Part one of a two part series on Church Communication Professionals.
In the world of church communications, it is important for us to learn from each other and share what works and what doesn't. With that in mind, I wanted to interview Sheree Howard, an amazing church communicator who is currently serving as the Communications Director and Director of Contemporary Worship at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas, and give us all a chance to learn from her ministry.
I have to confess. For a church season that is focused on anticipation and preparation, I don’t have the best track record when it comes to anticipating or preparing for Advent (and Christmas) communication efforts in the months leading up to it. This often results in a bunch of hurrying and scurrying in a time set aside to for reflection, repentance, and preparation to celebrate Jesus’ first coming and wait expectantly for his return.
I know, I know. It’s not even Reformation Day and you’re supposed to think about Christmas? But once Thanksgiving and Advent arrive, you’re probably going to be far too busy to spend a lot of time managing quality daily, or even weekly, social media posting. Instead of relegating social media to one more burdensome chore on your long list of holiday tasks, prepare and schedule social media content now so you can make the most of people’s seasonal joy while not burning yourself out.
My mom writes about two emails a month, while my sister writes about a hundred a day. (Their days look very different!) Wherever you fall within this spectrum, it’s important to make sure you and the people representing your church utilize proper email etiquette to imbue your communications with professionalism.
Whether it’s an event registration, contact information update, photo contest entry, guest feedback, or prayer request, you’ll make your life a lot easier if you deploy a form to collect information.
I’m not sure anyone likes passwords. They’re clumsy, hard to remember and increasingly easy to crack. There are a few things you can do, however, to make your passwords easier to remember and more secure.
There was some big news last month, and it had nothing to do with the US presidential election or the Olympics. Because of this, it largely went unnoticed by major media channels, but it’s something we should all be aware of.
Every pastor has thought about it: How do I take the sermon from Sunday morning to my people during the week? Fortunately, with today’s technology it is easier than ever before to do this—and in a myriad of ways. Many of these ways are low cost to absolutely free. Now there are as many ways as there are imaginations, and some of those ways are even practical. All these methods will involve intentionality (that means time, whether a little or a lot) to implement consistently, effectively, and successfully.
Church newsletters often include copy from a number of contributors, like the pastor, youth director, and volunteers. Likely, they send all that copy in Word documents. And if you design the newsletter in Adobe InDesign, well, then you probably already know Word and InDesign aren’t besties.
If the process of moving from Word to InDesign for your church newsletter is a regular headache, try using styles to streamline your workflow.
PowerPoint can be an effective tool and a helpful presentation software for your church, given its familiarity and accessibility. Here are some very basic ideas for using this program in a way that enhances what you’re trying to say, rather than detracting from it.
