September 6, 2011

Creating a Press Kit for your Congregation

When was the last time your congregation made the local news? Did the story capture the heart and soul of your ministry? Did it alert the wider community to the vibrant church in their midst?

In 2008, Carol Barnwell, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Texas, wrote an excellent article for Vestry Papers on the importance and scope of congregational communications. In it Carol writes “In order to be effective, there are several things we must do purposefully: build relationships with the secular media, raise the standard of our own work, and unpack our church language.”

Are these three priorities on your communications committee’s agenda?
 
To help with the first of these priorities - building relationships with the secular media - Carol also wrote “Creating a Parish Press Kit.” In it, she outlined the various components that go into a parish press kit including a concise fact sheet, a photo and biographical sketch of the rector, a list of photo opportunities and more. Once compiled, Carol suggested putting all this information in a nice folder, along with an introductory letter, and taking it to the local newspaper editor with a church coffee mug filled with chocolate.

Both of these tools are excellent but in a phone conversation I had with Carol last week, she noted that she hadn't been able to include actual examples of congregational press kits in her articles for Vestry Papers. To find these, be sure to check out her communications team’s Episcopal Communicators Manual. The manual includes actual examples of the fact sheets, bios, photo opportunities, etc that go into a press kit.

Of course, the communications landscape is changing so rapidly that even this manual is in need of a few updates. Carol noted, for instance, that she isn’t sure that file folders are used as frequently anymore and suggests instead downloading press packet materials to a flash drive. Instead of a folder, you can take this flash drive, a coffee mug and chocolate to your meeting with the editor of your local paper. 

After all, whatever other changes take place in the communications landscape, the power of chocolate remain the same.