in how to use invitation cards effectively:

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2010/04/church-invitation-cards/

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: church evangelism, church invitations, invitations to church, invite to church

How to download and use the FREE Kindle reader for ministry communications and teaching

17 November, 2011 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

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