Category: Say It Straight

By: Kenn Dixon, M.A., CDMP, APR

Every church knows Matthew 28. Many can recite it by memory. But few churches treat the Great Commission as a communication mandate, even though Jesus’ instruction—“Go… teach… make disciples”—cannot happen without clear, culturally relevant communication.

The language of Scripture is profoundly relational. The Gospel is transmitted person to person, through message, conversation, storytelling, presence, and engagement. Yet in many local churches today, communication has become an afterthought, relegated to announcements, bulletin boards, and sporadic social media posts.

If we take the Great Commission seriously, we must take communication seriously.

Communication Is Not Optional—It Is the Delivery System of the Gospel

People must hear before they can believe.
People must see before they can trust.
People must understand before they can follow.

In an age dominated by digital media, mobile devices, and endless distractions, the church can no longer assume that its message will be heard simply because it exists.

The Gospel Is Eternal, but Its Communication Is Cultural

The message does not change.
The methods always have.

Jesus communicated through parables—stories drawn from agriculture, money, family dynamics, and village life. Paul communicated through letters—choosing the most efficient, audience-specific medium of his time. The early church communicated through public reading, oral tradition, hospitality, and handwritten scrolls.

Today, the way people communicate has fundamentally shifted:

• Digital over analog
• Visual over verbal
• Mobile over static
• Interactive over one-way
• Personalized over generalized

This means churches must think of themselves not only as spiritual communities, but as communicating communities.

A Mandate That Extends Beyond the Church Walls

Your dissertation’s case study revealed a sobering insight:
Most churches invest their communication energy on internal audiences—members—not the community.

Jesus said, “Go… into all nations.”
Not “Wait… and see who shows up.”

But churches often do the opposite:

• The bulletin is for insiders.
• The livestream is for insiders.
• The announcements are for insiders.
• The programs are for insiders.
• The stories told are insider stories.

This internal focus leads to stagnation, decline, and disengagement—your data confirms this.

The Great Commission Is an Outward-Facing Communication Strategy

To “go” means:

• Identify an audience.
• Understand their needs.
• Speak their language.
• Use relevant communication channels.
• Build relational trust over time.
• Invite them into deeper relationship with Christ.

Every one of these actions is a communication act.

Why Communication Matters More Than Ever

Three realities make modern communication central to disciple-making:

1. People live online before they arrive in person.

A church without a meaningful digital presence is invisible.
Your data echoes this—churches using only 1–2 channels show lower attendance and weaker engagement.

2. Trust is relational, not institutional.

People believe people, not announcements.
Effective communication builds trust long before they walk through the doors.

3. Discipleship begins long before someone attends worship.

Every post, message, livestream, or website visit is part of the disciple-making journey.

When churches limit communication to Sunday morning announcements or internal messaging, they disconnect the Great Commission from the communication it requires.

Breaking the Myth: “If We Just Preach the Truth, People Will Come”

This assumption—common in many denominational traditions—has good intentions but poor results. Truth matters. But communication determines whether truth is:

• heard
• understood
• believed
• embraced

In a culture where people are overwhelmed with content and struggling with attention fragmentation, the most accurate message is meaningless if it does not reach people where they are.

Your research revealed no significant correlation between event-promotion posts and baptisms.
But it did reveal meaningful correlations between multi-channel communication patterns and higher engagement.

The Great Commission is not fulfilled by content alone—it is fulfilled by connection.

Communication Is Ministry. Ministry Is Communication.

When churches begin seeing communication as ministry, everything shifts:

• Announcements become invitations.
• Livestreams become pathways for connection.
• Social media becomes digital evangelism.
• Websites become front doors.
• Texting becomes pastoral care.
• Visual storytelling becomes testimony.

This is not about marketing the Gospel.
This is about communicating the Gospel.

Your Church Has a Message Worth Sharing—Now Share It Well

The world is not rejecting Jesus.
They often simply have not heard a compelling invitation from His people.

The Great Commission is not only about going physically.
It is about communicating intentionally.

The churches reaching their communities today understand this truth:

The Gospel moves at the speed of communication.
Disciple-making moves at the speed of relationship.

If your church wants to reach its community, communication cannot be a task or a role.
It must be part of your identity.

By: Kenn Dixon, M.A., CDMP, APR

Most churches genuinely believe they are communicating well. Bulletins are printed, announcements are made, the livestream goes up, and posts hit Facebook every week. Yet for all this activity, the same pattern repeats itself: outreach events attract mostly members, evangelistic initiatives fall flat, and the community remains disengaged or unaware that the church even exists.

This isn’t a theology problem.
It’s a communication problem.

The Invisibility Crisis

Monte Sahlin said it best: the greatest communication challenge for many churches is invisibility, not hostility. People aren’t rejecting the church—they simply don’t know it’s there.

The story you uncovered in your dissertation research across 25 Seventh-day Adventist churches in Texas is not unique to Adventism. It’s a reflection of a national trend:
Churches are faithfully talking, posting, announcing, and promoting—but largely to themselves.

Your analysis of 24 months of communication data shows the same cycle playing out across region after region:

• Posts are mostly internal.
• Content is about events, not people.
• Messages reflect the church’s interests, not the community’s needs.
• Channels are underutilized or siloed.
• Communication frequency is inconsistent.
• And ultimately, the community is not engaged.

This is not failure.
It is misalignment.

Why Churches Default to Internal Communication

There are four primary reasons most churches talk to themselves:

1. Familiarity is easier than strategy.

Churches know their members. They know their language, their preferences, their rhythms. Communicating internally feels natural. Speaking to outsiders feels risky.

2. Events—not people—drive the communication calendar.

Most communication in the local church exists to promote events, not nurture relationships. This is the opposite of what healthy organizations do.

3. Churches assume relevance instead of assessing it.

Because a program matters to the congregation, leaders assume it matters to the community. Your data shows this assumption is incorrect.

4. Churches measure activity, not outcomes.

Bulletins printed? Check.
Posts published? Check.
Video uploaded? Check.

But those are inputs, not impact.

The Result: The Church Becomes an Echo Chamber

Inside the building, communication feels active, even busy.
Outside the building, communication feels silent.

The church becomes an echo chamber—broadcasting announcements to a closed, internal loop. People outside the church never hear the message, and people inside the church steadily disengage because communication feels disconnected from real life.

Your research revealed an important insight:

The more a church focuses on internal messaging, the less it grows.

Churches with the highest baptisms and professions of faith used broader and more diverse communication channels. Churches with stagnant or declining growth used fewer, internally-focused communication methods.

This aligns directly with Media Multiplexity Theory:
Strong ties require multiple channels. Weak ties never grow without them.

Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

Three cultural shifts make internal-facing communication especially ineffective today:

1. Communities are more digital than physical.
   People look online before looking around.
2. Attention is more fragmented.
   If you are not part of the digital stream, you do not exist.
3. Trust is earned through connection, not content.
   People respond to authenticity, not announcements.

Many churches continue behaving as though the community will simply walk in because the doors are open. But the world has changed.

And the church must change how it communicates.

Breaking the Cycle: From Inward to Outward Focus

If a church wants to grow, wants to reach new people, and wants to fulfill the Great Commission in a digital age, it must intentionally break free from internal communication patterns.

Here are the three first steps:

1. Go from “What do we want to say?” to “What does our community need to hear?”

Not every message is for every audience.
Your research shows that posts about community service or spiritual encouragement build stronger ties than event promotion.

2. Stop announcing and start engaging.

Announcements impart information.
Engagement creates connection.

Ask questions. Tell stories. Share testimonies. Highlight community needs. Celebrate people, not programs.

3. Use more than one channel.

This is the heart of Media Multiplexity Theory.
People become connected when the church shows up across channels, consistently and relationally.

Facebook alone isn’t enough.
A bulletin alone isn’t enough.
One livestream a week isn’t enough.

Multiple channels → stronger relational ties → higher engagement → increased attendance → more disciples.

Your data quantifies what ministry leaders have long felt intuitively.

A Roadmap Forward

This entire 16-week series is built to help churches stop talking to themselves and start engaging the people they’re called to reach.

Today’s post is your starting point.
The next 16 posts will walk your readers—church communication volunteers, pastors, and ministry leaders—through a full transformation of how they communicate.

If the church wants to reach its community, it must start by changing who it is talking to.