The last 6 months have been brutal. One thing I have heard a lot recently is that connecting with the teams in your church has become very difficult. What used to maybe the easiest thing for you to do, or at least the most enjoyable task, is now probably the hardest thing. In times where you aren’t able to physically able to connect or be with your team, there are some great tools you can use to engage and build community in the people who dedicate time to your church.
1. A great First tool that I personally love is GROUP ME. Use group me to put everyone on a team chat. Use this tool to connect with a whole group and even add subsegments. So let’s say you are on a production team at your church. You could have a large “PRODUCTION TEAM” group and then add subgroup chats like “CAMERA TEAM”, “AUDIO”, “GRAPHICS”, “VIDEO”, etc.
You can do whatever is best and easiest in your flow however this tool will allow you to connect with many people all by sending one text. So instead do texting everyone on your list you can send one text to the group to communicate. I personally believe using group me helped me to communicate items quicker and more effectively to teams I worked with because I could draft one text for the whole team and send it and be done.
This saved me time but also allowed my teams to feel communicated with. Our Twelve:Thirty Media team uses the group to connect about our work but also we share how we can pray for each other and fun stuff!
2. Another tool that I feel is a must for your team is a FACEBOOK GROUP. Facebook recently added a bunch of features that allow you to create learning environments. These are so awesome for creating modules for your team. How this plays out is you can create training modules and have your team complete each module In the order you want them to. So for cameras, you could have a module on control settings, how to handle the camera, and turn on and off procedures.
You could split these up so that they have to complete 1 before the other. Then you will be able to monitor who on your team has completed what. Doing this will allow you to make sure your team is trained for the positions or tasks you ask them to and allow you to hand off the training after creating the content once.
3. A third tool that I love to use to engage with my team is MAILCHIMP. If you take the time to capture every team member’s email you can send information out to your entire team. Think about a monthly newsletter that highlights the following: Wins for your team (what did God do in your Church the last month that your team helped facilitate), Upcoming event sign-ups or needs, long term planning (SAVE THE DATES), TEAM MEMBER highlight (take a photo and share a fun fact and bio), and maybe a vision piece or short blog from one of your team to the group. Try to keep it concise and fun and change it up.
4. Another great way to connect to your team is ASANA. Ok, this may sound weird but follow me. So connecting to your staff team, you should be using a project management tool. Use it to get everyone on the same page, communicate deadlines, and have conversations in the project. It’s free for basic use which is probably going to be your church. Now, you may ask, how does this help to connect with my volunteer team?
Well, the answer is by using ASANA to track your projects you could create repeating reminds to personally follow up with and maybe write a thank you note to each member of your team over a 2 month period. You could do this with any calendar but I thought I would share something that could do this and manage your team’s projects.
5. The last tool I want to share with you is INSTAGRAM. Have an Instagram (get it approved by your Communications team) and use it to share stories of what is happening, highlight your team during events, and just connect with your team through the lens of your ministry.
Connection and engagement are more important than ever. Your team needs to see, hear, and be able not to communicate with you. The relationships with our people have to be a priority. Our task can so often eat up our time that we push aside the people in our midst. Using tools like this will help you connect and also organize and maximize your time. I believe this will only help your ministry.
Steve Dirks is the Executive Director for Church Visuals. He has spent over 10 years serving in different churches serving in lyric presentation, audio, and visual content creation, and helping lead teams of volunteers. Steve lives in Pittsburgh and uses production background to serve Steel City Church. He loves being a father to Mercy & Caleb and a husband to Bekah his amazing wife. He is a huge fan of any sports team in Pittsburgh and of course his hometown South Carolina Gamecocks!
