10 Mistakes the Church Makes in Media

These are my notes from one of the breakout sessions at the National Outreach Convention a couple weeks ago. The session was 10 Mistakes the Church Makes in Media with Phil Cooke. I thought it was good enough to share. Not all of this is directly from Phil Cooke, some of it was added by me, but since I'm writing this off of my notes I can't really remember which is which.

1. Lack of Creativity. We don't come up with our own stuff, instead we just rip off what everyone else has already come up with. We steal logos and make them Christian, or have Christian versions of certain products, or even certain phrases. Only we like those kinds of things, to the rest of the world we just look stupid.

2. Bad Writing. We try to write Christian movies and most often just fail. When is the last time you saw a really great Christian movie? I know there are some like the Chronicles of Narnia that do really well, but most are just sad. I'm thinking of movies like Fireproof, Left Behind and Hangman's Curse. These might be good movies, but are any of them box office hits? Instead of good Christians making movies, we need more Christians making good movies. These movies don't have to be "Christian" they can be just good clean movies.

3. The Lingo. We speak in a completely different language then the rest of the world. With Christianeze words like salvation, grace, and redemption. Sure most people understand the general concept but they still don't really understand us. Some definitions of these Christianeze words can be found at www.marilavell.com as she works her way through the alphabet.

4. Media is a two way conversation. We think that media is all about telling people things or pushing an agenda. But we forget that people can communicate back to us with by either responding or not. If we pick up on this communication we can see what actually works and what doesn't.

5. Everything communicates. When a visitor walks in, everything makes an impression: the paint, the bulletin, the music, the people, the bathrooms, the chairs, everything. So we should look around and see what we can find. Have a spot where the paint is chipped? it may look harmless to you, or you've just gotten used to it, but to a visitor that leaves a small impression that says "they don't care." If you have bulletins that are folded crooked, you may not notice, but visitors will see that and think "they are lazy, they don't care."

6. Understand the power of the name. All you have to do is go to Google and type in "funny church names" and you'll see why. Even if its traditional to include the name of whatever town your in, think about how it sounds when you say it. Also think of whatever alternative meanings could be taken from your church names.

7. We don't speak the language of design. Unless you're in a mega church who can afford to hire a media designer, you're bound to end up with poor designs, or cliches. We need to make sure our media design reflects our congregation. Cooke says there are four images we need to avoid, simply because they are used too often. These are Flags, globes, doves, and flames. I would add Lighthouses to that list, but maybe that's just because I grew up near the coast.

8. Understand the power of a niche. Instead of trying to appeal to every single person on earth, we need to find a niche that we fit into. Appeal to a single group of people and do it well.

9. No brand unity. There are churches where the bulletins show one logo, the screen shows another, and the decor is an entirely different logo. This shows a lack of brand unity. You want to be sure that everything you produce (bulletins, newsletters, stationary, website, powerpoints, and business cards) has the same basic design and logo. If people can recognize your logo easily, they are more likely to remember you church in the future.

10. Understand context. Make sure your sending the right message to the people in your group. For example, you don't want all you media to represent older retired couples if your church is entirely young singles.

11. (my own) Not looking Professional. I find it very annoying when you can see misspelled words on a slide, or bad grammar, inconsistent spacing, etc. I also don't like when you can see what the person on the computer is trying to do. Like when you can see the cursor on the screen, or if they are showing a video and have to drag the video window from one screen to another. There are programs you can download that will help you look professional. If you don't know how to do this, then get in contact with the media department from a larger church and ask them.

Update time: we played our last intramural football game today against off campus and apartments. They dominate every year simply because they are all older, and the ones who show up are usually more athletic. We lost 12-20, which is a lot better then I thought we would do. It was lots of fun though, and they will play in the finals in two weeks. I'm hoping they win so we can say we lost to the best team.

Supposedly I will have a job soon, I applied for an online job that was posted to the school website, and was told to fill out a bunch of forms and such. I thought that I pretty much had the job and was just waiting for the go ahead, but I haven't heard anything from them in over a week even though I've done everything they asked.

A lot of people have been talking about Thanksgiving plans this week. I really don't have any plans. My dad is having surgery the day before, and me going home would probably not be any help to him at all. So I'm going to be staying in the dorms. Most people feel sorry when I say this, but it may be nice to have only a few people in the dorms for a few days. I figure I'll catch up on homework, and sleep, watch a bunch of movies, maybe even read a book (thinking Dawn Treader since that movie is almost out). One of the professors here opens their house to students on thanksgiving, so I figure I'll go to dinner there.