Does your church vision drive your communications efforts? Here are 5 questions to evaluate whether your church has vision-led communications.

What drives the communications efforts at your church? I hope you were quick to answer: "our vision!" or "our church's strategic priorities!" 

But if we're keeping it real, many churches find it challenging to keep vision and strategic priorities front and center. Instead, many church events, ministry opportunities, and random updates or requests (that might be the pet project of a church leader) often fill and overload a church's primary communications efforts and outlets. 

Helping church members, newcomers and others know what are the MOST important priorities and suggested next steps can be unclear and easily missed. Vision-led communications (a.k.a. tiered communications) is a must for any church that wants to communicate compelling stories and messages that will move people to connect and interact. 

So what is tiered communications? It's a strategic decision-making process that allows your church leaders and communications team to - based on the church's vision and strategic priorities - determine what gets top-level attention. Vision-related messaging is communicated to the most people in the most creative and compelling ways so that people can be inspired to take an important next step in their faith journey. Other items that don't align directly with the church's vision and strategic priorities are still communicated - but to appropriate and targeted audiences through other communications tools.

So do your church leaders and communications team need a new (or renewed) focus on vision-led communications? Consider these five questions:

  1. Can a church member, or even a newcomer, clearly and easily communicate your church's vision and/or strategic priorities? A majority of your church's top-tier communications efforts should support and promote compelling stories and opportunities related to these items.
  2. Does your church team say YES to every person, ministry or group that asks for promotion at/through your church? You can't say YES to everyone. Intentionally picking priorities to communicate to the most people is key. Other communications items can be communicated to smaller, targeted audiences.
  3. How many messages/announcements are communicated verbally on a Sunday morning? One or two is ideal.
  4. Of the messages that are communicated on a Sunday morning, how many of these announcements are directly related to your church's vision/priorities and will help the full congregation or guests take next steps?
  5. If you review your church's primary communications tools - Sunday morning communications, a key print piece, website, church app, etc. - what key messaging and stories are consistently shared? If this information is not directly supporting the vision/priorities of your church and guiding people to take next steps, it's time to make a change.

Interested in learning more about vision-led communications? Click below to download the Tiered Communications Planning Worksheet. 

New Call-to-action