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.
There are three reasons your church needs a communication person:
1) You Need Someone to Collect Information
Information needs to be gathered in a timely fashion so things get communicated early and often. Once the information is gathered, it needs to be organized—not just piles of paper pieces on a desk.
2) You Need Someone to Function as Quality Control
Promotions need to meet the goals and expectations your church has agreed on.
The communications person is the one who can say
- Hey, I think we missed something.
- That doesn't quite live up to our standards.
- Maybe we need to rethink how we're promoting this.
3) You Need Someone to Schedule Communications
During certain seasons (spring, fall), everyone wants to promote events at the same time.
Listeners end up shutting down because there is so much information coming at them.
So your church isn’t inundated one week and silent the next, promote things in order. This could be based on starting date or urgency (e.g., event registration) rather than throwing everything out and hoping something sticks.
Who that person should be will vary.
When possible, it is best for the person to be a staff member, because they will know about upcoming ministry events that need promoting. The staff member could overhear information in the office or church hallways, and they would know what has and hasn't been promoted. Someone on staff has the ability to be part of those conversations. If the communications point person doesn't know of something, it may as well not exist.
If a staff member is not an option, it should be a high level, highly committed volunteer. Someone who is in the midst of all the happenings.
Either way, the person who oversees your church communications needs the following characteristics:
- Has rapport with the staff and can get necessary details from them
- Can be highly organized to see details far off
- Sees the long-term view of the church ministry
- Is good with people, carry on a conversation
- Speaks and writes well
- Possesses an eye for detail, for proofreading and making sure everything is included
- Is computer savvy
- Can create (or edit) designs to meet church goals and expectation
