Who Ya Gonna Call?

Poll any group or organization of ten or more people working together toward a shared goal, and it is likely that “communication” will be on their list of needed improvements. Indeed, the perceived lack of communication within organizations has become ubiquitous to the point of cliché. My own feeling is that as the means of communication have become broader our willingness to communicate has become narrower. Caller ID, the National Do Not Call Registry, spam blockers, and the like limit the scope of those voices we will hear.

We have become proficient at deciding whom we will ignore, conversely establishing a short list of those to whom we want to be connected. This is a big problem for those of us in the church with great resources and helpful services to offer church leaders. Unless we’ve already made the list of those who might benefit, chances are they won’t get the message. It is often those who have most effectively screened themselves out of the loop who feel the most thwarted by “lack of communication.”

What’s to be done? Even a magazine such as ideas! can not tell you about everyone and everything available to assist you in more fully carrying out your ministry. Furthermore, no one needs all of that information at one time. So, who ya gonna call?

Six years ago, when I was serving as a presbytery leader, I sought to have church leaders put my office first on their speed dial—figuratively if not literally. This, I think, is still a worthy goal for presbyteries, which can serve as clearinghouses for information that may be valuable to leaders in their area. The Presbyterian Planning Calendar is another vehicle for gathering information directly from the source. Programs within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have extensive lists of people with specific needs who have asked to receive particular information. The Planning Calendar provides direct access to those people most able to be of service. Church leaders who take advantage of this availability may find themselves brokering news to the presbytery that can then be disseminated to other regional church leaders.

If better communication is to be more than an excuse or straw man, then we who share leadership responsibilities for the church’s ministry need to choose each other as primary sources of information, and practice active listening to be sure we are clearly communicating.

Today, information is literally at our fingertips. The problem is sorting what we need from all of the other factoids vying for our attention and not retreating so far from the field that messengers can’t find us.