Assignment Title: The Ultimate Church Communication Strategy in 5 Easy Steps
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Mary Smith
Liberty University
What Is A Church Communication Strategy?
A church communication strategy is the means by which you express the gospel to those
around you. There are many forms and steps that it takes, and these can differ for each church.
This strategy requires careful planning and mindfulness for those who a church is trying to
reach. At its core, church communication strategy is the method of growing and building your
community of believers. Communication is the foundational way that we as humans connect,
and strategically picking how we do so can spiritually expand the four walls of the church. It
does not happen by accident but necessitates the heartfelt, prayerful intention of the church’s
leaders and congregation. In my time in full-time ministry, I see church communication as one
of the most crucial parts of sharing God’s message to the world.
Church Communication Plans
Developing a physical, tangible plan for how you communicate is highly recommended.
Though some churches are able to grow without the need for schedules, spreadsheets, or
dozens of pages of documents, others will benefit from the structure that it provides. Having a
clear picture and idea of what you are trying to communicate, and how you will do it, can
prepare your leadership in a great way. This gives a common goal that is easy to grasp and you
will more clearly understand the results, too. That is why we previously created a dedicated
guide just for making church communication plans. If you want in-depth insight into how to
form a plan of action across multiple forms of communication, including helpful church comms
templates, that guide is for you.
How to Develop a Church Communications Strategy?
The 5 steps to developing a solid church communications strategy
When it comes to your overall church communication strategy, there are several steps that
you should follow. These steps will guide you along the way to finding out what works best for
your church. Every community is different, but these steps are a guideline by which you can
successfully build your church.
1. Define Your Environment
To start out on the right foot, you need to first look around at your environment. This
includes not just the church and its building(s), but the area around it as well. The ultimate goal
for us as Christians is to spread the gospel to the entire world, but we cannot just jump straight
to that step.
We, first, need to build up to that and it begins with the immediate area around us. The
city, county, region, state, and province that we are in is our environment. Start small and
clearly define what is happening in your area. Why this is important is because your church’s
environment on one side of the world will be completely different than someone else’s on the
other side of the world. There can even be dramatically different situations between churches
in the same state, let alone country. It is crucial that you understand the types of people that
you are trying to communicate the message of salvation to.
For instance, one church might find that they need to help the large number of single
parents and broken homes in their area, while another in a different area notices the significant
population of starving children. And yet, still, there might be another church that needs to
tackle both groups. In my experience, our organization initially saw the immediate needs of
those in a small neighborhood known as Echo Park, then gradually expanded to involve places
like Skid Row, the entirety of LA County, and eventually other nearby places like Long Beach.
Once you define the environment and the needs around you, you can then start to meet those
needs and communicate properly. It is imperative that you know the people that live around
you every day.
2. Focus on Your Values
Once you know who you are communicating with, it is then important to decide what you
will be saying to them. This is where your values come into play. The Bible is universal and
necessary for every church, but there are some parts that will be helpful with the situations in
your community.
You need to determine the values that your church has, so that you can be transparent in
your messages to the community around you. This means creating the fundamentals by which
your church stands. What do you believe in? What sort of events do you have each week? What
are the goals you have in mind? These answers may be obvious to you, but it is not necessarily
the case for someone unfamiliar with your church. You should be ready to communicate these
values clearly so that even the newest believer has an idea of what they are getting involved
with.
3. Craft a Flexible Message
With your audience and values in mind, it is time to create your means of communication
and messaging. This can be the make it or break it point for some churches in forming their
church communication strategy. Above all else, it is imperative that you craft flexible messaging
for use everywhere.
The Bible is the versatile form of God’s Word that was created for all people of all ages of
all generations. Just as it remains a flexible communication from God, so should the church’s
strategy. The values that you have are not meant for a single form of media or one person; it
should be malleable to the point of including anyone and everyone at any time. What this
means in practice is that you should be communicating across multiple fields and forms. With
these same values in mind, you should execute them in a way that will make sense for the
traditional face-to-face meetings with people in your community as well as online in the
modern digital age. Though the words and method may change considerably, the meaning
should never. This way, no matter how someone finds out about your church, they will have the
same knowledge of it as everyone else.
4. Distribution Is Key
With the modern style of communication, it is vastly different from even at the time of
Jesus. This is where your distribution must be flexible as well. Churches should communicate
with prospective and current members through a variety of ways. This ensures that everyone
gets the message and in the right way for them. Social media, for instance, is a huge part of
modern church communication strategy. If your church does not already have a Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram, get on that. These are the bare minimum and I think that is even
putting it too lightly.
These days, churches should also have a digital service available. Stream your services
online on YouTube and elsewhere, or, at the very least, record it for later uploading as a video
or podcast. Whether or not you personally agree with church members attending online from
their home, this is a must these days for integrating new members and keeping old ones.
Finally on the topic of communication channels, there is TikTok. This is a rising social media
app that I highly recommend to any church looking to grow. This is where the younger possible
churchgoers will be and the church needs to be there, too, to meet their needs. Communicating
your announcements, services, and events online in goofy short social media posts using
trending sounds can set your church apart from everyone else.
Of course, you should not forget about the old-fashioned methods of communication as
well. Going door-to-door for follow ups, passing out flyers, setting up posters, and all that can
still be effective. I know this from personal experience. We dedicated entire days of the week at
the LA Dream Center just to pass out flyers in our community.
5. Remember the Goal
Lastly, the final key to excellent church communication strategy is always remembering
why you are running this race (Acts 20:24). In every little step that you take, always seek God
and His assistance in the matter. Make sure that every part of your strategy aligns with him and
that nothing is taken for granted. With such busy lives and so many avenues for
communication, it can be tough to keep up with everything. People can be lost in the process,
due to neglect of the church and forgetting about what really matters. This is a common
mistake that I’ve found these days. If necessary, take steps back sometimes and look at the
bigger picture. If it is too much for your team to handle that means it is time to get more help
or refocus. Never let the strategy, plans, and methods of saving souls cause you to lose sight of
those people.
No matter how big or small your church is, always remember why we are doing this. In my
department, we ran programs dealing with over 2000 kids a week in the Los Angeles area. It is a
lot to manage and it took a lot of people to make it happen. Sometimes it was a struggle and
we made mistakes but we always tried to do the small things. These include visiting someone’s
home to see how they’re doing, bringing cookies or treats just to let someone know you’re
thinking of them, sending out personal text messages to first-time guests, and so on. Try not to
focus so much on the strategy that you forget the goal.
