THE VIBRANT PARISH NEWSLETTER

What a Communication Specialist Can Do for Your Parish

In a perfect world, each parish team would have a specific person designated to all kinds of essential tasks. A financial manager to keep track of invoices, funds and investments; a secretary to welcome visitors, schedule appointments, keep track of files, and answer phones and emails; and a janitor to keep the office clean and yard cared for. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, but we still have tasks that need to be taken care of — especially that of communication.

Communicating the good news of your parish and finding ways to get the word out is one of the most important things you can do to grow your parish. If you haven’t considered the benefits of a designated Communication Specialist for your church, now is the time. From sourcing content for the weekly bulletins to maintaining social media, updating the latest Mass times on your parish website to regular communication to parishioners, you need someone to actively tell the story of your faith community.

The Core of the Job

If you’re like many (many!) parishes, the idea of hiring someone solely for communication might be laughable. Particularly when you have one parish administrator running three parishes, or a business manager in charge of multiple ministries. But in order to truly grow your congregation, engage your members, and keep financial stewardship consistent, it’s all about reaching out. And a person designated solely to communication can do just that.

Yes, the role of a communication specialist will include the bulletin, but it should also consist of strategic planning and leadership, ensuring that the church vision and culture is being communicated in every aspect of your ministry. That the design, content, and overall message of your website matches that of your social media, email messages, and marketing materials like brochures, flyers, and connection cards.

Find the Best Person for the Job

Remember that all things are impossible until they aren’t! Start off by asking for volunteers from your parish to take over, grow, or begin from scratch a communication plan, but keep in mind that it should be someone with some type of experience. Do you have a member of your congregation who works in the communication field? Reach out and ask if they could devote a few hours to help create a marketing/communication plan, help train a volunteer on social media best practices, or help with curating content for the weekly email.

While having someone for the job is great, be sure that it’s someone who knows about communication best practices, and has the time and skillset needed for the job. Just because they volunteered for the job, doesn’t always mean they are suited for it. It’s OK to be particular when it comes to this kind of job!

How to Know When it’s Working

Let’s say you managed to find someone to volunteer for the job. Or you had money in the budget to hire someone on a part-time or (Lord willing!) full-time basis. How do you know if you are getting the results needed? It’s pretty simple — you just need to open your eyes to what’s in front of you.

Are your upcoming events being marketed to the outside community via print, digital, and social media vehicles? Do you get a good crowd when they happen? Does your audience demographic vary, or is it the same faces every time? Is your social media presence consistent and the content satisfying, and do you get engagement such as likes and shares from what you post? Are your pews filling up every Sunday and your lines for confession as long as ever? If so, you’re on the right track.

Ready to find someone for the job? Check out “New Ways to Recruit Parish Volunteers” for some great tips on reaching out from within.

8 Essential Job Descriptions for a Parish

Does your church need a Parish Administer, Finance Manager or Director of Religious Education? With all the tasks that your parish must complete on a daily basis, creating a job description is just one more addition to an already full day. Save time and energy with these job descriptions you can easily customize for your parish’s online recruitment efforts.

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Facebook & Your Parish (Social Media Summer Series)

What once was an online platform strictly for college students to chat after hours, is now a booming billion-dollar business that encompasses Fortune 500 businesses advertising their goods, to grandparents sharing photos of their grandchildren. As of early 2021, there are approximately 2.85 billion monthly active users on Facebook, and that number is growing by the day. If your parish has yet to join this extremely popular online community, it’s time to hop on the bandwagon.

From sharing news of your thriving faith community, photos from your latest festival, and Father’s latest Gospel reflection, there are numerous ways you can utilize Facebook for Christ.

First, Some Stats

• Facebook is a social networking platform where users can post comments, share photographs, and post links to news or other interesting content on the web, chat live, and watch short videos.
• There is no official character count, but less is more when it comes to grabbing followers’ attentions!
• Facebook supports group pages, fan pages, and business pages that let businesses use it as a channel for social media marketing.
• You can stream video live using Facebook Live (in fact, Facebook Live was often the way that parishes livestreamed their Masses during COVID-19).
• In addition to a communication platform, Facebook also offers digital advertising, a buy/sell community (known as Facebook Marketplace), the ability to accept online payments, and much more.

Parishes & Dioceses to Follow on Facebook

Looking for a little inspiration? From the use of live video to everyday inspirations, check out these parishes and dioceses that take social media engagement to the next level.

Prince of Peace Catholic Community – Houston, Texas
A mixture of livestreaming Mass and inspirational quotes, reflections, parish updates and high-quality photos to tie everything together, this parish gets great engagement with followers.

Archdiocese of Detroit
From events throughout the archdiocese, Mass livestreamed by the bishops at the cathedral, Gospel reflections and more, the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Facebook page is a great example of one religious organization promoting the good works of parishes far and wide.

St. Anthony the Hermit Parish – Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
The faith community of St. Anthony the Hermit Parish posts on a regular basis inspirational quotes, upcoming events about the parish, and images from Mass and processions. It gives an authentic glimpse of life at the parish and invites you to come and experience it yourself.

St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church – Hartford, Connecticut
Livestreamed Masses, Gospel reflections from the pastor, live “off-the-cuff” announcements, and invitations to sign up for the weekly newsletter, the St. Patrick-St. Anthony communities have a lot going on.

Sample Parish Facebook Schedule

There is so much happening within your faith community — it’s time to let everyone know about it! From livestreaming Mass to Gospel reflections, inspirational quotes, and upcoming events, Facebook is one of the most perfect platforms around to get the message out. Check out this sample content schedule, and feel free to edit/add for your own faith community!

Monday
Our parish is proud to offer an easy, hassle-free way of supporting our community — online giving! Become a recurring donor today and support our parish no matter where you find yourself! Sign up today.

Tuesday
“Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of faith is to see what you believe.” St. Augustine of Hippo

Wednesday
This week, Fr. Patrick shares with us his thoughts on how the upcoming Gospel can be applied to our everyday lives. Read, react, share with a friend!

Thursday
Face-to-face and anonymous confessions are available this afternoon (and every Thursday!) at 4 p.m. If that time doesn’t work for you, feel free to contact us to make an appointment. Has it been awhile? Don’t stress, we’re here for you!

Friday
Every Friday, we come together to pray collectively for the members of our parish most in need of support. Have a prayer request? Add it here! Come Holy Spirit, Come!

Saturday
Mass of Anticipation begins at 4:30 p.m. — we can’t wait to see you! Be sure to grab a bulletin on the way out or download it through our website to read on the go!

Sunday
Join us for Mass at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. Afterwards, stick around for donuts, coffee, and fellowship with friends! What a beautiful day to receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist!

Looking for more ways to utilize social media platforms? We’ve gotcha covered! Check out Twitter & Your Parish for ways to engage your followers.

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Attractive Websites for all Skill Levels

From creating your church website from scratch to adding the right features to manage your community, we’ll help you build a website you can manage with ease. Customizable templates, drag and drop builder, event scheduler, forms, and photo galleries — begin growing your parish today with a WeConnect website!

Looking for More Than “Just a Job”?

LPi is dedicated to helping churches, dioceses, non-profits, and their business advertisers succeed with cutting edge communication and engagement solutions. Besides providing a purpose and a paycheck, we offer a comprehensive benefit and compensation package designed to help you balance life and work.

The Benefits of Branding Your Church

Share your parish story across all your communications! With a Branding & Design package, choose between a new custom logo or a facelift of your current one! Our designers will then incorporate the logo into additional image files tailored for use on your parish website, bulletins headers, Facebook banners, and more!