I have the opportunity to present a workshop at the National Association of Church Business Administration national conference this summer. The topic I am developing is the “Strategic Value of Communications” – aka: Why your Communications Director should be in the leadership team meeting instead of fixing the color copier!
The audience is church business administrators, executive pastors and senior pastors. I want to explain to them that communications is not just getting the bulletin ready for Sunday, but it should start much earlier with the strategy and mission of the church. Communications should be involved in the strategic planning, not just producing the promotional materials.
Give me your feedback – what do you want me to tell your boss (or boss’ boss) about the strategic value of communications?
Unlike most church staff members, in order to effectively support the communications needs of the church, the communications director must understand the big picture of the church’s ministry, and that uniquely qualifies him/her to make important contributions to the strategic planning process.
Here’s the “but”…
I have the advantage of having come into communication, and then church communications, from a background of doing other church ministries. (My husband is a pastor, and we’ve done about everything in the church at some point.) That has given me a platform from which to speak into many areas of the church’s ministry. I’m also a student (and teacher) of oral communication, so I have input in helping to craft the content and “look” of our message series. I think if communications professionals want to be taken seriously as church leaders, not just staff members, they should take time to study church ministry in general. The more we know about how churches reach out, grow, and function, the better we will be at facilitating and supporting it. So, I guess I’m wondering if being the communications person alone is enough qualification to warrant giving a person a spot at the leadership table — unless we do our homework.
I agree with the previous comment. If the person responsible for church communications has only been “fixing the color copier,” what can they offer to a strategic plan for church communications?
I have an M.S. in Public Relations and experience in corporate and agency PR. In addition, I was a missionary am now in my eighth year as director of communications at my church. So I approach the job with an extensive background in both ministry and communications. And I continue to learn from MinistryCOM, Church Marketing Sucks, Seth’s Blog, philcooke.com and other resources and books.
At the very least, a person who wants to make an impact on church communications should look up their local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and attend any seminars they may offer. My local chapter has monthly luncheons where speakers cover a broad range of communications topics.
I’ll see you there in Cali!
Please tell them about the communication professional’s core mission and purpose.
All the parts of the body are important – and each needs a servant’s attitude – but it is important to recognize each is also designed for a specific purpose. Using a COMie for equipment servicing would be like using your foot to write. It CAN be done, if circumstances demand, but it might get messy. And more importantly, both activities can’t be done at the same time, so you’ll be prohibiting the person from doing their designed purpose while they’re doing the other thing.
Short term, that’s no biggie – and might make for some laughs.
Long term, we might be talking about mismanagement.