Churches are failing to protect their reputations, says crisis expert

Church leaders are letting down their congregations by failing to prepare properly for reputational crises, according to The Whitehouse Consultancy’s crisis specialist Alex Singleton.

Churches face a range of predictable risks, such as arson, vandalism, internal theft, and the moral failures of clergy, but many churches lack proper procedures to swiftly communicate to the media or in the face of an near-instant barrage of criticism on social media.

Alex Singleton, a former Daily Telegraph journalist and author of The PR Masterclass, says: “Many churches have no crisis communications plan at all, but most of those which do have fundamentally flawed. They assume, for example, that there will be a couple of days to respond to a media enquiry. That might seem fast, but not when a newspaper gives you a couple of hours to comment, or the BBC wants to put a story about you same-day on the television news. And in a world where one-sided stories can explode on social media within minutes, ignoring the need to plan for reputational risks can cause more damage than ever.”

“The commercial and public sectors have become a lot more sophisticated in their planning for and responses to a crisis. But best-practice is sadly lacking among churches. Church leaders risk letting down their congregations by failing to prepare.”

Singleton, who works for The Whitehouse Consultancy owned by prominent Christian lobbyist, Chris Whitehouse, set out his criticisms of church crisis communications in a posting on the website of the influential Chartered Institute of Public Relations following the publication of new research.

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The Whitehouse Consultancy is a specialist public affairs agency, chaired by Chris Whitehouse KSG. Since 1998, it has specialised in issues-led communications.