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.

When you need some help for Church Communications: a FREE e-book–Divide your communication team into 2 production levels

By Leave a Comment

There is never enough time to get all the work done that needs to be done in church communications. One way to solve this problem is to have volunteers do some of the work. However, many church office administrators and church leaders aren't comfortable doing this because they are concerned about the level of quality that volunteers product. Or they worry that they won't really be able to control what volunteers do.

Click on image to download this free ebook.
Click on image to download this free e-book.

This e-book has a solution to this challenge: Divide your communication team into 2 production levels.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK HERE or on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

Why technical expertise isn’t enough for a church website

By Leave a Comment

Though technical expertise is important in the creation and administration of a website and though there are many technical experts in churches who also have great hearts for and an understanding of ministry, there are many instances where relying on technical expertise alone can have some negative effects on a church website. From the many interactions my ministry has with church website creation and function, here are some cautions to prayerfully consider.

A clarification first

Technology encompasses many tools and without the tools of technology, I wouldn't be writing this article. Technology isn't the bad guy—the problem is with people who misuse technology, who hide behind their expertise in a tool for a variety of reasons.

The purpose of this article isn't to judge motives of the people involved in making technology decisions about your website, but to caution church leaders and the technology experts in the church to honestly evaluate if the attitudes and controls over your website in the name of technology are serving the church.

This is a still a new ministry area for everyone involved and most people involved in technology in the church are doing the best they can—which is why the following cautions use the vague term "technology" as the descriptor of the perpetrator of the problems and not less helpful terms like "controlling webmaster" or  "tech-savvy, arrogant kid." Truth be told, sometimes the biggest problem with a church website is one person with the attitude that their technological expertise gives them the power and permission to make ministry decisions.

This is a challenging situation in many churches today where senior leadership isn't comfortable with technology and allow themselves to be intimidated by those with expertise in these areas. But no area or person should be out from under the authority of God's Word and the command to fully fulfill the Great Commission. The following suggestions aren't intended to incite power struggles in the church, but to encourage everyone involved in the ministry of the website to approach it with prayer and humility and an honest desire to use it to reach out to people and grow them up as disciples of Jesus.

Technology goals don't always align with ministry goals

When you evaluate how your website is working and what makes a good website, don't stop at asking if the technology is functioning smoothly or if it looks contemporary. Far more important, when people come to your website, does it answer these questions:

  • Why does your church exist?
  • What are the driving values, the key ministry issues and concerns?
  • What are the major ministries at your church?
  • What is available for kids, seniors, singles, or seekers?
  • Do you have a specific audience you minister to and if so, who are they?
  • Can a visitor to your site answer these questions, or know where to find the answers to them from their first few minutes at your site? If not, why not?
  • Are all of your schedules, times, calendars up-to-date and correct?

Your website might function flawlessly in load times and be technically perfect, but if it doesn't immediately let people know the purpose, goals, times, dates, and components of the ministries of your church and have places where they can go on the site to find out more information and connect with the ministry—you have work to do.

Technology cautions aren't always volunteer friendly

If a church website is useful, or has the most basic credibility for people to look at it and trust it, it HAS to be up-to-date. If your website isn't up-to-date (every week, every day, on a continuing basis) it probably isn't the fault of the system used to create your website. More often than not, in many churches, the problem of a continuously outdated website is the responsibility of a tech-savvy person who is the only one allowed to update the system.

No church website can serve its people if all the content has to be entered by one person. The systems used to create websites are all (or should be) cloud-based and any volunteer or ministry leader at your church should be able to create content, recruit volunteers, explain programs and keep times and events updated. Volunteers in various ministries should be in charge of keeping all these things up-to-date. Once entered, then a person in the office can skim over them to make certain all is OK and publish them on the website.

There is a BIG difference in time and complexity in the management of a church website between making one person in the church office responsible to get all the content on the website and to keep it continuously updated and allowing a team of people to update content and schedules and to have the church finally OK them before they are published. To expect one person to keep a website updated with content and all the calendars is an impossible task. It might take some time and effort to train volunteers in the various parts of your church to create their own content and calendars, but it will be worth it if you truly want to serve people in the various ministry areas.

If this isn't a priority in your church website ministry, you may need to take a look at the stated purpose of your website ministry. If you want to serve people with it (and not just create a wow site), making sure it is always updated and current should be an obvious priority.

Technology and design values aren't always the same as ministry values

Why did you design and built your website the way you did?

Was it designed to primarily to serve your people or to reflect a cutting-edge, latest and greatest design trend that a tech person told you was the way websites were being designed today?

A lot of current web design is created for one purpose—to sell something. It starts with a big scrolling header with splashy, upbeat images and artwork and then more images in smaller boxes. This might be eye-catching, but much of it is ultimately cold because there is little behind the pictures.

  • Ministry values on a website make important content obvious. They explain; they serve; they are more concerned about meeting needs than trying to impress.
  • Ministry values use images for a purpose, to underscore, to teach, to add meaning. If the images are of events involving the congregation they contain captions that explain what is going on. They invite people to join in and not leaving them on the outside looking in with no idea what is happening or how they can be part of it.

Is your website meeting pastoral and ministry needs of your congregation?

No matter what the technology used to build your site or the design of it, this is the important question to ask when you evaluate the success of your website.

It's an easy question to answer by simply looking at your website statistics.

  • Do your people come to your website often?
  • Do they spend time on the site?
  • Do they recommend it to their friends?
  • What is the percentage of your congregation that visits your site?

Your website visitor numbers will answer these questions and are readily available (if you are a pastor or staff person who doesn't know where to find them, ask the tech person who created your site).

Your website numbers don't lie. If people aren't coming to your site or interacting with your social media, it's because they don't find them useful. Advertising the website more or talking about it more from the pulpit are necessary, but that won't help if there isn't content on the sites that people want or find useful. If they've come to the site more than a time or two and couldn't find updated information on when an event or ministry was taking place that was important to them, you've taught them that your website can't be trusted.

Pastoral and ministry values are reflected on a website that does whatever it takes to serve the people in your church and in your community. People are looking for answers to life. Christians are looking for ways to grow in their faith. If your website is meeting needs, your numbers will reflect it.

What technology can't do

Technology can't create content.  Lack of current content that ministers to the needs of your congregation and the audience you are trying to meet is what all the issues above have in common.

A ministry-oriented website needs lots of content and that means lots of people creating it. Once again, if one person is holding on too tightly to the control of what goes on the website, especially if their area of expertise is in technology and not Biblical teaching or ministry, ministry content creation won't happen.

Sometimes it's easier to rely on technology than on the hard work of creating content for a website.  Many churches are still in awe that they have a website, grateful for anything online, and thrilled that anyone would work on it. That isn't enough.

We have to change that attitude if we want to use our church websites as the extraordinary tool they can be for the kingdom of God. Challenge your people (and yourself) to create complete, Biblical, constantly up-to-date content. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose or a witty video. Here are some ideas:

  • Explain everything--terms, programs, anything that is obvious to you. You can be certain that visitors and new people will appreciate it.
  • Interview people in the church, have members share how they are living the Christian life.
  • When you ask for volunteers for anything, have complete information on the website about the ministry, volunteer requirements, scheduling, anything else that might be helpful.
  • Tell people what is going on, why they should attend, and how they can grow as a Christian because of the ministry. People today are busy--give them a reason to fit your event into their schedule.
  • As a leader of the church or in any ministry, share how you feel about your ministry, what your prayers are for your people. That is creating social media with meaning. Nobody needs to see one more selfie on a church website, but they do need honest content.

Create biblical-based content that will change, challenge, inform and inspire. When you do that, no matter what technology you use to get it on your website, it will be successful in what matters most—helping people find and follow Jesus.

 

SEEING OLD THINGS IN NEW WAYS: The staff meeting dilemma

By Leave a Comment

new perspective on your staff meetings
Take a new perspective on your staff meetings and accomplish more.

Try this group exercise at your next church staff meeting: Have everyone move to a different part of the room and exchange seats. Ask for their impressions. Many will express amazement at how much their viewpoints change by simply seeing things from a different angle.

The writer of Ecclesiastes observed:

That which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.

Some might read these profound words and see them as an accurate description of the way things are done at their church. The philosophy can be discouraging—unless we give ourselves the gift of a new perspective, the gift of seeing old things in new ways.

You can apply the technique to all sorts of circumstances at work and at home. Let’s explore how seeing things in new ways applies to this challenge shared by a ministry assistant.

  • Our staff meetings are a disaster. People drift in late; as each arrives, the pastor recaps what has gone on before. He grouses about the tardiness, but doesn’t really do anything about it. Is there something I can do?

Well, maybe. That depends entirely on the pastor. It is his meeting and his responsibility. He absolutely can get the meetings on track. But, does he want to? And will he allow you to show him how? If he is not willing to look at this old problem in a new way, if he is fine with letting others show such a lack of respect for his leadership (for that is what it is) your hands are pretty much tied.

Techniques for getting meetings started on time—

  • Distribute a written agenda before the meeting and indicate an end time. This reinforces the leader’s concept that time is valuable and is to be used wisely. Of course, once the meeting is under way, time must be used wisely. Nothing causes conscientious people to lose enthusiasm for meetings as much as having their time wasted.
  • Place items having the most importance to the most people at the top of the agenda. Discuss those first. Some staff meetings excuse members after their areas of ministry are discussed. These usually conclude with just the remaining two or three ministerial staff members. Though there may be pros about this style, the big negative may be a fragmenting of the team: I’m interested in my area of ministry, not much interested in yours.
  • Close the door of the meeting room at the announced starting time. A note on the door can announce the meeting is in session. Start the meeting precisely on time. Move immediately to the scheduled agenda. If someone arrives late, acknowledge the arrival with a nod without comment; some people actually come late for the attention factor. Do not recap to fill the tardy person in on what has been missed. If he asks, he should be told to touch base after the meeting with the person taking the minutes. No need to be rude, but be firm.

Will looking at this old problem in a new way—and doing something about it—take some effort? For sure. But it may be the only way to make believers of those who seem to think their time is more valuable than everyone else’s. You decide.

Firefighter or Assistant—Be Happy in Your Work

By Leave a Comment

Fire Fighter or Secretary
Do you feel like a Fire-Fighter or Secretary in your job at church? This article will help you be happy no matter what!

The conversation was a lively one as some fifty ministry assistants discussed both the frustrations and joys of their particular calling. One expressed the feelings of many when she said with a wry smile, “What we need to know is how to be happy in our work even when we feel more like firefighters than secretaries.”

• Most of us have heard at one time or another that there are two ways to be happy: getting what you want, and wanting what you’ve got. This certainly applies in the church office. There, as elsewhere, choosing the second way is more realistic.

• Mary may want an organized boss, the most updated equipment, a full-time assistant, and a substantial raise. She may have tried to bring about all four, even making progress in some instances. Now, she can choose to be unhappy because she doesn’t have all she wants or she can choose to be happy by wanting what she has.

• Let’s be clear. Wanting what you have doesn’t mean settling for whatever someone else decides your life will be. It doesn’t mean toughing out disrespect or abuse and labeling it as okay. It doesn’t mean ignoring ways to bring about change or improvement anywhere and everywhere you can.

• Wanting what you have does mean accepting things and people as they are, not allowing them to cause you unhappiness because they are not how you want them to be. It means being resolved to find satisfaction in every moment, whether that moment brings something to enjoy and remember or something to change and forget. It means not letting a less-than-perfect world spoil your sense of contentment and well-being.

• Ministry assistants get a lot of what they want from their job—theirs is meaningful service. Still, many identify firefighting exercises affecting their ability to enjoy their work to the fullest. If they got what they want—

  • staff members would be better time managers
  • adequate funds would be available for necessities
  • the assistant’s input would be valued
  • communication with staff and members would be better

• Your own list may be different. The point is, we all have work situations we would like improved. We can focus on negatives, complain about them, and let them cause us unhappiness. Or, we can see them as only part of the picture, a part we may or may not be able to change.

• In the final analysis, it is not what goes on around you that determines how much you enjoy your work. It is how you respond to the circumstances. You can be happy in your work, not because it always gives you all you want but because you want what it gives—challenges, ways to make a difference in people’s lives, a path of service in God’s work, opportunities to grow, a means to make a living, whatever is important to you.

• Choose to be happy. Even if you have to grab that fire hose now and then!

Church Office Advice: What Color is Your Time?

By Leave a Comment

Giving time a color helps us use it better.
Giving time a color helps us use it more effectively in our work--try the advice in this article to manage this irreplaceable resource.

One of the most important lessons we can learn in life is to value our time. All our time. Once we grasp that time is the essential resource, every minute takes on new meaning. Unlike other resources—money, talent, things both tangible and intangible—time is a commodity everyone already owns in its entirety; no one has any more time than you do. The richest person in the world, the poorest, and all of us in between each have the same 24-hour day. In spite of wishes to save, buy, or stretch time, we can do none of those things. This resource is finite; it clicks off minute by minute for everyone and when the minutes are spent, there are no refunds.

• Since time is the stuff of which life is made, a sad fact in our society is that our education equips us to manage money far more than it equips us to manage time. So, many of us live half our lives or more before getting a handle on issues of time: what we want from it, how to evaluate its quality, our responsibility toward its use, ways to invest it well. How do you view time?

• One interesting concept is to begin to see your time in colors. The idea is simple enough for even children to learn and understand, but its implications are complex enough to challenge experienced time managers as well.

• In this technique, red time is time squandered, time not spent achieving goals or wants. Green time is time well spent, time that has redeeming value. Primary to using this method is understanding that green moments need not just be ones spent jogging or cleaning closets. No, there are green times of relaxation, recreation, and renewal.

• Likewise, the always busy person constantly focused on productivity may be living in red time if all that activity brings no satisfaction or sense of accomplishment. What matters most is not what your activities are, but how much those activities contribute to your quality of life, to what has value for you.

• The essential first step, then, is to identify your true goals—what you (not other people) want from your time. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Just be honest and let your wants take form on paper. Any activity that satisfies these goals is green time.

• The ideal, of course, is to live entirely in green time. The beauty of this concept is that it is possible.

• Generally, you will recognize your obviously green times; no changes necessary. Regarding the iffy green times, ask yourself, “Is this time being used to meet my goals or give me what I want from life?” If not, view those as red times regardless of how much it seems you are accomplishing.

• Ask the same question of times you see as red. You may find that what you first saw as red is really green. For instance, you may view an afternoon of crashing on your deck with a stack of magazines as time wasted, time you should have spent weeding a flower bed. But, in hindsight you may come to see this was really green time, time you needed to refresh and renew.

• Acknowledge that many routine tasks at home and at work are simply necessary; these maintenance items need not be accepted as unavoidably red. You have some choices. Can someone else do those necessary tasks for you? Or, can you introduce a green element to the job?  For example, you might delegate the filing OR you might listen to a training tape while you do the filing. You get the idea.

• One good way to enjoy more green time is to be prepared for contingencies. You can stew in red time while waiting in lines OR you can bask in green time by having a book or notepad with you to salvage those ticking minutes. You can see red while waiting for someone who has ignored a deadline OR you can move to another green project you have ready for your attention.

• Living in green takes effort. But the principle works if you will. You can use more of your time constructively.

Go for the green!