Let’s face it—church communications is a busy and multi-faceted world. Not only are you working in a fast-paced ministry environment, but that ministry has ministries. 

The amount of hats worn is essentially endless when you consider all that goes into church communications. Like: 

• branding
• the website
• social media
• external and internal communication
• in-service communication
• event communication

The list goes on and on.

With so much to juggle, many churches don’t think strategically about communication. For online communications, many just take the megaphone approach and post what’s urgent or upcoming. For in-person communications, many will throw up a last-minute slide on Sunday and hope a few people will see it. 

But with such an important message to communicate, there’s plenty of reason to take your communication plan and communication strategy seriously. You’re sharing the story of the church and the people in it. You’re telling people about the hope that’s found in Christ. You’re showing them the love of Christ and how that love is displayed through people. 

That message is too important to communicate haphazardly. 

This is your church without a communication plan.

You’re reactive

You don’t know what’s going on, and neither does anyone else. And when you finally find out what’s happening and what needs to be communicated, you have to rush to put something together and get it out as soon as you can. 

When you’re reactive, there’s a lot of room for mistakes and very little room for creativity and excellence. 

Your message is off-mission

One of the most important advantages of having a communication plan for your church is alignment. A communication plan helps to ensure that messaging and visuals represent the church well and align with the church’s mission. 

It helps church leadership, staff, and volunteers to be on the same page with what’s being communicated and how. 

You miss clarity and invite confusion

What communication channels do we use? 

Who should post to these channels? 

What are the guidelines for announcements? 

How can a ministry submit a request for an announcement? 

These are just a few questions that are answered with a communication plan. And when they’re left unanswered, you’re leaving room for a communication disaster to strike. 

A communication plan is the place to outline best practices, guidelines, and more. You don’t want to be rigid, but you do want to be clear.

Your efforts are cheated 

Without a plan, you’re at the mercy of a short timeline. The events aren’t what they could’ve been, social media posts aren’t engaging, and the newsletter you worked so hard on is overshadowed by errors. But when you have a plan, you’re able to consider the small details, notice what could be improved, add creative elements, and get the message in front of people sooner.

You’re trying to reach as many people as possible for God’s glory. Communication is one way to do that and it plays a huge role. If you plan well, you can communicate clearly in a strategic, engaging way and reach more people in the process. 

If you don’t, you give people a reason to tune you out. And your message is too important to miss.