By Jonathan Howe
Communicating with church members has become more and more difficult as the frequency of church attendance has waned over the past few decades. A “regular church attender” used to mean attending three times per week; now it’s three times per month.
Because of the lower frequency of attendance, there has been increased pressure to develop more ways to communicate effectively to church members. A church staff blog is one of the most efficient ways to do this.
Simple, short posts written by the church staff can be immensely helpful to church members throughout the week. Whether you’re providing information or encouragement, your church members can benefit from a church staff blog in these six ways.
- Communicating the needs of each area of ministry. When your church staff blog on a regular basis, they have the opportunity to let the entire church know what’s going on in the ministry they lead and where they may need help. In children and student ministry, the need for volunteers is constant. In the music ministry, needs may involve a special event or service. In other ministries, the needs will vary, but they can all be communicated each week through a church staff blog.
- Helping launch new ministries. When a church determines to launch a new ministry, a staff blog allows for space to explain the need and goals of the new ministry. Over the course of a few posts, you can answer questions, recruit team members, and cast vision to help launch new ministries in your church.
- Updating members on church-wide campaigns. Churches often journey through capital campaigns or a specific season of spiritual focus. Staff blogs can track progress, give updates, and encourage further participation in these campaigns.
- Promoting upcoming events. This might be the most obvious use of a staff blog, but it can be the biggest downside if overdone. If all your blog does is promote event after event, it becomes white noise to your members. Strategically promote events and mix this in with other content so event promotions stand out to your readers.
- Celebrating wins. What you celebrate, you become. If you use a staff blog to celebrate what is happening in your church, it will encourage members to invest more in what is happening at your church. There is something to be said for excitement and how it motivates us toward Kingdom work. Celebrating your wins as a church only encourages involvement in what God is doing through His Church.
- Showing how God is moving in the church. Related to the previous point, staff blogs can offer spiritual encouragement from leaders and provide an avenue to post testimonies of how God is working in the lives of church members. This is not only an encouragement to other members, but shows guests the power of the One we live for.
Does your church have a staff blog? What other ways can a staff blog benefit a church?
I like and read all your articles, I like this on communication.
Now, I would like for you to do one on the Importance of Pastors communicating with their congregation.
Today, many pastors avoid speaking with their congregations individually, Yes I realize his time is important and he cannot talk with everyone right after the service and not all are able to make appointments. But, 3 minutes sometimes can mean a lot to a member. Closer individual communication helps a pastor understand where someone is slacking, doesn’t understand, or might me very helpful.
I agree Robert. Blogs, tweets, websites, Facebook are great avenues of communication to be taken advantage of for a pastor. Our church has a Facebook page, and as a pastor I write devotional blogs through a Facebook page. But we must be careful not to let this be a substitute for face to face individual communication with people. Nothing can ever replace the personal touch of talking with people
Great points. You are so right about it not becoming a replacement, but accentuating personal contact.
I work as a ministry assistant at an Association office and have a blog for our Ministry Assistants. The blog can be found here, ministryassistants.mdba.org and was created as a resource and encouragement piece for administrative assistants, financial or otherwise that work in a church office or ministry setting. There aren’t many blogs for Ministry Assistants out there that I have found so I hope it will serve its purpose well. I would be interested to know what you think about it. Thanks!
Hey there! Thank you for this.
How would define a “Church Staff Blog?”
Could you post some links for me to review other “church staff blogs?”
Thank you!
Mike C.
Mike
A staff blog would be one on the church site that all the staff contribute to. Most churches have individual blog for their staff, which can work but complicates things at times. I think a consolidated blog on the church’s site would be a better method.
Thanks for the article, Jonathan.
I’m thinking if creating a staff Facebook page and asking members to follow isn’t better.
Not many people I know check their churches site frequently, even in big denominations, but people always checking facebook.