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 Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Incarnation-a continuing challenge and model for church communication

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"The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

The ethereal became earthly, the intangible became touchable when Jesus became flesh and blood. In a similar way, your church communications help make the intangible realities of your church flesh and blood in the lives of the people in your church and those you want to reach. A grief recovery workshop helps no one until the materials announcing it are created and responded to. The greatest youth program involves no one until postcards and email inform the teenagers of the dates, times, and locations of meetings. The most inspiring conference helps no one if the church is empty because no one took time to promote it professionally and prayerfully.

To help our communications be effective in making the message of Christianity tangible and touchable in our world today, let's look at the Incarnation, at Jesus becoming flesh and blood, for inspiration on ways to lead and to make our communications real and response-producing in the lives of people we want to reach.

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The media isn’t our message—our message is Jesus

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Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked,

 "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:40-42).

When Marshall McLuhan, early pioneer of electronic media, pronounced in the early sixties, that "the media is the message," he was predicting that the means of communication would be more important than the message it carried. For his time, the primary media was television; more and more in our world it is computers and the resulting forms of digital communication: desktop publishing, the internet, cell phone, and small screen communications.

Though it is easy to get caught up in the complexity and power of digital communications, as Christians we must constantly remind ourselves that these incredible innovations, and any that are to come, are only tools. The power doesn't come from the tool or media-the power comes from the message.

As the apostle Paul said , "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16). The world "power" used in this verse comes form the Greek word, dunamis. It's the same root for our world dynamite and it means a "miraculous, mighty, wonderful power."

Our message, not the media we use to share it, is the source of true power. It was the same for the early disciples writing with pens on parchment, it will be the same for us if we are creating virtual reality holograms to illustrate Bible stories in the years to come.

We live in an age where the pace of change is incredible. Many of you started out in communicating with pencils, progressed to typewriters, and now operate computers on your desk more powerful than the ones they used to put a man on the moon. This pace will not slow down.

We need to always remember that no matter how powerful, overwhelming or impressive the technology, there remains, "only one thing that is needful" -the good news of salvation found in Jesus.

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From The Heart of Church Communications by Yvon Prehn, available either as a download or in paperback book form from www.lulu.com/yvonprehn.

Don't hide your PR materials on your website

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One of the attendees at my seminar asked me to look at her online newsletter and website.

The website was attractive and welcoming, but there were no links to a "newsletter." However, because I see the publications from hundreds of churches each year, I suspected that the label "Messanger" was probably the newsletter. I clicked on it and it was.

I emailed her back and let her know that though both the website and newsletter were well-done and very seeker friendly, this was a good lesson for all of us--when we know and love certain publications in our church, we need to remember that unchurched folks visiting a website might not know the favorite name that we have for the publications.

A church newsletter is a great way to introduce your church to potential visitors who may be checking out your site to see if they want to attend your church--but if they don't know the name of your newsletter they may not be able to find it.

Application: make it easy for people to find things. Use their generic name: church newsletter (not The Messanger), children's ministry (not PromiseLand), single adult ministry (not OASIS) and so on.

Make it easy for people to connect, come visit and get involved.

Communication strategy frees captives

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A daring rescue of captives in the jungles of Columbia took place this week and as the details have been revealed, one comment I heard on NPR provides a useful challenge for church communications.

NPR commented on the critical part communication made in the rescue when it was revealed that the government was able to disrupt and confuse the communication of the rebel group so that the rescue could be made.

What a great analogy and challenge for us as church communicators—to disrupt the communications of the enemy so captives can be freed.

In our world today, the enemy of our souls holds the hearts and minds of people captive to all sorts of useless and soul-killing bondage and most of it promoted through the communications people daily receive. We have the message of freedom in Jesus, but are we getting it out there so that souls can be freed?

To do that won’t happen by accident. The government forces carefully studied the communication of their enemy and then strategically replaced them with their messages that resulted in freedom.

Here are some  practical suggestions for church communicators:

1.  In a world filled with websites for every imaginable media outlet, feedback and comments are solicited. Take the opportunity to comment from a Christian viewpoint.

2.  Whenever you attempt to speak for the kingdom of God, be certain you have your facts straight. One essential component of quoting correctly is that if you are going to use the Bible as a proof text, be sure you quote it in context. Don’t pull verses out of context and throw them out as a proof to support your viewpoint. Study the verse, in context, in history, in interpretation. Read the entire chapter and book it is in and commentaries on it to be sure you are quoting and using the verse with integrity. People to whom you speak may not be familiar with the passage, but most people have an innate sense of when someone is distorting a quote for private purposes.

3.  When quoting the Bible, I have often found that it helps to acknowledge that the people reading or listening to you probably do not view it as the Word of God. In a secular context, I will acknowledge that upfront by saying something like, “I’m not asking you to take this statement as words from God. For the basis of our discussion, think of the Bible as the historical text that reveals what Christians believe about this topic.” God’s word is true and powerful, whether your audience believes that or not.

4.  Always present your comments with “gentleness and respect.” Remember you are to be a witness, not the prosecuting attorney.

If you are a consistent, gentle, clear communicator of the truth of the Christian message, in time the Lord may use your words, spoken and written, in print and on the web, to free captives held by false messages of a world passing away.

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.

Lesson 1 from Nehemiah for church communicators

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 nothing 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.

My heart is broken over the state of communications in many churches today, where lots of time and money is spent creating things that might be technologically perfect, but that are not communicating the gospel and the basics of growing in the faith. That they are not accomplishing what they should be is clear with the number of churches closing, declining church attendance, and the lack of Biblical knowledge and lifestyle among professed Christians.

The evidence that church communication is broken is all around us, so what can we do about it? Through my ministry and this blog I hope to help build you up to be a more effective church communicator. I am committed to doing that. But my ministry aside, I want to take this example of Nehemiah as a challenge and encouragement to you.

Nehemiah was just one person, but God used him to change the course of a nation. As you look at the communication situation of your church, you may think you are only one person and you can't do much--but you can! Not because of any skill or creativity or wisdom in you, though you should develop all your skills and gifts to use in God's service, but ultimately because you serve an extraordinary God who can do extraordinary things through you.

I'm reading through Nehemiah in my devotions and I'll continue to share lessons that might be useful to church communicators.