A Guide to Communicating Care with Guest Presenters (and others!)
- Matthew Lucio
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Matthew J. Lucio
Assistant to the President for Communication
COMMUNICATION IS CARE
Communicating well with someone is caring for someone. Good communication anticipates the other person's needs, values their time, and seeks to eliminate friction.
For example, here’s how churches might communicate well with guest presenters—musicians, preachers, and others—with some feedback from our ILC pastors.
PHASE 1: THE INVITATION
The invitation you send to a guest presenter should be warm and to the point. This invitation might be the first encounter they have with your church, so it would be helpful to share a line about your church's mission and values. This can help your guest presenter—speakers especially—form an idea about the type of audience they are addressing as they prepare their message.
You should also make the guest presenter aware of any themes or special occasions happening on the day of their arrival. Is it the church’s one-hundredth anniversary? Are there baptisms? Is there a week of prayer at the church school? Guest presenters might wish to know in advance so they can tailor their message to the occasion.
Once your guest presenter accepts the invitation, be sure to send a follow-up email thanking them.
PHASE 2: THE ANTICIPATION
Two Weeks Before. Two weeks before the appointment, confirm the details and reiterate that your church is looking forward to their arrival. It would be nice to tell them if there are any special occasions happening on the day of their appointment as well, as they may wish to incorporate the occasion into their message.
This is a great time to lay out a timeline of what you need from the guest presenter. For example, "We will need sermon slides by October 27. You can send them to media@JesusChurch.org."
One Week Before. In this message, you can repeat the timeline of what you need from them and by when. This is also a good time to tell them anything they need to know about arriving, like parking and service times. If the appointment is on Sabbath, does the guest presenter have lunch plans?
You can ask if they have any special requests for your tech team (e.g., they need to show a video, need an extra mic for an instrument, etc.) Once again, express that your church is excited for their arrival and provide the guest presenter with a point of contact (including a phone number).
PHASE 3: THE PRESENTATION
The Appointment. Ideally, the point of contact should be ready to welcome the guest presenter at the door. If you have a green room (a quiet space for the presenter to place their things and make any last-minute changes) you would do well to show them that room. There is no need to hover, but ensure the guest feels supported. Little things, like making sure they have water, praying for them, and that they understand the order of service, can go a long way towards fostering familiarity. (We are used to the places to sit and stand and kneel in our worship services, but guest presenters aren't.)
It is courteous to introduce the guest presenter, whether from the platform, in the bulletin, or both.
PHASE 4: THE APPRECIATION
While not required, giving the guest presenter an inexpensive gift bag is a welcome gesture. The gift doesn’t have to be extravagant (one church gives out mugs with their church logo on it). This has the double effect of conveying tangible care for the guest presenter while also promoting the church.
Finances can be a tricky thing for a guest presenter to bring up, so if your church agreed to cover travel expenses, you might remind the presenter to submit their receipts.
Final Communication. Whether you give a gift or not, a church ought to send a follow-up communication to the guest speaker within a week after their speaking appointment. This short message may be based on a standard message sent to all guest presenters, but it should be thoughtful. For example:
Communicating well isn't a lot of work, but it does require intentionality.
FROM PRACTICE TO PRINCIPLE
Jesus often addressed peoples' needs before they were recognized. Jesus initially ignored the paralytic man's need for physical healing in Mark 2, instead speaking to his deeper need of forgiveness. In John 4, Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about her need of living water—a need she didn't initially understand but quickly acknowledged.
In the same way, thoughtful communication in the church shows care by anticipating others' needs before they arise. This principle might be applied to how churches communicate with visitors, members, and the community.
Communicating well calls us to empathy by inviting us to place ourselves placing ourselves in others' shoes and endeavoring to address their needs, often before they discover those needs. Good communication is care and caring for others is ministry.
NEXT STEPS
Have some ideas about communicating with guest presenters? Write to communication@ilcsda.org and share them!
Please send any news items of what God is doing around the Illinois Conference to communication@ilcsda.org.