Church Communications Handbook


Book Description

A communications specialist discusses communication in the local church--advertising, talking with the media, communicating with members, and utilizing technology. Includes helpful forms, checklists, and examples from cutting-edge churches.




Church Communications


Book Description

Why does a church’s online presence matter? Expert church communication and marketing strategist Katie Allred outlines how churches can continue advancing the gospel and reach more people using new methods of communication. Designed for pastors, church leaders, and volunteers, Church Communications guides the reader through practical steps a church can take to strengthen their digital footprint. Allred gives guidelines for a range of issues from creating marketing strategy, designing branding, how to set up and run social media, and more. All churches are storytellers on a mission, and new digital mediums play a vital role in the life and growth of the church.




Transforming Parish Communications


Book Description

"Are we still a Church capable of warming hearts? A Church capable of leading people back to Jerusalem? Of bringing them home?" - Pope Francis, Meeting with the Bishops of Brazil, 28 July 2013. Pope Francis, like his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II, is calling for Catholics to embrace the new evangelization. But there has been ongoing confusion about who is responsible, what it really means and what it looks like in practical application. How can we respond to the Holy Father's call, creating evangelization opportunities that help bring people back to the Church? By transforming Catholics into digital missionaries - ready and able to take the joy and warmth of the Gospel online via social media to infrequent, inactive, or ex-Catholics around the corner or across the globe. Consider this: 1. Nearly every "lost" Catholic in the U.S. is most likely connected with at least one engaged Catholic - or is one "retweet" or "like" away from them 2. On the whole, Catholics have not been taught to see social media as a way to live out their faith 3. Motivating parishes to put a priority on evangelization has been a challenge 4. Catholics are more likely to be comfortable as digital missionaries than to participate in other forms of evangelization 5. Parishes can offer "digital missionary training" to parishioners - who would welcome it! In Transforming Parish Communications: Growing the Church Through New Media, you'll discover: How to embrace the Church's vision of evangelization in new media How entire parishes can become hubs of digital evangelization - and how to overcome obstacles Specific strategies for implementation How to create a consistent digital identity online Best practices for parish websites The nuts and bolts of Facebook, Twitter, email, blogging and more Consider this book your entry into an important - and urgent - call to each of us as Catholics. To bring the warmth of the Gospel to the "lost" and bring them back to the Church. Visit the companion site for more ParishGuideToNewMedia.com




Guidelines Communications


Book Description

Local church communication is a ministry that shares the church’s story in ways that move people toward becoming disciples of Christ. You are part of a leadership team that brings to life your church’s vision and mission. Your role is to be a storyteller and connector, employing communications’ practices and tools to share the story of the church in a planned, compelling, accessible way. Your goal is to develop a reliable process for telling and hearing the story in which everyone can participate. This Guideline is designed to help you meet this goal. This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 that cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Small Membership Church; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more.




PR Matters


Book Description

Is your church prepared to handle a crisis well? Do you have a plan in place for how to deal with negative comments on social media? Are you afraid to try new communications methods? In PR Matters, Justin Dean provides practical advice on how to communicate the gospel well and reach more people in a world that wants Christians to be bland. FREE DOWNLOADS: Includes a FREE Comprehensive Church Crisis Plan, a Social Media Policy, a Social Media Guide for Churches, and more. Check back of book for download link.




Communication in the Church


Book Description

Communication is integral to the mission of the church, but it can go awry in myriad ways, both obvious and subtle. Communication in the Church helps congregations create healthier ways for their members to relate to one another for greater personal and congregational success. The book offers practical guidelines to help readers become more effective in how they build relationships, lead meetings, experience trust, practice forgiveness, use power, and bridge cultures. Communication in the Church distills the latest social science research for readers including clergy, lay leaders, continuing education planners, students, scholars, and others. Each chapter includes real-life scenarios, sensible guidelines, practical applications, and suggestions for further learning. This book aims to help readers communicate more effectively—from leading more engaging and productive meetings to preventing or addressing communication breakdowns.




We Must Speak


Book Description

We Must Speak: Rethinking How We Communicate About Faith in the 21st Century Pray that I may declare (the message) boldly, as I must speak. - Ephesians 6:20 In We Must Speak, Larry Hollon addresses the communications crisis in mainline denominations and sounds a call to action for the church: Speak out in todays digital culture or risk irrelevance. Communications technology is connecting people in unprecedented ways, yet many mainline churches have been slow to adapt and have continued to lose members and status. Other voices and messages are filling the void, offering superficial entertainment and consumerism as poor substitutes for the good news of the church. By embracing communications ministry, churches can transform their communities, change lives and be the presence of Christ for a hurting world. Hollon shares success stories, a theologically grounded vision, and specific steps for local congregations and denominations to tap the power of communications. Larry Hollon sets out the case for why we need to maintain our voice in a world crowded with competing messages and often destructive values. - Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary




Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2013-2016 - Communications


Book Description

Local church communication is a ministry that shares the church's story in ways that move people toward becoming disciples of Christ. You are part of a leadership team that brings to life your church's vision and mission. Your role is to be a storyteller and connector, employing communications' practices and tools to share the story of the church in a planned, compelling, accessible way. Your goal is to develop a reliable process for telling and hearing the story in which everyone can participate. This guideline is designed to help you meet this goal. This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines th.




5 Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing


Book Description

Are your church communications accomplishing all you want them to? Are they helping your church grow in numbers or your people in discipleship maturity? Are they helping your church fully fulfill the Great Commission? If you can't answer that positively, you aren't alone. Despite the extraordinary tools we have to create church communications, many churches stumble when it comes to having an overall goal and vision for their church communications. Church staffs work hard and often create lots of great-looking materials, but tying them to any lasting fulfillment of the goals of the church or the gospel is often difficult. To change this, to give day-to-day significance and eternal value to your church communication work you need a worthy goal, a North Star, a plan. Yvon Prehn's book, based on many years of work in church communications, 5 Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing, to enable your church to fully fulfill the Great Commission will give them to you. It does this by providing a North Star for all your varied communications projects which is to fully fulfill the Great Commission. Fully fulfilling the Great Commission has two parts: helping people come to know Jesus as Savior and helping them become mature disciples. To fully fulfill the Great Commission, the book recommends 5 Steps of: Invite; Inform, Include, Instruct, Inspire. The book goes through each step and explains the communication pieces, both in print and online, that are needed. It talks about the foundation of discipleship that the plan is based on; how the Five Steps came about; the Strategies and Characteristics that should be part of each step, how to evaluate their Effectiveness in your church, and ends with advice for practical Endurance and additional Resources. The book will transform your church communications from scattered resources into a powerful ministry that will grow your church in size and your people in mature discipleship.




Less Chaos. Less Noise


Book Description

Do you ever wonder why people aren't getting your message? You email, tweet, hang signs, create video announcements, send newsletters and boost your posts ... and the response isn't what you want. Is anyone even listening? What if you could cut through the chaos and the noise and find the direct route to your audience? It's easier than you think. Less Chaos. Less Noise. delivers proven "now" strategies for church communications--practical solutions and best-practice principles that build trust instead of walls. > Quickly establish your expertise through simple techniques you can use now for easy, early success. > Rise above the frenzy of overwhelming demands and learn a framework to lead internal change towards a clear and unified strategy. > Overcome communications barriers with your members and your community by learning to connect with hearts and minds, rather than broadcast to the masses. > Avoid the frustration of multi-audience messaging by identifying key channels for each group and learning the language that matters to them. > Bust through the limits of a small budget with free strategies that are essential for effective communications.