Learn

As summer kicks off and your church calendar shifts gears, we know your work doesn’t slow down—it just pivots. Between promoting mission trips, managing VBS registration, updating your website’s calendar and juggling event graphics, the communications grind can feel nonstop. 

But here’s the good news: you're not just managing chaos. You’re shepherding stories, stewarding connections and helping your church stay mission-focused in every season.

From where we sit here at Fishhook, we see the value each church leader brings, and summertime is no exception. As we walk into summer, we’re here to support you and your comms team! Below is a roundup of six ideas to help you thrive, not just survive, this summer season.

1 - Gather Stories of Life Change

Your church’s summer will be full of moments that deserve to be shared: youth testimonies from camp, salvation at Vacation Bible School, community outreach opportunities and more. These stories shouldn’t just be general event recaps. These stories are invitations for your congregation to be included and to stay invested.

Make it easy for your entire church staff to catch hold of the vision and to share stories with your communications team. Build a simple story-capturing form and have ministry leaders fill out in real time. Easily capture short quotes, photos, stories and wins – big or small!

2 - Refresh Your Digital Presence

Summer is a perfect time to do a digital audit. Remember, your website is your welcome mat. And social media still matters.

• Is your website accurate? 
• Do your social channels still reflect your mission and values? 
• Are you using a consistent voice?

Conduct a comms check-in for each of the digital platforms your church is on. Focus on clarity, accuracy and cohesive messaging and design. 

• Looking to freshen up your website? Check out our summer checklist for churches, from our web programmers’ point of view, here. 
• Looking to freshen up your visuals?  Check out our summer checklist for churches, from our art director’s perspective, here.

3 - Check in on SEO

Prioritizing SEO on your church’s website will help you reach people in your community (and beyond). Knowing some SEO basics will help your website rise through search rankings, resonate more with online visitors and prove its effectiveness to Google. 

Read SEO Essentials for Every Church's Web Pages to see what each of your webpages should include in order to rank as highly as possible.

4 - Keep Your Writing on Point 

In church settings, there’s always such a variety of content to be written! From key messaging with a pastor, to a video script, to content for a print piece, to web or social media content, chances are you’re writing for multiple platforms on a weekly basis. 

What writing assignments are on your list this summer? Whether you’re writing, editing or proofing, consider these 10 key questions as you review content.

5 - Stretch Your Content for Maximum Impact 

Are you looking to repurpose your church’s content? Are you wanting to take a sermon, blog post, email newsletter or webpage and repurpose it for another platform (or two)? We’ve got you covered! 

Repurposing content is not something churches do out of laziness. It’s actually a great tactic to expand your reach and drive people to your content in new ways. 

Check out 7 Easy Ways to Repurpose Content for your church this summer.

6 - Find Support This Summer

If you’re looking ahead to summer and feeling overwhelmed, we understand. Whether you need help designing a seasonal brand kit, building a digital marketing campaign, writing content or simplifying your systems – you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here to help!

Reach out if you’d like to start a no-strings-attached convo about how we can come alongside your church and your team. Or, click here to explore our services here.

You Can Thrive This Summer (Not JUST Survive)

Remember, you don’t have to just barely hold things together this summer. You can move your church’s mission forward in meaningful ways. With the right systems and support on your side this summer, you can make this a summer for the books.

You and your work matters — deeply. And as you continue to plan and implement communications for your church’s ministries this summer, know that we’re standing with you and cheering you on. We are here to help you embrace your church’s distinct story and translate it through personal, creative and authentic communication.

Let’s make this an incredible summer of marketing and ministry!