Blog

Tim Schraeder, the communications guy at Park Community Church, is a big fan of the book Rework from 37signals.  (He'd probably quit being my friend if he knew I haven't read it yet, so don't tell him.)  Tim says the book says some bold things about changing the work culture. Meetings are toxic. So Tim presented some of his own bold statements for reworking church communications. Good stuff!

Opening thoughts.

I love the church, but sometimes I hate the way the church works.

Change is never anything the church is excited about. In order to survive you have to change.

Adaptability is one of the best commodities we can have.

Reworking Church Communications

• No one cares about your church. Peoples view of church is on decline because we lost credibility. We're now on the periphery of culture. Exciting place to be because we can re-enter in a new way. Put people first instead of your church.
• Know our real competition. The real competitor is what captures peoples time, energy and attention.  The darkness around us is competition not the church down the street.
• Forget your mission and your vision. Mission statements are out of date. They're not compelling. This generation is motivated by causes.  Passion is what fuels us. If you had to strip everything down to one thing at your church what would it be?  That's your passion.
• Technology isn't the savior.  The church has endured without it. It's a mechanism to get our message out there. We can use it to point people to the Savior.
• Be inspired. Don't imitate. God is creative.  He doesn't create clones. The greatest sin we commit is copy and pasting. It skips understanding which is key to growing. Sometimes we use the excuse that we're the church and we are all working together, but we all have unique contexts. Also applies to always going back to what worked in the past.
• Constraints are a blessing. If only we had _______. We use our stuff as an excuse, but the latest equipment won't help if you don't have a creative message. Having less increases our dependance on God. He can take our little and make it much.
• Flawed is the new perfect. We connect with real people and stories. People don't trust marketing.  Why do things have to be wrapped in a perfect package instead of being real and showing our flaws?  Talk how you really talk and show real pictures. We have to reveal things we don't want to talk about. Let the real show.
• Stop speaking in tongues. We have a confusing language in the church world. Why do we take a simple gospel and make is so complex?  Why are we saying things that don't make sense to people?  Jesus used examples people understood.
• You don't need a marketing budget. It's more about what people say than what we say about ourselves in a social media world. Doing lots of external stuff is expensive and is a stewardship issue. Some marketing is good, but be smart about it.  Everything your church does is marketing. Your marketing team is the people who attend your church and talk about you.
• Don't communicate...curate. In museums there's stuff not on the wall but in storage. Someone has to say no. Stick to what's essential. Get to the core message. It's not programs or events, it's peoples stories.  Sacrifice good ideas for great ideas.