The communication team at GNJ has a goal to provide excellent, clear, coordinated messages to serve our mission to equip spiritual leaders to grow vital congregations. We can help you with a wide variety of needs. Looking for a place to start? Click here.

Audience | Any group of people targeted for an event or promotion from a GNJ body. For example: IGNITE, Bishop’s Clergy Convocation, Cluster Conferences.

Purpose

• coordinate all marketing efforts
• ensure all materials are branded and positioned to align with GNJ’s mission
• create targeted cross platform promotion
• maximize attendance from desired audience.

Deadline | Preferably six months and at least three months in advance of event.

Process | The communications team will create and implement a marketing plan for event promotion at the direction of the sponsoring entity. Events usually require a two to three month window (sometimes more) prior to the event. Major events should be discussed with the Director of Communication six months in advance so planning, design and strategy can be put into place. The communication team will outline a marketing plan for approval and implement each phase of the plan including tracking and event evaluation. Contact the Director of Communication to get started.

Audience | Options include all clergy, all current clergy and lay leaders, or all active and inactive clergy and lay leaders up to a total of approximately 20,000 records.

Purpose

• a voice from the bishop on important matters facing the denomination or events in the conference
• an administrative tool to provide conference wide updates on important business including shared ministry, goal setting, charge conference forms, etc
• a way to provide comfort and context to urgent current events that call for prayer or action on the part of United Methodists
• used sparingly so that the messages heighten in importance

Deadline | Dependent on the current events and/or communication needs of the bishop and administration.

Process | Content determined by the bishop and executive leadership team.

Audience | Any selected clergy or lay segments of 20 or more determined by the sending body.

For example: reminder from superintendent to clergy for regional event, invitation or encouragement to attend a training or information about resourcing from the connectional ministries team, surveys or evaluations to event attendees.

Any email of this type given to the regional teams should be forwarded to communications for processing. Superintendents are welcome to send out internal emails in groups to district groups about district events and activities that do not have conference impact.

Purpose | Communicate regular updates or meeting notices to targeted lists

Deadline | Usually within 1 business day. If request is off business hours, please text Carolyn Conover 310.850.1940 for immediate response.

Process | Content for group emails goes through the communication team for set up, tracking, branding and processing. Lists of segments can be pulled from Arena or requested through communications. The communications team creates branded templates, reviews content for consistency and branding and tracks results. All requests should be sent to the Communication Team Administrative Assistant.

Audience | Any selected segment that is controlled by the sending body. For example: district email to district clergy; vital mission partner or hope center to special audience; committee or agency email to committee members; email to special segments.

Purpose | Communicate regular updates or meeting notices to targeted lists.

Deadline | Dependent on the current events and/or communication needs of the group.

Process | Content for group emails go through the communications team for processing, set up, tracking, branding and processing.

Lists of segments can be pulled from Arena, requested through communications or tracked and maintained by the sending body. The communications team creates branded templates, reviews content for consistency and branding and tracks results. All requests should be sent to the Communication Team Administrative Assistant.

Audience | Subscribers in each of GNJ’s nine districts.

Purpose

• inspirational messages
• promote time sensitive events and resources at the district level
• preview weekly denomination news relevant to a particular district and the strategic plan
• highlight district-wide initiatives and agencies
• provide a vehicle for job postings and committee meeting announcements within the district
• prayer requests

Deadline | All content including lead article must be submitted by noon on Tuesday of the week the newsletter is schedule to be distributed.

Process | Content is determined each week by the communication team, regional admin and district superintendents and is based on the upcoming calendar and current events.

Announcement submissions are welcome but inclusion will be limited to district-wide appeal of the submission. Local and regional announcements and articles should be directed to the Communication Team Administrative Assistant for inclusion in district and regional newsletters.

Audience | Approximately 3,500 subscribers including all clergy and people who subscribed by sign up regardless of their role in or relationship to the church.

Purpose

• promote time sensitive events and resources at the conference level
• preview weekly denomination news relevant to Greater New Jersey and the strategic plan
• highlight conference-wide initiatives and agencies including vital mission partners and Hope Centers
• provide a vehicle for job postings and administrative deadlines

Deadline | Weekly on Tuesdays

Process | Content is determined each week by the communication team and is based on the upcoming calendar and current events. The resident bishop and GNJ staff refer articles and announcements for inclusion. Announcement submissions are welcome but inclusion will be limited to the conference-wide appeal of the submission. Announcement submissions should be directed to the Editorial Manager.

Strategies

• All Digest articles will be linked to content on the GNJ website or related site to condense copy and create measurable tools
• Digest articles will be rotated every three weeks
• Events should be advertised no more than eight weeks in advance

Purpose

• promote events and resources at local, district, conference, area and denominational levels
• promote the mission of the annual conference, the area and the denomination
• communicate key messages and implementation of strategic plan goals and objectives through evidence of vitality including:
  • bright spots in local churches
  •  small group formation
  • missional giving
  • diversity in worship and outreach
  • youth and young adult discipleship
  • creative worship
  • mission and outreach
  • inspire followers to grow in their faith
  • create a dialogue and discussion for
    important issues facing the church
  • encourage followers to share posts to
    drive readership and awareness of GNJ.

Process | Content decision is determined by the communication team and is based on the upcoming calendar and current events of the conference and denomination. The resident Bishop and GNJ staff refers articles and announcements to share.

Announcement submissions are welcome but inclusion will be determined after review by the staff and dependent on alignment with the purpose stated above. Local and regional announcements and articles should be directed to district offices.

Audience | All agencies, departments, committees and recognized bodies of GNJ should have a designated web page appropriate for both internal and external UMC audiences.

Purpose

• allows web site to become a fully integrated, dynamic, and accurate resource and overview for United Methodists within GNJ, outside of GNJ and the non and nominally religious who view our site for information
• provides up to date contact and activity information for all agencies, departments, committees and bodies of the UMC
• demonstrates the key components of the strategic plan
• is user friendly, organized for ease of use

Deadline | Approximately two weeks to create and produce. Allow one week for updates to current page.

Process | All UMC bodies provide up to date web page content. The communication team will provide editorial review, design, branding and production. Each webpage should have a person designated within the department or agency for content updates.

Audience | Any approved segment of UMC or non UMC entity.

Purpose

• visual means to communicate a message that has visual or emotional impact
• supporting element to promotion campaigns for events

Deadline | Videos take a minimum of four weeks to produce and must be scheduled and planned eight to twelve weeks in advance of deadline.

Process | Any UMC body wanting a video should schedule an overview meeting with the Director of Communication to thoroughly review the plan and content ideally three months in advance.

When planning a video, please consider the target audience, script and content, visual impact and length. In general, all videos should be less than four minutes and be produced to appeal to the widest audience to maximize the exposure. Because of limited video capacity, no video production is guaranteed until it has been scheduled with the communication team.

Audience | Any approved segment of UMC or non UMC entity.

Purpose | An oral means to communicate a message, theme or topic with emotional impact. Is used to help promotion campaign events and delve into deeper issues.

Deadline | Podcasts take a minimum of four weeks to produce and must be scheduled and planned six to eight weeks in advance of deadline.

Process | Any UMC body wanting a podcast should schedule an overview meeting with the Director of Communication to thoroughly review the plan and content ideally three months in advance. When planning a podcast, please consider the target audience, script and content and length.

In general, all podcasts should be less than thirty minutes and be produced to appeal to the widest audience to maximize the exposure. Because of limited podcast capacity, no podcast production is guaranteed until it has been scheduled with the communication team.

Audience| Approximately 7,000 subscribers including all local church clergy and lay leaders in the conference.

Purpose | Communicate key messages and implementation of strategic plan goals and objectives through evidence of vitality including:

• bright spots in local churches
• small group formation
• missional giving
• diversity in worship and outreach
• youth and young adult discipleship
• creative worship
• mission and outreach
• promote the mission of the annual conference, the area, and the denomination
• provide information on events and resources at local, district, conference, area and denominational levels
• provide a vehicle for the voice of the resident bishop
• highlight conference wide initiatives and agencies including vital mission partners and Hope Centers

Deadline | the 15th of each month

Process | Content is determined each month by the communication team and is based on the upcoming calendar and current events. Submissions from church leaders are encouraged but are subject to review, edit and publication based on the story’s alignment with The Relay’s stated purpose and space availability.

Submissions with high resolution photographs are given a higher priority. Story ideas should be submitted to the Editorial Manager.

Audience | Any selected segment that is controlled by the sending body. For example, scholarship brochures, strategic plan brochures and volunteer brochures.

Purpose

• provide overview of program
• targeted for people to take home or information that needs to be considered

Deadline | Approximately four weeks to create and produce.

Process | Any UMC body wanting a brochure should schedule an overview meeting with the Director of Communications to thoroughly review the plan and content six weeks in advance. The person requesting the brochure will be responsible for all content. The communication team will provide editorial review, design, branding and production.

Audience | Any selected segment that is controlled by the sending body. For example, meeting notices, handouts and bulletins.

Purpose

• cheap and fast way to communicate to a group meeting in a visual way
• targeted for people to take home or information that needs to be considered

Deadline | Approximately one week to create and produce.

Process | Any UMC body wanting a flyer or handout should send content and description or samples of previous flyers to the Communication Department Administrative Assistant, at least 1 week before deadline.

The person requesting the flyer will be responsible for all content. The communications department will provide editorial review, design, branding and production.

Audience | All recognized bodies of GNJ.

Purpose | A visual means to display lyric content, scripture and liturgy to an audience.

Deadline | Approximately one week to create and produce.

Process | The communications team creates worship slides formatted for use with ProPresenter. All recognized bodies of GNJ should send requests to the Communications Team Technical Assistant.

Audience | All agencies, departments, committees and recognized bodies of GNJ.

Purpose

• visual means to communicate a message via an audience
• supporting element to promotion campaigns for events

Deadline | Approximately one week to create and produce.

Process | The communications team creates branded templates and reviews content for consistency. All agencies, departments, committees and recognized bodies of GNJ should send requests to the Communication Team Administrative Assistant.

Documents | The communication team has resources to translate documents into Spanish, Korean and Portuguese.

Translation services are outsourced and are priced per word. Depending on the length of the document, the translation can take two to four weeks to complete.

Equipment | The communications team has 50 translation devices for use in events and worship services. The equipment can be rented for a deposit of $100.

The $100 deposit will be returned to the renter once the equipment is returned to the Mission and Resource Center. Contact the Communication Team Administrative Assistant for more information.