Communications

Your people make a difference. Pastors, staff, volunteers and your entire congregation represent your church in the community. The words they say and the way they act communicate something about who you are as an organization. When others interact with them, they are forming an opinion about your church based on those people, even if they’ve never visited your building, or seen your brochure or website.

A damaged tree in my front yard really enforced this idea that any single person can...

It’s encouraging that more churches are thinking about communications.  There’s a realization that sharing information the way you’ve always done it isn’t going to keep working in today’s media rich culture.  But there’s still a gap between realizing your church needs a communications plan and putting together a system for making it work. 

As I think about why communications plans fall apart in churches, here are a few of the most common culprits.  So as you work towards being a church that...

There’s a grocery chain with stores near my house and work that I’ve boycotted on and off for the last several years.  It has nothing to do with their politics, prices or selection.  Instead it all comes down to customer service. 

I’m reminded of a concept I first learned about from Phil Cooke.  Basically anyone in your organization can be your brand at any moment. 

Sometimes the brand at the moment for the grocery chain is the customer service worker who’s more focused on a conversation...

Weekly church services require plenty of planning. We spend time picking music, writing sermons and lining up all the different elements that go into building a meaningful service.  But there’s one thing most churches don’t spend nearly enough time planning: transitions; the moments that happen between all the individual elements. 

Nothing kills the flow of a service like a bad transition.  If you disrupt the flow, you’re jarring your congregation out of a worshipful state.  You see, poor...

Talking about church communication strategies is not a big church versus small church issue.

It’s not uncommon for someone to tell me they appreciate reading about church communications but don’t think it really applies to them in their small church setting.  Or they’ll say the advice we give is good, but it assumes there’s a full time staff member working on communications.  The wording is usually different from person to person, but the sentiment is the same: small churches with small...

Yes, we’re already a week into 2013, but it’s still not too late to look at your church communications strategy and set some goals for the upcoming year.  As you think about the upcoming year, here are five issues I think are good for you to consider.

Be visual.   It was a major point of mine last year and it’s going to be a talking point many more times in 2013.  In every piece of communication material you have, whether it’s online or on paper, find a way to add images.  Put a face to the...

It’s always interesting to look back over the past year to see what posts were the most popular on Church Juice.  But instead of just listing the most visited pages based on traffic, I thought it would be fun to group those posts into themes to get a feel for what was on your mind.  So here’s what you cared about in 2012:

#7 Christmas Planning

What?  You’re tired of thinking about Christmas now that it’s over?  Well, rest assured that this will be the only mention of Christmas on the...

Christmas planning at your church is most likely underway.  And while some churches may be further along in the process than others, there’s one thing I want you to think about this year.  Are your services going to be an experiment or something tried and true?

The inspiration for this question stems from a 2012 Echo Conference session where Stephen Brewster talked about the creative process.  As Creative Arts Pastor at Cross Point Community Church in Nashville, Tennessee, he was honest and...

(The Juicys are a way to recognize and reward those churches who’ve worked to improve their church communications during the last year.  It includes giving them a grant to jump start their next project.)

For Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA, this Juicys story starts at an outdoor Christmas service.  As the Gospel was presented, church staff realized they needed a way to connect with people who wanted to respond.  And having them physically come forward wasn’t going to work.

“It...

(The Juicys are a way to recognize and reward those churches who’ve worked to improve their church communications during the last year.  It includes giving them a grant to jump start their next project.  This week we'll be announcing the 2012 winners.)

Newsletters can be a major frustration for churches.  Oftentimes members want them, but church staffs don’t always have time to create the content for them.  Plus they can become dumping grounds of information.  Westbury United Methodist...