When I was telling my friends and family I had accepted the position as executive director of the Center for Church Communication (CFCC), the most common response was, “That’s great! Congratulations! What is the Center for Church Communication?”
It occurred to me there are probably quite a few people out there who have no idea who we are or what all we do. We’re 10 years in and still get that question (hmm… maybe our marketing sucks?). CFCC is the nonprofit umbrella that oversees all the church communication work we champion. It’s the organizational structure that allows us to get stuff done and keeps the bills paid.
It’s likely even those who have heard of our organization don’t know the breadth of our operations. So if you’ll indulge me for a few moments, let’s talk about what we do.
Church Marketing Sucks
This is what most people know. If they don’t know it, they usually want to know it when they hear the title. This is the blog you’re reading right now. It’s our flagship initiative and oldest project. We’ve spent the past 10 years frustrating, educating and motivating the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.
While the first post was published on July 22, 2004, the idea first came into being during a meeting in April at a swanky hotel in downtown Los Angeles. And the initial idea was supposed to be a book, not a blog. The blog served as a way to gather content for the book, but the blog took off and the book never came together.
Today we have over 2,600 posts from 150 different authors.
Church Marketing Lab
The Church Marketing Lab is perhaps our most underutilized resource. But it is the resource with the greatest potential to make an impact for our community. It is a community group hosted on the photo-sharing site Flickr where you can post your church marketing and communication designs and like-minded church comm folks can give you feedback. You can serve the community by simply dropping in and offering advice on posted designs. As if that weren’t enough, there are also discussion forums where you can ask questions and give advice.
More than 12,000 designs have been posted from more than 6,000 people. It’s a community, so you get out of it what you put into it. But it’s an incredible opportunity to help church communicators do better work.
If you want to help church marketing no longer suck, this is ground zero.
Job Board
Another important resource that CFCC provides is the Job Board. We list full time and freelance church marketing related gigs. If you’re a church communicator looking for work or a church needing to hire someone, this is the place to go.
There are a lot of Christian Job Boards out there, both for pastors and for Christian ministry. But we’re not aware of any others that focus on church communication.
Did we mention it’s entirely free?
Social Networks
Social networks barely existed when we first started (though once upon a time we had a MySpace page), but these days we’re social. We’ve got an active presence on Twitter and Facebook, and they’re good places to find resources, ask questions and engage with other like-minded church communicators. We’re often sharing all kinds of church marketing goodness, much of which doesn’t make it on the blog.
If you haven’t liked our page or followed us on Twitter, be sure to do so.
Certification Lab
The Certification Lab is a two-day intensive training time led by some of the top minds in the church communication space. It is a time of learning, masterminding and hanging out with folks who are in the same stages of church communication as yourself.
The most recent Certification Lab was last month in Atlanta. Check out how it went and stay tuned for announcements about the next one.
Attending #certlab is the best thing this communication newbie could have done. Looking forward to starting tomorrow with @kelleyhartnett.
— Sarah Thomas (@s_thomi) June 10, 2014
Books & Resources
We said earlier that back in 2004 we envisioned Church Marketing Sucks as a book. In 2010 we finally did release a book, Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication with more than 60 church communication pros weighing in. Today we have several books, ebooks and PDF resources.
The latest is Getting Started in Church Communication, a new series that currently includes three volumes covering websites, writing copy and landing a job. The Getting Started ebooks are available individually or in a 3-in-1 volume.
If you’d like something free, sign up for our email newsletter and get 8 Essential Tools for Church Communicators.
Events Calendar
You’re not alone as a church communicator. Events are a great way to hammer that truth home. Conferences, meetups and workshops a powerful way to connect with others, learn new skills and be inspired.
Our Events Calendar is a roundup of upcoming church communication events. It’s a simple Google Calendar you can subscribe to and see what’s coming.
Church Marketing Podcast
Last, but certainly not least, is our newest project: the Church Marketing Podcast. It’s an audio podcast dedicated to equipping and encouraging church communicators. The podcast features special guests and in-depth conversations, packed with ideas and resources you can take back to your church.
Check out the latest episode with Tim Peters and be sure to go to the archives for more.
More Than a Blog
As you can see, the Center for Church Communication has a lot going on—much of which is behind the scenes—all intended to help you communicate the gospel clearly, effectively and without compromise.
If you have any questions about what we do or ideas about how we can do it better, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment on this post and I promise I’ll be listening. There are also loads of ways you can get involved.
