10 Best Ways to Deliver Church Announcements

When we zoom out from all church activities, it’s easy to see how church announcements are the lifeblood of a congregation. They keep your community informed, engaged, and actively participating in your mission. In today’s world, there are so many channels being used for communication. And fortunately, you can use many of these to deliver church announcements.

It can be hard for messages to show up consistently and effectively everywhere. But with the right blend of these channels in place, you can create an effective church marketing strategy.

Weekly Digital Newsletters

Have a volunteer — or ideally, a staff member — edit and design the weekly news. You can accept a variety of submissions from members (calls for volunteers, choir announcements, potlucks, etc.), but be sure to provide specific criteria to keep things focused.

While it may require a bit of spiritual discipline to reject some announcements, you’ll keep your newsletter from becoming cluttered and scattered, thus directing its focus toward your true mission. Especially since this is one of the most popular ways to deliver church announcements.

Sunday Pulpit Announcements

Having a good public speaker take on the role of ‘news reporter’ each Sunday is a great way to get members excited about upcoming events. Highlight only the most timely and important news. A good rule of thumb: If you see congregants starting to fidget or become distracted, you know your Sunday church announcements are getting a little too long. This may also be the perfect place to welcome church guests and new visitors.

Sunday Handouts

In our digitally-driven world, those who are less tech savvy can feel left out. Paper announcements are perfect for those who are less inclined to seek information online. If your intention is to reduce paper waste and encourage members to engage online, keep the paper stash limited.

Committee Announcements

While it may be all too easy for members to skip reading Sunday handouts or ignore email newsletters, in-person reps can help drive home the importance of certain events, fundraisers, etc on an occasional basis. Have a friendly, enthusiastic volunteer pop in at relevant committee meetings to speak on an important topic.

Monthly Newsletters

This can be a lengthier piece of content that helps members catch up on big-picture things. This is the ideal place for staff or pastor contributions. As a result, they can tell the overarching narrative of what’s going on in the church. Monthly newsletters may also be the perfect place to highlight volunteer contributions. You can also congratulate members for accomplishments, discuss causes, and build a deeper sense of community.

Social Media Campaigns

Social campaigns are ideal for publicizing events, generating discussions, and engaging volunteers. With a busy and active community, announcements can begin to run together, making it unclear what should be published where. For this reason, consider having a general goal for each social media platform (e.g. Facebook is mostly for event publicity, Instagram is just for sharing photos with current members).

Community Publications

If you’re looking to grow your congregation or increase membership for a certain age demographic, wider community publications can be useful. Begin compiling a list of local publication submission guidelines or individual journalists your church already has a relationship with. When a special event is approaching that would appeal to the wider community and draw potential members, take advantage through community publications.

Deliver Church Announcements with Videos

Along with live-streaming services, you may want to consider incorporating video into your announcements strategy. Over the past 5 years, video has become a ubiquitous medium for businesses and nonprofits alike. Do you have members or staff who enjoy speaking on camera? Video shooting or editing? Video is the perfect medium to let loose, be creative, and inspire your audience.

Mobile Apps

Depending on your unique congregation, some members may like having a church app option. While some churches are going all in and developing their own custom applications, churches without the time or budget can rely on other apps for organizing, fundraising, etc.

Donorwerx helps churches expand their giving model by setting up mobile giving. Mobile giving is a powerful way to remove barriers to giving and makes life easier for both you and your donors.

Sunday Projector Screens

Projector screens can be great for keeping visitors in-the-know about ongoing events like capital campaigns. These screens also require zero effort from your community and minimal effort from a couple of tech savvy staff or volunteers. Above all, this effort should pay off.

So you’ve sent out a newsletter, made a pulpit announcement, and shared on social media. Somehow your members, though, say they didn’t hear about that big event. This happens all the time to churches that are doing their best to communicate effectively. Members are busy, distracted, and likely juggling many things. For this reason, it’s critical to diversify your content avenues and repeat announcements.

Make Sure They Know How You Deliver Church Announcements

Make a habit of reminding people where they can find more information. Consequently, this will train your members to engage with the church through all of these avenues. Over time, each announcement channel will take on a life of its own. It will feed back into your community with the help of each member.

Interested in learning more about DonorWerx? Learn why we created this platform and how it can help your church thrive. You’ll quickly figure out that knowing how to deliver church announcements — while important — is only one part of communicating with the congregation.