Forests of phone trees took root in communities across Alberta during the COVID pandemic. Pastors and priests used Phone Trees to branch out care for every person in their congregation through weekly or by-weekly calls, texts or emails. There was a common refrain heard from church after church: “I don’t remember as much attention from my church than I’ve had during isolation.”  And some congregants, feeling sidelined by age or mobility, found an invigorating new role in making phone calls. (If you are new to a leadership role in your church, check out the blog Setting Up A Phone Tree )

Some pastors have sheepishly enthused that physical distancing brought unexpected benefits.  That means a synonym for “physical distancing” is “serendipity”.

Serendipity is a noun, coined in the middle of the 18th century by author Horace Walpole (he took it from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip).  A serendipitist is "one who finds valuable or agreeable things not sought for."

With plans formulating to return onsite, now is not the time to chop down your phone tree.  Not now, or ever.

Communication and Engagement

Now is the time to insure your phone tree is rooted firmly in the DNA of your ministry. 

Make the process fluid and individualized to each caller. They know their people. Continue to write directional scripts for your callers to identify key takeaways. Follow-up on what congregants are learning about God, engaging in the Sunday messages, what they are reading, or how they can be better resourced. Give callers a temporary break when needed and slot in newly trained volunteers.

Take advantage of the changing landscape and set up systems to improve communication and engagement over time.  For example: 

A phone tree serves multiple purposes. You can: 

·      Quickly mobilize members to sensitive or urgent situations such as prayer requests or last-minute schedule changes. 

·      Notify members of meetings and other important events where attendance may be crucial. 

·      Make follow-up calls to event invitations to increase turnout.

·      Mobilize more people who may be limited physically but not socially as volunteer callers.

Want to get your database up-to-date with people’s email addresses and phone numbers?  Implement new communication strategies and make it clear that you’ll continue or commence using texts and emails to keep people informed.  That way, they want to make sure you have their up-to-date information. How To Connect Using Mailchimp 

Want everyone to be part of a small group?  Assign them to one for physical distancing implementation at your first in-person service.

Promote use of online small groups. Host Alpha online (Setting Up And Hosting Online Alpha) or how-to-groups, or courses to reach your community (Running Online Courses To Reach Your Community). 

Online groups have proven to be contexts where participants display levels of vulnerability that are equal to or greater than in person contexts.

Check out this resource for online groups. 5 Things To Remember When Leading Online Small Groups.

Increase your church’s engagement and connection and whole you’re at it, add to your resume, serendipitist.  

Please let us know you will act as a conservationist with your Phone Tree. Share a story below of using a Phone Tree during COVID. Thank you.

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