yvon prehn www.effectivechurchcom.com 1 How to plan, measure

How to plan,
measure, and
evaluate church
communication
effectiveness
fromyvonprehn
Typical planning situation
• Leaders articulate a vision,
announce a ministry
• Immediate jump to PR to
get people involved
• Great PR created
• Result: not what expected
– True example
What happened and how to fix it
• More than PR failure
– Leadership fallacy
– Technology fallacy
– People fallacy
• How to fix it:
– Deal with the fallacies
– Suggest other methods
– Use forms for objectivity
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
1
What went wrong, assumption #1:
Leadership fallacy
• Captain Picard Syndrome
• Assumption that if we tell
people about something:
– We communicated its
importance and
implications
– They will respond
• Neither are true
Answer to Leadership Fallacy of simply
assuming vision will be carried out
• Leaders take responsibility for
church communication results
• Keeping in mind YOU DO NOT
NEED TO KNOW HOW TO DO
THINGS, BUT YOU MUST
UNDERSTAND HOW THEY ARE
DONE
• Procedures needed so that
ministry vision results in
concrete actions
• Forms make it practical
What needs to happen before PR is shared
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
2
What went wrong, assumption #2:
Technology fallacy
• The method used to
convey the message is
more powerful than the
message
– If we change
g our deliveryy
methods it will be more
appealing to people
– People will respond to
cutting-edge technology
– People respond better to
images today
If that doesn’t work
• We try to find more
exciting tools:
• Websites with flash intros!
And streaming movies!
And louder music!
• Not the answer
because: the media IS
NOT the message
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
3
The message is the message
• The media, the
channel itself does
not communicate
• We need multichannels
• But don’t confuse
content with delivery
• Always changing
• Measure
effectiveness
Church Com. Effectiveness
Evaluation
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
4
What went wrong, assumption #3:
People fallacy
• They don’t care
– about God
– the church
– self-sacrifice
self sacrifice
• Influence of isms
– Postmodernism
– Relativism
– Liberalism
Answer to People Fallacy:
that they don’t care
• People still have
– a God-shaped vacuum
– restless hearts
• The Holy Spirit is at work
• But you MUST clearly
l l tie in
what you do and what you
want them to do with
eternal issues
• You have to give them clear
CONTENT to respond to
Content is of primary importance
• We have the “words of eternal
life” John. 6.68
• rhema: that which is spoken in
speech
p
or writing,
g (as
( distinct
from logos) as in the “sword of
the spirit, which is the word of
God.” Eph. 6:17
• NOT the emotions or the
images the WORDS
yvon prehn
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What does this tell you?
What if I added sound? Put the images in
motion on a big screen? In an auditorium?
Added singing?
What does this tell you?
John 1:1In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the
beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him
nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and
that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it. . . .. . 11He came to
that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet
to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God— . . . .. 14The Word
became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen
his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth.
It is the content of our content
• Jesus, fully God, fully man, died, buried,
risen and coming again
• Believers commanded to share the
gospel, make disciples=Great
Commission
• If we do not communicate our content,
in clear WORDS (audio or written, online
or in print) form, people will not take us
seriously
• But if we do, they will respond
• His words: “will not return void…”
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You cannot communicate the Gospel
with images alone
• Images, sound, music can
generate huge emotion,
excitement
• But …….what is the content?
• We are in a post-Christian
culture
• Example of Paul useful
– Preached powerfully
– Reasoned for days
– Content has consequences
It’s always been so easy to get
distracted
Practical application: a church
communication challenge
• Get people into small groups
• Let’s assume we have the
groups
• We’ve trained the leaders
• Now we want people to sign up
• Caution
– People want to make their own
decisions
– Give them options
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www.effectivechurchcom.com
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PowerPoint announcement:
Joining a
small group
will take
you to new
heights in
your
Christian
faith!
Joining a small group
means you never have to
walk through the
challenges of life
alone…….
Small group
Connection Cards
**Information table, with the
same information repeated on the
website and in a brochure about
small group opportunities
**The PowerPoint can tell people
they are available, but people
MUST have the facts to actually
connect with the groups
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
8
Reality is: the devil is in the details
• “Even the grandest project depends on the
success of the smallest components.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
• If there is not a clear and solid foundation of
details, facts, connection points through careful
planning and follow up the greatest media
marketing in the world will fail.
• Nothing substitutes for the details.
Application in print: importance
of COMPLETE information
• Details are the essential link
– A list means almost NOTHING!!!!
Just because you
people
p about
tell p
something
doesn’t mean you
communicated
anything!
CONNECTING
DETAILS
must be
communicated in
print and online—
mobile accessible
Small groups are
Important
at First Church!
Monday
Smiths
7pm
Johnsons
7:30pm
Wilsons
7pm
Andersons
7pm
…….and it continues
Details are
the lifeline
that link
people with
life
changing
events!
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
9
Reporter form
Practical application: Use Forms
• Clarify & collect
content
• Plan strategy and
procedures
• Evaluate
• This will be
extraordinarily
difficult to
implement—time
pressure
Detailed how to use them:
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
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Useful for
CONTENT
Keep in mind the
overall ministry of
the church and
fully fulfilling the
G t Commission
Great
C
i i
•Why are we doing
this?
•What do we want
to accomplish?
Evaluation
Final and Future Notes
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
11
What to do: USE FORMS to
• Clarify ministry message,
put it into words
• Plan communications using
clear content
• Build
B ild a foundation
f
d ti off
connecting details
• Make it accessible thru
multi-channels
• Repeat consistently
• EVALUATE
Costs of this approach
•
•
•
•
It is not a popular approach
You will be mocked for style
Details are hard to track down
Communicating and updating
is time-consuming and
tedious
• You will get very tired
But remember……
Gal 6:9
Let us not
become weary in
doing good, for at
the proper time we
will reap a harvest if
we do not give up.
yvon prehn
www.effectivechurchcom.com
12
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