Staying Connected with Your Church's College Students
As our summer intern, Audrey, leaves CTS to go back to school, she has a few tips for churches on how to stay connected with college students who are away
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Ingredients of a Detailed Church Communications Strategy
When I was a sophomore in college, I moved into a dormitory that had previously been used as a fraternity house. There were a lot of things that made it different than a typical dorm,...
Five Skills Needed to Manage a Great Church Website
In 1997, back in the dark ages of the internet, I wrote my first website. I wrote it, but I didn’t publish it because, honestly, I didn’t know how. It wasn’t a great website, but I was...
Evaluating Social Media Opportunities for Church Communications
It’s so tempting, isn’t it? It’s new, it’s exciting, and it seems to be quite effective at doing the job. Plus, the price is right. Sure the old one was working just fine for you, but...
Personalizing Communications through Content Mapping
“What’s your favorite color?” As adults, we typically do not ask each other this, but for kids, it is an especially important question. My four-year-old daughter has a knack for both...
Using Journey Maps to Identify Next Step Communications
Admit it; you’ve done this before too. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’m at a restaurant having a meal with my family. The server brings the food out, distributes the dishes to each...
The Proper Use of Personas and Lists in Church Communications
This past Sunday, my church, along with many other congregations, observed Good Shepherd Sunday. While not an official holiday in the Church Year, it has been historically called that...
Setting Ministry Priorities in the Age of Technology
At Concordia Technology Solutions, we hold weekly product meetings with members of our marketing, support, and development teams. We discuss what happened during the week and what tasks...
The Importance of a Strategy over Tactics in Church Communications
One of my favorite board games to play when I was a kid was a two-person game called Stratego. The goal of Stratego is to capture the flag of the opposing player while protecting one’s...
Bullet Journaling: An Analog System to Aid Digital Creativity
Throw out the phrase “bullet journal” in conversation, and you’ll likely get a variety of responses: everything from “Oh, I’m not ‘arsty’ enough for that,” to “This is the single...
How to Livestream at Your Church for the First Time
The COVID-19 has quickly changed almost every aspect of our lives, including our worship lives. Many churches are choosing not to hold worship services in person, but are moving online...
1:00:18How to Livestream at Your Church for the First Time
As everyone is learning to cope with the new normal of social distancing, churches are being put in the uncomfortable position of learning how to livestream for the first time. Join Peter Frank from
Evaluating Your Church Office for Improvements
When I started as a church office administrator, one of my first projects was to update member records in a spreadsheet. As I sat typing, I remember thinking, “There must be a software...
Creating a Can-Do Culture in Your Church
We’ve all heard about those congregations that just seem to have a toxic culture. Perhaps it’s a tight-knit community that has a hard time welcoming in strangers. Maybe it’s a church...
Investing in People Skills over Marketing
I recently reread Kem Meyer’s book, Less Chaos. Less Noise. As I did, Meyer’s words hit me right between the eyes, as they often do. This time, however, it wasn’t about written...
Digital Well-Being: Sabbath as a Circuit Breaker
About six weeks into my DCE internship, I was planning to leave town on my day off for the first time. There was an event taking place at the church while I would be gone, and though I...
Going a Step beyond Skill Sets: Training Current Staff Rather Than Hiring
His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”—Matthew 25:21
Writing Job Descriptions That Foster a Teamwork Mentality
Working for a church can be one of the most fulfilling career paths out there! Not only do you get paid to pursue your passion and serve God using the gifts and abilities He’s given...
Church Management Software 301: Fundraising
Fundraising is a hard topic, and I’ll admit at the outset that it’s one I struggle with. The problem is, of course, that it’s so easy to get the perspectives wrong. We can become so...
Church Management Software 201: Assimilation
So you’ve made good use of your Church Management Software (CMS), and you have some new prospective members who are beginning to interact with your congregation, perhaps even showing up...
Building Landing Pages That Help You Achieve Your Goals
In my last post, I laid out what landing pages are and why they are important in communicating to your target audience. I wrote about how the retail industry uses landing pages, and...