The importance of healthy communication practice has been magnified by this pandemic. As churches, we need to keep our staffs and congregations up-to-date regarding online church activity and other relevant information. There are many ways to do this.
We have a thread in our Facebook group about Communications Action Plans in the course of this COVID19 pandemic. Here are some of the comments we’ve gathered:
Comments:
“We are keeping a running post on our website with a date/time stamp, so people know how up-to-date the information is… In lieu of trying to copy/paste official guidelines from the CDC or other authorities, I strongly suggest that you simply link to the original sources. Otherwise, you run the risk of what you post becoming outdated and misleading.” Steven W. Murray
“(We use) FB Live or YT Live, but there’s also ChurchOnlinePlatform.com” Scott Magdalein
“Pastoral message went out last night and included our standard infectious diseases protocols, plus the extra steps we routinely take during flu season (essentially, during the school year). Flu precautions are Tier 1 of our 4-tier Congregational Pandemic Control Protocols. These are going before the session (our church board) next week. They are linked to the denomination’s disaster response services. There’s still a lot to figure out, but we’re well on our way.” Jan Hames
“We’re continuing our Groups and promoting our Community Facebook Group. (We are also) posting open hours to come to pray or talk with people.” Jen Sullivan
Besides these suggestions, some of our members were kind enough to share links that could help us and our members in this time of crisis. Here are their comments:
“Our team put together training to help think through the spiritual and logistical needs churches should consider. Hope this is helpful: https://malphursgroup.com/developing-a-crisis-logistics…/” Scott Ball
“Our official communication regarding Precautions & Preparedness. Putting it out there for anyone to lift as needed. (We are in Cook County Illinois, where we currently have 5 cases.) We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response of gratitude from the congregation: https://e4ab1e0c-00d7-436e-94b9-16b2b93b4ff8.filesusr.com…” Brooke King LaBreck
Conclusion
As we all face this unpredictable pandemic, we have the responsibility to act – to keep everyone in the loop and help them in this trying time. Whatever we think of that can help our congregation, we must always deliver. In times like this, everything should be done with care and compassion.
We will be following this official thread in our Facebook group for more on COVID19 communications:
