Most churches I’ve been part of have had a media team, with the exception of one where I was the “team.”

From cameras to ProPresenter, from lighting to front of house and broadcast sound, the work gets done. And it gets done beyond Sunday. I can’t forget the web managers, social media managers, and video editors that meticulously comb through hours of video footage to produce short form clips for Instagram and TikTok

But have you ever paused to determine who is deciding why it gets done? The keyword is why.

That, my friends, is the difference between a media team and a media strategy. Simply put, a media team executes, while a media strategy provides direction. And we know this: without a vision, the people perish.

In my professional work, strategy drives all of the communication and media decisions we make. With limited staff and resources, we cannot afford to produce anything without established intentions, goals, and expected outcomes.

Such is the same with many churches. Or it should be. Most of our churches are not multi-million dollar enterprises with elaborate budgets that allow room for trial and error. How do we make the best use of our resources while accomplishing organizational goals?

In too many churches, the goal is to be busy producing content. The problem is that we’re busy without intent. We’re working hard every week, turning around podcasts, designing graphics, editing videos, and promoting events. But when’s the last time you stopped to ask how your efforts are supporting your church’s mission?

I’m not criticizing volunteers. We thank God for volunteers and, in many churches, they are faithfully serving with the direction they’ve been given.

The challenge is that media often becomes reactive instead of intentional. Someone asks for a graphic. Another ministry needs a video. An event gets added to the calendar. A last-minute announcement needs to be posted.

Before you realize it, the media ministry exists primarily as a support to fulfill requests instead of advancing the church’s mission. Often, we’re caught in a cycle of producing for others without taking the time to strategically identify how we can best support the mission of our local church. 

Trust me, I get it. When you’re in the cycle of producing for others, it’s hard to find the time to be strategic. But we must find the time.

Here’s a simple question to get you started: What are we trying to accomplish? 

I can tell you, the answer shouldn’t be to “post more often” or “grow our Instagram” or even “improve our livestream” (Okay, maybe we can work on improving the livestream).

Those are tactics. Strategy starts with the mission. If your church exists to make disciples (and I hope it does), your communication should help people take their next step. Every website page, sermon clip, social media post, email, and announcement should support that mission in some way.

That doesn’t mean every piece of content needs to be evangelistic. It doesn’t even mean every piece of content needs a call to action.

It does mean every piece of communication should have an objective, and you determine what that should be.

A strategy also creates consistency. When everyone understands the mission, decisions become easier. Your team knows what deserves attention, what can wait, and what doesn’t align with your priorities. Instead of saying yes to every request, you begin asking better questions.

Here are a few to consider: 

Those questions create alignment across your church.

They also help protect you and volunteers from burnout. I know what it’s like to be an exhausted media team volunteer. The pandemic wasn’t that long ago, and I’m sure we all remember what that was like.

But back to the point. Many church media teams aren’t exhausted because they lack passion. They’re exhausted because they’re trying to do everything for everyone. We can’t continue like that. Strategy gives you and your team permission to focus.

Perhaps the most important benefit of a media strategy is that it helps pastors and ministry leaders see media differently. The media team isn’t simply the department that makes graphics or runs cameras or forgets to turn on the pastor's mic during the worship transition. It’s one of the primary ways your church communicates its mission every day of the week, and that’s a significant responsibility.

A media strategy shouldn’t belong to the media ministry. It should belong to the church. When communication is treated as a ministry-wide responsibility rather than the job of one team, everyone begins moving in the same direction.

As churches continue navigating an increasingly digital world, the question isn’t whether media matters. We know it does. Your pastor knows it does. And your team knows it does.

The question is whether your media ministry is simply producing content or intentionally supporting discipleship. The churches that communicate most effectively are the ones that know exactly what they’re trying to communicate and why.

At its best, the media ministry isn’t defined by the content it creates, but by the mission it serves.

__

Thank you for reading The DRM Brief. If this article encourages you, consider sharing it with a pastor, communicator, or media volunteer serving your local church.