Tag: church communication

By: Ted Vaughn

(Note: This is our second post on church strategy and branding from Ted Vaughn. CLICK HERE to see the first one – about why your church needs to stop trying to reach everyone.)

Most every church has a mission, vision, and/or purpose statement. The best of these statements inspire and give high level perspective on why the church exists. They motivate and compel their members to action. Below is a great example from a local church I recently worked with:

“We exist to help move people into a deeper relationship with Jesus and we are a community of believers who love God and others, look for ways to express and deepen our faith, and proclaim hope to the world and this community.”

I love this statement. Phrases like “love God” and “proclaim hope” are very inspiring and motivating. They are also broad statements that could potentially encompass myriad ministries, staff decisions, events, programs, and resources. (more…)

By: Ted Vaughn

As a trusted partner to many churches, I often hear the following, “our church serves EVERYONE; our doors are open to ALL; our ministries serve CRADLE TO GRAVE.” I love the heart and passion behind these words…and I do not doubt for one second the pure motive and intention. Unfortunately, limited resources often call into the question the viability of this ministry paradigm. After all, how can any one organization possibly reach, with effectiveness, EVERYONE?

Many of my clients are struggling through this question today. They want their church to be seen as a trusted brand where anyone and everyone in the community can find a home. They also realize that, by definition, their local church exists PRIMARILY for it’s NON-MEMBERS; those not reached yet. And even that audience (non-members) is of a size and scope too large for any single church to entirely reach. Which begs the fundamental question I help churches think through: “Who, outside of your existing membership, has God best positioned you to reach?” Because you cannot – you will not – reach all of them. No brand can reach everybody….not even Apple (this is hard to admit). (more…)

By: Rachel Cross

When Facebook introduced Pages back in 2007, businesses jumped at the opportunity to engage with the tens of millions of users on the network to promote their goods and services. Creating a Page was free, easy, and organizations could suddenly reach people they would never have access to otherwise.

Churches soon followed suit, and realized that having a Facebook Page was a good way to attract potential visitors, share current series information, and more.

And, while Facebook is still a powerful tool used by many churches for the purposes described above, I’ve come across many who don’t understand the nuances of Pages versus Profiles versus Groups. So here’s a way to think about the three categories, and suggestions for how to use them.

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By: Rachel Cross

As a church,  it’s tempting to jump into the world of social media because…well…everyone’s doing it. Before you commit to a social presence, here are three questions you should ask yourself:

1. What are your goals for being on social media? For example, are you hoping to attract new visitors/attendees? Or, do you want a way to communicate with your existing members? What level of engagement do you want to see from any fans or followers? Do you want people to be able to engage in open discussion with each other, or do you want it to be more of a controlled conversation? Make sure these goals are clearly defined before launching your networks. (more…)