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.
Jesus entrusted us with the words of eternal life. We must know His words well to communicate them effectively. (image from FreeBibleImages)
". . . .my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests.. . . .a people without understanding will come to ruin!" Hosea 4: 6, 14
The responsibility of Christian communicators goes far beyond being sure we select a pleasing typeface and attractive images or using the latest social media to connect with our congregations. We have been entrusted with the words of eternal life. The Great Commission outlines our tasks: we are to share the good news of salvation in Jesus alone and grow followers into disciples. In all of it we are to speak the truth in love.
In addition, as these verses reminded me, not only are we personally responsible for faithfully communicating the truth we have been entrusted with, but our success or failure in doing that has lasting consequences for the people we reach out to, lead, and train. If we don't know the mind of God, if we don't know what is on His heart and His view of what is important, of what good to do and what sins to avoid, we won't communicate that to our people. [Read more...]
I've been listening, studying, considering a lot of videos recently as I work on a major renovation of my church communication YouTube Channel. I've focused on two areas for my unscientific, random research:
1. Some of the most popular videos as identified by the USA TODAY listing. This list in itself is a significant cultural shift point here and one churches need to note--USA TODAY now fills about a third of the day's television schedule with what it considers important website videos.
2. Specifically educational videos, everything from Ted Talks and Khan Academy to home-schooling English lessons and Bible teaching online.
Aside from the obvious differences in content, one thing that has struck me forcefully is the tone, the voice of various videos.
Many of the videos in "most popular" category on YouTube are of people speaking loudly, often outrageously and profanely. I'm not a fan and not familiar with these current small screen sensations, but the same voice of snarky superiority seems to characterize many of them. Another characteristic voice of many is outrageous and angry, while self-assured of their right to be outrageous and angry. If a smirk can be translated into a voice, this is a base note of many.
After a short exposure to some of them, it was obvious who was listening to who, who was a follower, a disciple of this tone of voice. The current celebrity source is easy to identify; the spiritual source a little more challenging, but it is clear who it is not from. It is clearly not from Jesus.
The contrasting voice of Jesus
What does Jesus voice sound like? Though the entire Bible is literally his Word, his voice to us, the following passage from John 10 is instructive. I've italicized the passages pertaining to Jesus voice--consider them as you read:
In this blog I'll try to keep you updated with what is going on behind the scenes, about changes and I'll also share prayer requests. One silly detail--I usually don't wear a suit when I'm working--just finished a Skype interview here.
Why this new blog on ECC:
I talk to myself (and the Lord) quite a bit as I put together the material for this website. I spend most of day in a tiny office (a rather delightful one--I must share pictures one of these days, need to tidy first) working on the computer creating publications, recording videos, wrestling materials into formats for distribution online, and then creating the email newsletters to let you know they are on the website waiting for you.
Because I work alone and because I very much need your prayers and input, I've tried various systems to keep both visitors and members updated--but doing that in newsletters, Facebook, and Twitter (which I will still do) all have the drawback of being a very fleeting communication. When the current communication stream on these passes along, the message is pretty much out of sight and mind. The blog I'm adding will enable you to go back and check out an updates, prayer requests, and news when you want through the "Blog" tab on the home page.
I will use this to communicate ECC news to you and then using the comments section you can either respond, comment, or ask a question about a topic. This will be very useful because then your communications won't get lost in the many kinds of email that flood my ECC email. You don't have to respond or comment. I know all of you who come to this site are extremely busy and it really bothers me when blogs or articles ask inane questions at the end so people will make unnecessary or useless comments. This is often done, I suspect to either increase search engine ranking from the host's part or to sometimes express an opinion better left unexpressed on the part of the audience.
I hope the previous statement didn't come across as too harsh. Many of you have made helpful, useful comments in the past and I treasure them. I simply did not want you to think that because I'm starting a blog here, you have to comment. Read quickly, pray for me and Effective Church Communications, and get back to work—we have a world to win for Jesus!
