Margaret Colson, TAB special assignments editor, already had her heart turned toward churches in crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic ever hit.
In December 2017, she started working on her doctor of ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, focusing on crisis communications for churches.
“I realized that every church, at some point in its life cycle, will experience crisis,” she said. “Crisis is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ A crisis places a church at a crossroads where it can move forward triumphantly, with a fresh outpouring of Christian ministry and witness, or retreat in shame and despair, besmirching its mission for Christ.”
Crisis communication
For a church to get through a time like that successfully depends in large part on effective communications, Colson said. And she soon discovered that few, if any, resources exist to help church leaders with that.
Not too long after that, the pandemic became an “every-church crisis,” she said. “Many churches began to understand, maybe for the first time, how crisis can descend on a church, sometimes without warning, and how devastating that crisis can be if not handled well.”
That only made Colson more passionate about her topic, which became a book called “At the Crossroads: A Crisis Communications Guide for Churches.” She said its goal is to provide a practical, timely and theologically sound answer to the question, “How can a church experience crisis and emerge victoriously?”
“Effective communications can help take a church from where it is — in crisis — to where God wants the church to be — on mission for Him,” Colson said. “I am eager to see how God uses this resource to help churches emerge on the other side of crisis, not only alive, but also, quite possibly, more energized and committed to its mission.”
Colson’s D.Min. became official Dec. 18 with New Orleans Seminary’s December graduation.
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