Church Communication is Broken

How Leaders Fix the Frustration of Bad Systems

Churches have, for a long time, tried to figure out the best ways to communicate. It used to be through the mail. Later, the phone was added and in the last two decades, email has come to the rescue with free and instant delivery. Now social media seems to be the thing to do. The problem is that social media really doesn’t work.

Social media isn’t like snail mail. You can’t just post something on Facebook or Twitter to everyone in your church and expect them to see it. Don’t believe me? Just get the person who manages your church’s Facebook page to show you how many people actually see each post. You’re likely to discover that somewhere between 5% and 15% of your church are actually seeing your posts.

But wait, there’s email. Email gets viewed 100% of the time. Right? Wrong! Many email programs like MailChimp, (mailchimp.com) Constant Contact (constantcontact.com) or Emma (myemma.com) will actually tell you how many people opened your email and even clicked on things inside your email. Bottom line, if 30% of your church are even opening your emails, you’re doing well these days. That means 70% of your church is disconnected and that’s a huge problem.

So what other options do you have? Surprisingly, a church app is a great way to improve people seeing your newsletters, reading your emails, and staying aware of what’s going on in your church. To find the right church app for communication, you will want to make sure it has the following features:

1.    A Wall Section - This is a place where conversations happen similar to Facebook.  Every well-used social media app in the world has one and it will not only get read, it will increase engagement and involvement in the matters of your church.

2.    Push Notifications - Need to get the word out to your entire church that youth group is cancelled or there’s an urgent prayer need? Than make sure your church app offers push notifications so that church leaders can get messages to everyone immediately.

3.    A Member Directory - Getting to know one another strengthens community and improves communication. If your church still has a printed member directory, than I guarantee there are people in it that are no longer at your church and new members who have not yet been added.  A church app solves this and puts contact information right where people need it: on their phones.

4.    An Event Calendar - People’s lives are busy and a weekly reminder at church is not enough. They need a simple place to go that is a click away on their phone to remind them of the dates, times, and what to bring to key events at your church.

Bottom line is if you want better communication, you should get your church a church app. My recommendation for an excellent and affordable church app is SmartChurch which you’ll find at SmartChurch.com.