A Church Communications Self-Assessment

What does your current church creative arts and communications ministry look like? To improve your situation, discover what’s going on.

By communications and creative arts, I am talking about your church’s efforts to communicate the gospel with clarity and beauty. This includes your worship and sermon series planning and development, your videos, your print material, your website, your social media – anything outside of the human voice that you use to share the story of Jesus.

In my conversations with church creatives, I find frustrated people, demoralized at a lack of appreciation for their work. But pastors are equally as frustrated. Dysfunction in the creative process is a top five complaint I hear from both church leaders and creatives. As one pastor wrote me, “My top priority right now is getting the right people in the room, with enough content and enough time to dream and accomplish the creative vision.”

MEDIOCRE OR POOR CHURCH CREATIVE ARTS AND COMMUNICATIONS IS A COMPLEX PROBLEM.

Some of the problem is tactical, like where or when to meet and who should be in the room. These decisions are important, but I think there’s something even more important. Creating an environment where creativity flourishes and creative people want to be requires more than just changing a few methods such as the day you meet or who’s in the room.

Some of the problem is strategic, like how far ahead to meet and what sorts of questions to ask in the planning process. But having a plan isn’t sufficient, either.

Some of the problem is systemic, such as the continued influence of models of knowing and being based on print culture, which has several qualities that are antithetical to creativity.

TO UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM, TAKE THIS SELF-ASSESSMENT.

The first step to fixing your church creative arts and communications ministry is to understand what’s going on.

Take this brief survey to self-evaluate your situation.

Now, add up your total score. Give Big Problems you are having a “5”- Applies all of the time; for things that are Not an Issue give a “1” – Does not apply at all.

So the best you can get is a score of 8, and the worst is a score of 40. Are you over 15? 20? If so, you have some issues to resolve.

The answer to these problems is what would lead you to what I am calling a “church like Pixar” – a church whose creative and storytelling prowess made them appealing to people of all ages.

Read more from Len.


Connect with an Auxano Navigator to learn more about developing a vision-soaked communication culture at your church.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Len Wilson

Len Wilson

Christ follower. Storyteller. Strategist. Writer. Creative Director at St Andrew. Tickle monster. Author, Think Like a Five Year Old (Abingdon).

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for this information. I'm going to use this article to improve my work with the Lord.
 
— Abel Singbeh
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 

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