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.

How to offer a fun and functional Church Photo Booth for your members

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Photo Booth ideas for Churches
Photo Booths are no only fun for your church, but are a great outreach tool when the photos are shared.

by Katy Dunigan, Guest Writer

Whether it’s a special holiday service or an average Sunday in September, many families attend church together as a unit—perhaps dressed a little nicer than they do on a regular weekday. This creates a wonderful opportunity to capture a meaningful and fun family photo.

Church staff can use this time as an effective way to collect photos of church members when putting together a church directory or a church photo album, but beyond the practical uses, a photo booth can create a powerful ministry opportunity as well.

How many members will share their family photos on social media pages, perhaps send it as their Christmas card, or place it in their office at work? Maybe many! Each photo’s post or placement opens the door to conversations with peers, colleagues and friends about your church, the member’s faith and family, and Christ’s grace and forgiveness.

We might think of it as just a photo opportunity, but it could very well create a witness opportunity as well!

Thinking about putting together a photo booth at your church? Go for it!

Here are some basic How To Photo Booth Tips and Suggestions to get you started.

Form a Volunteer Team

Photo booths offer a great opportunity to involve several members in a fun and worthwhile project.  Make sure you have these team members to help you:

  • a creative
  • an organizer
  • a photographer
  • a processor

Creative Team Member Tasks

Remind this team member that Photo Booths don’t have to be complicated. They can be as simple as a well-placed chair, some flowers, a pretty window, or maybe an attractive outdoor spot. Simply create a nice setting that lets your members capture a special moment, share an important message, or tell a story.

Organizer Team Member Tasks

In the days or weeks prior to the photo booth event, send out notices (in both print and digital formats) to your members, inviting them to participate! Remind them to come early or stay late for a fun photo opportunity!

In most cases, people want to participate and are just waiting for an invitation. Be sure you are clear about the times the booth will be available, suggestions on what to wear, and if they can bring their own props.

Photographer Team Member Tasks

You have choices on how you want to get the photographs, here are the options this team member should have in place:

  • You might prefer that all photos be taken by a photographer, which is fine to do.
  • Some participants might prefer to take their own photos because selfies create fun and original pictures, but not everyone carries smartphones with good cameras in them.
  • Make sure a volunteer photographer with a camera is ready when needed if you primarily do selfies.

Processor Team Member Tasks

To prevent confusion, be sure to put a process in place. The process needs to communicate:

  • Why you are offering a church photo booth
  • Where the line starts at the photo booth
  • How members can get copies of the photos, if they don’t take selfies.
  • Suggestions for posting the pictures on social media & share where the photo was taken. This is a great way to highlight your church and church community.

Have Fun

Remember, you’re building community among your members and making great memories too, be sure to have fun doing both. All of your volunteers are responsible for ensuring this is a fun event, so encourage them to keep a happy, welcoming, relaxed attitude.

If done correctly, your photo booth will be a big hit and your event a big success.

Make a photo booth available as often as you like. Use those opportunities to update photos in your church member directory, but remember to change the themes to fit the seasons and always remember to keep it functional and fun!

For additional photo booth ideas and information, please visit our Pinterest site:

https://www.pinterest.com/CTRNONLINE/church-directory-photo-booth/

Katy Dunigan is the Marketing Coordinator for onlinechurchdirectory.com and serves on several United Methodist leaderships teams in the Southwest Indiana District.  She is also an active member of the #chsocm community on Twitter and Facebook and is a contributing author for several church communication websites, newsletters and books.

 

A Digital Church Directory—reasons to consider one for your church

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Most churches today want to attract and support younger members and one way to do this is for your church to offer church services and tools that are familiar to the audience you want to reach. Today this means having digital versions and access points to the ministries of your church.  Previously I wrote about many ways to do this in: Want to attract young families to your church, these communication tips may help, and here I want to pass on an additional one: a Digital or Online Church Directory.

Before continuing, I want to remind you that Effective Church Communications takes no advertising, nor do we take part in any affiliate programs—never have, never will. This is a membership site and though many templates and e-books are some of the benefits to members only, one of the less tangible benefits of being a member is that you support honest evaluations of products and services for everyone.

That being said, following I want to share with you an article from the Katy Dunigan, the marketing director for Online Church Directory.  I asked her to write this article. I did that for two reasons:

One, I know all things digital and online are preferred resources for many in the church today, not just the younger audience the church wants to attract. I am far from that demographic, but I live much of my life online today and with my phone. A digital, phone-accessible church directory would be a dream come true.

Two, I detest (along with no advertising, come my personal opinions for better or for worse) the standard church photo shoots and glossy printed directories. They are an almost medieval trial of pain for churches (our church recently did this, so I speak of current experience). The church staff and volunteers for worked for months to get people to sign up; the picture-taking process was a time-consuming chore for staff and volunteers; church members were subjected to a heavy-handed sales pitch of outrageous prices; it’s been months and we still have no directories.
There has to be a better way.

This site gets lots of searches for information on church directories and I trust the following article will be useful.

PLEASE do comment following it if you have ideas, systems that have worked for you or other resources.

Here is Kathy Dunigan’s article. Her contact information is at the end if you have questions:

Today’s Technology Trend—Online Member Directories

An up-to-date member directory is an important element to a well-connected and vital community of faith believers.  It tells the story of your church, its mission, ministry and members, building community by creating and maintaining connections in many ways.

As churches embrace today’s digital technology, an increasing number of church member directories are being hosted online.  An online church member directory brings new life and new benefits to the traditional printed directory.

Important Online Member Directory Features

Security - Online church member directories that offer multiple login and security options help ensure member information remains private.  Look for an online member directory that uses encrypted Secure Socket Layer, (SSL) a security feature utilized by banks and retail stores.  At Online Church Directory, we prioritize your privacy and use the best security services available.

Free Mobile App - A directory mobile app allows church members to carry the directory in their purse or pocket, wherever they go.   Our online member directory mobile app offers mapping, calling and texting features, making connecting with church family and friends quick and easy.   It’s also password protected, private and secure.

Cost - In today’s economy, cost is always a concern.   We align our mission with your success.  Online Church Directory offers a 30-day free trial, free data imports, unlimited customer support and a discounted annual subscription rate, all value added services making our service directory a valuable choice.

Print Options - In keeping with tradition, an online church member directory should offer a full array of print options, including all or part of the directory, specific groups, and staff listings.  Print options enable churches to serve members who do not utilize digital technology.  We offer multiple print options…from print your own to designing and printing it for you.

Edit Options - No longer stuck with old, outdated photos or old contact information, digital directories allow members to update their profiles and edit or upload new photos as often as they choose, from their desktop computer or mobile device.  Online Church Directory allows churches to customize their photo edit options.  It’s your directory and we believe you should have it your way.

Multiple Listing Options - Members, families, staff and church groups are all important elements of a church.  Why not include all of them in a church member directory?  We offer multiple listing and labeling options.

Social Media Friendly - An online member directory should be social media friendly, allowing members to list their email addresses, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Pinterest profiles.  Our directory allows members to add detailed custom information in the member and family profiles.

Custom Designed - Want your online member directory to match the look and feel of your church website?  Online Church Directory offers customization features to ensure your directory looks and feels like your church website.

Digital Photos - Today’s photo technology allows churches to create their own professional photo directory.  With Online Church Directory, churches are no longer dependent on a photography company to produce directory photos.  A church’s directory administrators can upload member photos.  Another option is inviting church members to upload their individual photos and change them as often as they choose.

A church photo booth is always a fun way to get people involved in your directory set-up!

One Time Set-Up with Lifetime Benefits - Once your online member directory is created, it’s available to you for as long as you choose to utilize the directory service.  Directory committees, photo sessions, and high-pressure sales meetings can be a “pain of the past!”

The power of an up-to-date church photo directory is undeniable.  As a connectional tool, relationship builder, a ministry tool and ministry resource, an online member directory offers the perfect solution for today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world.

Please contact us to learn more about our product and services and to start your 30-day free trial!

Katy Dunigan is the marketing director for Online Church Directory.  www.onlinechurchdirectory.com  1-855-759-5161

 

 

How to involve ALL parts of your church in a Season of Inviting

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For your church to be successful with a Season of Inviting, where churches can use all the events of fall or spring as a time to invite people outside the church to the church, requires every part of the church: leadership, communication team,  and the congregation.

Not only is this the most effective way to grow your church through seasonal events, but it is the model we should use on all outreach projects. Jesus did not give his disciples the Great Commission and then qualify it by saying: "The command to be my witness and to reach your world is only for paid pastors and for rich churches with huge PR budgets."

No—outreach is every believer's task and seasonal celebrations are a great way to reach our world. This article will define each group's tasks and then give you some tips for implementation with links on this website that will help you carry out the suggestions. Some of the links go to free articles or how-tos, some are for Effective Church Communication Members only. For information about how to become a member, CLICK HERE.

Church Outreach Success work division

Though everyone should be involved, various parts of your church need to be involved in different ways, meaning in practical terms that the church leadership, communication team, and congregation each have different primary responsibilities. Following is a suggested breakdown of each group's tasks:

Church Leadership

The church leadership decides which events will be celebrated and when. With the communication team, they decide an overall theme and activities not only for the event itself, but how they are going to involve the congregation, follow-up, and evaluate the results. Leadership needs to offer the spiritual guidance and prayer direction for the event. Leadership needs to continuously encourage, motivate, and thank those involved in the event. Leadership needs to decide on the goals for the event and assure accountability for measuring and evaluation to make each event and each year are more effective than the last one.

Technology Application Tips: Go online and search for holiday communication ideas. See what other churches are doing or have done. Email the church if you like something and ask for advice. Effective Church Communications has strategies that other church leaders have found useful at the first link below. The next two are overviews on what you need to do at your church to be prepared for seasonal ministry.

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/category/seasonal/an-overview-of-seasonal-communication-strategies/

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2011/09/look-inward-before-you-reach-outward-make-sure-your-church-is-ready-for-holiday-and-special-event-outreach-guests/

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2011/09/how-to-revitalize-your-volunteers-before-seasonal-or-special-event-outreach/

Communications Team

Based on their guidance from the church leadership and their knowledge of the community, the communications team creates print and digital communications for before, during, and after the event that both the church office and the congregation will use. Advertising, website support, PowerPoint, and every social media avenue should be used repeatedly to assure communication saturation. The communications team tracks materials created, sent, frequency, and response to the type and number of communications. During the process, the team continuously prays for wisdom and insight as they create communications for their congregation and for audience receptivity and positive response. Think of ways you can create materials that your congregation can use in their social media. Short videos to link to, images for Facebook and Instagram, suggested Twitter links.

Technology Application Tips: Start early to collect images that you can use for holiday themes. Some of the free images on the sites below are great for seasonal communications and are far more contemporary-looking than what's available through some of the church clip art sites. Some searching and modification will give customized themes for your church for no cost. I search these sites at night while watching TV and work on modifying them--this kind of work takes a lot of time, but you'll get some great results. Following is a great list of resources for artwork.

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/free-image-and-media-resources-for-church-communicators/

 

Congregation

The congregation should be involved in every step of the process: motivated by the leaders and equipped by the communication team to pray for the events, volunteer to make them happen, invite their unchurched friends, help evaluate and follow-up with visitors. The congregation has the primary responsibility for inviting and bringing unchurched friends to the event, interacting with them at the event, and following up with them afterwards. This process needs to be continuously taught and reinforced, until it becomes part of the DNA of the church. When the congregation looks at seasonal and special event celebrations with anticipation as opportunities to share the joy of the Christian faith with their unchurched friends, you will experience natural church growth in numbers and in your people in spiritual maturity.

Technology Application Tips: Social media is a great tool to use to invite people to church-sponsored seasonal events. Using images, tips, and content provided by the church or your own, create a social media campaign to bring your friends to church. Social media has been the driver of political revolutions around the world—pray that you can use it to change your community for Jesus.

Create specific sections on your blog and social media that support the holiday outreach for your church: Why not do one all about an upcoming holiday with imput from your church and your people. For example you could do a Christmas site where you share traditions and recipes from your congregation. If you put that website on your outreach postcards and invitation cards it would be a wonderful way to involve unchurched people in your church.

What this whole church approach avoids:

In far too many churches season celebrations are events the church leadership puts on for the entertainment of the congregation. This then results in outreach being viewed a commodity purchased, not an ongoing ministry in the church, therefore if the church is not growing it is the pastor's fault or the worship leader's because seasonal celebrations are seen as promotions put on by professionals—congregational involvement is primarily to provide money to make the production possible.

These attitudes and actions are all unbiblical and ultimately unsuccessful if you want to grow your church and people. They are also deeply sad because the congregation does not experience the joy of sharing the gospel and their church and the community does not experience the joy of getting to know your church and Jesus.

For the holidays and special events to be more than traditional church family celebrations, all the church needs to be involved in new and creative ways; we are all to be Jesus' witnesses. The seasonal times of the year are a great way to reach out. We are all responsible if our church is growing or not, let's get busy this holiday season doing just that.

For many more ideas and practical tips on how to use seasonal celebrations as times to reach your community with the gospel message, grow your church in numbers and your people in spiritual maturity go to: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/category/seasonal/

What to do with the “few hours before sunset” in your church communications

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Challenging card.
We all need encouragement to spend our time wisely--this might help.

We all struggle with how to make the most of our time as church communicators. Every task seems urgent and important and there are never enough hours in the day.

While it is impossible to add more hours to our days, for most of us, we could do a better job at prioritizing our tasks. I know this is something I constantly struggle with. It seems like I'm always working, but I'm not sure I'm always working on what is most important.

This evening while riding the exercise bike and catching up on my Christian reading (multi-tasking that works well for me), I found this quote in the September issue of Christianity Today in an article about missionaries. Amy Carmichael wrote this in 1903:

We shall have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but we have only a few hours before sunset to win them.

For each of us, how we make the most of those few hours to win the battles we need to fight for our Lord and His Kingdom, will be different. But I know for each of us, we need to be reminded not to give in or give up too soon in the battles.

Practical application

I created this postcard-size reminder for you to print out and post.

At the end of the article is a zip file that has a jpeg image of it, the ready-to-print PDB and the original MS Publisher file.

Challenging card.
Click on the card to download a PDF to print out and remind you to make the most of your time.

One way to fight the war

In the past I've encouraged you to take part in Back to Church Sunday. Even if you don't take part in this event, here is a resource that provides materials for you to invite missing members back to church anytime:

Postcards: For Missing Members & how to get people to come back to church

No matter what you do this week or anytime, in your work as a church communicator or in all of life, ask the Lord to help you live so that you can say with the Apostle Paul:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

CLICK HERE to download the file, save and click to open.

Why technical expertise isn’t enough for a church website

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Though technical expertise is important in the creation and administration of a website and though there are many technical experts in churches who also have great hearts for and an understanding of ministry, there are many instances where relying on technical expertise alone can have some negative effects on a church website. From the many interactions my ministry has with church website creation and function, here are some cautions to prayerfully consider.

A clarification first

Technology encompasses many tools and without the tools of technology, I wouldn't be writing this article. Technology isn't the bad guy—the problem is with people who misuse technology, who hide behind their expertise in a tool for a variety of reasons.

The purpose of this article isn't to judge motives of the people involved in making technology decisions about your website, but to caution church leaders and the technology experts in the church to honestly evaluate if the attitudes and controls over your website in the name of technology are serving the church.

This is a still a new ministry area for everyone involved and most people involved in technology in the church are doing the best they can—which is why the following cautions use the vague term "technology" as the descriptor of the perpetrator of the problems and not less helpful terms like "controlling webmaster" or  "tech-savvy, arrogant kid." Truth be told, sometimes the biggest problem with a church website is one person with the attitude that their technological expertise gives them the power and permission to make ministry decisions.

This is a challenging situation in many churches today where senior leadership isn't comfortable with technology and allow themselves to be intimidated by those with expertise in these areas. But no area or person should be out from under the authority of God's Word and the command to fully fulfill the Great Commission. The following suggestions aren't intended to incite power struggles in the church, but to encourage everyone involved in the ministry of the website to approach it with prayer and humility and an honest desire to use it to reach out to people and grow them up as disciples of Jesus.

Technology goals don't always align with ministry goals

When you evaluate how your website is working and what makes a good website, don't stop at asking if the technology is functioning smoothly or if it looks contemporary. Far more important, when people come to your website, does it answer these questions:

  • Why does your church exist?
  • What are the driving values, the key ministry issues and concerns?
  • What are the major ministries at your church?
  • What is available for kids, seniors, singles, or seekers?
  • Do you have a specific audience you minister to and if so, who are they?
  • Can a visitor to your site answer these questions, or know where to find the answers to them from their first few minutes at your site? If not, why not?
  • Are all of your schedules, times, calendars up-to-date and correct?

Your website might function flawlessly in load times and be technically perfect, but if it doesn't immediately let people know the purpose, goals, times, dates, and components of the ministries of your church and have places where they can go on the site to find out more information and connect with the ministry—you have work to do.

Technology cautions aren't always volunteer friendly

If a church website is useful, or has the most basic credibility for people to look at it and trust it, it HAS to be up-to-date. If your website isn't up-to-date (every week, every day, on a continuing basis) it probably isn't the fault of the system used to create your website. More often than not, in many churches, the problem of a continuously outdated website is the responsibility of a tech-savvy person who is the only one allowed to update the system.

No church website can serve its people if all the content has to be entered by one person. The systems used to create websites are all (or should be) cloud-based and any volunteer or ministry leader at your church should be able to create content, recruit volunteers, explain programs and keep times and events updated. Volunteers in various ministries should be in charge of keeping all these things up-to-date. Once entered, then a person in the office can skim over them to make certain all is OK and publish them on the website.

There is a BIG difference in time and complexity in the management of a church website between making one person in the church office responsible to get all the content on the website and to keep it continuously updated and allowing a team of people to update content and schedules and to have the church finally OK them before they are published. To expect one person to keep a website updated with content and all the calendars is an impossible task. It might take some time and effort to train volunteers in the various parts of your church to create their own content and calendars, but it will be worth it if you truly want to serve people in the various ministry areas.

If this isn't a priority in your church website ministry, you may need to take a look at the stated purpose of your website ministry. If you want to serve people with it (and not just create a wow site), making sure it is always updated and current should be an obvious priority.

Technology and design values aren't always the same as ministry values

Why did you design and built your website the way you did?

Was it designed to primarily to serve your people or to reflect a cutting-edge, latest and greatest design trend that a tech person told you was the way websites were being designed today?

A lot of current web design is created for one purpose—to sell something. It starts with a big scrolling header with splashy, upbeat images and artwork and then more images in smaller boxes. This might be eye-catching, but much of it is ultimately cold because there is little behind the pictures.

  • Ministry values on a website make important content obvious. They explain; they serve; they are more concerned about meeting needs than trying to impress.
  • Ministry values use images for a purpose, to underscore, to teach, to add meaning. If the images are of events involving the congregation they contain captions that explain what is going on. They invite people to join in and not leaving them on the outside looking in with no idea what is happening or how they can be part of it.

Is your website meeting pastoral and ministry needs of your congregation?

No matter what the technology used to build your site or the design of it, this is the important question to ask when you evaluate the success of your website.

It's an easy question to answer by simply looking at your website statistics.

  • Do your people come to your website often?
  • Do they spend time on the site?
  • Do they recommend it to their friends?
  • What is the percentage of your congregation that visits your site?

Your website visitor numbers will answer these questions and are readily available (if you are a pastor or staff person who doesn't know where to find them, ask the tech person who created your site).

Your website numbers don't lie. If people aren't coming to your site or interacting with your social media, it's because they don't find them useful. Advertising the website more or talking about it more from the pulpit are necessary, but that won't help if there isn't content on the sites that people want or find useful. If they've come to the site more than a time or two and couldn't find updated information on when an event or ministry was taking place that was important to them, you've taught them that your website can't be trusted.

Pastoral and ministry values are reflected on a website that does whatever it takes to serve the people in your church and in your community. People are looking for answers to life. Christians are looking for ways to grow in their faith. If your website is meeting needs, your numbers will reflect it.

What technology can't do

Technology can't create content.  Lack of current content that ministers to the needs of your congregation and the audience you are trying to meet is what all the issues above have in common.

A ministry-oriented website needs lots of content and that means lots of people creating it. Once again, if one person is holding on too tightly to the control of what goes on the website, especially if their area of expertise is in technology and not Biblical teaching or ministry, ministry content creation won't happen.

Sometimes it's easier to rely on technology than on the hard work of creating content for a website.  Many churches are still in awe that they have a website, grateful for anything online, and thrilled that anyone would work on it. That isn't enough.

We have to change that attitude if we want to use our church websites as the extraordinary tool they can be for the kingdom of God. Challenge your people (and yourself) to create complete, Biblical, constantly up-to-date content. It doesn't have to be brilliant prose or a witty video. Here are some ideas:

  • Explain everything--terms, programs, anything that is obvious to you. You can be certain that visitors and new people will appreciate it.
  • Interview people in the church, have members share how they are living the Christian life.
  • When you ask for volunteers for anything, have complete information on the website about the ministry, volunteer requirements, scheduling, anything else that might be helpful.
  • Tell people what is going on, why they should attend, and how they can grow as a Christian because of the ministry. People today are busy--give them a reason to fit your event into their schedule.
  • As a leader of the church or in any ministry, share how you feel about your ministry, what your prayers are for your people. That is creating social media with meaning. Nobody needs to see one more selfie on a church website, but they do need honest content.

Create biblical-based content that will change, challenge, inform and inspire. When you do that, no matter what technology you use to get it on your website, it will be successful in what matters most—helping people find and follow Jesus.