By Darrel Girardier
Communication channels are the avenue by which you communicate for your church. Communication channels aren’t just social media. They also include your church bulletin, your church’s website, and even your church’s email list. Whether you’re entering into an established church or building one from the ground up, it is important to identify every communication channel you have access to in order to be an effective church communicator.
Identifying Communication Assets and Channels
The first question you need to ask is, “What are we producing as a communications team?” Take time to identify all of the assets your team has created. These can be any form of media: posters, podcasts, graphics, video, audio, and so on. Once you’ve compiled this list, look through each item and identify where each assets is going. Mapping out these resources reveals what your communication channels are and gives you a better perspective on how you can utilize each channel more efficiently.
Another way to compile similar information is to ask people attending church events how they heard about the events. This approach helps identify the informal channels of communication at your church. Asking people how they heard about an event may reveal a key communicator who you could either learn from or join forces with to better communicate with your church.
What’s Effective?
Identifying your communication channels helps reveal which ones are effective and which ones are unnecessary. Once you see all of your communication channels next to each other, you can see what areas of communication you need to slowly start reeling in to regain focus.
Always think about where you want to go next in terms of your communication. Think through what communication channels you may want to have down the road. Take that thought process one step further and ask yourself if the communication channels you desire will be sustainable in the long-run.
When you’re able to identify all of your communication channels, you’re able to see where your efforts are going and gain a clearer perspective of where you want to go. Look toward the future with anticipation, but always make sure that anything you start will be sustainable in times to come.
Adapted from Training Pathway: Church Communications. Check out more training videos on Ministry Grid.
Darrel Girardier is the Digital Strategy Director at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN.
