Over 20+ years of working in ministry, one thing I learned the hard way is the Christmas season can be a blessing and a challenge, especially when it comes to church communication. On one hand, the holidays are a prime opportunity to celebrate and connect with families in powerful ways. On the other hand, they can be stressful and chaotic when communication breaks down between ministry leaders, volunteers, and attendees.

If there’s anything I wish I’d known earlier, it’s how clear, organized, and timely communication is essential to creating a smooth and impactful holiday season.

Let me share with you some lessons I’ve learned—through trial and error—about how to communicate well during the busiest time of the year. Hopefully, you can skip some of the bumps I experienced along the way.

5 Dos and Don’ts for Church Communications During the Holidays

1.  Plan your church communications early (instead of scrambling at the last minute)

Early in my ministry, I’d often wait until the last minute to send out holiday event updates. The result? Chaos. Volunteers were confused about their roles, attendees didn’t know the details of services, and I found myself scrambling to catch up.

These situations quickly taught me the key to holiday success is early communication planning.

Start months ahead (like right now!). Create a communications calendar that outlines when key messages need to go out and through which channels. Map out the major announcements, service times, and special event details, ensuring everyone knows what’s happening well in advance.

Tools like Google Calendar can help you and your team stay on top of things. The Subsplash Platform allows you to draft and schedule bulk emails, push notifications, and text messages ahead of time. This way you never miss an important announcement!

Step-by-step approach:

• List all the holiday events, services, and activities.
• Identify who needs to know what (staff team, volunteers, families).
• Create a timeline for announcements, volunteer updates, and reminders.
• Use scheduling tools (email platforms, social media scheduling apps) to ensure messages go out automatically.

2.  Centralize your church communication channels (instead of spreading yourself too thin)

One mistake I often made was using too many platforms at once to communicate (ask any church communications manager, and they’ll confirm this is a major thorn in the flesh issue). A Facebook post here, a bulletin announcement there, an email somewhere in between—it felt like I was doing a lot, but it just led to fragmented messaging. People were missing important information because they didn’t know where to look.

The solution to this is centralizing church communication channels. It’s important to decide on two or three primary methods of communication and stick to them. For instance, your church’s mobile app can be a great hub for communication.

You can use push notifications or text messages for urgent updates (such as a service time change) and rely on the app for event registration, volunteer sign-ups, or reminders. Pair that with a consistent email newsletter and targeted social media updates, and you have a cohesive plan!

Steps to centralizing comms:

• Choose 2-3 main communication platforms: (e.g., church app, email, and social media).
• Use your app for push notifications and text alerts, ensuring people get urgent updates directly on their phones.
• Send consistent email newsletters with all relevant details.
• Share concise, visually engaging updates on social media, pointing people to the app for more information.

3.  Keep church communications short and sweet (instead of information overload)

Like many people starting out in ministry, I would send out long, detailed updates filled with everything I thought people needed to know (you know those long newsletters you never have time to read). What I didn’t realize was that too much information can be just as bad as too little—people get overwhelmed, or worse, stop paying attention altogether.

Effective leaders know that clear and concise messaging is key.

When communicating with your volunteers, attendees, or leaders, keep it short and sweet (KISS). Break it down into easily digestible pieces. Use bullet points, bold text, and visuals to

emphasize critical information. And don’t hesitate to repeat yourself in the weeks leading up to an event—repetition helps ensure that key messages aren’t missed.

Steps to KISS messaging:

• Keep each message focused on one or two key points.
• Use bullet points or numbered lists to break up information.
• Highlight essential details (time, location, sign-up deadlines).
• For longer updates, summarize the key points at the beginning of the message.

4.  Delegate communication responsibilities (instead of taking it all on yourself)

I used to think that, as the leader, I needed to oversee every single detail of holiday church communication. This led to burnout, missed details, and a lot of unnecessary stress.

What I learned (eventually!) was the importance of delegating communication tasks.

Start by identifying key people who can help manage specific aspects of communication. For example, you might assign one person to handle volunteer coordination and another to manage your ministry’s social media. By dividing the workload, you’ll reduce your stress and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. A good tool for this is Slack or a shared Trello board where each person can see their responsibilities and deadlines.

Steps to delegate better:

• Identify people on your team who can take on specific communication roles (social media manager, volunteer coordinator, etc.).
• Use project management tools like Trello or Slack to keep communication tasks organized.
• Hold short check-ins to make sure everyone is on track with their assignments.

5.  Tailor your message for each audience (instead of sending one generic update)

Another challenge I ran into was sending out the same email to everyone—staff, volunteers, attendees—and hoping it would stick. But it became quickly clear that each group has different needs.

Tailoring your message for each audience is crucial. Your student leaders probably don’t need the updated plan prep plan for the nursery (and vice-versa). Parents and older students might get the same updates, but the style in which you communicate should look totally different.

Volunteers need specific instructions on where to be and when, while families need details like event times and check-in processes. Leaders may need a high-level overview of what’s going on behind the scenes. Instead of one-size-fits-all messaging, consider crafting separate church communication updates for each group, ensuring the information is relevant and useful.

Steps to improve:

• Segment your audience into staff, volunteers, and attendees.
• Customize communications based on their needs. For example, volunteers need logistics, while attendees need event highlights.
• Use your church’s email tool to create segmented lists, sending targeted messages that address the specific concerns of each group.

Don’t let poor church communication ruin your Christmas celebrations

In my experience, the difference between a stressful holiday season and a successful one often comes down to communication. By planning early, centralizing your church communication channels, keeping your messages clear, delegating tasks, and customizing your communications for different audiences, you’ll find the holiday season runs much more smoothly.

I’m privileged to work at Subsplash, and we serve over 20,000 organizations with powerful communication tools, like push notifications, text (SMS) messaging, group chats, bulk emails, and more—all on one platform. This makes communication so much easier for my church and so many others.

My hope is that you won’t have to learn the hard way like I did. Using the steps above, your church will be able to focus on what really matters this Christmas: celebrating the gift of Jesus Christ and engaging with your community in a meaningful way!

P.S. Looking for more tips from Subsplash? Check out 7 Hacks to Upgrade Your Church Check-in Experience.