Communications Update

What is The Sundial?  

Some of you have read it for years; others may have never heard of it.  Here is some history of The Sundial.

For decades, the congregation’s monthly newsletter was called The Sundial.  This was the primary means of people staying connected… before email, before social media, before almost any electronic communication.  Paper newsletters and phone trees - everybody used them!  The Sundial was complied and printed internally, and then stamped and mailed in hard-copy to every member of the congregation.  For most of its history, it did not contain pictures; what it did contain was lots of information about upcoming events, reports from different teams and groups, and notes from various congregational leaders.  Since Rev. Jason arrived, he also added an article introducing the month’s theme and sometimes a list of resources to go along with it.  

Communicating is important.  All of this has been worthwhile and those who have made The Sundial go all of these years are derserving of our love and gratitude.  Thank you!!!!!

Why the change?

The first real change to The Sundial occurred in 2014, eleven years ago.  We moved from a hard-copy newsletter delivered by snail-mail… to a mostly-online newsletter delivered by email.  The format (via PDF) remained the same, however, and printed copies were mailed to those who requested them.  The major benefits of going electronic were financial and environmental: lower production cost and fewer trees because of less paper.  (One tension of printed emails is that the more you have going on, the more pages you need to print!)

That was 2014.  A lot has changed since then — and continues to change today — in terms of how we communicate… how we communicate as individuals and how we expect groups we are part of to keep us informed and share information.  A long, text-heavy monochrome PDF sent by email became outdated; readership declined.  In addition, the pace of change seems to have quickened.  This was especially the case during the pandemic, when decisions and guidance were changing every few days.  What we had printed in The Sundial was no longer current just a week later.

The situation really came to a head earlier this year when the volunteer primarily responsible for the newsletter was hospitalized… and, at the same time, Microsoft announced they were discontinuing the program we’ve used to lay it out (Publisher).

Sometimes you just have to listen when the universe tells you something. Our communications practices needed an update.

What is happening now?

We just recently completed and debuted a new website, based on feedback about the last one.  Folks wanted it to be simpler, easier to navigate.  We’re still working out some kinks, but we feel pretty good about it right now… both in terms of how it looks/functions and how it is to maintain and keep updated.

Even more recently, we restarted a weekly email update.  This now ties in even more powerfully with the website.  News, events, articles, and more… can be picked up right from the site and included in email updates.  This may not seem like a big deal to the average reader… but for those responsible for pulling together those old newsletters, this is much easier!

Our communications team is still learning some of the nuances, and we are in regular communication with our tech partners regarding additional needs.  (For example, a customized app was created for us… but we now need to make some tweaks to make it fit our culture and needs.  More to come on that soon!)

Regarding weekly communications, we are following a similar format as scheduling: we have a weekly planning meeting on Wednesdays.  Items submitted before then will be discussed at that meeting, and every effort will be made to include events and news, as appropriate.  If you have an idea for an event or a communication, we invite you to be in touch as early as possible in your process to allow for coordination & collaboration.

Regarding a monthly newsletter… will we have one again?  Maybe.  Do we need one?  Maybe.  What functions did it serve that we haven’t yet picked up in other ways (e.g., weekly email, social media, text alerts, app…)?  These are some of the questions we’re asking now.  Remember: all of this is done in the spirit of moving us forward, not taking things away.  Your feedback is always welcome as we transition together and try to find the best ways to communicate with the most folks.

Some further reading...

5 Clever Church Newsletter Alternatives To Use In 2021

Should Texting Replace Your Church Email Newsletter?

The Rebirth of Newsletters: Leveraging Substack & Email Marketing (Forbes)

Social Media and Safer Communications (UUA)