Faith and Web

“The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”
– George Bernard Shaw

Chocolate plays a pivotal role in my church’s Communication Committee, the mother of our website. In case you don’t believe me, check out the foreground of this photo of us from three years ago. The back row is my co-webmistress and me. It’s not the greatest shot of either of us, but then we’re not the front row stars of the show. Chocolate duties are even in the “Comm Comm” Chair job description.

The worst (or best, in my opinion) are our retreats. Twice a year, we gather on a Saturday morning and indulge in a chocoholic smorgasbord. Our drink-of-choice is coffee, but being good Southerners, we also feature Yoo-hoo.

The point is that once tanked up, my, how the ideas do fly. One of our most helpful and thus successful web pages (A FUUN Guide to Getting the Word Out) is a good example of the results of our idea fests.

Also, as you might expect, our committee size and number of volunteers climbs steadily. At last count, our ranks have doubled since 2005 – from six to twelve. That includes expanding the number working on the website.

To share the wealth, here’s my contribution to our most recent meeting. Enjoy.

Amazingly Easy From-Scratch Chocolate Chip Brownies

1/2 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 t. vanilla
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. flour (flour is for sissies; I’ve even done it with 1/2 cup)
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan (though they have so much butter I often wonder if this step is needed).

Melt the butter and chocolate together. Put sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and add the chocolate mixture. Let this mix cool a bit, and then add the eggs and flour. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Cut with a plastic knife. (Oddly enough, it’s much easier than with a regular knife.)

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A series of great comments (Jess, Lizard Eater, Philocrites, and Mark Alves) reminded me of an ah-ha moment I had several months ago. I went to my church’s first visioning meeting fired up and ready to tell the world how important communications were. I thought (correctly) that most congregants didn’t know how much pressure was put on our Communication Committee. The Committee is told (sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly) that we’re expected to produce an excellent semi-monthly print newsletter, an excellent weekly email newsletter, excellent bulletin boards, and, naturally, an excellent website.

From my worker bee perspective, it was all a bit much. Because of this feedback I thought that’s what people really wanted. And people like me are at risk of burning out without more support – the way I saw it when I walked into the meeting.

However, as we talked I realized it was really some individuals who cared deeply about one form of communication or another. The congregation as a whole wasn’t ready to have it all. To scramble to provide all things in one sense is the easy way out – avoiding hard decisions. It’s not that the church doesn’t want all these forms of communication. It’s just that excellent communications are not a clearly defined priority.

I emerged from that meeting with my perspective turned around. Now I want to know what types of communications the church most needs. Where do the different forms fit in the overall priorities? If we need more (e.g. if we should have podcast sermons), what kind of resources will we devote to this? Will we hire more staff to help with some of these functions? Is making the church larger a goal for us? If so, do people understand the role the website can play in this? Should we increase the percentage of time staff devotes to communications? Should the Music Director oversee podcasts? Should the Youth Coordinator blog?

My hope is that our visioning process will clarify this some – give us a groundwork from which it’s easier to make these tough decisions. Once we know better who we are, presumably we’ll know better what matters most.

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