As your church evolves and changes in size, how you connect with your congregation needs to adapt too. From amplifying key stories to centralizing answers, Pam Hughes from the Horizon Texas Conference shares tips for maintaining unity and maximizing impact. Dive into her advice for right-sizing your communications strategy today!
Right-Sizing Your Church’s Communications
Churches worldwide are experiencing shifts in membership, budget constraints, and changes in organizational structure. The question is—where do we go from here? Right-sizing communication becomes essential for maintaining connection and moving forward with unity. Pam Hughes of the Horizon Texas Conference has curated helpful insights for navigating these shifts, both post-disaffiliation and now again with conference unification.
Adapt Communication to Fit Your Church’s Needs
As churches grow, it often makes sense to offer audience-specific channels, like newsletters or Facebook groups, to build more intimate, close-knit spaces for connection. Conversely, if your ministry size decreases, it can be helpful to unite folks across those sorts of lines to foster farther-reaching connections and reinforce the idea that no UMC is an island.
Amplify the Stories that Reflect Your Mission
Seek out stories that bring to life the church's commitment to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Highlight those that illustrate our connectional nature—and never tire of repeating them! The Horizon Texas Conference has five strategic priorities:
Multiply Jesus Followers
Champion Children and Youth
Maximize Care and Healing
Pursue and Embrace Diversity
Tell Our Story
When we lift up the stories that show churches and members on mission, living into these priorities, they remind ourselves (and the world) who we are and what we're about.
Centralize Answers for Your Members
In the absence of reliable information, even well-meaning people make up their own narratives. A regularly updated page for Frequently Asked Questions can help keep congregants informed. So, if a question comes up more than once, add it to your FAQ page! Share who sits on which committees or task forces, what the current status of projects looks like, and what the next steps will be. Know that these communications will prompt more questions—but conversation throughout the process is what you want, and every question is just a new addition to the FAQs.
Find Your Internal Champions
Work with church leadership to identify and engage key members—both lay and clergy—who can provide feedback, offer support, and help amplify your messages. Having close, intentional connections within your ministry—regardless of its size—can help ensure your work aligns with what members are experiencing.
Regularly Evaluate and Adjust
Keep checking in with pastors, laity, and other leaders at every opportunity to learn what's working and what gaps still exist. As church sizes shift, none of us can afford to be doing work that isn't relevant or helpful to our audiences, so staying nimble is key.
Right-Size Your Ministry!
If you're looking to right-size other areas of your ministry, check out our previous articles in the series: