Strategy for summer communications, remember visitors, delete hidden jargon, don’t host a money-divided event

LINK to FREE Summer Templates is at the end of this article

Looking ahead to planning summer communications, this summer your church will get lots of visitors, some of whom are friends of church members who might not regularly go to church, others may be from the surrounding community, and we can't forget out-of-town visitors. This is a wonderful opportunity to reach out with the gospel and the love of Jesus and here are some strategic tips to help your communications make the most of this opportunity and some strong cautions about what not to do.

Jargon watch

We know we shouldn’t use church jargon terms like justification and sanctification in our church bulletin, web, or social media when we are writing for people visiting our church, but so much of our church jargon we don’t even see. Using acronyms we don't explain, talking about events that we do year after year and assume everyone knows about, insider jokes, assuming people know times and locations—all these things are confusing and unkind to someone visiting. We don't want our language to keep someone with a free night in our city to miss out on an opportunity to learn about Jesus.

What should we do? Awareness is a good first step. Look at your bulletin, web, and social media and ask the Lord to help you see them as a visitor would. Take the time to explain what you know is confusing, even if it benefits only one person. To go further, show your communications to a friend who doesn't go to the church and ask them to tell you what you said. If they have trouble explaining exactly what you are referring to, how to get there, and why they should bother to come you may want to make some changes.

Not for summer only: the above tip is useful to do at least once a year in your church. It becomes impossible for us to see if our communications make sense to anyone outside the church. You have to get that feedback regularly to be sure you are communicating with the people you want to reach.

Ask yourself what would make you feel welcome if you were visiting? 

For local visitors:

• To start out, Welcome people! An upbeat hello on the cover or top of your church bulletin is a better way to make a first impression than a serious sermon topic. Let people know that visitors are welcomed, expected and the church wants to serve them, even if it is for a short time.
• Picture the people you are talking to. Remember you aren’t writing for people who have been there since the church was built. Perhaps put some pictures of your relatives who are traveling by your computer and explain what is going on at the church to them.
• Remember the people visiting your church this summer may be from the community around the church who may decide to give the church a try. Encourage that with special events.
• Spiritually support special events by reminding your congregation to pray for the people attending that they would see beyond the fun times and realize the spiritual connections that can be made.  Prayer-walk the neighborhood and ask God to touch the hearts of all the people around the church and that the church be sensitive to their needs.
• If possible, take informal surveys. Ask people what are their dreams, their fears, the questions they have. Or just walk around, smile, and say "hi."
• When people do come to your event, be sure you have a follow-up system in place.

For out of town guests:

Keep in mind when you send out follow-up material that visitors may not be from around your area. They may be there on vacation. They may be thinking about moving there. Please don't make the mistake of thoughtlessly sending out the same visitor response to everyone.

True story here: a couple was checking out churches before a work transfer to another state. They were very active in whatever church they attended and though they'd only be at the location they were visiting a year and a half, they wanted a church to serve in. They were the kind of member we all want.

They visited a church on a preliminary visit and liked it a lot, until they got their follow-up form letter that gushed about what a great church it was for "the community we all love" and hoped to see them next week. The couple had clearly and specifically stated where they were from and someone had to notice it was from out-of-state because the letter reached them. One more thing, the letter also said, "It was wonderful to meet you." That was simply untrue as it was a large church and they ducked out a side door as the service was over to get to another commitment. Please don't do that.

A response that said something such as "I probably didn't get a chance to meet you personally, but I hope you had a chance to meet some of our wonderful members" would have been much more honest and kept the door open for the future. Needless to say, the couple did not go back to that church when they moved to the city.

Overall communication ideas:

• Before you sit down to write whatever communications, read USA TODAY, and some current, news magazines or blogs, and popular social media and websites. Try to write with an informal tone, but still respectful tone. Don't be flippant or irreverent after looking at these, but work to avoid an overly churchy voice. It's summertime—lighten up a little.
• Think about the fun Jesus had as he did ministry. At the wedding at Cana he turned huge water pots into giant jugs of wine—that’s like turning your hot tub into a punch bowl. Not something any church will repeat, but giving out ice cream or sponsoring a community picnic or outdoor movies shows you care and can have fun as followers of God. Remind yourself and your visitors, as C.S. Lewis said, "Joy is the serious business of heaven."

Don’t forget the details in summer communications and always

Sometimes what makes communications most friendly to people who aren’t regular attendees at your church are the little details that we think everybody knows. But everybody (even most regular attenders ) don't know all the little details you know because you are constantly working with them and when you leave these things out, no matter how upbeat your graphics or how colorful your writing, the content can leave people cold.

We might call this "jargon by omission" we know what's really going on, but people not familiar with the church don't. Some of these details include: