Clear, Consistent Communication

You can’t have a thriving ministry if people don’t know what’s going on, and a good leader is a good communicator.

The more you communicate, the more cohesion you create — the more aligned your team is and the more they can get on board with where you’re going. Communicate not just to your team, but to your senior pastor, staff, tech team, and volunteers.

Use every kind of communication: personal (a casual check-in text), group (a team meeting), digital (an email), face-to-face (a reminder before service), and one-to-one (counsel for a struggling member). And over-communicate — say the same thing multiple ways through different mediums. If you’re sick of saying it, your team is barely starting to hear it. People interpret silence as something being wrong.

Action items

Define communication channels

• Tell your team how you’ll communicate and stay in those lanes (e.g. Planning Center for scheduling and songs, one app or email for everything else — the free Band app works well). Don’t scatter across every messenger or people won’t know where to look.

Define expectations

• Make it clear up front: e.g. “if you’re on this team, I expect you to read every email I send.” Mark required responses in bold. Good communication is a central tenet of being on the team.

Be clear

• Pack everything into email subject lines — “Important — Mandatory meeting, Sun June 8, 7pm — please read.” Keep emails short and to the point.
• Be especially clear about changes: dress code, service flow, rehearsal times, when sound should arrive.

Over-communicate changes

• A big change goes out as: email → follow-up email a few days later → in-person reminder → text the flaky ones the day before and the day of.
• Let people see your heart and your thinking. It builds trust even when they don’t agree — because they know you.