“Outside-in Thinking” Improves Church Communication
By Ann A. Michel

Why does church communication so often miss the mark? Two main culprits are failure to appreciate the complexity of audiences and unfocused messages. A carefully planned communication strategy can help a church move beyond confusion and connect more effectively with those it seeks to reach.

The first rule of effective communication is to know and respect your audiences. This means starting not with “What do we want to tell people?” but rather “What do people want to know?” Surveying church members periodically, collecting information from visitors, studying community demographics, and conducting focus groups are important ways a congregation can learn what matters to its constituencies.

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Focusing Your Message
By Ann A. Michel

Sometimes church members are poorly informed because they receive too much information – not too little. A barrage of uncoordinated messages can be confusing and overwhelming, causing people to tune out. Churches can improve their communication by prioritizing messages.

Having clarity about the church’s ultimate vision and mission is one fundamental element in mastering the message. Without this, all the best communication techniques and technology will fall short. A clearly articulated mission statement, motto or slogan, and goals are themselves valuable communication tools – and they help prioritize, frame, and define other messages.

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Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

Despite our best intentions and hard work, some efforts just do not work out as we had hoped they would. When an undertaking fails to achieve its goals, a common response is to place blame. A more useful approach is to ask questions, such as:

What did we learn from this experience?
What does this say about our assumptions and approach?
What have we learned to do differently next time?

Editors:  Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution:  Joe Arnold

Copyright © 2006 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright).