Earlier this month Church Juice announced the winners of their church communications contest, The Juicys. This endeavor was all about “rewarding communication awesomeness” with $1,000 grants. They accepted applications online and then had a panel of judges select the churches that were doing the most awesome stuff.
The result is a handful of great ideas and insights for your church:
[Larger] Church of the Year: ChangePoint in Anchorage, Alaska
This megachurch up north completely re-thought their communication strategy. They started over and decided to create a mobile app and shrink their bulletin. In the end they were able to cut their communications budget in half and online usage was way up. The real key here was rethinking the strategy for what fit their congregation, not just the standard communication items.
[Smaller] Church of the Year: Life Baptist Church in Las Vegas
Life Baptist Church used the occasion of moving to a new building as an opportunity to rebrand. They unified their visual presentation and came up with a brand standards guide to keep everyone on board (without getting the heavy-handed accusation). “The goal of branding is the advancement of the kingdom through awesome communication,” says Matt Phillips, the church’s creative arts guy.
[Smaller] Church of the Year Runner Up: Level Ground Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
Nobody likes annual meetings, but they’re required according to the bylaws of most churches. Level Ground found a way to make annual meetings work for them. Instead of boring, evening affairs where committee members read reports, Level Ground devoted a Sunday morning to celebrating what God had done in the past year. They also turned some of the dull reports into more engaging videos and compiled the whole thing into a nicely designed PDF. Say goodbye to boring meetings.
Make it Happen Church of the Year: First Christian Reformed Church of Grand Haven, Mich.
This church is known for their environmental impact, but their website is stuck in the 1990s. They scored a Juicy grant to redo their website and revitalize their green initiatives. Last year the church handed out 200 gently-used appliances. Let’s see what they can do next year with a little web upgrade.
