In order for effective communication to be a reality in the church, change needs to happen. We need to shift our way of thinking. More importantly, we need to enable and equip our audience to receive the message of Christ in a new way.
Here are four ways to shift that focus:
1. Shift Communication Focus From Print to Digital
Many traditional churches rely on bulletin-centric communication. Everything they try to say revolves around the weekly worship bulletin (until those bulletins explode all over people). The problem is that a bulletin is very limiting—it’s a piece of paper that can only reach so many people once a week.
Instead, we must develop communication strategies that revolve around the web. This means building a robust website that can act as a communications hub. This is valuable because digital platforms have a much larger reach and face significantly less limitations in terms of space and interactivity.
2. Shift Audience Focus From Members to Guests
If the mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, why do we spend most of our time focused on people who are already Christ-followers?
In order to grow the church, we need to be more attentive to the needs and desires of those who are outside the church. We need to be more welcoming by intentionally prioritizing the needs of the guest over the needs of the member.
Now this shouldn’t come at the expense of people already within the church—but in a healthy congregation, members will naturally desire to accommodate other by putting aside their own needs in order to reach the ‘un-churched.’
You might remember that we just recently released an entire book about welcoming guests.
3. Shift Content Focus From Announcements to Stories
The primary way the church knows how to communicate within the church is announcements—small group meetings, youth retreats, preschool volunteers, etc. Some say it rises to the level of noise pollution.
While announcements are necessary, understand that the main people who care about announcements are the people making said announcements.
However, everyone cares about stories. Stories don’t provide information as much as inspiration—they are more impactful and memorable. Stop telling people what we’re doing—show them why it matters.
4. Shift Ministry Focus From More to Less
Most churches do too much. We sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity. We try to be everything for everyone. We need to scale back and focus on doing what matters the most.
This applies to almost everything within the church—from communication to programing. The more we do, the less each thing matters. And vice-versa. So do less better and make more of an impact.
Photo by Stephen Murray.
