January 5, 2011

Balancing the Good News scale

Please take the pencil sketch of your church off the front of your newsletter. 

As a communicator for a diocese, I read nearly every newsletter (print and electronic) each month. More than eight years into this ministry, I’ve found that congregational newsletters tend to be a pretty good barometer of a church’s vitality.

If the congregation is bitter and fighting, that normally carries over into the newsletter, with lots of begging and pleading for volunteers and passive-aggressive announcements about events cancelled or ministries derailed because of lack of interest. If giving is way down – and the congregation is money-focused instead of mission-focused, you can tell by the newsletter. Typically there will be three or four articles about stewardship, a spreadsheet detailing planned cuts in the budget and perhaps a sad line graph contrasting budget versus actual funds received. 

I’m not promoting lying in your newsletter. A regular report about the budget is an appropriate feature for a newsletter. But it shouldn’t comprise 90 percent of the content. A request for volunteers for the spaghetti dinner is part of the life of the parish – but do it without finger-wagging and guilt-tripping.

Vibrant, dynamic churches realize that ministry – to their members and to their communities – is central to their identity. They deal with shortcomings of money, attendance or volunteers without dwelling on it because the focus is the ministry.

Our newsletters – perhaps the only “marketing” tool nearly every Episcopal church offers – should reflect our understanding of the purpose of church – of sharing the Good News of the Gospel and trying to live out its tenets in our own lives, in our churches and in our communities.

If our congregations already are engaging in vigorous practices, then the newsletter should joyfully share the stories. And if they’re struggling, maybe a few examples of success will give members the confidence to try anew.

If you’re not sure where your newsletter rates on the Good News scale, take out a clean sheet of paper and divide it into two categories: Engaging content or this-place-is-going-downhill-fast stories. Then count the articles. If you’re not sure, then it goes in the bad column – because it hasn’t moved or inspired or informed.

And all pictures of the church building go in the bad column. I get it: We love our church buildings. But the church is the people and the ministry – that’s what deserves front-page coverage.