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.

What customer service confusion can teach us about communicating the gospel

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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...]

Don’t only master church communication technology—measure results

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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.

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 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).

 

 

 

 

 

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

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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/

Church Bulletin Tips and Resources from current Church Bulletin Sample Books

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Church Bulletin Sample Books
Along with collecting great Samples of Church Bulletins, contributors also sent tips and resources for creating effective church bulletins. CLICK on this image to go to the Sample Books.

As part of gathering samples for our current selection of Church Bulletin Sample Books, we asked contributors for resource and production tips. The best ideas and resources come from all of you. Please add your tips and resources in the comments section. A brief video that illustrates some of the best resources and websites listed is available if you CLICK HERE.

Below are tips and resources for creating church bulletins:

**We tried various formats before we developed the one we are currently using. One of the problems we had was getting people to sign up for various opportunities and how best to do it. We decided the Connect Card would solve the problem. It is a tear off section of the bulletin. We use the information to record attendance, receive prayer requests, requests for information, and finally on the back side sign ups for opportunities being offered. We print it on 11 x 17 paper and it is a tri-fold. The only complaint I have is that it is labor intensive in that I hand perforate all the copies and it can get time-consuming. I do call for help when I’m really rushed with several things at one time. Susan

**Keep announcements (PowerPoint) open while working on slides for worship, so changes can be immediately made on both. Learn how to use tabs!Keep learning more about the computer programs you use. April

**Perhaps less is more, or don't be afraid of white space. I think there is a tendency to overload bulletins with information instead of using inserts.Crystal

Lots more tips:

**Following are some great resource links, CLICK HERE if you want to see a video that previews them for you. Some of my favorite websites:

 

**When I create something that has to be printed outside, I always do 2-color to save money. We have a top-of-the-line color printer in house that handles most of our regular volume. My bulletin is printed free of cost by an outside company that sells adds for the back cover. Eulene

**I have found actionenvelopes.com to be the cheapest source for printed envelopes. But not the fastest. I use nextdayflyers.com for all of my really urgent printing. If I have the files uploaded by 6pm they will have the printing done overnight. They will do quantities as low as 100 and they are not much more expensive. I use gotprint.com for most of my regular printing of over 1000 pcs. Both next day and got print are local in southern california, so I can print multiple jobs and pick them up with no shipping costs. Nextdayflyers, and gotprint have done good jobs for me, but when you are doing very color specific work, or using pantone colors, you do need to talk to them. They will fix things that are wrong, but that doesn't help with urgent printing. I don't worry about it with my printing. For my flyers and the things you looked at anything is close enough. I use San Diego Web Offset for newsprint. I have printed magazines, and a newsletter in Newspaper size and format with them, they are fast and reasonable plus easy to work with. Graphics for an old web press like they have is different, but our newspaper was one of the most enjoyable things I have printed. One more, for big printing I use BPgraphics.com in Phoenix, AZ. They are cheap cheap and they do printing of almost umlimited size. They do billboards mostly. That is printed on reinforced vinyl like banners, the rolls are like 200feet long and i believe 16 feet wide. Plus they can be welded together to make unlimited size. One warning, when banners are made for use indoors, the full color printed ones, are best when they are uncoated matte finish, they don't reflect stage lights and stuff. But many banner printing places BPgraphics included UV coat their banners by default. And their uncoated banners are still extremely glossy. So they don't work that well for use under stage lights. Paul

**I use Churchart.com for cover graphics and have OT & NT lectionary grahic art when it fits with pastor's selection of 3 out of 4 pericopes. Tom **Here at Immanuel Lutheran Church ELCA in Forest City we have 2 services on Sunday at 8:00 inside the Sanctuary and at 10:00 outside under the umbrella of trees on the Waldorf College campus by their pond (weather permitting). Our 2 bulletins are done as a Word document. The early service is usually a tradition service mostly from the ELW hymnal. The second service, since it is outside, songs are all printed or music inserted since we don’t use a screen outside. Jaci

**We print a different bulletin for each service. The parts that change are the liturgy, the servants and the front page date and time. The bulletin is a bi-fold printed on white paper; the ‘blue sheet’ is printed on blue and cut in thirds then inserted into each bulletin. Pat

**Previously our two worship services had a different order so the inside left column was the order for first worship and the right column was the order for second worship. We put the words to the songs that are not available in the hymnbook in case someone is unable to see the screen because of where they are sitting or limited eyesight. We print our own picture on the front of the bulletin. Usually it is a sketch of the church but we use other pictures that will go along with a specific sermon series the minister is doing. Teri

**This is a preprinted bulletin shell that I do all the inside in B&W but for the website I scanned in the front and insert it and I change all the graphics to color when I upload it to our website. Also normally we have sermon notes on the back but for the Lord’s Supper he does not have notes. Hope you can use it! Thanks for all you do for us!! Jeri

**I have found it helpful to have a monday meeting with the pastor, to review what will go in the bulletin this week, and what inserts might be needed. Always good to touch base before things go to press on Thursday.We are a small church, so our pieces are very simple and printed in house. Jennifer

**Attached is our bulletin for last weekend and one from a week or so before. To be honest we have had a few bulletin makeovers in the 6 years I have been at the church, and we still are not really happy with what we have. To explain the threads “theme” (logo at the top of three pages) – we believe a balanced believer will have all three threads woven into their lives– worship, grow, and serve.

**Tips: · If something is going into the bulletin it has to fit in either worship, grow, or serve. · We have one contact person per ministry who submits the bulletin request. · Wednesday by 5 pm deadline. · We eliminated pictures/clipart due to space and it being too busy looking. Kelly

**For the weekly bulletin I open up the previous week’s bulletin and then save it with this week’s date before editing. The items you see along the edges include calendar info for meetings that are recurring, (e.g. weekly, and monthly). This eliminates retyping or opening a previous bulletin to cut and paste. Our ushers for the 11:00 service do a particular week each month (1st, 2nd, etc.) so I have the groups set up in a file named “Usher” which is inside my main “Bulletin” folder. Each week’s group of ushers is set up so I can just cut and paste them into the bulletin. Unfortunately the others aren’t consistent enough. My pastor doesn’t give me hymn and sermon info until Wed. so on Monday or Tuesday I go ahead and do the calendar and lists of worship assistants on the back as well as delete old announcements. That way I am ready for his info and can get it back to him to proofread quickly.

**We print and fold our bulletins inhouse so I now have volunteers on Friday morning that cut the inserts and stuff the bulletins. It took me several years before I realized what a help this could be. It always seemed more inconvenient to call people and ask whenever I needed someone. We now have a “Taking Faith Home” insert each week so I know I can use someone every week and can ask several weeks out. Gordon

**In the Episcopal church we use a prayer book and hymnal. To make it more user friendly (rather than fumbling between books) we develop, each week, a booklet that includes all the liturgy and music. We have a wonderful copier that copies, folds, and staples…couldn’t live without it! Here is a sample. Sara

Keep track of your ideas and share them with us!

In the coming months we'll be asking for lots more ideas to put into our Great Ideas and Sample Swap books--you all have the greatest ideas! As we tackle various types of communications, share with us! ***In addition to helping others out, all the contributors to each of the Great Ideas & Samples Swap collections get a FREE copy of all the samples submitted. This is an extraordinary deal! Be sure to sign up for our newletter--on the home page so you will know when we are collecting samples.

Church Bulletin Sample Book 2
This is one of the books in the new set of 4 Sample books on church bulletins. These are a fantastic resource for your church. CLICK HERE to go to them!

Check out the current GREAT IDEAS & SAMPLES books--to see the bulletins created by the people who shared the tips above. CLICK HERE to go to them!