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September 26, 2005 |
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September 26, 2005 |
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Getting the Word Out When
was your church’s last communications failure? If
you can’t think of one, then your vision of congregational
communications may be too narrow.
Consider: The sign out front is out of date, or routinely changed only
on Wednesday. The September
newsletter arrives on September 7th. The Friday night youth event draws 35
instead of its usual 55. People
arrive at the usual worship time, only to find that the service has been
moved an hour earlier to allow for special music. The number of pledging units is down,
even though membership isn’t. A
church needs vision, enthusiasm, love, mission, spirituality. But if, in our enthusiasm, we forget
key administrative details, crucial values can be undermined. Communications, getting the word out,
is essential. You can’t put
a notice in the newsletter and think the job is done. Announcements during church reach some
people, but not the absentees, and they miss some of the people actually
sitting in the pews! E-mail is
great, but how many members of your congregation read their e-mail regularly?
First Class mailings are costly, but bulk mail is erratic; how do you
choose? Has your church embraced
the electronic revolution? Has it
forgotten its members that haven’t? How does the one session member
without e-mail learn what is going on?
Do you depend on people’s calendars to get them to meetings, or
do you send reminders? There
aren’t easy answers, but here are a few. First, clergy, sessions, and all of a church’s
leadership have to realize the importance of communication, and think of it
in its broadest sense. While
trying to control communications by making a single entity responsible is
likely to be stifling, there does need to be some committee (or whatever your
church calls such groups now) that is concerned for congregational
communication in its broadest sense.
Planning for communication needs to be a part of the earliest planning
for all church activities. It is
put off until later at your peril. The
old public speaking cliché, often applied to sermons, is a good
guideline: Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; tell them
what you told them. If you want
to get a message to your congregation, a good rule of thumb is that if you don’t
get the message to everyone at least three times, you haven’t gotten
the message out. Charles Forbes, Stated Clerk |
Inside this issue Getting
the Word Out Take
Note/Act Now § Seminary Scholarship § Anniversaries Mount Paran PC Rev.
Alexander Hurt § Update on Hurricane Relief § Session burnout? § Retreat For Clergy § Educator’s Roundtable § Senior Housing Grant Prayer Concerns
First PC of Bel Air |
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People Morton Harris and Sue Lowcock Harris were installed as Designated Co-Pastors at First PC of
Howard County on September 26. New
Inquirers: Susan Joan Quass of Jennifer Cauldwell Williams of |
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Prayer Concerns First PC of Bel Air asks for prayers :
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Take Note/Act Now The
Synod of the Mid-Atlantic is currently taking applications for the Sherman and Lucille Tilney Euler
Scholarship for the 2006-2007 academic year. The scholarship provides financial
resources for students that are members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
within the boundaries of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic to prepare for
ministry at seminaries of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Applications are available on the
Synod’s website at www.synatlantic.org.
Mount Paran celebrates its 290th Anniversary on
October 2, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. (read more). Frederick Presbyterian Church celebrates their 225th
church anniversary. There are several events planned in
honor of this most special occasion.
For more information please check our website at http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/announcements.html. The
congregation of Franklinville
Presbyterian Church invites you to join them as they celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Rev.
Alexander P. Hurt as Pastor on Sunday, October 30, 2005. Worship begins at 11:00 a.m. As of
September 26, 2005 the presbytery has received $87,239.58 for Hurricane Relief Efforts on Katrina.
Contributions are forwarded to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance on weekly
basics. Thanks for your support for more information. http://www.pcusa.org/pda Session burnout? Alban Institute has
some ideas on how to prevent this from happening - http://www.alban.org/weekly/2005/050919_Burnout.asp. The Final Report of the Task Force on
Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church has been issued and is
available for you to read. A special meeting of the Presbytery of Baltimore
has been called for October 4, 2005 at 4 p.m. at Govans Presbyterian Church.
A Retreat for Clergy is planned
for November 9-10, at noon, at Bon Secours for the purpose of dialogue (read
more). The Presbytery of Baltimore has $2500 designated for Senior Housing.
We request proposals from denominationally related Senior Housing facilities
for the use of these funds. Your email proposal should be submitted by
October 24, 2005 to office@baltimorepresbytery.org. Also on our website Don’t miss all the new Local Church Announcements at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/announcements.html. The
Presbytery of Baltimore is looking for a Public Policy Advocate: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/opportunitycalls.html. Past Issues of Tidings are available at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/midweekmail.html. |
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Office: 410-433-2012 or 800-511-0087 Fax:
410-433-2066 Online: www.baltimorepresbytery.org |
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Bill Millen, Associate Executive bmillen@baltimorepresbytery.org |
Charles Forbes, Stated Clerk |
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Alice McGee Coordinator of Information Services |
Judi Forrester Coordinator of Financial Services |
Wanda Morgan Coordinator of Resources wmorgan@baltimorepresbytery.org |
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Questions? Comments? Email the
Presbytery of Baltimore at office@baltimorepresbytery.org
or call 410-433-2012. To unsubscribe email |
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