As a Jesus-follower, my one goal and desire is to obtain a career where I can serve Him in all that I do. I have a passion for helping others and my goal is to obtain a career where I can be God’s hands and feet to do this and therefore serve Him.
Public relations is a a large field with a variety of responsibilities and is present in numerous industries. Being an advertising and public relations major, I think it would be interesting and meet my career goals to have a career in public relations in a ministry.
Before researching public relations in ministry, I knew very little about this career in this industry. I was not sure what the job would entail or how and why a ministry would need public relations. However, after extensive research, my questions were answered.
According to Colleen Coplick, most people define public relations by its tactics, such as coverage in newspapers, pictures in magazines, and interviews (2016). She defined it as “the deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to establish and maintain communication and mutual understanding between an organization and its public” (Coplick, 2016).
This definition makes public relations seem very doable in a ministry. Communication and mutual understanding is pertinent to any relationship. It is important that a church has good communication with its members, the community, employees, and more.
However, maintaining good communication and mutual understandings are not the only tasks of public relations in ministry. One of the goals for most ministries and Christians are to spread the word of God. Public relations can be used to do this. According to Howard Weeks, public relations is important for communicating effectively and reaching the minds of men in a persuasive, convincing manner (1960). Weeks explained, “we will want to become personally acquainted with the people, to learn of their interests and attitudes before we rush in to impose ours upon them. Moreover, we will want to become acquainted with persons of influence, not because this gratifies our ego but for their own sakes and because their acquaintance will help us to reach a larger sphere of Christian influence (1960).
Public relations in ministry also involves promoting events, activities, fundraisers and more. According to Andrea Simpson, it involves creating awareness for these events for the public and the ministry’s attendants which will provide a positive perception of the ministry in the community (2015). She elaborated on these responsibilities by stating that a public relations coordinator will share information with the community about the ministry or organization’s missions, needs and activities as well as secure funding and community resources to support church programs and activities (Simpson, 2015).
Overall, a career in public relations in ministry would involve planning, organizing, leading, fundraising, communicating, and more. With passions such as Jesus, helping others, organizing, and planning, I believe that I would love a career in public relations in a ministry as it would allow me to use these passions together to serve Jesus.
References
Coplick, C. (2016, January). What is public relations? Business people know they need it, but they don’t know where to start. Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 107(1), 20+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA141448162&sid=summon&v=2.1&u=lom_gvalleysu&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&asid=56e762f37a122822ded15bdc950c4c65
Simpson, A. (2015, May 12). Public Relations and Your Ministry. In FaithLeaders.com. Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://faithleaders.com/articles/2015/05/public-relations-and-your-ministry
Weeks, H. B. (1960). What is church public relations? Ministry International Journal for Pastors. Retrieved from https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1960/08/what-is-church-public-relations
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