“I never can find out what’s going on around here.”
(Pastor responding), “ We send a newsletter by email every week. The gall of people to say they don’t have access to information!”
“The website still has stuff on it inviting us to Christmas Eve services. And it’s almost May! There hasn’t been a Facebook post in a month.”
(From an across the street neighbor) “Is that church still even open? The posted message on their sign hasn’t changed in months.”
“Why can’t we print another pictorial directory of church members? The last one was fifteen years ago.”
“I think the pastor spends more time working on PowerPoint slides than visiting with church members.”
“We were going to try that church, but the church we joined had the pastor’s sermons available to view online.”
These are comments I have heard in various churches in recent years - and they all point to the same thing: most churches need communications directors in this era.
Pastors. Church musicians. Children’s or youth workers. A secretary. A custodian. Sometimes, a business manager. These are standard issue staff positions for churches across the United States. But there’s another one rising in critical importance: the communications director. The disconnect in basic communications both within church families and with the neighbors has become so severe that in terms of paid staffing, I would rank the communications director second only to the pastor in terms of the most basic church staffing positions.
Volunteers can do many things - and typically churches pay for skills or specialties for which volunteer skills are lacking internally, or for positions where the amount of work has grown beyond ten hours weekly.
A good communications director can see to it that lots of pictures are being taken (and posted) every time we gather. Hint: pictures of people drive newsletter readership unlike anything else.
A good communications director can create a more defined market on Facebook and Instagram, increasing engagement exponentially.
A good communications director can partner with a pastor to create PowerPoint templates for new sermon series and to create 30 second video promos for the series.
A good communications director can oversee photo-taking in the new members classes and at all-church potlucks, ensuring that the online pictorial directory is updated monthly, accessible to all!
A good communications director can keep all of a church’s web based platforms up to date with current information.
Most importantly a good communications director can lead the way in developing and executing messaging in sync with the church’s desired public identity (or brand).
We have often observed that the right hire, doing the right things, will often pay for themselves on a church staff. So, even if we can’t afford the position in the regular church budget this year, they will have helped generate so much more engagement that we can afford them a year later! (Note: you have to hire the right people for this to play out!)
Your church may have a generous donor or two who would underwrite the salary for a half time communications director to run from July this year through June next year. Then the budget next year would absorb one half their annual cost (July to December) and the budget n 2028 absorb the whole position.
Why would you not seriously consider this?!
What does Epicenter Group do? https://www.epicentergroup.org/services-8
Contact Epicenter Group: epicentergroup.dc@gmail.com
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