How We Developed a Communication Plan to Clarify Our Congregation’s – Transcript

Jim Latimer 00:00

Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministry, best practices and quick help wisdom from the field. This is our collaborative Wisdom from the Field project, featuring short interviews with transitional interim ministers, and others, with practical help and wisdom to offer those engaged in transitional ministry. Thank you for tuning into this episode of wisdom from the field.

Jim Latimer 00:28

Today we have the joy of having with us Reverend Tom Hathaway. Tom is a young United Church of Christ pastor of many talents, with an uncommon depth and breadth of life experiences. As I’ve come to know him, I am deeply impressed with how these experiences have informed his vibrant and authentic Christian faith and ministry. In particular, Tom has become masterful at helping progressive churches amplify their messaging through their websites and other online tools, making sure that what they believe actually comes through. Of special notice is his communication plan that he and his congregation have developed to clarify their mission. I asked him if he would speak to that, how they created it and how it works. So, Tom, if you would please speak to that.

Tom Hathaway 01:24

Yes, about five years ago, I was approached by the husband of a member of my congregation who is a professional website content development guy and does some branding for multinational corporations, and he wanted to work with me to put together a more professional communications plan for the church. And when I heard about that, I guess I was immediately exhausted, because it sounded like a lot of work, and I am the only pastor at a small church, which means that I wear a lot of hats, and this felt like it was going to be just one more thing I had to work really hard at so, I wasn’t totally excited about it. But as we got to talking he immediately assuaged all my worries and saying, Well, it seems like every week you’re working to generate this huge piece of content in the sermon and the worship service. And not only that, looking at your website, we have 30 year’s worth of sermons from the previous pastor as well. So, he says that is more than enough content for any communications plan. So, I was very excited to hear that.

Tom Hathaway 02:36

And so, with that, we did a survey of the last 30 years of sermons as basically viewing them as a way of distilling what our congregation is about. And looking at those 30 years’ worth of sermon, we walked away with three messages that kept on repeating year in and year out, decade in, decade out. And those three messages were, God’s love is for you. God’s love is for sharing. And God’s love is for action.

Jim Latimer 03:10

Wow.

Tom Hathaway 03:11

And just picking those up and clarifying them and giving words to those themes, I think was very empowering. And to say, Oh yeah, that is the language that is our message. That is our message. And also, that’s good progressive language to describe Christian theology, I think, for our context as well. So, naming that alone felt like a step in the right direction.

Jim Latimer 03:39

if I could pause you here for a moment. What I just heard you say, and sometimes this takes a third person to see, he named something that’s in the DNA of your congregation’s culture that was just so obvious you couldn’t quite see it. But he named it, and I ‘m hearing that those are embedded in the congregation’s culture even before you got there, but you’ve amplified it. That’s what I heard.

Tom Hathaway 03:57

That’s exactly right. Yep, these are preexisting entirely ingrained in the DNA, things that once you enumerate or articulate them for the congregation. They say, Oh, yeah, absolutely, that’s what we’re about. And so, from that, when we’re thinking about sermons and messaging, every time we preach a sermon every week, we’re thinking about which of the three categories this falls into. And we have a spreadsheet, actually. And when you look at it, you say, Okay, we’ve been preaching a lot that God’s love is for you. It’s about time that we switch gears and start talking about God’s love is for sharing with others, because at the end of the day, it’s not all about you, right?

Jim Latimer 04:46

Awww, rats!

Tom Hathaway 04:49

And then, even then, when we start, we’re navel gazing too much, even then we say, Okay, God’s love is for action. Let’s get out of the church and get moving and doing real, concrete things. So, it’s both helping us express our theology better, and also making sure that we’re providing well rounded messaging all throughout the year.

Tom Hathaway 05:11

And so alongside of this messaging project, we created a blog for our website. And so basically what we’re doing there is every sermon usually has some sort of rich narrative illustration to drive home the point. And so, each week we cut that great story out of the sermon, recognizing that the sermons are a genre that only particular people like, whereas stories appeal to a much larger population of people. So, we clip those out and we put them on a blog. We basically punch it up with some graphics and some linking. There’s some rich kind of cross linking to other websites, but then put it on our blog again in these three categories to present them to a wider range of people. And the traffic that we get is pretty ridiculous for a small church of 60 people. At the end of this week, 1500 people will have read stories on that blog, which is crazy number, especially when you’re looking over the course of years what that adds up to,

Tom Hathaway 06:38

And so, with that, you see both the stories that get the most traction on the blog, but also the stories that on a Sunday morning, that when you preach them, they really hit, they really resonate with people. There’s a lot of interest there. And certainly, with my predecessor, there was always a desire to, every week, preach a brand-new sermon. Never preach the same thing twice. And the wisdom that I gained from working with this content developer is, No if you have a story that really resonates or really hits, that really drives home these messages, that is a tool for the tool belt, and you don’t want to use it all the time, but if there’s an opportunity to employ that story again, either to drive home the same message or connect it to a different Bible verse, you should absolutely do that. And over the years, that won’t just be a story that’s heard once, but it will become the congregation’s story, and then when they’re thinking about their faith and how they might share it with others, they’re going to have this story at their disposal to share with other people.

Jim Latimer 07:48

Nice. I love how you said just there about the third point, God’s love is for action. God’s love is for sharing, for action, and that’s where some of us might hear the evangelize word – We gotta evangelize. Well, let’s just set that aside for a moment. A lot of people don’t know what to say to others. So, you’re giving them that language. It’s like the Holy Spirit saying to Paul, Don’t worry about what to say. I’ll teach you. So, you’re giving them what to say in simple language. And you gotta say that many times I’ve heard you say. And you weave it into sermons, blogs, whatever, and so it’s easy for them to just like you’re doing here. Just speak fluently on a couple of just key things. And that’s beautiful.

Tom Hathaway 08:31

Yeah, that’s exactly right, people. Especially for someone who is the pastor of a small church, like I’ve already said, is the encouragement that repeating yourself is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that you’re lazy and didn’t want to come up with a new sermon, but it is actually a pedagogical tool that you’re using to help form your people more and more in God’s love. And for me, that was a huge gift to receive, and then to see how it has played out in the life of the congregation. Every year, the Sunday after Easter is our Laity Sunday service. I guess it started as the to give the pastor a day off, but in truth, I do more work trying to get people do my job…

Jim Latimer 08:32

Exactly, Exactly, yep.

Tom Hathaway 08:39

When we first started doing it, it was always this kind of like scattered assortment of people getting up and saying their own things, but over these five years, it’s been amazing. It’s been amazing to see how all of a sudden, the thing that used to be a kind of a chaotic message has really coalesced around this messaging. People are picking it up that they have full ownership of it, and especially, you know, when they’re crafting prayers and the sermons and the children message for that service, they’re spitting it all out in their own words. We’ve kind of come full circle in that way. It’s been really beautiful to see.

Jim Latimer 10:26

Wow, Tom I love hearing that. I’m reminded again of how those of us leaders in churches or any organization or you have an idea, and you put it out there, and you’re always kind of wondering, How do I assess progress with this thing that I’m trying to do? And so, with Laity Sunday, what I just heard you say is that it’s a very practical and effective metric for you and your leaders to see how well is this communication plan working. And you know, the degree to which the laity take ownership for it and then give birth to it. The core message is the same, but in their own words. That seems to me an important benchmark or indicator of the success that you’re having with the communication plan that you have developed. And I love how you’re working with an outside person that can come in and see things that we insiders just couldn’t. That takes some humility on your part. But, boy, I’ve heard you say how much that has paid off. And you know, this person doesn’t need to be another pastor. They don’t even need to be religious.

Tom Hathaway 11:36

It’s better if they’re not!

Jim Latimer 11:37

Yes, better if they’re not. Right, exactly, better if they’re not. Well, Tom, this is fabulous. Thank you so much for this. I look forward to hearing another podcast from you related to this. Okay, thanks. Tom.

Tom Hathaway 11:50

Thanks very much.