Does Your Church Have a Thread?

Today’s church is a collection of diverse ministries housed on one campus. These ministries have a tendency to become an island and work alone, especially if there’s a separate Pastor or Leader in charge of each area.

What often happens? Ministry silos are established where each area becomes known for something different. Perhaps your ministries have a separate name from the church, a different logo, and a different look and feel. Soon, these silos feel so distinct from the rest of the church that the people engaging with them don’t have any connection to the overall church. Ministry silos will eventually destroy the farm, er, the church.

What can be done? Ministries need to discover a communication thread that unites the church’s areas and ultimately supports the overall brand story of the church. Your tagline should proudly talk about your thread.

What benefits happen with a thread? Like the Scarlet Thread (Christ’s Blood) that intertwines, connects, and unifies the 66 books of the Bible, there are huge benefits for your church to establish a thread. It ultimately becomes the glue that connects your church ministries and promotes your church. Here are 4 benefits when you do it correctly:

1. Ministry silos will support the “farm”. If your ministry leaders only voice successes with “their” numbers and not the overall positive impact on the church, you have ministry silos! Tying each ministry to a thread allows them to see the connection to the church’s benefits. Soon, various ministries are working together to support the communication theme (or tagline) of the church. Imagine! Ministries working together!
2. Church communication becomes simpler. With a unifying thread running through all your ministries’ communication, you’ll discover that keyword choice, themes, and benefits become simplified. You can then edit out all the other ideas and communicate the common path that a thread opens. SEO will also love the regular use of key words so you’ll get found online by them!
3. Your congregation can voice the key benefit of engaging with your Church. Supplying a regular benefit thread that describes your church’s overall solution in your community will gain traction in your congregation’s vernacular. When someone asks them “why do you go to your church?” they’ll have something to talk about. Since the thread holds everything together, and you’re reinforcing it in all your communication, they’ll remember it. And it’ll be a compelling solution for your community to come to your church.
4. It provides an outreach tool. Jesus, who engaged with the thirsty woman, moved the conversation from “water” to “what if I could give you something where you’ll never thirst again?”. He took the benefit thread of water and made the turn to the spiritual. An effective church thread (which should be a solution to a temporal concern) needs to quickly make the turn to Jesus (the complete solution).