The Church and the News
For the news media, news is that thing that is out of the ordinary. It's news when a man bites a dog because that's out of the ordinary. But it's not news when a dog bites a man because that happens all the time.
Thus, it becomes a bit of a challenge for us sometimes when we try to get news coverage for the good things our churches and ministries do. Churches do good things all the time so that isn't really out of the ordinary. People expect a church to do good things. But when something bad happens in or to a church - now that's news from the news media's perspective because it's out of the ordinary.
The consolation we can take from all of this, of course, is that despite the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal, fallen televangelists and other wounds that the Church has self inflicted at times, it's still considered out of the ordinary when something bad happens in a church.
So how do we deal with the tough times?
Yes, It Can Happen To Your Church!
The first thing we all have to come to grips with in thinking about crisis management is that, yes, it can happen to us and to our churches. You probably realize this already since you are reading this article but we all have a tendency to hold back the “hope” that it won't.
The fact of the matter, however, is that it's usually not so much a matter of “if” but “when.” For instance:
- A fire or tornado or flood can destroy our building. We can't always foresee or control natural disasters.
- A bus or van wreck can bring injury or even death to members on mission trips. Accidents happen.
- A moral failure by a pastor or other key church leader can send your church into a tailspin in all kinds of ways. People are sinful which is why we need Christ to begin with and even Christian people can do very wrong things.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Recognizing that bad things happen and very well may happen to your church doesn't mean we throw up our hands and give up though. Good crisis planning always begins with looking ahead and trying to avoid crises before they occur as well as taking actions that can mitigate crises when they do occur.
I remember seeing a cartoon once that showed a sign on the typical hallway fire extinguisher case that says, “In case of accident, break glass.” But instead of a fire extinguisher, the case holds a friendly public relations guy - briefcase in hand and ready to save the day. The implication is that you can just wait for a crisis to happen and then call someone in to make a few calls or write a press release to make the problem go away.
Of course that's not the way of the real world. Once you actually find yourself in some kind of crisis mode, you are, at that point, really doing damage control for your church and ministry. That is sometimes totally unavoidable. But let's start our discussion of crisis management with a few tips about how to prepare ahead of time in such a way as to prevent a public relations crisis or to mitigate it if it does occur.
The first thing and best thing you can do to avoid a crisis - at least the self-inflicted kind - is to simply conduct your ministry properly. Run a tight ship:
- Have good accountability procedures in place to protect your finances and pay your bills on time.
- Do background checks on ministers, employees and anyone who is going to work with vulnerable people like children or the elderly.
- Make sure you have adequate insurance for your building and its contents.
- Treat all people fairly. Be gracious and generous if you have to fire someone or end a business relationship.
In short, ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” in every situation and conduct yourself and the business of your church or ministry accordingly.
I know that this sounds like common sense - and it is - but the fact is that many, many crisis situations can be traced back to a ministry failing to take common sense actions before the crisis ever occurred.
Invest in the Trust Bank
The next thing you can do in advance of a crisis is to invest in the “trust” bank - no, not the bank and trust -- the trust bank. What I mean here is to be about the work of doing good in your community and share this in appropriate ways. If you have a reputation for doing good, people really will cut you some slack during the tough times. By contributing to the trust bank when times are good you will have some goodwill in reserve to bolster you in a crisis. It will help to mitigate the crisis because people will be a little slower to believe the worst about you and quicker to believe the best.
