Church communication can be overwhelming. Especially when you’re starting out—whether you’re new to the field or new to a church. There’s so much to do, and the weekly pace of services and their bulletins and announcements can be relentless. When you want to make improvements, it’s hard to know where to start. We’re talking about…
Church and Ministry
11 posts
I’ve often thought, “If God chooses to bring another Great Awakening to the United States, I bet he will use the advances in communications technology to facilitate it.” Those musings surfaced again in my head this week as I served with 19 other communication-minded folks as part of Creative Missions in the greater Providence, R.I.,…
For the ninth year in a row, Creative Missions is heading out to serve local churches. This year, 20 missionaries will be serving 15 churches in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts from April 27 to May 3. It’s part of our annual missions trip for communicators, where we put our creative skills to work to help…
“What is this word ‘balance’ you speak of?” “I’d say it’s more work life integration vs. work life balance.” “I’m trying to protect myself and my days off, but also have grace for people.” When talking about how to have balance and boundaries when your church is your work, I’ve heard all three of these…
It wasn’t my best moment. It certainly wasn’t what my friend Luke was hoping for when he poured his frustrations out on the table between us. Luke was a relatively young clergy person at the time. He and his wife, also ordained, had just been assigned to a small but promising congregation. Before their excitement…
One of the greatest challenges for church communicators isn’t strategy or bulletins or senior pastors. It’s taking care of yourself. Finding a healthy and sustainable pace is absolutely essential if you’re going to find any other success in your role as a church communicator. Phil Bowdle explores this idea in his new book, Rethink Communication:…
How would you describe your church office environment? Is it relatively easy to get work done? Does the staff work together well, and do you feel supported by your pastors? In our day-to-day lives, it’s really easy to get lost in the weeds of bulletins and emails and websites and Facebook posts, but one of…
The first place to start when thinking about the online church and its impact is to understand how big it is and where it fits within the ministries of your church. Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm that helps churches find their key staff, and Jay Kranda, an online pastor and online ministry thought leader, partnered…
We’ve been talking about events this month and I want you to know an important thing about those traditional events at your church: It’s OK to kill them. Seriously. Event-icide is not a crime. Your church will not implode if that traditional event doesn’t happen this year. How do I know? Because my church killed…
Churches are good at doing things big. But bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to events. Sometimes we’d get more bang for our buck if we spread out the effort into a series of events. Maybe your church should consider a series of multiple events instead of one behemoth event. It worked for…