Church Communications: 3 Ways to Energize It | Part 1

Church communication has gotten incredibly complex. We have additional ministries, satellite and multi-site campuses, a progressive attendance decline, along with a plethora of ministry communication tools that require content, updating, editing, and time. Most churches are adding communication staff to handle this growing challenge while some are simply promoting their current staff and adding to their responsibilities. The person that once looked after the worship guide is now burdened with the website, social media and email communications.

Many are slipping behind with their church communications.

Church communications is one of the few departments that needs to be involved with every ministry on the church campus. Because they promote activities before they occur, they need to be part of the planning and promotion of every church activity. They can also be effective in the after-event critique so improvements can occur in the future.

Rarely can this be done well unless the church rethinks their communications team. This isn’t a simple renovation, it’s often complete rebuilding. The senior leadership needs to welcome communications to the table so that everyone saves time and money in a truly collaborative role. Often the component standing between effective ministry and a growing audience is good church communications. Your church has a lot happening and your community needs to understand it; not as a promotion, but interpreted into solutions and paths to their goals.

There is a proper way to do Church Communications. Here’s 3 correct ways to energize your church communications (over 2 articles):

1. Have you prioritized your church communications?
Our world is about increased communication, promotion and hype. We’re exposed to hundreds of messages throughout the day and we’re getting really good at ignoring most of them. The more choices offered to someone, the more likely they’ll miss the best choice for them. Most people scan over the choices and miss the actual message. The church has to start prioritizing the communication role along with prioritizing the message in order to capture an audience.

a. With no priority; every announcement has the same impact. Is every announcement equal in your church? Many times it feels that way as endless announcements are stated with equal attention given to each. Ultimately, leadership needs to tier their activities so that only the most important reach the greatest amount of people. For example: Top tier announcements may be mentioned from the stage on Sunday, or have an announcement slide before the service. Second tier may get a mention on your website home page and a bulletin announcement. Some smaller events will only be promoted within the group or on an interior web page announcement.

b. With every announcement bombarding someone; nothing is heard. We’ve stopped listening to a myriad of promotions in the church. We also don’t read the bulletin anymore. There’s simply too many promotions that are for others that we don’t want to do the hard work of figuring out what’s for us. Even if we find something for us, it’s difficult for us to remember it for our busy calendar. We need to assure our audiences that when an announcement is made to them; it’s intended for the majority of them. That will reduce the messages and simply the ministry communications. Ultimately, you need to have a place (your website) that delivers and filters all news and announcements to the right people.

c. With no emphasis; all communications become a boring drone. If your congregation starts ignoring announcements because nothing is prioritized, you’ve lost effective communications in the church. Tiered levels, priority of messages, is essential. This doesn’t happen without a senior leader saying “no” on a regular basis; or a leader who has multiple streams of message deliveries that are acceptable alternatives.

… to be continued next week