The Center For Church Communication (CFCC) is a nonprofit organization helping churches more effectively communicate the gospel.
At the end of 2009, Cynthia Ware became the first Executive Director of CFCC.
Cynthia is an interactive media consultant with an in depth expertise in online technologies and strategic church development. Her personal blog is The Digital Sanctuary and she is a co-contributor to Digital, the Leadership Network’s technology blog.
I was eager to hear Cynthia’s thoughts about the current state of church communications and trends she sees for the future.
This is part one of a condensed transcript of our conversation.
Cynthia, you’ve been consulting and writing on communication strategies for many years. What changes are you seeing in church communications today?
Having a communications background means that I’ve looked at the topic from all sides. From nonverbal communication to print to visual media.
What’s fascinating to me is that New Media, interactive and participatory media, has become so predominantly mainstream that it has forced Christian leadership to reevaluate all forms of communication. I’m talking all the way down to the building.
We know that the Church isn’t a building, it’s a set of people, yet we meet in a temple. Today, people are even using their facilities to communicate a message. So, maybe it’s something as simple as ‘we allow coffee in our sanctuary.’ That communicates a message. It will appeal to some and to others it won’t.
We all know there are disadvantages to technology and new media. They’re well documented. There are so many positive benefits though, that Christian leaders are having to reevaluate everything or run the risk of being left out of the global conversation.
Do you think church leaders understand the significance of your last statement? There seems to be some that are embracing the new technologies and others that are still reluctant.
There’s a continuum of understanding.
The people at one end of the spectrum are somewhat unaware, for example, of the importance of the website. When someone is looking for a church, the website is their first stop. If it’s an excellent quality website, that means a lot and the person may visit. Some leaders wouldn’t think in those terms. To them, a high quality website would just be an encumbrance and additional expense. Something that doesn’t require much of a focus. They’ll have one of their college kids cobble it together.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a very astute understanding. Pastors, leaders and many Christians are beginning to understand that if you’re going to talk to a generation that has seen Indiana Jones 30 times, and now Avatar, then you’re going to have to produce high quality communication.
Most church leaders are not trained to manage the visual arts, media techniques or technology driven processes for communicating messages. How does using technology or understanding quality affect ministry, both to people inside and people outside the church?
One of the things that has happened with our global village is, there’s no specific formula for communication. That means there’s room for great diversity in the body of Christ.
For example, take a home church or network of churches that meets in homes or in urban settings or in unique environments. They can leave technological means completely out of the loop and still see intimate relationships formed.
Then there’s the younger generation. The 15 and under group. For them, the slickly polished productions are outmoded. That represents the old school media model. They would much rather have content from handheld camera phones, shooting what they want, and put up on YouTube.
Gordon, the truth is, you don’t have to have super high quality anything to accomplish personal ministry.
But, for corporate endeavor, we still have many issues to wrestle with. Corporately, the Church is dealing with a global audience that is used to sitting in the nicest movie theaters in the world, watching the most elegant productions in the world. This affects how we communicate with the world outside the church.
It has changed everything.
The CFCC is helping the Church cope with that change. How did it get started?
Christian leaders are having to reevaluate everything or run the risk of being left out of the global conversation.
Brad Abare brought a team of people together to explore the idea of building an organization to support the church at large. The purpose wasn’t to sell products or pump a specific agenda. They wanted to create more of a resource bank for people that serve in churches.
The organization would help church staff develop more elegant and effective communication. That would include everything from helping with graphics to giving advice on how to form a communications team.
The CFCC has several primary channels for communicating your own message. By the way, the name of the Center’s blog, Church Marketing Sucks, ‘suckered’ me in. I thought, someone really hates marketing in the church so much they’ve devoted a blog to it?
(Laughing) I told my children they’re never allowed to say that word. We designed the blog to get attention. To frustrate, educate and motivate people to think about what they’re communicating. Tough topics are thrown out so everyone can wrestle with them. It’s a place to hang out and listen to the dialogue about church communications.
We also have a set of “Labs,” where you can show your work and have it reviewed; find your next staff member; or meet up with others working in church communications.
No money is exchanged. All the help is free.
Who is on the leadership team of CFCC?
There’s a substantial board of directors, the top players from church communications in the U.S.
- Maurilio Amorim
- Lori Bailey
- Dawn Nicole Baldwin
- Chad Cannon
- Phil Cooke
- Drew Goodmanson
- Scott McClellan
- Kem Meyer
- Tim Schraeder
- Kent Shaffer
- Brad Abare (founder, board chair)
In part two of my conversation with Cynthia, we discuss new ideas and strategies coming down the pipe at CFCC. We also look at future trends.