Communications Director
First United Methodist Church/The Open Door Bloomington, IN
Reports to: Lead Pastor
Directly supports: Program and pastoral staff
Status: Full-time (40) hrs
FLSA: Exempt
Who We Are
FUMC is a vibrant, progressive congregation that embraces a mission-minded worldview, and desires to share its faith and resources with the larger community and world. We are a Christ-centered community, open to all, making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Job Summary
The Communications Director will serve FUMC by working with a team to provide effective communications within the church, in our local community, and beyond. The Director will lead staff, volunteers, and members in assessing communications needs; recruit, train and supervise a team of communication volunteers; and create, delegate, or assist with the creation of anything people view, touch, or click regarding the ministries of the church.
- View includes any messages communicated from or about the church, whether in audiovisual, electronic, or print form.
- Touch includes print materials such as brochures, mass mailings/postcards, newspaper advertisements, or anything else that represents the church in print form.
- Click relates to any form of web or email based technology, as well as social media tools like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
The ideal candidate will be an innovative, creative, and supportive leader, passionate about effective communication, who will inspire our congregation and community.
Essential Functions
- Help us tell the stories of God’s work and love in this place to our people and the larger community.
- Create and maintain a system of communication to share information about FUMC with church and community leaders, the congregation, and the general public.
- Manage and regularly update posts and pages on the FUMCB website to keep our online presence fresh and relevant.
- Design, create, and manage ongoing communications such as the weekly Constant Contact email newsletter and a possible quarterly print newsletter or magazine.
- Maintain FUMCB/TOD Facebook page and Twitter feed. Monitor the staff’s social media posts on our pages to ensure that content is fresh, engaging, and appropriate.
- Design (or work with other staff to assist in designing) brochures, postcards, booklets, mailers and other promotional, educational and informational materials as requested by the program or pastoral staff.
- Oversee advertising and marketing of church ministries, both inside and outside the church, through a variety of online and print media.
- Develop, with the Communication Team, a communications budget and then manage that budget after approval by the Church Council.
- Assist other staff and ministry leaders with communication needs.
- Develop a strategy for evaluating communications efforts on an ongoing basis.
- Build good public relations with the congregation, local organizations, and the general public.
- Recruit and coordinate the training of communication volunteers, as appropriate, and supervise those volunteers.
- Provide basic onsite IT assistance to staff and ministry leaders.
- Assist the Pastor(s) with miscellaneous tasks as needed.
Other Responsibilities
- Participate in staff meetings and other meetings as needed
- Participate in the life of the congregation so there is a familiarity with the people and ministries of FUMC.
Minimum Qualifications
- Demonstrable proficiency in a range of communication skills and software, including copywriting and editing, graphic design, advertising and marketing, WordPress, Adobe Creative Suite, etc.
- Ability to interact and work with all kinds of people and enjoy working as part of a team.
- Comfortable managing multiple projects at the same time.
- Bachelor’s degree or professional certification preferred.
- Experience with audio and video editing preferred.
Physical Requirements
Able to use a computer for extended periods of time
Able to move freely in and out of different church settings
Able to speak comfortably in public to both small and large groups
Core Competencies
Written Communications – Is able to write clearly and succinctly; employs correct grammar, punctuation and patterns of speech; clearly delivers message in a tone appropriate to the context.
Attention to Detail – Consistently attends to the many small pieces which must be assembled into an organized whole; follows up on missing or out-of-balance items; resolves unanswered questions needed to address a problem; keeps the big picture in mind while tending to small details.
Creativity and Innovation – Generates new ideas; makes new connections among existing ideas to create fresh approaches; takes acceptable risks in pursuit of innovation; learns from mistakes; has good judgment about which creative ideas and suggestions will work.
Organizing – Can put into place organizational systems in a church office setting; can orchestrate multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal; can use resources effectively and efficiently.
Planning – Can work with other staff for effective scheduling and sharing of both people and material resources; breaks down work into process steps; develops schedules and task/people assignments; anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks; measures performance against goals; evaluates results.
Project Management – Identifies the key objective and scope of a proposed project; assembles needed resources and project support, develops a realistic and thorough plan for achieving key objectives, keeps team members briefed on progress, implements action plans, identifies and resolves barriers and problems.
Organizational Knowledge – Knowledgeable about how congregational communication, decision making, and leadership works; knows how to get things done through formal and informal decision-making channels; can maneuver through charged political situations effectively and quietly; anticipates organizational barriers and plans approach accordingly.
Revised 5/30/2016