While some churches have a full-time communications staff person (or even multiple), many are limited to a part-time employee or even a volunteer. So, how do you market a communications job and which functions should you include if you have limited hours? There is no one right or wrong answer, but we have some thoughts and ideas for you to consider.

Elements to include in a job description:

  • Your church’s location, and whether or not working remotely is possible
  • The number of hours you expect the applicant to work (a range is fine)
  • Information concerning your reporting structure and this position’s place in your organization
  • A list of specific responsibilities associated with the role
  • An “about you” section that tells the story of the organization
  • A list of the candidate’s desired skills and qualifications (type/level of education, years of experience, etc.)
  • A title for the position (if the person is overseeing all aspects of communications, director of communications is probably appropriate; if they’re managing a specific area, perhaps communications specialist is more fitting)
  • Special instructions for applying, if applicable

Functions to consider based on the number of hours working each week:

40 hours per week:

• Develop and oversee marketing and communication strategies for key church initiatives and events; maintain consistent voice and messaging across platforms
• Create new church website every three to five years; maintain, and/or update church website on a weekly basis
• Create logos, banner design, signage, brochures, etc. to help tell the church’s story in a visually appealing way
• Create weekly worship bulletin and/or worship slides with content from pastor(s) and worship leader(s) that creatively incorporate worship themes and liturgical seasons
• Create and send weekly e-newsletters and monthly print newsletters that tell the story of the church’s ministry and upcoming events in a visually appealing way

• Create and design special projects, such as a congregational directory, annual report, and congregational mailings
• Take photographs that illustrate the church’s ministry and mission for use in communications and marketing materials
• Develop and produce basic video resources
• Maintain a strong social media presence by posting daily to the church’s platforms in an engaging way that informs people and calls them to action
• Develop and manage an annual communications budget

• Assist with live streaming of worship and special events
• Promote newsworthy stories and events through annual conference channels and to local news outlets  
• Attend staff meetings
• Oversee and recruit church volunteers for a communications ministry

20 hours per week:

• Maintain and update church website every one to two weeks
• Periodically create logos, banner design, signage, brochures, etc. to help tell the church’s story in a visually appealing way
• Create weekly worship bulletin and/or worship slides with content from pastor(s) and worship leader(s) that creatively incorporate worship themes and liturgical seasons
• Create and send weekly e-newsletters OR a monthly print newsletter that tells the story of the church’s ministry and upcoming events in a visually appealing way
• Maintain a strong social media presence by posting daily to the church’s platforms in an engaging way that informs people and calls them to action
• Develop and manage an annual communications budget

• Assist with live streaming of worship and special events
• Attend staff meetings

10 hours per week:

• Maintain and update church website every two to three weeks
• Create weekly worship bulletin and/or worship slides with content from pastor(s) and worship leader(s) that creatively incorporate worship themes and liturgical seasons
• Create and send weekly e-newsletters that advertise the church’s upcoming events, with some content provided by other staff
• Maintain a strong social media presence by posting to the church’s platforms at least five times per week in an engaging way that informs people and calls them to action

5 hours per week:

• Provide basic updates to the church website monthly, including noting what’s coming up in the next month
• Create and send a weekly e-newsletter that advertises the church’s three to four key upcoming events, with some content provided by other staff
• Maintain a strong social media presence by posting to the church’s platforms at least three to five times per week in an engaging way that informs people and calls them to action

*Note: You might decide to swap out the weekly e-newsletter creation or the social media posts in favor of creating the weekly worship bulletin and/or worship slides. With only five hours per week, you need to be judicious in determining what the most critical communications functions are for your ministry (ones that couldn’t be done as effectively by other staff or volunteers), and assign work accordingly. But we’d strongly urge you to keep at least some function designed to reach people beyond the walls of your church.

3 hours per week:

• Do basic website maintenance, including changing out worship times and updating staff page as necessary
• Create and send an e-newsletter every one to two weeks that advertises the church’s three to four key upcoming events, with some content provided by other staff
• Post to the church’s social media platforms at least three to five times per week, typically recycling content from e-newsletters or bulletin

*Note: You might decide to swap out the weekly e-newsletter creation or the social media posts in favor of creating the weekly worship bulletin and/or worship slides. With only three hours per week, you need to be judicious in determining what the most critical communications functions are for your ministry (ones that couldn’t be done as effectively by other staff or volunteers), and assign work accordingly. But we’d strongly urge you to keep at least some function designed to reach people beyond the walls of your church.

Examples of strong job descriptions

The purpose of these examples isn’t to tell you which content to include in your own job descriptions but rather to show you what a clear, comprehensive, and well-articulated job description looks like. Our hope is that the level of detail included in these examples helps you think through the details that might be helpful to include in your own listing, even if the job is completely different. 

Full-time
• Christ UMC (Rochester) director of communications

Part-time
• Hennepin Avenue UMC communications specialist (graphic design & videography)
• Champlin UMC communications specialist