The most important communications you’ll be doing this busy holiday season

As we go into the busy fall and winter season of church special events and outreach, it's easy to focus on the visible, tangible aspects of our church communications: the design and graphics we use, a discussion on what should be printed and what should be sent out digitally. All these are important, but they aren't the most important thing.

As we prepare for the huge amount of work ahead, we need to stop and as church communicators and as a church staff commit to what is most important in our upcoming communications. To do that as disciples of Jesus, let's look at what is most important to Jesus.

How do we determine what's most important to Jesus?

We don't have to wonder—the four Gospels paint a clear picture of Jesus' priorities. Clearly, his priority was people. He spent his time with people, teaching, challenging, touching them. One of the most astounding things about his interactions with people was how he seemed to go out of his way to interact with people considered unimportant by the rest of society: lepers, the blind, tax-collectors, women with bad reputations.

Though he preached to crowds, we have many stories of how he focused on individuals. In John 3 we have the record of his conversation with Nicodemus, where one of the most important summaries of his mission and purpose, John 3:16 was shared with one man, not announced to a crowd. In Luke 8 he stops on the way to heal an important man's daughter to talk to a woman with a crippling, life-long disease. Though she was "unclean" to the rest of her world, Jesus took time, spoke to her and healed her.

One of the most important summaries of what is important to Jesus is in Matt: 25:37 through 40, when at the final judgment he summarizes what he considers most worthy of reward:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I've often thought how foolish it is for us to argue about the signs of end times and wonder about what will happen, when Jesus has clearly shown us what we wants us to be about before that time comes. If we want it to go well for us in the last judgment, we want to be about what is pleasing to Jesus. With this background of a clear picture of the priorities of our Lord, let's get practical.

How does all of this apply to church communicators?

We will be flooded by communications we both need to create and to respond to in the coming months. In addition to planning our communication schedules and being sure we create them with excellence and care, it is important that we set priorities in how we treat people during this busy time. To illustrate how that can have a far greater impact than the brilliance of our designs, let me share a story I heard recently:

A sad, but true story of a failure to care for one of "the least of these"

A newcomer, let's call her Betsy (the details are changed so as not to embarrass anyone) had moved and found a new church she was excited about attending. She was older and retired, but felt she had time and energy she wanted to dedicate to serving the church.

The church was going to put on a big community outreach.  The church was asking for volunteers.

Betsy signed up online and got several "excited to have you," "we're so glad you are joining us!" and "we will have such a wonderful time" emails. She felt included, needed and looked forward to serving at the event.

At the same time she signed up for an on-line service from a Christian company.

Then she got unexpectedly ill and had to have surgery. It wasn't terribly serious, but she wouldn't be able to carry out either the commitment she made to the church or use the on-line service she signed up for. As soon as she was able, she contacted both groups.

From the Christian company she immediately received a kind, personal email wishing her well in her recovery and suggesting involvement in the ministry that was available for no cost and at a much lower time commitment. The email ended with a promise to pray and to be there if she ever needed more from the company or had questions.

From the church she heard......nothing.

Betsy's response

Betsy felt genuinely cared for in the response from the company and knew that if she ever needed their services she would be sure to contact them. Though she knew it was primarily a business transaction, for a few minutes, she felt like a person who had meaning, even if she couldn't buy something and was ill.

The lack of church response left Betsy confused and hurt. Betsy felt like she was welcomed and cared for when she was useful and discarded when she wasn't. And based on the lack of  communications from the church (gushing when to a potential volunteer; completely ignored when the person was no longer able to volunteer) that was a valid assumption.

Maybe they thought she was too old. Clearly something was wrong with her that she didn't merit a response. Maybe older people didn't matter to them. She hated the voices in her head that said these things, but didn't know what to do. She didn't feel it was important enough to bother anyone with, especially since she'd never met in person the woman who sent her the emails, was new at the church, and had no idea of the authority structure there. She didn't want to be a bother.

She decided not to go back to that church and would hesitate before volunteering in the future.

Comments and challenges

I wish this was unique, but far too often I hear about church staff members and ministry leaders who don't respond to emails or other messages. This is not infrequently, but ALL the time—emails are published, but never answered. I wrote a previous article that covered some of the possible reasons for this and offered solutions in:

The silent, destructive communication war between Boomers and Millennials, CLICK HERE to go to it. Please do read it.

I won't repeat what I said there, but determine as a church staff during this busy time:

1. Do not ignore anyone, no matter how "unimportant" they might seem. It doesn't matter if they aren't part of your target group (usually the young families every church wants): everyone is worthy of respect and response.
2. Always reply to emails, text messages, phone calls within 24-48 hours.
3. It doesn't have to be long or complex and it is perfectly OK to say you don't know or can't help or have no idea what to say—but say something.
4. If you can't do it, delegate someone to do it in your name.
5. FOCUS on the person you are communicating to. You never know how a kindness can change the course of a life. Or how damaging ignoring someone might be.

This may be the hardest work of all during the holiday season

Nobody will know you answered that email but Jesus. Not once, but 3 times to a person who just doesn't seem to understand.

But answering that email, making that large print copy for the 5 people in the church who will criticize your typos, praying and praying more for the response to outreach, repeating a message in many channels both digital and print, even the ones you hate doing because you don't want someone to miss out. Here is where the hardest spiritual battles are waged in communications.

This site will have lots of ideas, templates, image resources for you in the coming months, but the most important preparation for you to make is in your heart. Pray right now (and know I am praying for you) that God give you a servant's heart to respond to the needs of all the people who you need to communicate with in your church. When you do that, even if the Christmas program doesn't have quite the right image or you missed a typo on the outreach postcard, if you keep the needs of individuals in mind (no matter how unimportant they may seem) you will be pleasing to Jesus. And that's the most important thing you can do in your holiday communications.