As a pastor I know there is nothing more taxing and troublesome than the weekly bulletin. The printing and folding, missing the ladies’ monthly crochet announcement. It’s like a never-ending exercise in not being good enough. So why would I sell you on another bulletin? Hear me out. A weekly e-bulletin adds little work, increases weekly influence, and reaches more people than the printed bulletin could ever dream of. An e-bulletin is simply a bulletin that is sent through email instead of being handed to someone on Sunday morning.
Little Work
If you already print off a bulletin, then a weekly email bulletin is essentially done. You already have the content created. The process of chasing down times and copy is finished. There is just a matter of copying and pasting the content you wish to include.
If you don’t currently have a bulletin, then you are about to solve a problem you didn’t even know you had. The bulletin, though sometimes a pain, can serve a vital purpose. It lets people know what is happening in the life of the community. Church members are not going to remember the announcement made right before you prayed for the offering. A bulletin is a way to communicate, remind, and to get the details in people’s hands. Honestly, companies pay a fortune for something that we get to do for nothing. We get to put our vision in the hands of our people every single week.
Increase Weekly Influence
Our people gather on Sundays and then scatter throughout the week. Many pastors spend their weeks in an office, away from the people they have been entrusted to disciple. Our Sunday sermon, so costly and important, fades as the week goes on. In my context, I use our weekly e-bulletin to point backward and forward. Some weeks I highlight some of what God did the previous week. I reiterate a truth, or maybe even add a nugget that was missed. The point is that every Tuesday a little red dot appears on their email provider. They fire up their computer to find an email from their church family. I always add a small word from pastor at the bottom. Always. And it’s there to be read whenever they have time. It may not be right now. It may not be tomorrow. But that word is sitting in their emails waiting to be ingested.
Sunday has passed. They are walking in the world. And here comes a word from their Pastor saying good morning. Just a soft touch as they live their life. It is a powerful thing. I have personally received dozens of thank yous from our people for the weekly word in their inbox. Again, you don’t have to recreate the wheel here. I seldom spend more than 10 minutes writing the “Message from Pastor Ernesto.” But it’s from the heart and for God’s glory.
Reach More People
What percentage of church members have gone from weekly attenders to once-a-monthers? It’s the great problem facing the American Church. The highly committed might come twice a month. I live in Michigan where it seems like we only get three months of sun a year. When school lets out in June our attendance might drop by 15% in one week. It used to be that the summer day-trippers would have no idea what was happening in the life of the church. But your weekly e-bulletin doesn’t need them to walk in the building to know what’s going on. They may be in Mackinaw or Maui, but the email is gonna land in their smartphone.
I have families that play travel sports and attend once a month during the summer. And they have surprised me by showing up at some midweek outreach event. I wonder how they even knew what we were up to. The answer? They are still reading The Weekly, where they see upcoming events and are able to take part in the life of the church’s mission.
So that is WHY you should consider a weekly e-bulletin. My next article is about HOW to start one from scratch.
