Guest Post: Communication Teams are Paramount in Today’s Church by Brian Dunaway

Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Brian Dunaway. Brian is the Director of Communications & Technology for Cross Church Northwest Arkansas. 

There is no argument that quality and effective communication are paramount in today’s world. Even more important, in the church world it is vital to cut through the noise and grab the attention of those both inside and outside your church. Regardless if you are a one-person communications staff, you outsource to lay people or freelancers, or you have an entire staff dedicated to communications, I believe the points below apply.

An Effective Team

As with any organization, it takes many parts to achieve the main goal. In the world of communications, it’s important that an effective team is constructed to carry out the needs of a church. Those needs can range from the pastor’s slides for his sermon, to letting the community know where you’re located via your website, print, or social media. So what do you need?

1. Collaboration – If you can’t get along, you can’t produce. You must build a staff, group of lay people, or freelancers who are willing to work together. Your team must be able to share ideas, disagree, agree, and eventually come together to produce a product that is fantastic.
2. Servant Heart – The communications team as a whole is a unique ministry of the church. It is our job to not only communicate the big picture of the church, but also to serve the individual ministries of the church. Your team must be able to interact and communicate with each staff member while understanding the importance of keeping the overall vision clear.
3. Talent – It’s not by accident I put talent last. The world is FULL of talented people. It’s not hard to find talent, especially in the field of communications. Schools are churning out scores of graphic designers, web managers, and video editors. I firmly believe if your team has all the talent in the world but cannot work as a team and be servants to many, they will ultimately accomplish nothing.

Gratefully, this is exactly the team I have the opportunity to work alongside at Cross Church. We have a team that is uniquely gifted, highly creative, and most importantly, each has a ministry heart.

Quality Within Your Box

Churches have so many different cultures, traditions, and expectations. We will just call it flavor. It is of utmost importance to know the flavor of your church and how to best communicate it. You must communicate who you are as a church.  Not the church you wish you were, but the church you are.  Social media is a great platform to let people know who you are. Make sure you and your church are designing and communicating in a way that is relevant to the culture.

Remember this: You can earn the right for people to notice your church by your attention to detail in quality, spelling, artwork, and more. But it’s just as easy to forfeit that right with carelessness. Strive to have the highest quality in every area. At Cross Church, we have very strict policies to help insure we spell words correctly, post quality content, etc.  But we are all human and sometimes we make mistakes. When that happens, we look at the system, tighten it up, and continue on. The bottom line is not to settle for “good enough” when you can do it with excellence.

The Front Door

Unfortunately, in today’s world, the old adage, “Don’t Judge a book by its cover” is no longer applicable. I tell the team I serve alongside at Cross Church, “Don’t let yourselves ever believe you are the sole reason the church grows.” However, what you create and communicate through your talents might cause a seeker to look twice. They may give your church a chance when they might not have before, and this could lead to eternal life change. What an honorable task we have to be the communicators for our church! Examples of the “front door” could be your website, a TV commercial, a radio advertisement, and even a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account. Make sure the front door represents you well.

Finally, be effective, be consistent, and produce the highest quality that speaks to who you are as a church. Always use the communication platform to strengthen the mission. At Cross Church, our mission is to reach northwest Arkansas, America, and the world for Jesus Christ. Everything we do centers on that mission and it is how we judge our effectiveness.

There are many churches that are served well by their communications teams, and we are always observing and learning from them. At Cross Church, our communications team is always available to help in any way. We will share anything we do with you and your church. Below are a few examples of how we communicate internally and externally at Cross Church.

Graphics
Click image to enlarge

Easter 2016 Artwork	Give Me Joy Series Artwork

 
Social Media
Click image to enlarge

Dr. Floyd Quote	Blessing Baskets 2016	Plan My Visit

 
Bulletins
Click image to enlarge

Weekly Bulletin	Special Easter Bulletin

 
Videos
Click to play video

Easter 2016 Recap	Easter Promo

 
Brian Dunaway
Director of Communications, Cross Church