Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission
This week your devotion is a short encouraging video:
Life gets stormy--but it shouldn't bother us because we know the one who calms the storms. He made the water, the waves, the storms, and winds. He is master of all and He loves us.
Take a little over a minute--watch this and let your heart be encouraged in Jesus.
In ministry we want people to respond to our message with tangible actions and to do that we need to create what this training article refers to as "ministry motivating communications."
In contrast to administrative or teaching communications, the purpose of ministry motivating communications, is to create a change in the lives of your audience. That change might be to encourage them to grow in their walk with Jesus, to become involved in a ministry, to donate time or money, to be challenged to share their faith. To be most effective creating these behavior responses, ministry motivating communications must involve the hearts and emotions of your audience in addition to their minds. When the heart is involved, people are more likely to take action. And to involve the heart, it's helpful to stimulate emotions to drive that response.
An important point needs to be clarified here. This isn't about creating artificial, falsely generated, ramped-up emotions. This is not about by-passing the mind—solid facts, statistics, and examples are part of the foundation of our communications, but to motivate to action, conviction, and life change, we often need to go beyond the facts.
Children dying of hunger; children without education or drinking water, young people sold into slavery, these issues and many more are worthy of our deepest emotions. We should cry. They should pull at our hearts. Some situations should make us sick to our stomach and angry.
When Christians do not grow in their faith, when they act in disobedience to God's Word and harm themselves and others, when they do not walk worthy of their calling and cause the Lord shame, whether from lack of teaching, not knowing any better, or outright disobedience, we shouldn't be indifferent. This is not how the Christian life is to be lived.
These situations need to be changed. The task of the Christian communicator is to share situations and stories, physically and spiritually, locally and globally, so that people will see the needs, feel them in their hearts, and respond in concrete actions.
We can do that in print and online writing, and in addition, video gives us a powerful tool to create ministry motivation communication. [Read more...]
The field of church communications is challenging in part because there are so many things to do and so many potential distractions in life, in the church office, and online. The following verses, mostly from Proverbs, remind us of the importance of building the character trait of discipline into our lives. As you read through them, think about how you might apply them to your work in church communication.
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair.(Prov. 1:1-3)
He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray. (Prov. 10:17)
He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.(Prov.15:32)
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. (Prov. 25:28) One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys (Prov. 18:9)
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.(Eph. 5:15 -16)
Discipline is an essential skill for church communicators. Consciously work to make it part of your life.
I recently got an excellent question via email about church communications and church finances and wanted to answer it here:
Question:
Do you have any suggestions on how to report church financials in the
weekly bulletin?
My answer:
First of all, let's establish the fact of whether or not to put financial information in the church bulletin at all. After we do that, we'll then look at what to include and then some tips on design and placement.
There are some churches that don't do this for a variety of reasons, but this is a mistake. Here are some of the reasons why it's important:
On a weekly basis include:
Additional information on Biblical giving overall and the specifics of how it is practiced in your church can be shared in shortened form in the bulletin, in longer formats on your website, and in the church newsletter. Here are some suggested topics:
The key characteristics of church financial communication are that it should be:
A simple chart in the same place every week works well. A simple, clear headline, something like "Church Financial Report" is all that is needed. I've seen many well-done ones in the bottom corner of a page of the bulletin. However, don't make it the last page—you don't want that to be the last thing people see when they are reading information about your church.
The church bulletin is not the place to share lengthy pleas for money or to post dramatic appeals.
I will never forget a church bulletin that said in huge letters across the front:
Bridge to the future is taking place!
XXX amount given so far; XXX to go….
Have you made a pledge yet?
I doubt if anyone visiting the church for the first time that Sunday would be highly motivated to return. Something like that confirms a fear many people have about churches that all they want is your money.
Critical giving needs and similar information is better communicated in a letter or emails to committed members of the congregation. Again, remember the church is family and we don't share our entire financial situation with everyone who visits our homes.
As with many things in the church, ask for the Lord's wisdom and share your financial information "decently and in order" so that He will be pleased and your church will be a good witness to the world of financial integrity.
According to the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, there were 340,213 cell phone users in the United States in1985; by the start of 2004 there were more than 159 million. Wikipedia reports that as of April 2014 there were over 327 million cell phones in the U.S. If technology made us better communicators, we would all be masters by now. Certainly we talk more, but do we communicate better? We can. Both on the phone and face to face, ministry assistants daily have countless opportunities to demonstrate these characteristics of the excellent verbal communicator.
• Approachable and available
Members like to feel comfortable about calling the church office for all sorts of information. Consider those calls an integral part of your job. Your value to ministry increases as you get to know the members, their personalities, their needs, and the roles they fill. They want to know you too.
Some assistants say that accepting invitations to have lunch with groups meeting at the church is one of the best, and most enjoyable, ways of building rapport with those groups. And it is always easier to communicate with those with whom we have a common bond.
• Informed
No matter how long you have been on your job, there will always be more to learn. Add something to your store of knowledge every day.
Master the art of knowing where to go to find answers—to a person, a book, online, wherever. When asked a question to which you have no answer, you communicate better by saying, “Let me look into that and get back with you,” rather than “I’m sorry; I don’t know.”
• Engaged and interested
As the one at the hub of the church communication wheel, the assistant needs to be an interested listener as well as a giver of information. This is not to say you are to spend endless amounts of time. To the contrary. You will use your communication skills to pleasantly find out what your callers need, to meet those needs efficiently, and to conclude conversations with all concerned feeling good about the church and about you.
• Observant
More than words go into verbal messages. Listen for tone of voice, speed of the speech, and the emotion displayed. Be aware, too, of what is not being said. One-on-one, notice facial expressions and body language.
New members in particular may be hesitant during visits to the office. Your awareness helps you anticipate their needs. They want to fit in, but are not familiar enough with the church to know what to ask for. Can you offer a pictorial directory, program information, a quick tour of the building?
• Impartial
Some people are more pleasant to talk with, more gracious, more appreciative. The best communicators don’t play favorites. Bias, past negative experiences, or personal prejudices cannot be allowed to hinder clear conversation.
• Thorough
One of the weakest links in the communication chain is that of follow-up.
Someone says, “Call me if you need help with that big mailing.” Call her. Even if it’s for a different task; she is offering willing hands. Someone sends a gift. Send a prompt thank you. You meet with a group of volunteers and discuss plans. Follow up with a written memo of the conclusions reached. In a discussion with a member you say you will do such and such. Be certain to do in a timely manner whatever you promised. Then, let the member know you’ve done the task.
Being thorough, tying up all those loose ends, is a sure mark of professionalism.
Incorporate these essentials into your verbal communication. They will make a positive difference!
