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.

Be clear and be honest when you write headlines for your church communications

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Make your headlines clear
People skim headlines to decide if they will read more--make yours clear and honest so they will.

From our archives and still extremely important:

The headline is the most important part of any communication, either in print or digital format, because if it does not catch the attention of readers, if they don't see how the headline will benefit or be of use to them, they won't read anything else. Because of this, it is vitally important that you take time to write clear and honest headlines.

I read some time ago was a very sad illustration of why clarity and honesty is important in two headlines about the same event. I often skim a number of online news sources and while doing that this morning read this headline:

Bihar govt suspects conspiracy behind mid-day meal tragedy
from DNA, an Indian newspaper

It didn't make much sense to me, I had no context for it, and I had little interest to read the article.

Then I skimmed through another list of headlines and read this:

Contaminated school meal kills 25 Indian children
from Reuters

I was gripped by the tragedy and read the article. I realized that in the church we deal with issues of eternal destiny, life, and death in all of the programs and events we provide--but it's easy to forget that and to become vague and lazy with our words. Below are some tips on what we can learn from this sad tragedy of children dying to help us be more effective as we write headlines for our church communications.

Clarity and honesty made all the difference

In the first example, the key problem is the phrase "mid-day meal tragedy."

What does that mean? "Tragedy" is a vague word today, because it has been over-used. Tragedy, in the context of a meal, can mean anything from a tummy ache to someone choking on food items, to poison, to a food-born bacterial sickness. Combined with the word "conspiracy" another over-used word that has become trivialized from over and mis-use, the reader has little reason to read the article.

The second headline in contrast is extremely clear because it defines the "tragedy."

"Meal kills 25 children" that is a tragedy--and I wanted to know how that happened.

Don't assume people know the background or context of what you write about

One might argue that the second headline assumed people already knew what happened, but that assumption itself is always a mistake in any writing. You can NEVER assume people have read what was previously written or that they will read articles in the order you write them. Because of the way search engines present material in the digital world, readers can jump to any article written, at any time, about any topic, and unless you are clear what you are referring to, they may have no context for what they are reading.

Printed material presents the same challenge. People may not have gotten the bulletin, newsletter, flyer or postcard you created that gave the necessary background to understand your current topic. Or they didn't read all of it to get to the part where you set up what is coming next. Or they put it into the "to be read later" pile and it got buried.

In all instances either print or online, you need a brief intro and bottom links or references to what went before. However, even if you give these, you cannot allow your headline to assume prior reading about the events.

Practical application for when your write church communication headlines

NEVER use vague, rah-rah statements such as:

Save this date!

Most fun you'll have this summer--don't miss out!

Be clear and always clarify what the event is about and who it is for.

On August 2nd the Men's Ministry will take part in our FREE Parking Lot Auto Repair Day

Youth trip to Magic Mountain--admission free if you bring two friends

Be honest about either what happened or why something is important

Don't substitute rah,rah, general invitations for people to come to events in your announcements about activities. Don't leave out or downplay either benefits or consequences of your activities like the following examples:

Marriage enrichment seminar will tackle challenging topics

Small groups are starting up--don't miss out!

Instead, honestly tell people what topics you will cover and what they can expect. Of course your events will have more, but don't think you are being comprehensive by being vague. Pick one comprehensive topic you know is true about the event or ministry and the article itself can elaborate, as these examples illustrate:

Why pornography can destroy a marriage and how to conquer it

Does the Bible really apply to everyday life? Join a small group and talk about it.

How to know if your headlines are successful

Writing effective headlines is extremely difficult, but it's easy to know if they worked or not.

Online, how many people read your article, blog or announcement? (all website software can give you a count)

In print, how many people show up to the event? (you do have to repeat advertisements, just one mention won't get many people to anything)

If the answers to either of these questions are less than what you want--keep working on your headlines--you've got activities and ministries that can change the eternal destiny of people--it's worth the effort.

Newsletter advice: long or short; sermon in them or seeker-friendly?

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Seeking church communications feedback
Seeking feedback, trying different lengths and contents is all part of ministering to your people with your church communications.

A question came in from a church business administrator: “For our church newsletters, should it contain long articles or short ones, sermons or not, should it be visitor friendly?” It’s a great question and one that should be answered as you plan the content for your church or ministry newsletter. We’ll explore the options for answering it in this article.

(Update note: I wrote this article originally for written newsletters, but the advice following applies equally well to online newsletters, though you may want to start some of the articles in the online newsletter and continue longer material on your website.)

Long articles or short?

The answer to that part of the questions isn’t as obvious as it might seem. I think initially, with our busy schedules today many people would instinctively answer “SHORT!”  Almost no one complains that newsletter articles are too short.

But in consideration of length there are a number of factors to consider:

  • Newsletters contain a variety of material. Some is vision-casting from the senior pastor, some teaching, some history or story-telling, some news, notes and announcements.
  • More important than setting an arbitrary length,  the length of the articles or announcements in your newsletter material should be appropriate to the topic. For example, if the senior pastor is explaining the vision of the church, inspiring members for outreach or missions, setting a new direction or challenging for a building campaign, that piece might need a page or two.
  • Currently there is a growing popularity of "long-form", meaning simply longer length articles. Particularly when you do an online version of your newsletter, you might add additional information, background, commentary, or links on a topic. Many of the major newspapers today (the New York Times is a primary example) and have found this extremely popular. While waiting, commuting, or tired of playing games, people will often read longer articles on their mobile devices.
  • Announcements of re-occurring events usually do not need long, lengthy explanations on why people should attend. Short, catchy announcements designed what I call “want-ad style” and that contain the name of the sponsoring person or group, purpose, starting and ending time, full contact information, cost and directions to get there and if child care is provided are what is needed.
  • At the same time, even more lengthy material that takes a page or two can be made more visually interesting by breaking it into sections with headers, summarizing key facts in a sidebar, pulling out interesting or key quotes and highlighting them, adding a picture and caption. A page or two with these visual elements integrated into the story will be read more easily than a solid page or two of text with no breaks.

Sermons or not in your newsletters? Seeker-Friendly or not?

[Read more...]

Details Matter—Looking Good in Print

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Details matter in church communications
the little things matter when we want to communicate in a way that honors our Lord.

When it comes to looking good in print, small details make a big difference.

As one ministry assistant pointed out, “Members use word processing at home now, so they pay more attention to our printed materials and notice how we put things  on the page. I really want to feel secure about how the bulletin and our newsletter look.”

One effective way to achieve that security is to develop an office style book. Start by choosing a reference to use as an authority. My personal preference is The Gregg Reference Manual, but there are others equally reliable. As questions regarding usage occur in your writing—newsletters, bulletins, correspondence, reports—look up answers in your reference and mark them for future use or make a list you can refer to easily.

The following brief guidelines from Gregg can get you started. In your own style book you can add examples and expand topics you use most.

• Ages
Express ages in numerals (including 1 through 10) when they are used as significant statistics. Spell out ages in nontechnical references and in formal writing.

• Clock time
Always use figures with a.m or p.m. If you have the option (and you likely do) use the small capitals A.M. and P.M. instead of lowercase letters. No internal spaces are used in either case. Avoid the use of all capital letters.

For time “on the hour,” zeros are not needed to denote minutes unless you want to emphasize the precise hour. In lists, however, when some entries are given in hours and minutes, add a colon and two zeros to exact hours to maintain a uniform appearance. Line up the colons to keep the lists neat and clean.

• Dates
Only when the day precedes the month or stands alone, express it in either ordinal figures (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) or in ordinal words (the first, the twentieth). The default on some word processing programs superscripts ordinal suffixes (1st). For a more professional look, undo this feature and put ordinals, when you must use them, on the baseline (1st).

In most writing though, the day follows the month. In these cases, use a cardinal figure (1, 2, 3) to express it: on May 6. Do not use the form May 6th or May sixth, even though those versions reflect the way the date would sound when spoken.

• Percentages
In body text express percentages in figures, leave one space, and spell out the word percent: 20 percent. The % symbol may be used in charts and graphs, on business forms, and in statistical material.

• Sermon and hymn titles
Quotation marks are generally used around shorter works: television shows, poems, short stories, sermons, hymns, essays. Longer works are italicized: newspapers, books, magazines, movies, television series.

• Telephone numbers
The use of parentheses to enclose the area code tends to make publications look dated: (717)555-1111. The same can be said for the diagonal: 717/555-1111. An updated style uses periods to separate the elements:717.555.1111. This makes phone numbers consistent with the dot addresses used in website and email addresses.

Using these six guidelines consistently will keep you looking good in print!

How to really love visitors and the members of your congregation with church communications

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Love with your actions not just words
To love with your actions not just words, you've got to communicate clearly and completely.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Imagine a person looking for a new church. They are new in town, lonely and want to connect. After an online search for local churches, perhaps they google the church website and then visit. They want to find out more.

The church proclaims "We love people!" and the person is certainly in need of tangible love.

The person would like to find out more about the church and at the service, someone briefly mentioned that small groups were starting and that it was a great way to connect. It sounded interesting, but many other things were mentioned quickly in the same announcement time.

Wanting to learn more, the searching person looks at the bulletin, the online newsletter, and the website, looking for more information for the details on how to make a connection.

The bulletin had a very fancy graphic that said "Be sure to join our small groups!"

The website had a new landing page under "Small Group Ministries" that had testimonies of people who loved their small groups.

The social media links said pretty much the same things—encouragements to be part of groups, but no connecting details.

The person received a generic note from the pastor telling the person how happy he was that they visited and various other friendly sentiments.

Why none of these communications was loving

Not one of them communicated anything SPECIFIC about how to connect with a small group. They all gave tantalizing bits of information about the small group ministry at the church, but the underlying message was that if you were already part of the group and knew how to connect the small groups were great.

If you didn't know—you could call the church office—but chances are you wouldn't get a real person to talk to and you many not want to leave a message and your contact information with strangers.

You might try emailing the church—but many churches don't answer their emails promptly, if at all.

Why this happens

No one at any church intends to be unloving in their church communications. But it is so easy without thinking to assume that "everybody knows……" about small groups or any other ministry of the church that has gone on for years.

But visitors don't know and if you don't give clear information and detailed information in every channel and/or links to that information every time you mention an event, people will not know what is going on. No one can read your mind; no one knows the good intentions you have to involve people in any ministry if you don't clearly communicate it.

Specific advice on how to create loving communications about small groups or other ministries

Be sure you know all the details. Sometimes church communicators don't have all the information they need to communicate about an event to visitors and regular members. Be sure you get and then pass on the following information:

Time and dates of the events: as well as starting time, be sure you always include duration. Does the event last 1 hour? 2 hours? Whatever it is, be clear.

Location: "At the Johnson's house" or a similar description doesn't count—who are these people, is a question newcomers will ask. Always give a specific address and if the host has a specific role in the church clarify that. For example, at Pastor David's house, who is pastor of Single Adults.

Target audience if that is important: if an event or group is for singles, seniors, married couples or any other specific group, be sure you state it. If it is open to all adults, be clear.

Clarify child care situations: If you charge, what about a single mom who may not be able to afford your fee? If you charge by the child (one church charged $5 a child) that might be great for the host who had one child, but that effectively made the small group cost-prohibitive for the blended family with 4 kids. Consider making child care free and paying for it out of your Missions or Outreach budget—this could be one of the kindest things you might do for a family who really needs to be part of a small group, but who couldn't afford $20 a night for small group child care or a single mom who couldn't come if there was any fee. (Both of these true situations—one turned out well, the other did not.)

Anything else that might be important: do people need a workbook? To they have to pay for it? Is homework expected? Think through and ask yourself if there is anything that would cause someone embarrassment or awkwardness if they first found out about it at the group.

Benefits of attending: sometimes we forget to list the great benefits of church events and ministries because we think they are self-evident—but they aren't or more people would probably attend. Will people learn more of God's Word, our only true guide for life and eternity? Will they meet people who will be fellow travelers in their journey of faith? Will they find people they can pray for and with; encourage and build up? We sometimes become complacent about the tremendous privilege and joy we have of being able to take part in church activities without fear—remind your audience of that.

Clearly communicate where to go or who to contact for more information: In all print communications, have your website and the specific place on it listed for more information. Social media are almost useless here because it is an ever-flowing stream, not something that has specific facts, schedules, and locations. In print, social media and web communications be sure to have contact information—phone, text, email, social media interaction links and most important of all—be sure someone constantly monitors them and responds immediately.

Loving in "action and truth"

As the Apostle John reminded us—it is so easy to say we love people, but to truly love them, we must combine our sentiments with "action and truth."

To do that in your church communications requires detailed, often tedious work as the sections above illustrate—but it is important to do it for our communications to reflect the patient love of our Lord Jesus.

Before you use, trust, or take action on a statistic, always reverse it

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statistic distortion
Before you use a statistic, be sure you aren't distorting it just to make your point.

I'm not sure where statistics get their power—but put one in an article or headline and people pay attention. Though statistics are a catchy device to get attention, and are often used to prove a point, the numbers themselves say little without interpretation. And therein lies the challenge. Numbers without context mean little or nothing.

Writers create the context and as we create the context for any statistic we need to be careful that we don't ascribe more power to a statistic than it deserves. We especially need to be careful that we don't make unqualified assumptions, recommendations, or recommend ministry actions on a number that can be interpreted in various ways.

A recent example of this is in a number that has been advertised recently from the Barna organization. They are launching a new series of books on various topics and one of their primary selling points seems to be the short length of the books. They seem to base their decision to produce these, at least in part, on the following statistic from a recent survey they conducted that said:

When it comes to books, one of the most conventional informational format, more than one-third of adults (35%) say that while they enjoy reading, they feel most books are too long.  From: https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/641-3-trends-redefining-the-information-age#.UmcK3BCXaSo

It's fine to want to produce short books and short books can be of great value to busy, stressed people, but the statistic above is anything but a reason for short books because if you simply reverse it, just under two-thirds of adults (65%) don't feel books are too long. When you reserve the statistic, it shows most people are happy with the length books are now.

Length is not the only challenge to reading

Length is only one of the factors that determine if a book will be read or not. The importance or interest to the reader is one of the most important.  No matter how long or tedious a textbook might be, if our passing a class that determines if we get a degree we need, we'll read it. For leisure reading, skill of the author determines whether we lose ourselves in the words or are bored after a chapter or two.

Any content can be made harder to read if the print is too small and the layout is cramped. Conversely, even the most dense content is more accessible (and we'll stick with it longer) if the layout if pleasing, if there are subheads, captions, and illustrations to guide us.

If you don't need a statistic to make your point, you probably don't need the statistic

When you are tempted to use a statistic in your writing, remember the example here and always reverse it. If reversing the statistic shows the opposite of the point you want to make, leave out the statistic.

Sometimes statistics shed light on issues or offer insights we wouldn't see any other way, but always look at all sides of one before you use it so that readers won't be able to turn it around to prove the opposite of the point you are attempting to make.