In our last blog we learned about effective communication from the example of Paul Revere as compared to William Dawes. Simply, that is to engage a broader, more diverse network in sharing information. We can then be assured that our message will reach more people in a timely manner. While this remains important, we also realize that over the course of 200+ years things have changed, and this impacts how we do things today.
We also mentioned in that blog that Pastor Joel Snider reminded us that “a healthy church culture requires constant attention to good communication”. It is estimated that it may take repeating a message 16 times or more for information to spread throughout an organization. That seems like a lot, but it may be even more complicated than that.
In the past when we could count on robust and regular church attendance, we made an announcement at each Mass from the pulpit over a period of a few weeks. Doing so would ensure that the vast majority of the staff and the congregation would then be properly informed. This no longer works!
As we all know “robust and regular” church attendance by the majority of our congregation is probably the exception rather than the rule. If we continue to share important and relevant information from only the pulpit and/or the weekly bulletin, we are reaching a small limited subsection of our parish families.
Effective communication in our churches now must be multi-channel. In addition to our traditional methods (which are still important and necessary), we need to expand our efforts. Your parish needs more than a website. Multiple social media platforms need to be considered and implemented. Facebook is no longer enough. Perhaps younger staff or parishioners can assist you to help establish a presence on Instagram, YouTube and other similar venues.
Another often overlooked but effective means of communication are “blast” e-mails and texts. One example of this type of program which we have found to work quite well for most parishes is Flocknotes https://flocknote.com/. It is relatively easy to get messages out to all registered parishioners in an efficient manner that can be repeated on a regular basis.
Another important aspect of communicating as we described above is that it allows you to reach a broader, more diverse group. This could be an effective means of evangelizing. As an example, if someone who does not normally attend your church sees an interesting post on social media, they may become interested in joining your congregation. This could result in reaching new people who were previously not registered as parishioners.
In that vein, what we post also merits consideration. In addition to events, Mass and confession times and more traditional information, you may want to consider posting live-streamed Masses or perhaps just recording homilies. Some parishes are now also live-streaming Eucharistic Adoration. This type of activity expands your online presence and reach.
So you can see the pulpit and bulletin are no longer enough and your proactive attention in this area can reap great benefits for your parish.