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.

As you write for different communication channels, don’t change the content or look of your message

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Multi-channel communication creation
When you have to create communications for a variety of channels, you don't have to change content or design!

Writing multi-channel communications,creating content for both print and digitally forms is easier than many people who create it in church offices realize. That is because a common misconception in the church office is that if you create communications for various channels, e.g. brochure, web, email, brochure, you need to redo the content, restructure, rewrite, and reformat it for each channel. The truth is that you don't only not need to, but if you do change things in each channel, you will confuse people.

This article will explain:

  • what content details you need to include in every channel
  • the important visual elements that need to stay consistent
  • suggestions of what channels to use
  • how often you need to repeat your message

The essential content details that connect people with the ministry or event of your church

These details need to stay the same no matter what channel you use:

  • Name of event (clarify acronyms and church jargon)
  • Who the event is for
  • Time, including duration
  • Date
  • Location & how to get there
  • Contact information of person putting on the event
  • If childcare is provided
  • If there is a cost
  • Why people should want to attend, the text that explains and invites.

Getting these basic details together is often the hardest part of any communication process. Always remember that though these details seem small, they are the vital links that actually get people connected to an event. Once you have them, you simply need to repeat them.

Warnings:

You will always be tempted to leave some of them out thinking that people have already seen them, but remember that just because you have seen something 5-10 times as you put it into different communication channels--every piece you put out will always be the first piece some people see.

YOU MUST include all the important details in every piece you send out or with an easy link to them. NEVER (the shouting is intended here) tell people to "contact the church office for more information." Nobody has time to do that and even if they do, chances are that since you did not have the information when you first put out the communication, you don't have it now.

Getting the little details from people holding events and putting them into every channel of communication is some of the terribly hard servant work of church communications--but these details are essential to link people to life-changing events. For example, a newly-single mom at your church may want to come to an event, but if you are unclear about child care or child care costs she may not have the emotional courage to contact the church and ask about it.

In addition to consistency in your words, you also need visual consistency

What would you think of a team that changed its team colors to make the team "more interesting?" Doesn't make sense does it? It doesn't make any more sense for your church communications to change the items below to "make things more interesting."

Remember, people do not read church communications because they are "interesting" or not. They read them to find information, to meet needs to grow spiritually. It might not be as interesting for you to create consistent, but what might seem like boring designs, but consistency will serve your people well.

The visual content that needs to stay consistent includes:

  • Logo, if one has been created for the event or ministry
  • Key images or pictures.
  • Colors used in advertising, or tied to an event
  • Layout if unique

Once this core content is created: DO NOT CHANGE IT!

The content of your message needs to be consistent and don't change identifying colors or images.

The most successful advertising campaigns are ones where a company finds a slogan, image or person that works and they repeat it again and again. Some phrases have even become part of our vocabulary:

  • Can you hear me now?
  • Just do it!
  • Where's the beef?

Though we aren't attempting to become part of the national jargon, the same secret for success applies in church communications. For example, if your church has decided to use the slogan, "Everyone in One!" for a small group campaign, don't use that slogan in your printed material and "Never study alone!" as your theme on the website. People will be confused and think you are promoting two different programs.

Decide on your content and design and then take that content and design and put out the message using the various channels. For example, perhaps your content is a campaign to get the congregation involved in small groups. The communication team members, using the same content and perhaps similar colors and images, can create a variety of communications to carry out your ministry goals including:

  • a print brochure
  • a bulletin announcement and insert
  • a PowerPoint presentation
  • a website directory of small group times and locations
  • a print directory with the same information for the welcome center
  • cards for the various groups that people can take home
  • an email newsletter designed to inform and encourage people to sign up
  • social media that links to information and encourages sign-up

You may use more or less of it of the basic core of information (but always with the same look, color, slogan) in the various channels. For example on the web you might list every small group with detailed information about what is being studied and detailed directions on how to get to each small group, whereas in the church bulletin, you might simply give a list of topics, times, and a link to the website.

Finally, each channel should repeat the same message several times

Remember nobody sees all the channels and no one in your congregation will see each communication each time it is presented. Though the number changes with the authorities cited, most marketing experts agree that people need to see a message at least 5-7 times for it to register at all. We may be sick of repeating it, but you can be sure that after you send out the same message 10 times in at least 5 different channels, there will still be someone who says, "Thank you so much for that one (text, postcard, email, bulletin announcement)--I didn't know that was happening, but when I saw it, I went and it changed my life."

Don’t just change the music! or why you might need different bulletins for different services as well

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A "seeker-friendly service" involves more than a praise band and upbeat singing. If you really want to reach a variety of people, you may need to change more than the music. Your worship guide or church bulletin may also need some changes.

In recent years many churches have realized that not everyone likes the same sort of music when they worship God. After fussing and fighting for a number of years it seems like churches realize that they don't need to totally change the style of music for the entire church. A much more peaceful and positive response in many churches has been to have different styles of music and worship at various times on Sunday mornings and Saturday night.

In addition to changing the music, if churches are serious about communicating to specific audiences within their churches, the style of communications given to them needs to change also. Many of the announcements and basic messages can be the same, but some modification in design, typeface, illustration style, and some of the content can make a world of difference in communicating effectively  to your specific audience.

If you use the same bulletin for everyone, it would be like expecting everybody to get their news from the Wall Street Journal. Some folks prefer the Journal, but others read USA TODAY and others prefer televised news on CNN or social media. The same news is reported each day, but it's modified to the tastes of each audience. The core of your message and the truth of the gospel remain the same but you might want to modify your presentation in terms of your communication styles.

How this might work out in practice

Let's use as an example a church of about 1200, that has a new pastor with a desire to reach his community for Christ. The church has three services, each of which is designed to appeal to a specific group of people. Below are some possible suggestions for church communications for three different kinds of services. First I'll describe the services, the target audience for each one, and then some suggestions for how you might modify the worship guide or bulletin for each one.

The church services:

The 8:00 service is very traditional, designed for folks who have been coming to the church for many years. The service is the one the majority of the senior adults attend.

The 11:00 service is the contemporary service. The worship leader is part of a contemporary Christian rock group and the music includes a drummer, keyboard, guitars and piano where the worship leaders sits and sings. The motto for this service is:  the 11th Hour: it's never too late for truth, god and rock and roll.

Yes, the word, "God" is in lower case-that alone offends some of the folks from 8 am, but seems normal to an age group where many music covers have all the words in lower case type and text messaging is all done in lowercase.

The 9:30 service not only meets at an in-between time, but the format of the service is a mixture of traditional and contemporary. It's the service attended primarily by families.

Suggestions for the Bulletin or Worship Guide for each service

8:00: a traditional service needs a traditional bulletin.

Whatever your church has been doing in the past is probably primarily what you'll want to do for these folks. When a church is making lots of other changes in services, times, and music there is no need to change the traditional bulletin just for the sake of making changes.

Some possible modifications:

-Consider using larger type that is easier to read for an audience primarily made up of seniors. 12 point would be the smallest you'd want to use and you might even try 13 or 14 points. A little extra leading (the space between lines) makes text easier to read also.

- A serif typeface, (something like New Times Roman or Cambria) is more traditional in look and will probably be preferred by this audience.

-Don't use too many typefaces or a variety of wild and crazy typefaces for this group.

-Section of prayer requests can be more detailed and is often expected by these people who are often the prayer warriors of the church.

11:00 a contemporary service needs a contemporary bulletin

If the person doing the traditional bulletin doesn't like contemporary, Christian rock music, they may not be the best person to design this bulletin-it helps to love the life-style or at least appreciate it to create publications for it.  The inspiration for this bulletin would come from online music covers, publications that appeal to that audience, television channels such as MTV, and the graphic style it uses.

Some possible modifications:

-There are two overall options you could consider for this group. One would be a very colorful look or the other option would be a totally black and white look.

-For either one use lots of images and less words.

-Make the church websites or sections of the web site ea for more information and make the website, Facebook, Twitter or other social networking connections printed on the bulletin.

-Use contemporary typefaces for the majority of the publication. Clean, sans serif faces such as Ariel, Eras, Franklin Gothic (actually any of the "Gothic" styles would work well) or Verdana could work well. Combinations of the regular type with bold have a contemporary look. Many contemporary publications use type at smaller sizes, 9 or 10 points with lots of leading (space between the letters).

-For some groups or advertisements, try the grunge typefaces. These are the typefaces that look like the letters are broken.

-Don't use funky, old-fashioned clip art here. Either use something contemporary like Art Parts, or leave it off altogether. Photographs , especially just a few used more as graphic illustrations can work well with this kind of design.

9:30 a family-oriented service needs a family bulletin

This bulletin or worship guide would probably have lots more information than the others. It's important to remember that the bulletin for this group is key to involving them in additional activities for the church. Also, what you put in this bulletin will let families know how you feel about children at your church.

Some possible modifications:

-In addition to the worship guide or bulletin itself, consider producing a children's bulletin in addition to the one for adults. A fun sheet with Bible games, a place to doodle and perhaps a short lesson, plus a pencil to write with can be a great gift to parents as they come in with their children.

-Be sure to give complete details on all the programs in the church for families.

-For special events, create bulletin inserts designed to be posted on the refrigerator. Many churches now call these mini-billboards, Refrigerator Reminders, because they know for a busy family, if it is on the refrigerator, the family will remember to attend. If the event is just part of a list in a bulletin, it will probably stay in the Bible til next week and the event will be missed.

-For typefaces, Bookman is the classic typeface for children's materials (that's the one the Dick and Jane books were set in), Century is a very easy to read typeface for adults and kids. Comic Sans is a fun face for special events advertisements for kids. A variety of typefaces for different sections or advertisements can work well for this group.

-This would be the bulletin for fun clipart and graphics. Colorful, family oriented pictures of people on the cover would also work well for this group.

There are so many ways you can modify your publications to better serve the various groups you are trying to reach. The above ideas hopefully will serve as inspiration starting points. To figure out what will work for you, observe who attends what service. If possible spend a little time finding out what publications they like to read. Look at them and design your publications in the same style.

Possibly a time to develop a communication team

Yes, it is a lot of work to do different bulletins for each group. This might be an opportunity to recruit and develop a communication team. The members could be volunteers who would take the basic church information and adapt it for each group. From working on the bulletin, the team members might expand to helping create other communications for each group.

If you take the time to do these modifications, it will be one way to illustrate to your people a picture of our caring Lord, who loves each of us individually and who has an individual plan for every life.

What’s the best channel to use to communicate the church’s message? Print? Multi-media? Web?

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Church communicators today are faced with a challenging choice of communication channels.

In print, bulletins, newsletters, brochures, flyers, and postcards continue to be produced. In addition, most churches today have entered the digital world and PowerPoint presentations, websites, email, and video are also an expected part of the communication ministry. What is essential, what works best, where churches should put their time and money, are questions I'm often asked.

There are no simple or easy answers to these questions, but this article discusses some of the important issues every church communicator needs to consider when putting together an effective church communication program.

We live in a time of multi-channel communication

Print and digital communications, in all of their various forms, make up current communication channels and it is first essential to understand that one communication channel is not more important than any other. It would be so much easier if we could say, "All we need is a website" or "Email is THE way to get across the church schedule" or "If it isn't in print on the refrigerator, it isn't happening" but we can't narrow our communication efforts to one or two channels today. All are needed to fully accomplish the communication ministries of any church.

It's natural to want to make the process simple, to focus on only one or two communication projects and then to ignore the rest. But we can't do that if we really want to reach people. What is important is not the communication channel itself, but how and when and in what way it reaches people with your message.

Examples of how various communication channels work

Various communication channels, even if they contain similar content, e.g. what's going on in the church this week, touch people, are taken in, make and impact, and are remembered and responded to in different ways. Following are some examples:

Printed church bulletin: It's touchable, tangible, and though often ignored by members who assume they already know everything in it, it is often closely read by visitors trying to figure out what is going on. For visitors especially, it's "the program" for the church service. As such it should clearly help people understand what is going on during worship and briefly inform them of upcoming events. For everyone, its greatest value is as a guide to what is happening now.

Though bulletin inserts  may be kept, most church goers don't keep their bulletins; they are usually placed in the trash after the service or tossed by midweek at the latest. It doesn't matter how much white space or how incredible your graphic design, these are throw-away publications.

Practical application: Though much emphasis is often placed on the looks of the bulletin to impress visitors with what a great church they are visiting, a more important channel for impressing visitors is your people.

Few visitors return to a church because the bulletin greatly impressed them, but the kindness, friendliness, and interaction of people is the most powerful Sunday morning communication channel.

The bulletin should not get in the way of understanding, but it should explain and welcome. People come back for the message and the people, not to see what great graphic design will be in the bulletin for the coming week.

PowerPoint presentations: most useful for immediate, visual, emotional impact. Most powerfully used for worship, meditation, or to illustrate an application or lesson. Also, helps focus people on the sermon if notes are being taken. Not helpful for lasting memory of details.

Practical application: PowerPoint presentations are not adequate substitutes for written announcements. People might remember the cute picture of their kids on the screen, but they won't remember the time, location, cost, and program content of the special event coming up at the end of the week from a PowerPoint slide alone. As a one-time exposure to an event, they are fine, but they must be used in conjunction with additional channels of communication (bulletin, inserts, website entries, email) that provide specific event details.

Websites: information sources for both immediate impressions and for in-depth research. If not constantly updated, they lose much usefulness. Multi-media impact varies widely on the ability of the audience to receive it.

Practical applications: Survey your church to see how many people access it and how they use it. Do they use it at all and do they have the bandwidth to access multi-media feature such as video, streaming audio, etc.? Do you ever update them know what is on the website and how to use it? That would be a useful Sunday morning use for PowerPoint.

Don't forget that many unchurched people check out church websites before visiting-does your home page speak to them? Search engines enable people to jump into your website without visiting the home page and there are two practical applications to people coming to your site via a search engine: 1) remember that the web is not a linear communication channel. People can jump in any way and go to any section, so don't create a website as you would a book or article. 2) With this in mind, do people always know where they are wherever they might enter your website? Can they easily return to the home page or to other sections of interest? Does every page make sense even if people don't know what comes before or after it?

Email publications: great for those who have and check email regularly, of no use to those who don't.

Practical application: contrary to what those of us assume who work in the church and with computers, not everyone checks their email continuously. Not everyone has email. Of those who have web access, a minority have broadband access. A recent (July 2007) report from the Pew Research group showed that broadband internet access is available to less than half of those with computers (more on this later in the article).

Refrigerator Reminders: these can be in a variety of formats: postcards, flyers, bulletin inserts, any communication that is designed to end up on what is defacto the communication central for every home today-the refrigerator. These communication pieces are essential links to actually getting people to events when they contain the actual details of time, location, cost and availability of child care because they can be immediately accessed without having to turn on a computer or look for another publication.

Practical application: these communication pieces aren't as exciting to create as a website or video, a multimedia PowerPoint presentation or a colorful bulletin cover, but these pieces are vital if we really want people to show up for events that can change their lives.

The listing of communication channels and sub-channels within them could go on, but the most important point thing to remember first, is that there is no one communication channel or piece that can do it all; no one is "better" than any other. All are needed. In addition, you need a variety of high-tech and low tech.

For example, in a recent seminar, the communication team approached me before the seminar began and shared their great frustration because as they said, "We have a website, the bulletin, which is beautifully done, and we put the newsletter in a PDF email format and still nobody comes to our events and they say they don't know what is going on."

Though I sympathized with their situation, I knew immediately what was happening. Though I'll explain this more in detail below what was going on is that they were putting out communications in the channels they preferred (primarily web and PDF email newsletter), but they were not the channels easily accessible to or preferred by many people. Few folks will wait for a large PDF to download with a dial-up connection or will go on to the website to hunt for details of where to go for a youth activity. A postcard or bulletin insert on the refrigerator with scheduling details for church activities that week would have been much more useful. If most of the youth group members have cell phones a text message would be useful.

Be aware of the inherent preferences of communication creators

In my seminars I remind church leaders of the "church office bubble," the world those of us who work in the church live in and for us, when we are in it is so easy to forget what life is like for those who do not live in our familiar bubble. We know understanding and overcoming our tendency to use jargon and talk to ourselves is foundational to outreach communication success, but it is also important that we are aware of our unconscious preferences in communication channels and how these affect the communication of our message.

The issue in choice of communication channels is that those who create communications, by their natures and jobs, are often "early adaptors." We love the technology; we want to try all the latest and greatest tools. Not only do we love it personally, but there is often subtle peer pressure to learn and create with the latest technology. These tendencies are understandable, but we have to be careful that they do not negatively influence our communications.

For example, I recently discovered YouTube and put up my channel on it (www.youtube.com/yvonprehn). I had great fun and was so excited about it, but fortunately, in the midst of my excitement, I followed some of my advice wherein I am always telling people to survey, to test, to actually ask their audience if what you are doing to communicate actually works for your people. So I did, I asked my email newsletter subscribers for their opinion on my YouTube offerings.

Many people loved them-some for some reasons I wouldn't have expected. In addition to simply being able to "see" what I was teaching, a number of people said they liked hearing my voice, that it made the teaching more human. An even larger number of respondents however, said that they couldn't access YouTube because they didn't have a high-speed connection and others said that though they liked it, that it really helped when I also wrote out articles that they could download and give to church staff people to read.

The issue of bandwidth is something those of us "early adaptors" and professional communication creators like to forget about. We have it; we have the RAM; we have the computers that make streaming video and complex graphics fun to create and view. But the majority of the people in our congregations still don't.

According to a recent study (July 2007) by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, broadband adoption by home computer users is actually slowing, down to a modest 12 percent over the last year, from a 40 percent increase the year before. Currently 47 percent of the general population has broadband at home and in rural areas it is down to 31 percent. When you factor in how many people in your church still do not have computers at home (and more than you imagine don't), even under ideal conditions, if they want to and take time to look at your web offerings, far less than half of your audience will receive them.

Bottom line: create what you love because some of your audience will love it also, but in addition, love your church audience enough to create more communication channels so that the people with the slowest computers and those without computers will also hear and have the opportunity to respond to the communications from your church.

Biblical considerations in multi-channel communications

Technology aside, we must always remember that those who name Jesus as Lord, must always keep our eyes on Jesus and his Word as our guide for every aspect of our communications.

One theme woven throughout the fabric of the Bible is the concern of our Creator for the poor. There will always be inequalities (in everything from finances to bandwidth) in our fallen world and there is always the temptation of those who have much to ignore those who have little. There is always the temptation for those who minds work quickly to be impatient with those who learn slowly; for those who love the new to disdain those who fear it.

If Jesus is Lord, we may create an incredible multi-media website and full-color email blasts; but we make sure there are also postcards, large-print bulletins, and handouts and personal phone calls for those more comfortable with these channels of communication.

Remember, doing this sort of servant work for "the least of these" is doing communication work for Jesus. He who created and named all the stars is not impressed with our technical abilities; but when we pour our hearts out in communication projects both complex and simple to make sure everyone is informed and shown love by the time-intensive work required-those channels of communication merit his favor.

How to fill your church communications with purpose and power

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Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (Jn. 4: 13, 14).

What is inside us comes out in everything we do and our communications are no exception.

  • If we love sports, our communications will be filled with analogies from sports.
  • If home and children make up our world, our life lessons will come from kitchen and nursery.
  •  If we have a cynical view of life, our words will bite and be tinged with satire.

We are all far more transparent than we realize as Jesus reminded us when he said that out of the abundance of our hearts our mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34).

Christian communicators have the ultimate reasons for wanting their communications to be powerful-the eternal destinies of souls are at stake. Christian communicators don't create sermons, websites, church bulletins, blogs and newsletters only to fill the empty minutes of their days, but to enable people to know Jesus as savior and grow in Christian maturity.

John 4:13 tells us how to accomplish those purposes with power. The core way to do it isn't reliant upon technology or spotting trends or attempting to be relevant to the issues of the day-though all of these actions have a proper place. The core action, the essential thing we must do to communicate with power, is to drink deeply of Jesus.

Jesus, permeating our lives and our message, is the key to communicating with power. If we spend time in his word; in prayer, in study, in worship; if his values and viewpoint permeate our lives it will show.  It will spill out into every piece in print or online that we produce.

Not only will we be refreshed and satisfied when we create out of a heart filled with Jesus, but it will become a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." People are attracted to what truly satisfies. If you want your church communications to satisfy the deepest desires of their souls, first fully fill yours with Jesus.

________

Devotions for Church CommunicatorsFrom Devotions for Church Communications by Yvon Prehn, available either as a free download for ECC Members or in paperback book from amazon.com.

Flashy multi-media in church communication and why it doesn’t always work

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True story here: A church wasn't getting the response they wanted to get people to attend the various events of the church including small groups.

Their response: Instead of asking folks why they weren't coming, or doing an informal survey to see what they were or were not communicating with current materials, someone made the suggestion that the church start a new video newscast during the church service. The thinking was something like  "this is what will appeal to people today."

Two interns from the local Bible college were the newscasters, and with a team and a bit of time and effort, produced a highly entertaining video. Announcements were made for more folks to join the news team and to help with the production; mention was made of upcoming events of the week and the congregation encouraged sign up for small groups. The congregation loved the videos for the two weeks they were produced. They were filled with chatty banter, silly jokes, and tasteful humor.

Did that increase attendance at church events and especially in small groups?

Sadly, no. There was no increased attendance in small groups. [Read more...]