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.

Leaders for effective church communications, essential characteristics and skills needed

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Communication Coordinator
Finding an effective church Communication Coordinator is an important and challenging task, this article will show you what to look for.

Previously we talked about how church and ministry leaders can't be expected to do all the all the communications work and how a team is an answer to this challenge.

Once the decision is made to find someone to head up the church communications team, then these questions come up:

  • Should the church or ministry hire a professional designer specifically to do church communications?
  • Should they use a professional volunteer or make communication creation part of a staff position?
  • Or should it be a full-time position?
  • What should a church look for in skills? Attitudes?
  • Should the person do all the work, or should they train a team?

We'll look at some of the issues and answers in this post.

Keep first things first—Spiritual Maturity is the most important characteristic to look for

In the same way that a church would not hire a senior pastor simply based on the person's charismatic appeal as a public speaker without evaluating the spiritual maturity, shepherding skills, and godly character of the candidate, the spiritual and servant qualities of a church communications coordinator are equally important. The job involves far more than putting pretty images and catchy phrases on the print and digital communications of the church. The job is a strategic, core, ministry position. Church communicators are responsible for expressing the message of your church and the words of eternal life. The following list of characteristics are essential and following this list, they will be discussed in detail. You will notice that none of them say anything about technical or design skills-I am assuming those skills as a given or the person would not be applying for the job. What follows are the spiritual essentials. Someone can always be trained if their skills are not what we would like them to be. It is much more difficult to change a heart. That's why the following skills are essential for someone wanting to lead a team to produce effective church communications:

Essential characteristics for a church communication coordinator

  • A church communication coordinator must have a servant's heart.
  • A church communication coordinator must understand the scope of communications needed.
  • A church communication coordinator must understand what he or she can personally create and what to delegate.
  • A church communication coordinator must be totally committed to fully fulfilling the Great Commission.
  • A church communication coordinator must be willing to continuously learn and to train others.

A ministry communicator must have a servant's heart

Any decision on hiring a person for church communications should always be looked at as part of the overall ministry of the church, with a strong emphasis on the word "ministry." To minister means to serve and I've seen churches get into huge problems when they hire someone who may be a good graphic artist or designer, but who does not have a servant's heart and who does not understand the unique challenges of communications work IN the church, as opposed to secular design work. Communications and design work in a church setting is usually a collaboration, often with people who have no design or writing skills or understanding of the time and effort required to create spectacular graphic or Internet design work. A Sunday School teacher who needs a simple flyer, a men's ministry director who wants a brochure for the men's retreat often won't care about font choice, white space, or cutting-edge graphics-they just want their PR done. To help them do it or get one done quickly because they forgot work deadlines-these sorts of challenges will be constant and if not approached with a servant's heart, the communication coordinator's job will be constant frustration and misery. The function of church communication is to make a message clear and to involve people in events, not wow them with great design impact. The design person will rarely if ever be thanked or acknowledged for their creative genius and they will be often attacked for seemingly petty reasons. The way in which a typo, a left-out announcement, or a change in a publication can be raised to the status of personal insult and heretical rebellion is unimaginable if you haven't personally experienced it. A servant's heart, and a very tough, yet tender one, is needed for this job.

A ministry communicator must understand the scope of communications needed

The Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing

Often when a church staff considers hiring a church communications coordinator, they primarily think in terms of the overall bulletin, newsletter, website, possibly social media, and a few other assorted communication pieces for special events. In reality, these pieces represent only a small percentage of the total number of communications necessary for an effective communications ministry in any church. Unless both the church and the person doing the work understand all that is truly needed in communications for a church to function and grow, they will have problems.

PLEASE take time to look at the chart and read the article on The 5 Steps of Effective Church Communications. This will give you an idea of the volume and type of materials you need to produce for a truly effective communication ministry in your church that will get people into the church, involve them in the church, and grow them to Christian maturity. Your communication coordinator must understand this system and be committed to it for your church communication program to be an active tool in helping your church fully fulfill the Great Commission. At the start of the hiring or volunteer recruiting process you need to clearly define all the work that needs to be done and then clearly communicate your expectations for getting it done. When you look at The 5 Steps chart, it is easy to be overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done. That is a correct assessment of the situation. There is an overwhelming amount of work-we are communicating to alter the eternal destinies of people. What is important to understand is that all the work can't be done by just one person. That is why the following characteristic is also vitally important:

A church communication coordinator must understand what he or she can personally create and what to delegate

To get all the communications work done that you need to, it's important to divide your church communication production in the following way and to recruit more people to help in the overall communication ministry. In addition, if you understand these two levels it helps to define the job description for your communication coordinator. These two levels are explained in more detail in the article, The Two Production Levels of Effective Church Communication, but a brief summary/review follows:

1. The PR Communication Level

2. The Ministry Communication Level

It is important to understand these two levels in terms of:

1) the communications produced in each one,

2) who does the communications and

3) the guidelines and standards for each one.

For both of the levels described below, keep in mind the publications can be in either print or digital formats.

The PR Communication Level

  1. Communications produced: overall pieces that represent the church, such as the logo, stationary, business cards, primary bulletin, newsletter, major outreach pieces, primary website and social media, and major ministry brochures.
  2. Communications producer: usually a staff person, often the communication coordinator, whose job may or may not have other responsibilities. The larger the church, the more it is recommended that the church hire someone specifically to create and oversee communications. This could also be done by a volunteer who has the time and commitment to work closely with the church staff.
  3. Communications standards: usually somewhat strict, as these pieces reflect the overall vision and reputation of the church.

Ministry Communication Level

  1. Communications produced: everything else in the church outside the communications listed above, from very simple notices, lessons, flyers and announcements to more complex communication projects.
  2. Communications producers: THIS IS IMPORTANT: here a staff person, such as your communications coordinator, or perhaps a key volunteer may oversee, train, encourage and help, but that person cannot do everything needed for a complete communication ministry in the church, nor should they. Ideally, every ministry in the church (children's, youth, men's, women's, etc.) should have at least one person who can help do the communications needed for that ministry. At this level, the church communications coordinator becomes a coach and encourager.
  3. Communications standards: much more flexible. You do not need the same standards of design or perfection for a one-time postcard that is going to remind the guys of the men's breakfast that you do for the four-color, outreach brochure for the church. If you are too hard on volunteers, they'll quit. People do improve in communication creation skills with time, training and encouragement and the ministry communication person needs to decide what is really important in standards and what is picky personal preference. Train to bring up to important standards and let the personal preference issues slide.

The church communication coordinator must be totally committed to fully fulfilling the Great Commission

Fully fulfilling the Great Commission means to make disciples. The articles on discipleship (please take time to read the article at this link) on this site go into detail on why this is so important, but this core characteristic cannot be overlooked. I have seen so much in the over twenty years I have traveled and taught church communications, but one thing that continuously amazes me is how obvious it is when church communications are created with the glory of God, obedience to the Great Commission, and the fulfillment of God's purposes as the primary goals, how God blesses that church.

What is also often amazing to me is that the person responsible for this kind of work varies tremendously in their formal training or skills. Some have training in writing, design, and advertising; some have no formal training at all. Some are young and new at their job; some have worked in the church office from the days of typing blue stencils. The one thing that unites all these men and women, that comes out clearly as we chat is for each of them, no matter what it takes in time, training, discovering skills, tools, or tips, the primary goal of their communications work is they want people to find Jesus and to grow as his disciple. They are truly the Great Ones. Their churches are growing. Though challenging, there is often joy in the church office and the challenges of their jobs. Sadly, I also meet a smaller number who bring me what on the surface appear as beautiful church communications: often glossy printing, impeccable design, clever writing. However, the person presenting these items is often angry or frustrated because:

  • People at the church don't appreciate them.
  • They can't get all the rest of the church communications to match up to their standards.
  • They had no idea that working in a church would be this hard.
  • They are astounded that people are not responding and want to know who to blame, because the problem is certainly not with their design.

I'm never certain what to say because I usually sense the person asking really doesn't want an answer but an ally to agree with their anger. But I can't. When I suggest perhaps a spiritual solution-time spent in humble prayer to discern the Lord's will and answer and a reminder that God can't bless our work when we are fighting with those with whom we work and serve-sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes tears appear and the person says, "I never realized this was a ministry."  There is hope for that communication ministry.

Sometimes, my suggestions are dismissed with barely concealed contempt and my advice relegated to the, "What does she know about it?" category. In this situation there is also an often unspoken, "what does prayer have to do with people not appreciating me?" Things probably won't get better at that church and often the person finds work in a secular setting where their skills can be used without the spiritual baggage.

Please don't dismiss the necessity for spiritual maturity in a communication coordinator as unrealistic. God does not need anyone, no matter how talented to get out his message, but he can use anyone if their heart is right. The Bible is filled with stories of ordinary people who God used to do extraordinary tasks. People can be trained for any skill if willing, but training a heart to care about the Great Commission is more challenging. Find a person with a good and godly heart who cares passionately that people come to know Jesus-that is what is most important in a church communication coordinator.

A church communication coordinator must be willing to continuously learn

Though a good heart with a proper focus on fully fulfilling the Great Commission is essential, it is irresponsible to not train the person with the good heart in the practical skills they need to be a proficient church communicator. In this area, we ought not lie to ourselves or to our communications coordinator by thinking that skills training in church communications is easy, quick, or once done, taken care of. On the contrary, to be a skilled church communicator you must:

  • Master many complex skills: writing, design, layout, typography, media, marketing
  • Learn new and ever upgrading and changing software and digital skills
  • Master production using the computer and other church office equipment
  • Learn how to integrate and create communications in print, online, and in whatever new channel appears
  • Manage people, pray for wisdom and peace in leading and organizing a team
  • Constantly be open to new ideas, skills, tips, insights
  • Do it all with an impossibly low budget and crushing deadlines

Though the challenges are constant, the church must attempt to provide the time, money, and encouragement for needed training. The church communication coordinator must be open to continuously learning, but the opportunities for it must be available. Don't even think about hiring or designating a church communication coordinator if you do not commit to support, train, pray for, and encourage that person. Effective Church Communications has many resources, links, and recommendations to enable you to do this. Much is free, many excellent resources and the membership subscription cost for our training videos is very little.In addition, a membership in Effective Church Communications is for the entire church, so any of the resources, templates, ebooks, and training videos can be freely shared with other staff members and communication volunteers.

In addition to training and tools, the most important training gift you can give to any church communication coordinator is the gift of time. As part of their job description, block out time, several hours each week, where that person is assured of completely uninterrupted time to read articles, take an online class, try things to improve their skills and help equip volunteers. If you do that, your church communications will be more effective and your church will grow.

Finally, it isn't easy to hire a church communication coordinator, but it is worth it

It isn't easy to find a person with all the spiritual and practical skills to do an effective job. Most likely you will have to help train and mold someone into the position. A significant amount of prayer and time is required, but essential because your ministry communicator and their team will be the ones who will literally incarnate the message of your church to your community.

One person can change the direction of your church communications

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Nehemiah has lessons for church communicators
Nehemiah has lessons for church communicators in terms of vision, hard work, and how to trust God.

Out of the 66 books of the Bible, 39 of them are the names of people.

Ordinary people no different from you or me with one difference—they allowed an extraordinary God to use them for his purposes. As you consider the communications needs of your church, you might be tempted to think there is little you can do, but God can use you in the same way he used the people of the Bible to change the course of your church, your church communications, and your community in extraordinary ways.

As an inspiration, let's look at Nehemiah. He was an official in the palace in Babylon, with no doubt a comfortable life. That changed when he heard about the situation of his fellow Jews back at Jerusalem, when the word came that they were, "in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire (Neh. 1:3)."

Most likely a lot of people heard that report. Many in Babylon and the thousands living in Jerusalem knew there was a huge problem. But one man let it break his heart and he took that heartbreak to God and did something about it. [Read more...]

Why technical expertise isn’t enough for a church website

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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.

 

Ebook: What every church leader needs to know about church communications

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What Church Leaders Need to Know About Church Communications
Church leaders must be involved in the church communication process, this book shows how.

An effective church communication ministry that enables unchurched people to find Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples takes the joint efforts of all the church staff. Church communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission take more than a church administrator who knows how to create professional-looking publications. They require involved pastors and leaders.

Unfortunately, this involvement is rare and that lack of involvement results in less than effective communications and often frustrated church communicators. This does not mean church leaders need to know how to do church communications, but they need to understand how they are done. Leaders also need to set the vision for the goals for the communication ministry and be certain to evaluate and follow-up communication projects. This book will help your church leaders understand the need for their involvement and the limits to their communication involvement in this vital area of church leadership, management and growth.

Below is the Table of Contents for the book. The ebook is free for Effective Church Communication Members or you can buy it as an immediate download below. [Read more...]