Communication! It seems as if there is one constant complaint in any organization, it is "lack of communication". Communication is important and successful communication seems difficult to achieve. We've all heard the statistics. It takes 7 impressions to adequately communicate one piece of relevant information.
Let's think about this for a minute. If we have at least 7 different announcements to communicate each week for the Children's Ministry, as we often do, and it takes 7 impressions for the majority of the church members to get the announcement, that means it takes 49 individual impressions to communicate our events. A little overwhelming! However, for most of our announcements and events, we can easily find the information in 7 different places over the course of most weeks. Effective communication often assumes that only the person doing the communicating has the responsibility to get the word out. However, I believe that we need to not only communicate effectively but also train the audience of the communication on where to find the information they desire to read. So, here is how you can find out about our children's ministry.
Current Sources of Information
1) Follow or subscribe to the blog at www.kingwoodkids.org. Encourage your friends to do the same! If you subscribe to the blog, you will receive an email with every blog update. These have taken the place of a weekly email newsletter so that there is one central location for information.
2) Check out the calendar in the side margin of kingwoodkids.org blog regularly. As soon as I know about an event, I update the calendar even if there is no other information available yet.
3) Read the bulletin, specifically the Family Ministry column. Though space is limited, the most time sensitive events are advertised in the bulletin on Sunday mornings. If you miss worship, the bulletin is online at www.kwcoc.org, though, this blog has the most up-to-date online information.
4) The Power Point information loop is often running before services on a Sunday morning and usually includes slides advertising our current and upcoming children's ministry events.
5) Bring your child to Bible class on-time. In Journey Land, we use Power Point slides to remind children about upcoming events for their age group.
6) Mailings to the family homes happen a few times each year. These are limited due to the cost involved.
7) If you are my friend on Facebook, I frequently update in my status with reminders. Often these point back to the blog.
8) Word of mouth is one of the most effective tools of communication. If you know about an event, please pass it on to other families that may be interested in the same event or Children's Ministry need.
9) For certain events, you may find posters displayed around the church building.
10) Very important information may be highlighted in verbal announcements during worship service, though we limit these in order to keep worship service worshipful.
Coming Soon
Each of these items are dependent on the coordination of several other volunteers. I can't put an exact date on when they will be available since much of the work depends on the time needs of others. "Thank you" to all the others that are helping with these items!
1) Parent Link Newsletter - A version for Children and a version for Youth ministry will be printed and available for distribution in the church foyer. This parent newsletter will have parenting advice, announcements and a monthly calendar.
2) Children's Ministry brochures will provide all the information about class times, ages, policies, and curriculum and will be available in the foyer.
3) Children's Ministry on the church website will be updated to provide on-line information similar to that in the brochures. Dynamic information (announcements, events) will still be located on the blog which is also tied to the church website.
Please, if you hear anyone say they don't know about an event point them to these sources. If we work together we can soon be in a position that we are more effectively communicating the needs of the ministry.
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