Central Mexico: First communication summit emphasizes connecting more with the community

February 22, 2012 – Bella Vista del Rio, Querétaro, Mexico…Libna Stevens/IAD/ANN Staff

Liliana Ramos wants her church to communicate its mission in the community more effectively.

For three years, the 25-year-old has served as the communication director at the Villacoapa Adventist Church in Mexico City publishing bulletins, coordinating advertising for evangelistic outreach and delivering announcements from the platform Saturday mornings.

But Ramos said she thinks that public relations at the local church level should be much more.

“It’s about sharing the Christian impact our church has in the community, not just talking to our members and letting them know what is going on,” said Ramos, who holds a marketing degree and is earning a master’s degree in communication and advertising.

To learn more about how to do just that, Ramos traveled to Bella Vista del Rio in northern central Mexico last month to participate in the church’s first communication summit. About 80 local church communicators were in attendance. She found out that most of her peers who were recently appointed to the position of communication director for their church have no solid background in the area of communication but are willing to make a difference in reaching their respective communities.

Church leaders say the first goal of the summit was to understand what religious public relations is and dissolve misconceptions.

“Public relations is actually a secular craft to support spiritual work – just like people who cook in a church kitchen or deacons who move chairs. It needs to be done by people who know how to do it well,” said Ansel Oliver, an assistant director in the Communication department at the Adventist Church world headquarters, who offered several workshops.

“The misconception is that we are ‘sharing the gospel with the community’ or ‘proclaiming truth.’ While we work to support an organization that does that, our goal as communication leaders is to share information in public forums so people are familiar with and have a positive impression of our brand as Seventh-day Adventists,” Oliver said.

“That’s a great way to support our ministers and members who do offer spiritual support for community members in our churches,” he said.

For Ramos, it was a message that hasn’t been preached much. She learned that most of her fellow communicators felt the same. What’s more, she said, some of them had been considered mere announcers of upcoming events and activities.

“Sometimes it’s about the culture in the church,” says Ramos. “The challenge is, some church leaders and members don’t understand the function or the positive impact communication can have in the community and aren’t as supportive.”

She is thankful her pastor has been supportive in her role with projects like setting up a website for her church, but she still struggles to do more in a church where there are only 15 young people for which she can ask for help.

Understanding the role and responsibilities of the church communicator was a major reason for the summit, said Jorge Garcia, Communication director for the denomination’s Central Mexican Union, and organizer of the event, which drew communicators from the four conferences and mission territories in the region.

The summit was held at Rancho Nuevo Adventist Church, situated in a rural area without Internet or mobile access.

“We wanted to ensure communicators understand their important role in the church and the community and become better communicators as well,” said Garcia.

Developing more effective communicators is key to reaching the large urban areas, church leaders said. Mexico City has more than 24 million people and a church membership of about 67,000.

“The life of the church is becoming more and more professional, not only culturally but technologically,” said Pastor Tomas Torres, president of the church in Central Mexico. “Mexico City has many challenges but great opportunities.”

Pastor Torres said the Communication department is a ministry and has a specific purpose “to communicate the truth that we know,” he added as he thanked the young local church communicator crowd for their interest as he reflected on the theme of “Building Bridges of Hope.”

The event also featured consultants from the Inter-American Division (IAD) office in Miami, Florida. Seminar and training workshop topics covered the vision and challenges in communication, the duties of the communication director, crisis communication, news writing and reporting, media relations and netAdventist — a content management software platform for church websites.

Days earlier, communication directors from throughout the four church conferences and missions in Central Mexico also met to strategize and network as they oversee communication throughout the 176 churches in the territory.

For Ramos, the summit gave her the tools to go back to her church and strive to implement new methods in her role as communication director. She also experienced hope.

“I was impressed with the impact church news could have in the community and even around the world church,” said Ramos. She is driven to share with her church leaders and members how positive and influential communicating with the media and community can be.

Luis Miguel Flores of the Tenango del Valle Adventist Church in Toluca has understood his responsibilities during the summit. He was recently appointed as the communication director at his 150-member church. At 29 and nearly completing his studies in information technology, he goes back with the goal of setting up a website for his church.

“I want to motivate my church to jump on board and participate in and coordinate events to benefit the community,” said Flores. He has a number of peers whom he wants to enlist to help him maintain the website.

Organized in 2008, the Central Mexican Union is one of four major church regions in Mexico. The church there oversees two conferences and two missions in the Federal District of Mexico, the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Michoacan and Querétaro, as well as dozens of primary and secondary schools.

For more information on the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Mexico, visit www.unionmexicanacentral.org

To view photos of Central Mexico’s Communication Summit, click here