Church Communications Team Roles: Who Owns What When You Have a Small Staff

"Communications" is on everyone's job description and no one's job description.

The pastor writes the sermon notes. The admin formats the bulletin. The volunteer posts to Instagram. The youth pastor texts their own announcements. And somehow everyone thinks someone else is handling email.

When ownership is unclear, things fall through cracks. Announcements get missed. Deadlines slip. The same content gets created twice—or not at all.

Clear roles aren't about creating bureaucracy. They're about preventing balls from dropping.

The One-Person Church

If you're the only staff doing communications, here's reality: you can't do everything.

What to prioritize:

1. Bulletin (people in the room need to know what's happening)
2. One other channel (pick email OR social, not both)

That's it. Do two things well. Don't spread yourself across four channels and do all of them poorly.

Time-boxing: Communications should take no more than 4-5 hours per week. If it's taking more, you're either doing too much or need better systems.

Practical breakdown:

• Monday: Collect announcements, plan the week
• Tuesday-Wednesday: Build bulletin and email (or social)
• Thursday: Finalize, schedule
• Friday: Buffer day

Tools that help:

• Templates you reuse weekly
• Scheduling tools (post once, done)
• Submission forms (stop chasing content)

If you're solo, your job is ruthless prioritization. You're not a marketing department. You're one person making sure the essentials get communicated.

The Small Team: Admin + Pastor + Volunteer

This is most small-to-midsize churches. Three people touching communications in different ways.

The pastor isn't designing graphics, but they set the messaging direction.

Responsibilities:

• Approve what we're talking about
• Provide sermon info, series themes, pastoral notes
• Final sign-off on major announcements
• Submit content by deadlines like everyone else

Not responsible for: production, design, posting, scheduling.

The pastor's job is direction, not execution.

This is the person who makes it happen. The builder.

Responsibilities:

• Gather announcements from ministry leaders
• Write and format bulletin content
• Build and schedule email
• Manage the calendar and deadlines
• Quality control (proofread, check links)

Not responsible for: creating content from scratch for every ministry, daily social media engagement.

The production owner turns raw information into finished communication.

This is the social media person, or whoever monitors a specific channel.

Responsibilities:

• Post to social media on schedule
• Respond to comments and messages
• Capture photos on Sunday
• Report back what's working

Not responsible for: writing content from scratch, managing email or bulletin.

The channel owner extends your reach without adding to staff workload.

The handoffs:

Clear handoffs prevent "I thought you were doing that."

• Pastor submits content by Monday
• Admin produces by Thursday
• Volunteer posts on schedule

When someone misses their handoff, the next person can't do their job. Make deadlines clear and hold each other accountable.

The Dedicated Communications Role

When a church grows enough to have a communications director or coordinator, the job changes.

What this role does:

• Strategy: deciding what we talk about, when, where
• Production: creating or overseeing content creation
• Coordination: making sure ministry leaders submit on time
• Measurement: tracking what's working

What this role doesn't do:

• Create every piece of content for every ministry
• Be the personal assistant for everyone's flyers
• Make up for other people's missed deadlines

The biggest danger for a dedicated comms person: becoming the "make my flyer" person. Every ministry leader shows up with requests. Without boundaries, you're a graphics shop, not a strategic role.

Setting boundaries:

"I handle church-wide communications. For ministry-specific pieces, I can provide templates and guidelines, but production is on your team."

"I need content submitted by Tuesday. If it misses the deadline, it goes in next week's materials."

"I create the strategy and schedule. We can talk about whether your event fits into this week's priorities."

Protecting the role's time is essential. Otherwise it becomes reactive order-taking instead of proactive communication.

Training Ministry Leaders

In any structure, ministry leaders are submitting content to you. They can either make your job easier or harder.

Train them on:

• How to submit (the form, the deadline)
• What good content looks like (complete, on-brand, specific)
• What happens when they miss deadlines

The submission form:

Every request comes through one form. No texts. No hallway asks. No "can you just..." emails.

The form captures:

• Event/announcement name
• Date, time, location
• Who it's for
• What action people should take
• Any images

When someone submits incomplete info, send it back. "I'm missing the deadline for this event—can you add that and resubmit?"

Celebrating good submissions:

When someone nails it—complete info, on time, well-written—tell them. "This was exactly what I needed. Thank you."

Positive reinforcement shapes behavior faster than complaints.

The Handoff Points

Most communication failures happen at handoffs:

Ministry leader submits content. Who confirms it's received? Who follows up on incomplete info?

Content is drafted. Who reviews? What's the turnaround expectation?

Content is approved. Who schedules it? Who confirms it went live?

At each point, someone needs to own the handoff. Document it simply:

When something goes wrong, you can trace where the breakdown happened.

Tools That Create Accountability

You don't need fancy software, but you need something shared.

Shared document or spreadsheet:

A running list of what's being promoted, who submitted it, and its status.

Project management tool (optional):

Trello, Asana, Notion. A board showing what's in progress, what needs approval, what's done.

Submission form:

Google Forms, Jotform, or built into your church management system.

The tool matters less than consistency. Pick something and use it every week.

Making It Work

Clear roles require two things:

Write down who does what. One page. Share it with everyone involved.

Follow the process even when it's inconvenient. The pastor submits like everyone else. Missed deadlines have consequences.

It feels rigid at first. Then it becomes automatic. And the balls stop dropping.