Best Practices Series: Respecting People’s Time – A Checklist for Church Communicators

By Dale Sellers

I spent some time developing a list of best practices that we’ve included in some of our recent posts. These practices are incredibly valuable for creating a ministry culture that is healthy and sustainable. With that in mind, I’d like to highlight a few of them so you can evaluate how your ministry is currently implementing them.

Have you ever been stuck in a big gathering that seemed like it was never going to end? I have. And I often left feeling discouraged and emotionally drained. There are several reasons big gatherings can go on and on and on. Here are a few:

1. The presenter tries to cover too much material for the allotted amount of time.
2. The presenter hasn’t been trained on how to lead a large meeting.
3. The presenter is unaware that the audience has checked out emotionally.

Whenever I get stuck in a setting like this I am often reminded of my college days. Our classes lasted for 90 minutes. No matter who the instructor was or what subject was being discussed, I don’t think I ever made it through the entire class without fighting dozing off. Every 90 minute class I attended was proof in the old adage, “The mind can only comprehend what the seat can endure!”

Combine this problem with how fast-paced our culture is today and you’ve got a recipe for a steady exodus of attendees. Most people attending the meeting have been going at a breakneck pace before they get there. Therefore, it’s imperative for communicators to understand the emotional state of their audience. Being sensitive and understanding of how people live each day can go a long way toward ensuring your gathering has the greatest impact possible.

Long services and rambling messages can quietly erode trust with guests, families, and volunteers. Here’s a practical checklist to help church communicators honor people’s time and increase impact.

Pastors, Take Note

I can think of no greater example of this subject than a typical church service. If we are honest with ourselves as pastors and communicators, we are certainly guilty at times of not being respectful of people’s time.

Even as I write this, I can already hear the pushback from some pastors who invoke their spiritual trump card. I’ve heard statements like, “Well, if people love Jesus, then it shouldn’t matter how long the service is.” Or, “I’m just following the leading of the Holy Spirit.”

Leaders who immediately default to spiritualizing their actions remove any opportunity to receive correction or input. Simply put, there’s no way for someone to share their point of view with you if they are made to feel like they’re opposing the Lord. Yet, I’ve seen pastors over the years refuse constructive criticism by intimidating anyone who may want to help them. In other words, the Holy Spirit often gets blamed for our unwillingness to receive correction.

Hopefully, you are not one of those types of leaders. Each of us should be on a continual path of personal growth and learning as we mature. With this in mind, I’ve created the following church communicators checklist.

All of these points are things that I’ve learned over time to help me become a better church communicator who is also sensitive to my audience’s time priorities. I hate admitting that I learned most of these lessons the hard way. My prayer for you is that you can learn from my example to be a better communicator.

Church Communicators Checklist:

 

1) Don’t be enamored with the sound of your own voice.

It’s very easy to become accustomed to liking the sound of your own voice if you’ve been communicating for a long time. We develop certain communication habits in our oratory style that provide confidence. Even hearing our own voice can be a source of comfort in communication that we come to rely on.

2) Quit assuming that longer messages have a greater impact than short ones.

I’ve found it takes much more work to speak more concisely than to speak more at length. Developing a message with an excellent flow takes a lot of work. There is no set amount of time communicators need in message prep, as it comes more easily to some than to others. However, I personally know the negative impact of not being prepared.

It would be reasonable to think a lack of preparation would lead to a shorter message. But my experience has been that I tend to speak longer when I’m unprepared. A lack of a well-thought-out message structure usually opens the door to chasing rabbits and shooting from the hip.

3) Always leave them wanting more.

One of the best ways to illustrate this point is to take a 16-oz glass and try to pour 64 oz in it. This is obviously impossible. The same is true when we speak beyond our audience’s capacity to retain everything we’ve been saying. Cross the “retention line,” and you’ll discover they also forget what they comprehended at the beginning because they eventually become overwhelmed with information.

4) Stop playing the “that’s just the way I am” trump card.

Every communicator has a style, or way, they communicate that is inherent in their personality. However, natural gifts don’t eliminate the need to develop good communication habits. Natural ability will only take you so far as a communicator.

5) Learn how to read the room.

Great communicators have a set of visual cues they use to recognize their effectiveness. It’s so important to realize that communication is more than me just saying what’s on my mind. Communication requires listeners to comprehend what’s being said. The ultimate goal is for listeners to put into action what they have heard, taking positive next steps in their lives.

With this in mind, be aware of restlessness displayed by several people yawning, sudden movement such as people going to the restroom, and multiple people looking at their phones. All of these could indicate that you’ve reached the end of their ability to engage with this message.

6) Remember, your volunteers are directly affected by how long you speak.

This may be the most important point for pastors who speak each week. We must never forget that the volunteers in the children’s ministry, nursery, security teams, and other support ministries are at the mercy of our time awareness.

* One of the greatest things a pastor can do is to volunteer twice a year by serving in the nursery while someone else preaches in their place. This gives us a firsthand experience of what it’s like to serve in our ministry. Speakers who tend to go long week after week will eventually notice how hard it is to attain and retain volunteers. As the main speaker, you must be aware of those who serve outside of the auditorium as much as those inside it.

7) Altar call time is not separate from speaking time to your listeners.

This was a revelation for me. I always internally segmented my sermon time from the altar time, which immediately followed the message. However, I eventually realized the people in the service didn’t separate the two. They viewed it as one continuous thing.

If you speak for 40 minutes but then follow your message with a 20-minute altar time, your listeners will view it as you speaking for a whole hour.

8) Give them one point they remember rather than 3 points they forget.

Much like point 3, one of the biggest tendencies in church messages is to give way too much information. I made a decision early in my ministry that I would rather communicate one point that people remember than speak so long that they forget everything I said.

9) Create an honest feedback team that you respect.

Do you have a mechanism to call out repeated phrases or words? I fell into a trap of repeating certain phrases as I spoke each week. Phrases like “Now listen,” “What I’m trying to say is,” “You know,” “I mean,” and my personal favorite, “Just give me one more minute,” can become irritating to our audience.

This is why it’s important to create an avenue to receive honest input from someone you respect. You can obviously go back and listen to your messages on your own. However, I found I could ignore the things I noted by myself much more easily than if the correction came from someone else.

10) Recognize that some messages create a need to be processed.

I learned this lesson from my wife after a Wednesday evening service years ago. I was complaining about the lack of interaction from our congregation during the service when Gina reminded me that everyone isn’t wired like me. I’m a quick responder and will take action immediately. However, most folks are processors, which means they need time to digest what has been shared. Not every message will solicit verbal feedback, which is perfectly ok.

11) Never overspiritualize the way American church services are conducted.

This is a big deal to me. I’ve observed, in many instances, a loyalty to the way we conduct a typical church service. There can be an ingrained belief that our way of proceeding through the service is as sacred as the Bible itself. But this is not true. In fact, many of the elements of a normal American church service are more about preference than Biblical truth.

The point here is for us to approach our gatherings as an opportunity to encounter the Lord and the Holy Spirit. This can, at times, require us to be flexible with our prepared message. Holy disruptions can breathe new life into our gathering experience when we are willing to yield to the Lord’s guidance.

In addressing the hard hearts of the Pharisees in Mark 7, Jesus stated in verse 13, “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Be aware not to allow “the way we’ve always done it” to keep you from experiencing fresh encounters with the Lord.

12) Bring in a secret shopper once a quarter.

I can’t overemphasize the importance of this, especially when it comes to reaching new people. Almost all churches plateau after a season of growth. The natural consequence is to get comfortable at the new level. While it is important to strategically celebrate new levels, it is also equally important to be aware of the possibility of becoming insider-focused.

This is especially pertinent to you as the main communicator. Our people can become as comfortable with us as we are with them. So they tend to give us a lot of grace because they recognize how much our leadership helped the church to get where it is. They understand our speaking tendencies and nuances.

However, new attenders don’t often extend the same grace to us. Bringing in a Secret Shopper quarterly can often be the only way to get helpful input. They see things we don’t see. They observe you from the outside looking in, and they will be brutally honest with how the message connects with them. (There are two different Secret Shopper Surveys we’ve developed we would love to share with you. Just email me at: [email protected] and ask for the surveys.)

Being time-conscious may not sound very spiritual to you. But I can assure you it is a must if you want to connect with new families on a deeper level. I hope you will prioritize making sure you are communicating effectively and concisely as you continue to grow as a speaker.

More 95Network resources:

• Podcast 329 Sermon Prep For Pastors: Process, Feedback Loops, and Boundaries That Keep You Healthy (w/ Kevin Robison) – Episode 329
• Podcast 329 Transcript 95Podcast Summary: Sermon Prep For Pastors: Process, Feedback Loops, and Boundaries That Keep You Healthy (w/ Kevin Robison) – Episode 329

What are you doing that is working well? What is not going so well? Let’s connect and have a conversation about it. At 95Network, we are here to support and serve you in any way we can. If you feel like you’re in a season where you’re stalled out and can’t see the way forward, then please reach out to me at [email protected]

• Website: 95Network.org
• 95Network – Soul Care Essentials
• 95Network – Healthy Church Assessment
• Read Stalled: Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There By Now

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