In a busy church like ours, it’s important that folks in the congregation know what’s happening.  Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to get the information we need.  We have a lot of ways to communicate with each other, but knowing where to send your information, or where to look for the information you need, can be daunting.  And when you miss a meeting you wanted to attend, or when no one shows up to an event you’ve been working on for weeks; that feels frustrating.

Here’s how we’re addressing this problem.

Board member Edie Mickey-Silvera and I met a few weeks ago to start creating a comprehensive communications strategy.  First we identified the issues.  Some issues are specific to particular communication media, like a policy for announcements.  Other issues are more universal, like, how to distinguish church programs from non-church programs that use our space.

Edie and I agreed that the first step is to create a reliable and accurate church calendar, posted on our website, printed and posted at the church, and included in the monthly newsletter.

We convened a small team that began by researching issues with the software we use to create our current website calendar.  Once the website calendar is working as we need it to, Edie and I will move on to creating strategies for all of the other communication media we use;  monthly newsletter, weekly email announcements, spoken announcements during worship, a printed page of announcements on Sundays, bulletin boards, facebook, and more.

Meanwhile, Rayna Hamre and I have created a booklet called, “Join In” which collects information about all of the regularly scheduled meetings and activities at the church, stapled together in a yellow cover.  Every entry has dates and times, location, a contact person, and a short description for that activity.  You can pick up a copy at the Membership Table. The “Join In!” booklet also includes a calendar listing of all the special events happening at the church for the rest of this church year.  Our intention is that a “Join In!” booklet would be published at the beginning of every church year, with a once-a-year opportunity for every group to confirm and update their information.

Here’s the agreement I’d like to make with you.  My intention is that the church will do everything it can to publish accurate information in a convenient, usable form.  I also know that “everything the church can do” is limited by the resources we have available of staff time, volunteer work, paper waste, and so on.  If I can fulfill my intention, I’d like you to agree that good communication goes two ways.  Good communication is the responsibility of all of us.  Eventually you may need to look in a different place for the information you need, or develop a new habit around new forms of technology.

If you would like to be part of the solution, offering a suggestion or a concern, I would love to hear from you.