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.
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

We are here to serve, comments by a communications director

22 June, 2011 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Ed note: This fantastic article was originally a comment by Krysta, posted below the article on distractions in the church office. It has such good advice that I wanted to highlight it. This is one of the important distinctives that makes our work different from the work done by secular communication professionals.

Having worked as communications director for a large church for 5 years, I struggle more and more with distractions every day. My desk is located where all sound and all people come to me, even though it’s in the back of the office. I am auditory and have super-hero hearing, so tuning out things like voices and conversations doesn’t work for me. Oh, and I’m kind of nosy and can usually answer whatever questions people are asking so of course I have to get involved .

I often have to take projects home and work on them in the evenings and weekends because my day was spent in one big distraction. I joke that I can get more accomplished in 2 hours of silence at home than I can in 2 days spent in the office, but I’m not kidding!

Something all church staff need to remember is that WE ARE HERE TO SERVE. This is the only thing that keeps me from running (screaming) out of the noisy office some days when someone points out a typo I made while working on the worship bulletin in the midst of massive distractions. If only they sat at my desk for 10 minutes, they’d understand…

I kept a list of “distractions” once – it only took two days to show that between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m., TWENTY-FOUR people called or stopped by my desk. I served 24 people in a two-hour time frame, hopefully making a difference in their day. I AM HERE TO SERVE. I keep saying it.

Remembering that we are here to serve isn’t easy. When those same couple parishioners stop by the office to chit-chat every couple days while I’m trying SO hard to put the newsletter together or get an email sent to the congregation with minimal typos, I force myself to remember that maybe our conversation brightened their day or eased a burden they’d been carrying. Maybe we are the last people they come into contact with when they go back to an empty, quiet house. Maybe we are the only bit of Jesus they get to come into contact with that day… and I really don’t think Jesus cares about typos in a bulletin.

___________________

Please share your comments and experiences in the comments sections here and anywhere else you'd like on the site. We can all learn from each other's experiences and comments.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: Church Office Skills Tagged With: Christian servant, church communications servant, serving in the church

Comments

  1. Mari Shineman says

    23 June, 2011 at 7:07 am

    AMEN! and AMEN! Although Jesus wouldn’t care about a typo I know a pastor who certainly would so she proofs everything I do. Her choice….

    Reply
    • Yvon Prehn says

      23 June, 2011 at 10:43 am

      So true! Got to love em.

      But better she does it and I hope kindly than allows the congregation to attack after the fact…..

      When I worked as senior editor at Young Life, one of the presidents I served under was THE BEST proofer I had. He not only was kind and gentle in his comments (which were not excessive), but he had been around the organization so long he knew and remembered the correct spelling and preferred nickname of every person on staff.

      Some proofers are invaluable.

      Many blessings and thanks for taking the time to comment!
      Yvon

      Reply

Please share your thoughts, comments, questions!Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Link to Easter Templates of all sorts

Seasonal Templates

  • OVERVIEW of TEMPLATES for Church Communicators, please read first
  • Valentine’s Day Templates
  • Lenten Templates
  • Easter Templates
  • Mother’s Day Templates
  • Father’s Day and Men’s Ministry Templates
  • Graduation Templates
  • Summer-related Templates
  • 4th of July, Canada Day, and GRACE for All Nations
  • See You At the Pole
  • Harvest Festival and Halloween Templates
  • Christmas Templates

Recent Posts

  • Social media images for Easter with challenging messages
  • From our vault: Everything you need for Easter: Templates, strategy, inspiration and encouragement for all your Easter communications
  • Why just “Come to Easter at Our Church” isn’t enough–FREE invitations with short, but powerful messages
  • ESSENTIAL Christmas Communication advice and free tools to implement it
  • A Free Template of the Christmas Story and short gospel presentation based on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”

Most read posts

  • A Prayer for Graduates, Free flyer, bulletin insert
  • Bulletin inserts or social media content for Father's Day; poetry, challenges, encouragements
  • Church Directories How-to, ideas from church communications
  • Father's Day and Men's Ministry Templates
  • Business/Invitation Card Templates
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES
  • Multiplication vs. Addition Church Growth Charts that illustrate the difference

Misc. Church Communications Templates

  • Church Connection Cards
  • Business/Invitation Card Templates
  • Back to Church for Kids in the Fall Templates
  • Church Bulletin Template
  • Volunteer and Encouragement Templates
  • 2-page Senior Adult Print Newsletter Template
  • Misc. Church Templates
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Copyright © 2025 · Enterprise Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in