Ed note: This fantastic article was originally a comment by Krysta, posted below the article on distractions in the church office. It has such good advice that I wanted to highlight it. This is one of the important distinctives that makes our work different from the work done by secular communication professionals.
Having worked as communications director for a large church for 5 years, I struggle more and more with distractions every day. My desk is located where all sound and all people come to me, even though it’s in the back of the office. I am auditory and have super-hero hearing, so tuning out things like voices and conversations doesn’t work for me. Oh, and I’m kind of nosy and can usually answer whatever questions people are asking so of course I have to get involved .
I often have to take projects home and work on them in the evenings and weekends because my day was spent in one big distraction. I joke that I can get more accomplished in 2 hours of silence at home than I can in 2 days spent in the office, but I’m not kidding!
Something all church staff need to remember is that WE ARE HERE TO SERVE. This is the only thing that keeps me from running (screaming) out of the noisy office some days when someone points out a typo I made while working on the worship bulletin in the midst of massive distractions. If only they sat at my desk for 10 minutes, they’d understand…
I kept a list of “distractions” once – it only took two days to show that between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m., TWENTY-FOUR people called or stopped by my desk. I served 24 people in a two-hour time frame, hopefully making a difference in their day. I AM HERE TO SERVE. I keep saying it.
Remembering that we are here to serve isn’t easy. When those same couple parishioners stop by the office to chit-chat every couple days while I’m trying SO hard to put the newsletter together or get an email sent to the congregation with minimal typos, I force myself to remember that maybe our conversation brightened their day or eased a burden they’d been carrying. Maybe we are the last people they come into contact with when they go back to an empty, quiet house. Maybe we are the only bit of Jesus they get to come into contact with that day… and I really don’t think Jesus cares about typos in a bulletin.
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AMEN! and AMEN! Although Jesus wouldn’t care about a typo I know a pastor who certainly would so she proofs everything I do. Her choice….
So true! Got to love em.
But better she does it and I hope kindly than allows the congregation to attack after the fact…..
When I worked as senior editor at Young Life, one of the presidents I served under was THE BEST proofer I had. He not only was kind and gentle in his comments (which were not excessive), but he had been around the organization so long he knew and remembered the correct spelling and preferred nickname of every person on staff.
Some proofers are invaluable.
Many blessings and thanks for taking the time to comment!
Yvon