Yesterday, we discussed internal communication on church staffs. Today, we hit external communications. By far the biggest issue here is announcements. Regardless of what they say their policy is, it’s clear that most churches think that the most important thing to do is give information, and the more, the better. Information is of secondary importance – no one cares when the new member class meets or what room it meets in. That is, until they have decided to become new members. The announcements should be about the WHY, not the WHAT – inspiration is far, far more important than information. By the way, every announcement added in to a weekend service lessens the perceived importance of every other announcement, so more is definitely NOT better.
Churches are guilty of two additional communication “sins” that I find irksome:
- A LACK OF PREPARATION: It’s pretty easy to tell which churches are putting in the effort. There is a big difference, for instance, in a service host (ie announcement person) who has practiced and done his or her homework, and someone that is winging it off of a hastily scrawled set of bullet points put together 10 minutes before the service.
- USING ”WE” TO REFER TO THE CHURCH STAFF: I am shocked at the amount of times I see church websites or hear announcements that sound something like this: “We are excited to let you know about [blank]” or “We have put together a great night of worship” or “We want you to grow in your walk with Jesus.” “We” should refer to the whole church – INCLUDING the congregation. Otherwise, you’ll end up with people who you consider to be core individuals having discussions in their small groups and referring to the church as “they…”
#creativeworshipideas
Yesterday, we discussed internal communication on church staffs. Today, we hit external communications. By far the biggest issue here is announcements. Regardless of what they say their policy is, it’s clear that most churches think that the most important thing to do is give information, and the more, the better. Information is of secondary importance – no one cares when the new member class meets or what room it meets in. That is, until they have decided to become new members. The announcements should be about the WHY, not the WHAT – inspiration is far, far more important than information. By the way, every announcement added in to a weekend service lessens the perceived importance of every other announcement, so more is definitely NOT better.
Churches are guilty of two additional communication “sins” that I find irksome:
- A LACK OF PREPARATION: It’s pretty easy to tell which churches are putting in the effort. There is a big difference, for instance, in a service host (ie announcement person) who has practiced and done his or her homework, and someone that is winging it off of a hastily scrawled set of bullet points put together 10 minutes before the service.
- USING ”WE” TO REFER TO THE CHURCH STAFF: I am shocked at the amount of times I see church websites or hear announcements that sound something like this: “We are excited to let you know about [blank]” or “We have put together a great night of worship” or “We want you to grow in your walk with Jesus.” “We” should refer to the whole church – INCLUDING the congregation. Otherwise, you’ll end up with people who you consider to be core individuals having discussions in their small groups and referring to the church as “they…”
#creativeworshipideas
creativeworshipideas 