In a recent blog post “Church Attendance is Dying, Here is What is Next,” Carey Nieuwhof points out that most churches spend less than 5% of their budget on their online presence and ponders how that is working out for most of us?

Carey has a very good point as many of our churches are the best-kept secret, mostly because we don’t invest in a communications strategy to tell the world about the great and life-giving things happening in our parishes.

Millennials and Gen Z are searching for community. They long for something more and they are spiritually curious. But since their parents fell away from the church and their only connection may be a grandparent, reaching this generation requires actively pursuing them with the same love that Christ pursued us with.

This means making communications beyond our walls a priority. And this will be reflected in how much of our budgets we dedicated to communications and how much we continually set aside for communication and web upgrades every few years.

Personally, I like to see the communications budget come in around the 5% mark of the overall budget. This allows for ongoing Google keyword advertisement, Facebook ads for special services and events, updates and upgrades to websites, the production of welcome packages for newcomers, a video or two a year about life at the parish and the production of a parish newsletter.

And while there are many free tools to help disseminate our message, there comes a time when the priorities we set as a community can be seen by where we spend our money or don’t spend our money.
As we approach that time of year when parish budgets are being set, it might be time to take another look at the communications budget. How much do you put aside for advertisement beyond Christmas and Easter? How much do you put aside for web and social media? Does your budget reflect our shared priorities as a church to teach new believers all that Christ taught and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?