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3 church communication myths
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityChurch communication is a popular topic in the church world. But the expectations of how to fix communication are often overinflated. They're not a cure-all. In fact, effective communication takes time as the correct messages are produced consistently. Producing the right messages takes talent and skill, especially when consistency is required. Here are three church communication myths that need to be understood.
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5 steps to volunteer communication success
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityServing alongside volunteers can be incredibly rewarding and, at times, perplexing. Some volunteers show up a few minutes early, do exactly what you need them to do (and even more), and maintain a great attitude no matter what task they’re tackling at the time. Others are quite the opposite and make you wonder why they decided to sign up in the first place. If you’re wondering why your volunteers aren’t doing what you need them to do or if they arrive late or unprepared, the issue may not be a lack of enthusiasm or commitment.
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Protect your ‘fast’ communication channel (or risk losing it)
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityRemember when we wrote letters to communicate? We’d send a letter, wait several days, then hopefully receive a reply in the mail. Then there were fax correspondences. Now it’s email and texting. The channels keep changing (even when most of them are still around). We often choose a channel based on response time. For most, that means we choose between email, texting, and social media direct messaging. Occasionally we’ll still pick up the phone. Which should you use? Here are five tips for protecting your communication channel (especially texting).
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How to break free when ‘last-minute’ is normal
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityIt’s Thursday afternoon, and no one knows what announcements the campus host needs to make on Sunday. You’re two weeks out from Christmas, and your team is scrambling to pull everything together. Your staff typically works late nights leading up to a big deadline, and you’re eating heartburn chews like candy to deal with the stress. Is this how ministry works? Is all this chaos necessary to reach the lost and make disciples?
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4 benefits of a centralized church communication process
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityMost churches try two process structures to effectively communicate, or a hybrid as a third possibility. The choice is yours! It really doesn’t matter how many people are on your team either. It’s more about the flow of ideas and the production of the communication work. Your three choices? Decentralized, centralized, or the hybrid process. Trying to make a decision which is best? I’ve seen centralized (or hybrid leaning towards centralized) work best. Here are some of the benefits of the centralized process.
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5 ways to prepare for natural disasters
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityGrowing up in Oklahoma, part of “Tornado Alley,” I had to take cover many times as the sirens went off near my home. We had a few close calls but thankfully, we never suffered damage from a tornado. However, I’ve volunteered with my church to help clean up after a tornado. Natural disasters can wreak havoc on a community. Lives lost. People injured. Homes and businesses destroyed. As a church leader, not only do you need to protect your home but you also need to protect your church facility and consider how your congregation will serve the community.
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3 basic (and free) communication necessities for the fall
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityHow can it be? It’s almost fall, and once again many churches realize they have the same communication system that they had last year, even with all the issues that surfaced and promises made for improvement. Perhaps it was the budget that kept you from accomplishing the improvements you talked about. Perhaps it was just procrastination. Let's discuss three things that need to be accomplished in order to lay the foundation for a great communication strategy.
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How to get off the last-minute event-planning cycle
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityThe week before a big event or holiday typically involves stress, late nights, missed family dinners, and way too many meetings. If you’re practically living at the church the week before an event, you’re not alone. When I talk with church leaders about their event-planning efforts, I usually hear that they start planning X number of weeks out but wish they would have started much sooner. Why don’t they start sooner? They’re too busy working on the final details for another event or project to get started on planning something a few months away.
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8 signs your church has ministry silos
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityAs churches grow and pastors are hired to look after various ministries, the healthy-church focus becomes threatened by the inevitable: ministry silos. This is when ministry areas become myopic to the point they rarely look at the entire organization or even at another ministry outside of its narrow walls. It can affect us all. Ministry silos will eventually destroy the farm. Why? Because a ministry must understand the part it plays in the overall church mission, or it will slowly become its own entity.
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10 questions to ask before adding an event to the church calendar
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityMany churches now are very event-driven. In addition to weekend services, they have small group Bible studies, men’s/women’s events, marriage retreats, summer activities for kids, and a variety of other events throughout the year. As you start adding these to the church calendar, the schedule can quickly become crowded and overwhelming. As you consider adding an event, here are several questions to discuss as your team works to ensure this event is the best choice for your church.
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