ProChurch Communications

  1. Church Communications Policy

Shared language in the form of policy gives everyone the same target.

Your church can ID and commit to a sustainable pace for your church comms

If you cannot make formal policy yourself, informal policy will be made for you

Goal in Comms: Active Participation

The first three rules are boundaries

  1. Awareness is not interest – the objective is to illicit interest through Next Steps
  2. Sunday is not your savior – hammer this reality home b/c is prevents
  3. The more you announce, the less people listen
    1. Seven announcements will be given less attention than three
    2. When all things are emphasized, nothing feels important
  4. Inspiration not information
    1. Announcement formula: one story and one next step
    2. Storytelling is the only way to make us pay attention/focus and change attitudes, beliefs, and behavior
  5. One destination for every promo (launcher)
    1. Ensure the congregation has all the info they need available to them – but it’s not your responsibility to give them this info
  6. Values dictate voice (check out the Logo & Branding Module – values we repeat 1000 times and which define our voice
    1. Start again stories – the person’s problem is the enemy; the person is the main character; the church is the supporting character
      1. Anything that is dead can be brought to life – Jesus makes it possible
    2. Epworth’s 3 main (brand) values (Explore Faith and Embrace Community)
    3. Epworth’s 8 voice markers
    4. Epworth’s 4 audience personas (who are we talking to)

  1. Ministry Tiers Organization
    1. Level 1 – affects the most people and is of greatest importance to the mission of the church
      1. Christmas and Easter – not events that are open
    2. Level 2 – Core Next Steps (foundational rhythms of church life)
      1. New visitor
      2. Volunteering/Serving
      3. Giving
      4. Baptism
      5. Small Groups
      6. NMO
    3. Level 3 – Next Generation (youth/kids/young adults)
      1. Get disproportionally large investment b/c next gen is a unique catalyst for growth and vitality
    4. Level 4 – Individual Ministries, Departments, and Groups (important locally, but not universally important)
    5. Level 5 – Individual events
  1. Ministry Tiers Playbook
  2. Identify three tiers for any Sunday
    1. Gold – opening with story
    2. Silver – follow up with story
    3. Bronze – Honorable mention
    4. Use pictures and news anchor format – maybe?
    5. Use interviews? Zoom? Doubt that will work. Maybe an interview with volunteer or leader (Why do you do it?)