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.

Cautions on writing, creating, sharing personally revealing stories AKA testimonies, the possible negative results, and what to do instead

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We all want to share stories, yet we must always be respectful of the person whose story we want to tell and above all, we need to keep primary God's story and God's Word.

Storytelling is very popular currently. Just today I got yet another promotion of a “Learn How to Tell Stories” webinar.

Though storytelling is perennially popular, our Bible is made up of stories, after all, we must also be aware of some cautions when we tell stories—and that’s what this podcast and blog is all about…. The podcast is below and the blog on the same topic follows.

With the current trend of excessive sharing influenced by current media and the public revelations of indiscretions of previous Christian leaders, it seems there is nothing that is off-limits in public discourse.

There truly is no longer shame in what is shared.

The secular news media is one area; the church is another and it's important to set limits for what we share in the church in our written and digital communications and spoken public and digital sharing. This includes written and spoken testimonies and regardless of our reasons for wanting to share them, please consider the following cautions as we do them.

Please consider the following suggestions as both the ignorance of possible consequences of oversharing and the abuse of it can have lasting, though often not intended consequences for the people in our church.

We can never separate the content from the person

Allow me to first share my background on this issue as it comes from years of writing about people in difficult situations when I wrote about people for a number of Christian ministries in Colorado Springs and also was a religion reporter for the Colorado Springs Sun.

When I was a senior editor and writer with Compassion International and progressed to teaching writing and publication creation to other ministries, one thing I was adamant about was that we never, ever show people who were recipients of our ministry from a victim position either in what we wrote about them or how we photographed them.

No pictures of children with flies on their faces, no women beaten and bruised, and no men slumped in a pile of rags. Regardless of their previous need, I felt we should always treat people with honor. [Read more...]

“You are One of the Great Ones and far more important than you may realize,” an encouragement for all church communicators

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Church Communicators are the GREAT ones in the Kingdom of God
Your work may seem challenging and overwhelming, but church communicators are truly the Great Ones in the Kingdom of God. Heaven will be different because of the work you are doing today.

It's easy to forget the incredible importance of your work with all the hard work it takes to be a church communicator. The devotion below will help you remember.

You are one of the Great Ones and far more important than you may realize

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Dan. 12:3)

Often when I ask someone who has come to one of my church communication seminars what they do in the church, they often respond by saying something like: “Oh, I’m just the church secretary” or “Oh, I just help work on the church newsletter” and similar self-deprecating statements.

My heart is broken when I hear that because the person who says it (and you may have thought similar things about yourself) has no idea of their true worth. Let me explain what I mean by sharing a story from a scene in C. S. Lewis’ book , The Great Divorce. In this scene the main character is being escorted around heaven. He sees a woman coming toward him magnificently clothed and attended to by a great procession. The book goes on: [Read more...]

All will be well—because Jesus came and is coming

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Jesus died on the cross for us
Jesus came humbly the first time and died on the cross for us. He is coming back a second time in victory. And then truly "all will be well."

The world has gotten pretty crazy over the last year and it probably won't improve much next year. But as Christ-followers our hope isn't in dreams and prayers for a better life that may not happen, but in the Savior, whose resurrection we recently celebrated.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered a quote from Julian of Norwich:

All will be well,

All will be well,

All manner of things

Will be well.

It is more than a comforting saying. For those who have trusted Jesus as Savior it is true—in the midst of the crazy world we live in and no matter how insane it gets, now and forever.

We forget the true meaning of "saved"

We forget how incredible our salvation is because sadly being "saved" in much of Christendom today is synonymous with the idea of goodies from God. And those goodies are supposed to include health and wealth or at least a comfortable life.

That's not how the Bible looks at it. Here are two verses we don't often think about:

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! Romans 5:9

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. 1 Thes. 1:9-10

There is, of course, a sense that we are saved here and now in that we are reconciled to God and at peace with him. We are saved from our selfish selves and able to live for God. But as wonderful as these things are, more wonderful yet is that we are saved from final condemnation and judgment.

One day this present reality with all its pains and fears will be transformed into a new heaven and new earth. There will be a final judgment for those who do not know Jesus and we work hard in all we do to share his message of salvation.  But those who know Jesus are saved from condemnation and judgment. For them, there will be no more crying or tears and all the sadness will be gone forever.

Never forget that your work as a church communicator has eternal consequences. Keeping up with trends and technology may be useful, but far more important in your work is that you consistently make clear the message of salvation.

The first advent was humble; the second will be triumphant

Jesus came the first time as a little baby to poor parents who could only find shelter in a barn. He died on a cross with common criminals.

His second advent will be triumphant and glories.

Now we can only trust and believe that "all will be well." But Jesus is coming a second time and then truly and without end, "all manner of things will be well."

Postscript:

I did up a set of cards with the saying "All will be well" on them. CLICK the link following to go to the FREE PDFs to download and share: https://wp.me/pDky9-8T4

 

Encouragement for Church Communicators

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Be encouraged and run your race well! The goal is worth it!

Some days it seems that discouragement is easy and being tired is our default position, but if you are like me and know you have "miles to go before we sleep" as all church communicators do, I wanted to share with you a kind of stream of consciousness of some quotes I read this week that encouraged and energized me.

It started with David Guzik, in his commentary on 2 Peter (I was reading it while preparing to teach a Bible Study) who quoted F.B. Meyer. Meyers was a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody, a Baptist pastor and evangelist. Read these quotes and then I'll comment on their application for church communicators:

F.B. Meyer said, "There are two ways of entering a port. A ship may come in, waterlogged and crazy, just keep afloat by continual working at the pumps; or it may enter with every sail set, her pennon floating at the mast-head. The latter is what the apostle desires for himself and those who addresses. He desired that an entrance abundant should be ministered unto them. . . . . the idea of an "abundant entrance" was really a choral entrance. The idea was of a Roman conqueror coming into his city, welcomed by singers and musicians who would join him in a glorious, happy procession into the city.

.....

"Will your entrance into heaven be like that? Will you enter it, save so as by fire, or to receive a reward? Will you come unrecognized and unknown, or be welcomed by scores and hundreds to whom you have been the means of blessing, and who will wait you?" (Meyer)

All of you who are working so hard in church communications—what a wonderful welcome you can look forward to!

Eternities are changed by the work you do each week. People come to church who are lonely and afraid; they find Jesus, forgiveness and salvation; they are encouraged to struggle one more day with pain or depression, family challenges and financial trials.

YOUR words, your communications change lives now and forever.

And when you feel you aren't equal to the task, another encouraging quote from F.B. Meyers:

“Ah, afflicted one, your disabilities were meant to unite with God's enablings, your weakness to mate His power. God's grace is at hand -sufficent— and at its best when human weakness is most profound. Appropriate it and learn that those who wait on God are stronger in their weakness than the sons of men in their stoutest health and vigor.”
― F.B. Meyer

One more thing

Many of us have been at this a long time haven't we? When that is the case it is easy to think that we owe ourselves the opportunity to slow down, to not force ourselves to learn one more social media program or make one more change to appeal to whatever audience needs whatever they need.

Truth be told, some days we just want to go to sleep.

On a day like that I was listening to a radio report about Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist whose work with great apes made her well-known.

The interviewer said to her, "You are 84 years old now, isn't it time for you to slow down?"

Jane answered her, "Yes, I'm 84. Slow down? NO! It's time for me to run faster!"

I needed that.

And then I was reminded of two more things

Paul's challenge to us:

1 Cor 9: 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Put that with Neil Young's lyrics and. . . . .

Long may you run!

 

 

Remember—before the resurrection Jesus was utterly forsaken and the hope we have because of that

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Sometimes an unbearably tragic story deepens my faith and encourages me far more than a host of upbeat messages and praise songs. I found just such a story as I was going through the many materials on the website and in our archives to update and share.

This story comes out of one of our Great Idea Swap Resources, a Holy Week Devotional Guide to the right.

You can click on the image to download the entire booklet and it is a useful sample for an Easter publication you could create for your church. Though there are many things I liked in it that make it a useful, timeless example, following is the one story I'd like to share. I hope, as I know these days ahead of work as you prepare your church for Easter and all the times you are responsible for church communications will be challenging, that in your hardest times, it will encourage you.

It was the third hour when they crucified [Jesus]. 26 The written notice of the charge against him read: THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.

While there are stages of time, there are also miracles in the world, but most of them get missed because we are too busy or too desensitized to them. I’m starting to see them more this week as I look back. I can spot them with regularity, sprinkling my path with drops of miracle, like blood, that will lead to healing and wholeness. But in the ER, like any hospital, it starts with forms, blood tests and the never-ending interrogation of questions.

“Name?” “Birthdate?” “Why are you here?”

It starts with the first nurse you see and then continues with each new nurse and doctor.

“Name?” “Birthdate?” “What’s been going on?” Again and again. Yes, there are periods of time. Epochs when things change from what they’ve been. But in between these different ages, there are the few moments in between when time stops. The doctor walks in and sits down.

"It’s cancer. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this. It’s not part of  the job that I enjoy."

I realize now that there is no easy way to break this kind of news. It’s better to just say it without any embellishment or corny additions. Just say it. So you sit there and all the air has suddenly left your lungs. You can’t breath and you don’t know what to say. All I want to do is hold Sara’s hand. I reach out for her and we hold onto each other for dear life. For our dear life. The only one we have and one I happen to love.

"But, he’s a young man. He just turned 30." Sara blurts out.

It didn’t seem fair. I had just turned 30 and younger friends asked what it was like.

"Is it a big deal?," they asked, "Were you really upset and did you feel like life had passed you by?"

"No" I said. It wasn’t a big deal. I don’t feel any different and I think I’ve plenty of time to accomplish other things in my life. Well that was just plain old 30. At 30 and 4 months my body started falling apart.

"How bad is it?" I ask.

"Oh, it’s extensive in the abdominal area," he says.

At that moment, I envision my abdomen from the chart I vaguely remember in biology with the stomach, intestines, bladder, pancreas all full of holes like swiss cheese, because the cancer has eaten through it…OR what USED to be stomach, bladder, intestines and pancreas all dissolved into a grey colored gelatinous mass that the surgeon looks at and shakes his head.

"Man, that’s extensive. Just sew him back up and send him home with morphine to enjoy his last few months."

It’s those kinds of  thoughts that make no sense at all. They shoot through your mind at the same time and it all seems so real, even though it makes absolutely no sense. I would like to say that in this situation, I had something profound to say….that my faith was so strong and that I made the best of it and held my wife as she broke down or that I suddenly had a great sense of the Lord’s peace and a light from heaven broke through to shine around my head. But I didn’t.  I cried out...

At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

There would be many times after that I would feel alone, but this was the first time I can remember feeling forsaken. I know it doesn’t compare to the suffering of Jesus, but in the midst of that physical and emotional pain as I held my wife’s hand and watched our dreams die, I had an inkling of what it feels like to cry out,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

I felt forsaken in the ER that day, but I wasn’t alone. The man, Jesus, who was forsaken and knew what it felt like stood by me. He was there with me as I cried. So now I look at him and with the centurion can say, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”

Sam

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