Would you believe that the word communicate is only used twice in the Bible; both times by the prophet Ezekiel?

    When they [the priests] go out to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which

they have performed the liturgy and leave them in the rooms of the Holy Place, and put on other clothes, so as to not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments. (Eze. 44:19) [Check your annotated Bibles for an explanation of this instruction.]

    In addition, communication is never used in the Bible, and communion only once by Paul in II Corinthians 13:13. Clearly communication was not a hot topic for the Biblical writers!

    In a book I picked up for my summer reading, “Little Bee” by Chris Cleave, the author describes a moment: “The phone was showing five bars of signal. The reception was so strong in the center of London, one hardly needed the handset at all. The air positively crackled with connectivity, as if one might simply direct a thought at someone and be received loud and clear.” (For a discussion of what connectivity really means try Google!)

    This got me thinking about being connected and coming in loud and clear. I am sure we are all aware of the various modes of communication we can use, but do we stop to think about who we exclude when we use only one mode, like face to face verbal?

    Every church community is dealing with how to best communicate. Here are a couple of examples:

1.   A team at NCLC had planned a meeting to discuss ideas and plans for expanding the  facility and other property needs.

Here are the various modes we used to communicate:

a.      Verbal announcements at worship

b.      Email announcement

c.       Phone calls to those who don’t use email. Were there some who were left out?

During the meeting it became clear that when assumptions are made about how the property is being shared and not discussed with enough people or communication channels are not clearly developed misunderstandings occur. No surprise here!  

2.      During July a team gathered to discuss the newsletter and how to most effectively communicate with you all. The discussion quickly broadened to a discussion of all the places where we need to be mindful of how and to whom we communicate. Our big/pressing question is, how do we stay connected with ourselves and the neighborhood and the world. The next questions are what do we want to say, and to whom? As we begin to develop a communication packet here is what we are starting and what we are thinking about:

a.       The main newsletter (what you are reading now) will go out to a broad distribution every quarter (that is every three months). It will be filled with announcements of programs and activities, as well as pictures and reports of what has been going on. There will be a pastor’s article, a president’s article, and any synod or national reports or letters the editor finds relevant.

b.      The next approach with be a weekly or bi-weekly e newsletter using Constant Contact – not the tea, that’s Constant Comment. This will be very current and brief. This is still in the works.

c.       There may be a quarterly insiders paper update on council reports, statistics, birthdays, anniversaries, etc

d.      Our website is a vital and core center of connection and communication, especially with the neighbors and the world (anyone that is interested).

e.      For individual and targeted connection there is text messaging and Facebook, maybe even TwitterJ. These are very effective and instantaneous means of connecting.

f.        Sunday is often considered prime time for communication including:

                                                               i.      A visitor’s folder, which includes brochures and details of all our programs, as well as a welcome card so we can keep in contact with visitors.

                                                             ii.      A welcome folder/worship bulletin for everyone at worship, with the details of the service, the lessons, the affirmation of faith and a calendar for the upcoming week.

                                                            iii.      We have been trying out a rotating announcement power point presentation about 5 minutes before the worship begins in the sanctuary.

                                                           iv.      We are now exploring this same presentation with lots more pictures on a screen on the wall opposite the front door next to the coffee stuff for a longer time before worship.

                                                             v.      There is of course the traditional verbal time of invitation near the end of worship

                                                           vi.      There is the bulletin board with a calendar for the month, pictures and other interesting stuff on the wall across from the men’s restroom.

The Mercury News headlined an article on Thursday about Facebook. Social networking is the fastest growing mode of communication going. If the users of Facebook were a nation, we would be the third largest nation in the world! Currently given all the people in the world, one out of every 14 use Facebook!

The challenge for us as the Body of Christ is to stay connected; to communicate the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness for all people through Jesus Christ with our visitors, the neighbors and the world we are in. As a New Creation community, God has commissioned us: “Therefore we are ambassadors (that is messengers) for Christ, since God is making an appeal through us…” II Corinthians 5:20. We have been given the challenge to “crackle with connectivity, and to come in loud and clear.”