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A Handy Guide to Develop Your Church Communications Plan

As communications director here at West Ridge Church, I oversee our internal and external communications through our web, video, print, design, social media, marketing and Sunday messaging/announcements.

At a big church with tons of incredible things happening each week, that can be a lot to keep up with!

To help map out and plan what is being communicated through our various mediums each week, I use a Google doc spreadsheet called Communications Plan.

What Does It Cover?

Service Plan

Date, Series, Topic, Announcements & Next Steps, Videos, Calendar, Worship Guide, Announcement Loop, Email

The focus of the Sunday Plan tab for us is to keep track of what’s being communicated during a service. For churches, Sundays (or weekends) are the biggest opportunity we have to share what God is doing in and through the church. It’s vital to be strategic about how you use that time and not try to communicate too many things.

This Service Plan helps me map out what the key next steps are each week and how/where they are being communicated.

Projects

Start Date, Finish Date, Priority, Project, Project Type, Key Dates/Milestones, Elements, People, Notes

This is where I keep a running list of current and future projects. As I hear about something in a meeting, or know a big event is coming, this helps keep me on track so I can build timelines and project milestones to get things done and not fall behind.

Social Media

Date, Day, Announcements & Next Steps, Calendar, Notes & Instructions, Spots for: Facebook Posts, Twitter Posts

We have a point person for Facebook and Twitter. I put notes and instructions for each week on things that need to be communicated through social media. Beyond that, they have a lot of freedom to promote, engage and encourage our church through social media.

We use this document to write and plan the posts, and then they get scheduled with HootSuite.

Website

Date, Series, Announcements & Next Steps, Sunday Videos, Calendar, Banners, Home Blocks, Blog

This helps me map out what is going where on the website, and build a plan for designing graphics/content that will be on the site.