The Greatest Challenge For Those In Church Communications
Late last year my world as changed.
I concluded my season serving at my church. I’m now lead a team in marketing and communications back in the marketplace. And I’m loving it. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
But after ten years of service inside the church, my new life stage outside the church has given me fresh insight into the greatest challenge for those in church communications.
The greatest challenge I see right now is competition for attention.
Here’s the deal.
When I was on the inside I couldn’t ever appreciate a person’s world who attended on a Sunday. I wasn’t in their shoes. I assumed they absorbed the different messages we would bombard them with on any given Sunday. I tried as best as I could to reduce the number of messages where possible. But on the inside the competition for getting a ministry message out was unrelenting.
Now outside looking in, I see that I have massive competition for my attention. I still love my church, serve in it as a volunteer and attend. It’s just not the centre of my whole universe. It’s just not possible.
Which means the competition for my attention just increased nearly 100%. I’m now bombarded by many more messages outside of the church, than inside.
Here’s the challenge for church’s everywhere. And more specifically church communicators.
You need to simplify your messaging for your congregation on a Sunday. Reduce the noise. Cut the clutter. Focus on what is REALLY important. Then ask yourself – what’s the one big thing I want to communicate this Sunday?
And go for it!
Hi Steve,
I’m totally with you on this, but can you please unpack what you are referring to when you say getting a ministry message out? Was this pressure to promote a whole heap of events and upcoming ministry opportunities like it is with our Churcn?
Blessings
Brendan
Hey Brendan,
See Ryan’s comment above in terms of how to solve it.
In terms of what you talked about promoting many different events and opportunities, yes it’s a continuous battle. I managed to help people get their message out in different ways through email, flyers etc instead of just using the stage.
that make sense?
Brendan,
In our church, we struggled to get people to listen long enough to hear the message.
Cutting through the noise, for us, meant talking more intentionally about a fewer number of things and repeating that information in creative ways so they heard about it more frequently.
My ‘quick equation’ for it is:
SAY LESS + WITH GREATER CLARITY + IN WAYS THAT CONNECT WITH PEOPLE
Well said Ryan!
Say less with more clarity in a way that connects. Pretty much sums up the point I was making. Thanks for commenting!