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.

Your people, your church greeters–your most important communication tool

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Negative visitor card
This is a copy of a very negative visitor card--this is not how we want visitors to respond. Chris Walker's site will help your church avoid comments like this.

Sometimes we work so hard on our printed and digital connections we forget about the most important one of all--our people. Chris Walker, aka, the Evangelism Coach has a great article here about people who were so upset with the rudeness of church greeters, they wrote it down on a response card. Studies show that for every complaint someone actually takes the time to write about, there are many more upset people, who don't take the time to write.

Check out the article here as well as many resources on Chris' site.  He has excellent training and resources for church hospitality and evangelism. In addition, he's a thoughtful, insightful writer--I highly recommend his material.

CLICK HERE to go to this site: http://www.evangelismcoach.org

Just how friendly is your church? great tips!

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Gayle Hilligoss Pictureed. note: We can work very hard to create communications that will link us with visitors and make ongoing connections, but if we have grumpy people and messy churches all the careful communication pieces won't mean anything. Our wonderful encourager, Gayle Hilligoss has some tips that will help any church make your actions match your message.

The church sign proudly proclaimed The End of Your Search for a Friendly Church. An hour later the visitor was certain someone had violated the truth in advertising laws.

While friendliness is not the primary element drawing people to a congregation, most won’t stay around long enough to discover the church’s other attributes unless a hospitable, welcoming environment initially puts them at ease.   If you have been ensconced as a church member for a while, you may owe it to your church to visit some other churches to sense for yourself what it is like to be a visitor again.

Most staffs and members want to be caring and friendly, but in the midst of teaching, preaching and fellowshipping, too many give way too little attention to the impressions their visitors receive.   Perhaps if we could figuratively slip into the shoes of a guest for a few Sundays we would be more sensitive to visitors and new members in our own congregations.

Consider  these observations noted after visiting scores of congregations and talking with their members and staff; see how you can use them to the advantage of your own situation.  

Churches send positive messages by:

  • choirs that smile during the songs and stay awake during the message
  • members who are friendly beyond the time designated to be friendly
  • parking near the door reserved for visitors rather than the staff
  • clean and well cared for buildings and grounds
  • walkways cleared of ice, snow, grass, mud
  • attractive, functional signs inside and out
  • members who refrain from chatting during the music or message
  • a reception area staffed with friendly people ready to give directions or help
  • words of choruses printed in the bulletin for those unfamiliar with them
  • sending the church newsletter for a few weeks after the visit
  • the pastor acknowledging the visit with a letter
  • personable music directors who look like they enjoy what they are doing
  • crisply printed bulletins with print large enough to be read easily
  • providing thoughtfully prepared New Member packets  

Things that should never happen, but often do:

  • the first communication from the church has to do with finances
  • scruffy, hand-lettered signs designate classrooms and clutter walls
  • bulletin boards contain out of date information
  • the only greeting visitors receive is an obligatory handshake during the service
  • only a few members welcome the new members following the service
  • no church directory is included in the New Member packet
  • people’s talents are ignored when they are asked to fill positions in the church  

Things that could always happen, but seldom do:

  • pretty bowls of wrapped mints are on the reception desk
  • staff members turn to give attention to the choir when it sings
  • men on the platform stand when a woman comes to the platform
  • new members receive a handwritten note from the pastor
  • beautifully landscaped grounds are planted and cared for by volunteers
  • professional or neat computer-generated signs are used
  • new members and visitors receive a call from the church office on Monday
  • churches benefit by allowing members to use their unique talents

With members and staff working together any church can become more visitor friendly. Assistants can bring about significant differences. Pastors and ministering staffs can become more sensitive to what it is like to be on the other side of the pulpit. Congregations can follow their lead.

Why? Because many people want to end their search for a friendly church.

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Ending note from Yvon:

If your church has a unique way of making guests feel welcome, please share it with us in the comments section here. Thanks so much!

How Connection Cards improved visitor and prayer request response—true church story

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An encouraging email about connection cards
True story: how connection cards helped a church connect with visitors.

None of us do the work we do in communications without great concern for how it actually impacts the people we want to reach. That's why I appreciate it so much when I hear back from any of you on what worked in your church. Following is an email from Rona Heenk, a church communicator in Washington state. Thanks so much to Rona for her encouraging words to me and all of us—what you do DOES make a difference!

She inspired me to do an ECC training video on Connection Cards, click here to go to it.

PLEASE send me any stories you have of what has worked in your church so I can pass it on to others. Email to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.

Here is Rona's story (no editing, all her words):

Yvon,

I wanted to give you some feedback on something unrelated to the webinar, which I thought would be encouraging to you:

Based on the advice in your booklet on Connection Cards, I presented to the senior pastor the idea of a new Connection Card, putting it in the bulletin as an insert, and asking everyone to fill one out each week. He discussed it with the other pastors, and they agreed to the new card, but were reluctant to ask everyone to fill it out, so we continued to do what we were doing, which was to ask visitors to take one out of the chair back and fill it out and turn it in with the offering.

After a few months our response rate hadn't changed--maybe one visitor card turned in per month, and at most one or two prayer requests each week. About half the time we had zero cards turned in. I just kept praying about it, and waiting for a good opportunity to re-visit the idea.

 

Then, the week after Easter during our staff meeting, I mentioned that we had an attendance that was about 70 over our average attendance, yet NOT ONE visitor filled out a card. Our senior pastor sat up and paid attention, and asked if I had any ideas to improve that.... open door!! I "happened" to have the booklet and your latest article from Christian Computing Magazine with me, and presented the idea again, quoting your statement that basically said, "The Connection Card is the only real link we have to reach out to newcomers, and to be able to respond to questions and needs." That seemed to cement the idea that it was time to try something new, and he put into the minutes that our current way of handling the Connection Cards is NOT working, and suggested to the elders that they come to their meeting the next night prepared to discuss it.

Next thing I knew, they came to me and asked me to make it happen!

So, we began by sending out some email communication to the congregation about what we would be doing, and most of all, WHY. Last Sunday, May 2, we tried it for the first time, and guess what? No one complained, we got lots of responses, including TWO that were filled out by people who were first-time visitors. We got more prayer requests and people asking for information than we usually do, and I got three email addresses I didn't already have on file.

I even had a couple of cards come back with notes of encouragement to me, thanking me! (In the emails I had used a statement something like "Remember what it was like when you were the new person somewhere? The last thing you wanted to do was something that would draw attention to yourself, as if to say 'look at me, I'm a visitor!'" and I think that is what resonated with them.)

Anyway, I thought you'd be encouraged to hear how your communication ideas have been put into action! Feel free to quote me on anything here if you want to. I feel so strongly that we who are in the church need to do everything we can to learn to communicate EFFECTIVELY, and your material is one of the few resources I've ever seen that is up-to-date, thorough, and specifically addresses the unique needs of a church communicator.
Blessings!!

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For more information about the book mentioned in this article: Connection cards: connect with visitors, grow your church, pastor your people, little cards, big results, click here.

Connection Cards, a wonderful example as a tool for ministry interaction

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I knew Connection Cards were great to use as a tool to reach out to visitors and to pastor your people, but one church uses them in a great way to get people involved in the various ministries of the church. A wonderful church communicator sent me this story and I wanted to share it with you.

Hi, Yvon,

I must tell you how valuable your sight has been to me.  Keep up the good work!

Plainfield United Methodist Church has been relying on Connection Cards for about a year.  What a wonderful opportunity to connect people with other people, new ministries, service opportunities as well as learn what’s on people’s minds!  They provide a wonderful way to share prayer concerns of our congregation with our prayer chain.  We keep addresses, emails, phone numbers updated through this media.  Of course attendance is registered by using these cards.

When we first began using these cards, pastors provided time during the service and we all completed the cards at the same time.  Our thinking was that if the pastor set the example and provided the time, we could encourage everyone present to complete a card.  By having our regular attendees continue to complete their cards each Sunday, it serves as an encouragement to guests to complete one.  Therefore, we have the names of our guests along with their contact information.  Most of the time, they will tell us if they are new to the community or just passing through.

The key to making the cards work is to keep the requested information current.  For instance, we have just completed a series entitled “Come Hungry”.  We asked the congregation if they were willing to reflect and share what they learned about themselves through this series.  They could write their comments on the card or they could email a pastor.  Most chose to write their comments on the card, but some indicated they would contact one of the pastors.  We also recruited teachers for our upcoming VBS through these cards.  There is plenty of room for people to make prayer requests.

On Mondays I enter all this information in a table and share that table with the pastors.  The table contains the name of the person making the comment or request, their contact information and the information that is to be shared.  Some of the information is for specific groups such as our prayer chain, our music department, some is for seeking certain information.  It just becomes a matter of copying  and pasting the information into an email addressed to the appropriate person or group of people.  We are very careful to be sensitive to confidential information.  Follow-up to requests is essential – after all, we requested the information, assured them we would be sensitive to how it is used – so follow-up is important.

I will attach two of the two-sided cards to this email for you to see.  They were created in Publisher.  Perhaps they will show better how we update them each week.  We print them here at our church on 81/2 x 11 cardstock that has been perforated in thirds by a local printer.  Having them perforated certainly saves us a lot of time when it comes to inserting one card inside each Sunday worship folder.

Again, thanks so much for all you do to guide our communication in serving.

Blessings, Sue

A second email from Sue (came a week or so later)

I just found out that the Communication Card that we’ve been using originated from a book entitled Fusion:  Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church by Nelson Searcy with Jennifer Dykes Henson.  I didn’t realize that the card is pretty much what is on page 168 of the book; however, we have personalized it for our purposes.  I thought that you would need to give credit where credit is due.

I LOVE getting stories of how church communications have worked for you. Please send your stories and samples, along with permission for me to use them to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com. Thanks so much!

Video: Church & Ministry Business & Invitation Cards

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These tiny, but powerful tools can be used for PR, outreach, information and caring. This 12-minute video will give you the motivation for doing them, an overview of how they can be used, plus a number of how-tos for easy creation and production.

Any size church or ministry, on any budget can use these to can equip your people to effectively reach out to their friends and neighbors with them.

For additional articles, templates, many more materials and how-tos related to business and invitation cards, CLICK HERE to go to the listing of additional materials.

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Handouts for Bus card seminarTo download a copy of the notes that go with the video, click here or on the image.