Communication

Good church communication doesn't just happen. Whether it is the preacher's sermon or church announcements, time and thought needs to be put into what is being communicated to the listeners. Your church needs someone who can put focused attention into these communications. Someone has GOT to oversee your communications. Someone needs to be the gatekeeper for you.

We all want to keep up with communication trends so that we can reach our world. We remind ourselves that the Apostle Paul said “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:22,23a). Though we work hard to do that, we also need to be realistic as we work to apply what is currently useful in the secular communication world and how that will work out in the crucible of church culture.

If you're overwhelmed by the number of social media services and tools to manage said social media services, you're not alone. It seems like new solutions crop up almost daily. It's a changing landscape for sure. While we've blogged about many social media tools for church communicators, it's great to share this infographic published originally by Kenny Jahng and team to give you a sense of what social media tools communications within the church are using.

It's hard to fathom, but religious activity among American young people is at a notable all-time low. Millennials (born ~1980-2000) are less religious than their parents or grandparents, and, though little data has been collected on Millennials little brothers and sisters (Gen Zers, 2000-Present), it is safe to assume they aren’t pumped about revival meetings or Bar Mitzvahs either.

As I talk to church leaders, I'm amazed by the consistency of challenges the face. One of the biggest questions they ask comes down to their church communications... How do we get people to respond to communications and attend events?

We all know and realize that most pastors and ministry staff operate on tight church and personal budgets. It's just the reality of being in ministry. Expensive degrees and copious years of schooling to do not promise a luxurious salary. However, if you get creative (or have a spouse who works at a more high-paying position) this doesn't have to be a deterrent to being in ministry. At Christmastime, however, often we feel the penny-pinch both in our church finances and in our personal finances.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, what better time than now to take time as a church staff to thank your volunteers? Having just come off Pastor Appreciation Month where congregations have (hopefully) been encouraged to thank their pastors, turning now to approach the myriad of volunteers in your church and community and showering them with appreciation seems, well, just natural.

As is custom on Thanksgiving Day, giving thanks for all we have can be easy or hard depending on what's going on in our lives. If things are tough, it's often hard to give God our thanks; when things are going well, sometimes we forget to thank God too. We praise God first because he loved us and sent his only son to die for us on the cross (John 3:16),--everything else should be gravy.