5 fundamental concepts of church communications - as captured by Brady Shearer and Pro Church Tools

I've had the opportunity to write on, consult in, and teach church communications for a number of years, focusing as much on the theological and theoretical as the practical, how-to of social media. But it took me going off script during my most recent presentation to realize Brady Shearer of Pro Church Tools has given us language for the definitive church communications principles of our time.

Since doing my doctoral research on church communications at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in the city of Detroit, I have focused my work as much on learning the theological and theoretical concepts of social media, focusing not just on the tactics, but on the theoretical and theological principles of social media so people can get a better understanding of why we do what we do online.

And in seeking to identify church communications principles, I’ve even developed my own theological framework, as it pertains specifically to building community online. I outlined these principles in my dissertation, which I completed and defended three and half years ago—an eternity in digital—and have refined them through updated examples as I have presented on this topic over the years.

What I’ve found in my digital ministry consulting work over the years is that when I do social media workshops, people prefer you just show them how to use one platform or another. But turning a workshop into a mere how-to session is insufficient without supporting that step-by-step instruction with theology and theory, for understanding the why of church communications brings better understanding to the how.

The other reason I’ve always emphasized teaching principles before tactics when it comes to digital ministry is that I have a vision to bring the study of church communications to the academy, developing curricula in this ever-growing ministry field to every ATS accredited seminary in North America. 

And developing a theological framework for thinking about and practicing church communications has led me to design a graduate-level seminary course, which would be the first of its kind anywhere (that I know of). I just need a school to catch the vision along with me and allow me to teach this course.

All of this found me recently at the Detroit campus of Ashland Theological Seminary, where I earned my Master of Divinity, conducting a workshop on church communications for ministry leaders in a certificate course.

The purpose of the workshop was twofold: (1) to demonstrate to these leaders the efficacy of and need for theological education on social media, and (2) to gauge potential interest in a future course in digital ministry.

I was asked to prepare a fictional case study of a local church scenario illustrating the need for social media training for church leaders and volunteers. Writing that case study and the accompanying discussion questions was the extent of my preparation before the workshop. Upon my arrival, however, I was asked to provide some additional commentary about what I do and why I do it.

This is where Brady Shearer comes in.

Brady Shearer is the CEO of Pro Church Tools, a company that resources the local church with tools, services, strategies, and focused content to help us preach the gospel of Jesus Christ most effectively in the 21st century and beyond.

The central piece of content from Pro Church Tools in 2018 is the Pro Church Daily podcast, produced five days a week, with 8-12 minutes of some of the best church communications insights and strategies you will find anywhere on the internet. 

As of the writing of this blog post, Pro Church Daily has 135 power-packed episodes on a variety of topics, all of which are beyond helpful for church communications practitioners. But even with all these episodes and topics, there are a few common themes and core principles that make their way onto program on a daily basis. In fact, these themes are so pervasive and so much a part of the overall Pro Church Tools point of view as a company that it took me no effort to identify them.

No effort? Let me explain.

I said previously that I was asked to provide additional thoughts beyond the case study I presented for the workshop, so I prepared those thoughts on the fly using the whiteboard in the classroom while the students were in their breakout groups examining the discussion questions for the case study. 

Without even thinking about it, I quickly penned five points about church communications that I felt were necessary to discuss to give students a solid understanding of the nature of what we do and why we do it. It wasn’t until weeks later that I looked back and realized these five statements were far more than talking points, but actually fundamental principles of the discipline.

Understanding these principles I believe will give anyone a better grasp of what digital ministry is all about, why it’s a vital emphasis for any local church looking to do impactful ministry in 2018 and beyond, and why seminary instruction to prepare church leaders in this discipline is very much needed. 

Principle #1: Seize the 167.

This is the fundamental tenet of the Pro Church Daily show and Pro Church Tools as a company, as seen in their creation and domination of the #SeizeThe167 hashtag on social media. The principle here is that in the 168 hours that comprise a week, only one of those hours (or between 2 and 4 hours, depending on your tradition) is spent in weekend worship, so there’s a tremendous opportunity, using the tools before us, to continue to preach the gospel, build community, and disciple believers with the other 167 hours. 

Unfortunately, too few ministries are utilizing those hours to the best of their abilities, either because they’re using antiquated outreach strategies, or because they commit all their resources to the single weekend worship experience, to the detriment of the rest of the week. This is 2018, not 1998; with every other business, media company, and personality pumping out content and promoting their message on a daily basis, we cannot afford to have our message muffled into irrelevance because we’re not using what’s available to us to promote our message.

Principle #2: We’re telling the greatest story that’s ever been told.

God loved us so much and wanted to redeem us back to God’s self from the bondage of sin so desperately that God sent God’s self down to earth in the fully divine, fully human person of Jesus, Who lived a sinless, sacrificial life; died a horrible death on the cross, not for His sins, but for ours; was buried, rose again, left some eternal instructions, and ascended back to heaven; and is supernaturally guiding and strengthening us each and every day as we live and work to convince and compel a dying world to accept the free gift of salvation that changed our lives for the better.

What better news is there than the good news of Jesus Christ? I defy you to find a greater story anywhere! And it’s because of this story and how it’s impacted our lives personally that we should have a sense of urgency regarding telling that story and the means and mediums by which we do so. The passion we should have for this story should push us to relentlessly seek the cutting edge in everything we do in ministry, most importantly, how we communicate the gospel and build community.

Principle #3: We’re experiencing the greatest communications shift in the last 500 years.

You will hear those words at the beginning of every Pro Church Daily episode because they’re true and they speak to the unique and unprecedented distribution opportunity before us. In case you didn’t know, the communications shift that took place 500 years ago was the invention of the printing press, allowing for mass printing and distribution of the Bible, which, up to that point, had only been duplicated by hand, causing oftentimes confusing variations of the text over time.

Taking the Bible from exclusive to widely available was a game changer for the faith back in the 16th century. As we stand today in the 21st century, we have tools at our fingertips that, as entrepreneurial superstar Gary Vaynerchuk often states in his fiery keynotes, have turned us from mere individuals into individual media companies with the ability to reach the same audience as the traditional media giants that have dominated communications for more than half a century. Whereas gatekeepers used be able to control who was and was not heard and promoted to the masses, the only thing holding us back today is our willingness to use the communications channels available to us and how creative and effective we are in using them.

Principle #4: The greatest commodity a church can possess is attention.

Attention? Yes, not a state-of-the-art worship center, not transportation resources, not more money, but attention. Why attention? If I have a great service I provide and I know it’ll help many people, but if I don’t tell anybody about it, nobody will ever know how great it is. There may be a documentary ready for release that everyone needs to see and be informed by, but if that documentary is not promoted in any way, no one will find out about it, and all that valuable information will stay locked up in unseen footage.

Such is the case with the gospel. We may know how great our story is, but if nobody hears about it, then only we will know that. We can’t just develop good ideas and programs at our churches and expect people to magically show up; we have to actually go out and get people’s attention, in the context of how people presently communicate, and compel them to check out what we have to offer.

Additionally, people aren’t moved to salvation just because we preach the gospel; they’re moved because we’ve grabbed their attention or we have said or done something that has opened up their hearts for the Holy Spirit to grab their attention. Without attention, we cannot compel people to make a decision for Christ or do much of anything, for that matter.

Principle #5: The best way to grab attention is through story.

Jesus understood the power of story, as He used parables constantly to communicate what He needed people to understand so they could make different decisions regarding their thinking or lifestyles. And He told these stories contextually, using language, symbols, and cultural cues with which those under the sound of His voice could readily identify. It’s one thing to have information about something, but it’s another entirely to spark action or persuade people toward the outcome you desire them to have. These actions happen most effectively through story because people see themselves in the narratives of others and they both connect with and empathize with them.

A few times on Pro Church Daily, as well as in other Pro Church content, Brady provides an excellent example of the power of story as he describes how his brother in law was in church scrolling through Facebook, instead of listening to the sermon until the pastor uttered these words: “I want to tell you a story about...” after which he immediately looked up and began paying attention. 

That same power that story has to refocus someone’s attention from Facebook also leads to more funds raised, more volunteers, more decisions for Christ, more desired outcomes for your ministry.

Stories grab attention, stories compel, stories spark action.

These five principles are points that have appeared on numerous episodes of Pro Church Daily. More importantly, these principles really comprise the conceptual foundation of the purpose and power of church communications in the kingdom of God. Of course, these are not the only principles that matter, but starting with implementing these five will help any local ministry communicate more effectively.

Tools and strategies to put these principles into practice abound, but starting with this foundation is a necessary step to doing effective digital ministry in 2018 and beyond.

A former pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Marcus Cylar is an author, editor, and Doctor of Ministry graduate of Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, where he studied church communications. His is currently a digital ministry consultant helping ministries, individual pastors, nonprofit organizations, and faith-based authors communicate more effectively and spread their message with greater impact. For daily devotionals and weekly church communications insights, check out the Your Digital Pastor Podcast, hosted on Anchor.fm.