Religion Communicators Hears About 21st Century Media and the Need to Speak

Members of the Nashville Chapter of the Religion Communicators Council meet monthly to collaborate, meet other people of faith and learn from one another about communications techniques in this modern age.

In June, the Nashville Religion Communicators Council (RCC) heard from Larry Hollon of United Methodist Communications who wrote the book We Must Speak: Rethinking How We Communicate About Faith in the 21st Century. 

The Rev. Larry Hollon is General Secretary of United Methodist Communications in Nashville and also serves as publisher of United Methodist News Service.  Hollon has traveled to over fifty countries to tell the stories of persons affected by poverty, and he has overseen advertising that significantly raised awareness of The United Methodist Church.

Hollon began by showing everyone a video produced by United Methodist Communications about how the church began to reach out to people and how far the techniques of communication have come. The video had an encouraging message for faith communities to get their message out to the world, reaching people where they are at through media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr and so on.

Hollon emphasized that if we don’t communicate about our faith, someone else will, and chances are it will be inaccurate. He said, “Be energetic and aggressive in attempting to communicate in this way, because when we don’t, we don’t use the power and strength of the organizations and churches that are behind us.” 

Rev. Brian Fesler is President of the Nashville Religion Communicators Council and commented on the day’s meeting, “Mr. Hollon is right on target. It’s up to every person of faith to see that their religious institutions are putting out the good word.”

Hollon spoke about communications work as a calling, “We must speak, because God has challenged us to speak.”

The Religion Communicators Council (RCC), founded in 1929, is an interfaith association of religion communicators at work in print and electronic communication, marketing and in public relations. Members of the RCC come from many different religions and backgrounds including Baptist, Jewish, Baha’i, Scientology, Muslim and Methodist among others.

For more information, visit religioncommunicators.org.