Assignment Title: 6 Church Communication Best Practices to Know & What to Avoid
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Mary Smith
Liberty University
6 Best Practices for Church Communication
Here are my best practices for ensuring communication within your church helps you
spread your message and mission, instead of hindering it.
1. Over Communicating Beats Under Communicating
Sharing an important announcement once does not usually get the job done. There are so
many things vying for our attention today that the congregation or intended audience may not
remember the announcement once service ends, or once they leave church premises. This is
why reminders are imperative. Build reminders into your weekly services, have the information
on your church website, and include it in your weekly bulletins.
2. Use A Variety Of Church Communication Software
Church communication software is a broad term that can include any type of software or
tool that helps you communicate with your congregation or conduct internal communication
with your staff. Here are a few ideas for types of tools and software you might use. These are
great ways to reiterate church announcements.
Email
Mass mailing services such as Mailchimp, Flodesk, or Constant Contact are just a few of the
many online email marketing automation platforms that allow you to send one message to
hundreds and even thousands of people on your mailing list. These platforms generally require
a small monthly fee, although in some cases they might be free, depending on the size of your
congregation. Within these platforms, you are also able to categorize email lists. For example,
one category of emails can be for heads of departments, another might be for your general
congregation or just new church members, and so forth. This is a very convenient feature that
allows you to send certain messages to only the people that need to receive them.
Mass Text Messaging
This type of software is great for sending text message reminders about events to your
congregation. Flocknote, EZ Texting, and ChurchCast are just a few of the mass texting
platforms that allow you to text your entire congregation at once. Remember to keep the
messages short and straight to the point. No one likes to read lengthy text messages.
Social Media
By this point, your church should be using social media, be it Facebook, Instagram, or
Twitter. Generally, these pages are public-facing (meaning anyone can see them, unless you
adjust your settings to disallow this), so keep in mind that both the intended audience and
anyone else who stumbles across your profile can read the information you post here. Not all
messages should be posted here, unless the general public is your intended audience. For
example, if your church is hosting a blood drive, or a business fair open to the general public,
you will want to post these types of messages on your social media pages. However, a reminder
about the upcoming ushers’ meeting should not be posted on a public platform.
Group Chat Applications
WhatsApp (which usually works better for smaller churches) is a favorite and reliable
application. You can create a dedicated WhatsApp Group Chat for important church messages
and announcements, and use it to reiterate messages or send reminders about upcoming
events. You may need to set boundaries and let users know that the page is strictly for church
information. You do not want messages or reminders to get lost in a myriad of other unrelated
posts and memes.
Send Reminders Via Heads Of Department
Each head of department or unit at a church will have their trusted and reliable way of
communicating with members of their department. You may want to ask them to remind their
department members about an upcoming church event that requires their attendance. For
example, you can ask the choir director to remind her department about an upcoming worker’s
training seminar. Highlight the specific information that you want shared with departmental
members.
3. Emphasize Messages during Church Services
Right before the actual sermon or after it are great opportunities to relay general
announcements, upcoming events, and any other tidbits that your congregation at-large should
know.
However, avoid overloading announcements: Plan ahead so your church’s weekly
announcements are properly spaced. Having too many announcements at one service will lead
to people forgetting or missing information.
Ensure that the announcer at the service receives the announcements in good time: This
will give enough time for them to review and prepare. Sending the announcements the night
before the 8 am service is bad communication practice.
4. Promote Events in a Timely Manner
This is key. If you start to talk about an upcoming event too early, it may dilute the
significance of the event as the day approaches because your intended audience has heard it
one time too often.
There are a variety of ways to go about mass promotion of major church events: Flyers,
posters, banners, or digital adverts. Make sure to use a consistent color theme for all
publications. This helps with easy recognition and branding. Decide on a color scheme and use
those colors consistently in the creation of posters, flyers and banners—be it digital or hard
copies.
5. Double Check Your Work
The scenario I posited in the intro is actually a true story. When I was the administrator of a
large international church organization, I learned this lesson the hard way. At the end of what
had been an extremely busy work week, I accidentally approved the printing of posters and
flyers for a major event. Regretfully, there was a major typo—which I missed.
That painful and costly experience led me to develop an almost foolproof system that I use
before approving any information intended for wide distribution.
I created a checklist that includes a list of basic information that goes into every form of
mass advertisement used at that church. The checklist included:
Date of the event
Time of the event
The venue
Website address of the church
Telephone number of the church
Name of event
By having this checklist handy, I was able to cross-check before giving the go-ahead to print
or distribute digitally.
The second step of my system involved enlisting the assistance of at least two other trusted
individuals (members of the event planning team) to check to ensure I did not omit important
information.
The truth is we are humans and are prone to human error. Having a good system in place
will greatly reduce or eliminate costly human errors altogether.
6. Pay Close Attention to the Design of Any Promotional Material
Let’s say you are organizing a free back-to-school give-away. You want to make sure the
purpose of the event is clear at first glance on any flyers or ads. This might mean having the title
bolded, along with photos of backpacks and school supplies. A photo of the pastor should not
be the most prominent image on the flyer.
Busy designs unrelated to the message take away from the importance of intended
messages. Unnecessary floral designs and graphics just make it hard to read the message that
you are trying to convey. Your intended audience should not have to fight through unnecessary
designs to get to the actual message.
Also, make sure to clearly explain any specific instructions that event attendees will need.
For example, say your church is having a toy drive. You’ll want to make sure the following is
clear:
1. The types of toys needed or required.
2. The toy collection deadline.
3. Where donors should put the toys. For example, toys should be placed in the collection
bins at the main entrance, in the lobby.
4. Whether cash donations will be accepted in lieu of toys, for those that are unable to
purchase toys due to time constraints. How should they make the donation? If giving online,
should they type “toy drive” when making their donation?
5. Whether “toy drive” should be written on the giving envelope.
All of these instructions and more have to be clarified and spelled out to improve the
chances of success of your drive.
