How to write church announcements

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Good communication is often the difference between active, informed communities and disengaged ones. That’s why church announcements, whether shared from the stage or digitally through your church app and website, play such a pivotal role in building community and participation.

Are your announcements effective at informing and engaging your community? Do they reach those tuning in online as well as those attending in-person? Having a simple strategy in place for creating church announcements ensures that questions like these are addressed and become problems of the past.

Let’s take a look at the qualities of effective announcements, best practices, and the impact these strategies can have on your church community.

THE IMPACT OF EFFECTIVE CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS

It’s easy to reduce church announcements to merely a necessary step in relaying information to your community, but their impact can be so much greater! Putting strategy and intention into writing your church’s announcements—as you do for any other aspect of your services (sermons, worship, etc)—can go a long way. 

The most effective announcements are less likely to be tuned out by your audience because your messaging expresses how your priorities as a ministry tie into what’s happening in your community. For example, including fundraisers and food drives in your announcements accomplishes much more than promoting upcoming events—it demonstrates how your church values and lives out servanthood.

WHAT MAKES FOR THE BEST CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS?

Putting a little time and effort into your church announcements will make them vastly more effective when it comes to engaging your community. The best announcements are:

Thoughtfully planned—While this might seem like a no-brainer, it’s easy to get into the rhythm of de-prioritizing your announcements while you focus on other aspects of your ministry. However, without putting the proper care into preparing your announcements, how do you expect your community and visitors to actively engage? Well-planned church announcements do not need to take a lot of your time or even be overly rehearsed; it’s the intention that speaks volumes to your audience. 

Concise—Always be careful not to overwhelm your audience with too much information. Whether through verbal communication, your custom church app or website, or even a printed bulletin, concise language communicates the essentials. Plus, your community is more likely to remember a few carefully chosen announcements over the entirety of your church events calendar.

Aligned with your vision—Along with being clear and concise, do your announcements reflect what’s truly important to your community? The best announcements don’t just inform your audience about events and important news, they communicate how your priorities align with your vision. This demonstrates the impact of your ministry to members and visitors alike. 

Actionable—Your church announcements should make clear what is needed to participate with your community. For example, if you announce that your church still needs 10 more volunteers for an upcoming event, be sure to include how interested volunteers can sign up. In this example, pointing them to a form on your website and mobile app (and sending a reminder via a push notification) would be a great way to enable your audience to take action.

TIPS FOR CREATING CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Now that you know what characterizes the most effective announcements, it’s time to look at how these tips can be implemented. Here’s how to create top-notch announcements for your church: 

Designate a team or person to run point

Creating effective announcements starts with organizing a staff member, volunteer, or team to own and manage all things related to church announcements. Here are some questions to consider when assembling your team:

• Who will gather and plan the announcements?
• Who will be responsible for writing copy and designing graphics?
• Who will present announcements during church services?
• Who will ensure the announcements are shared across every channel (web, app, social, etc)?

Because needs and resources vary, this won’t look the same for every church out there. But these questions are a great starting point to begin improving your church announcement process.

Use a variety of communication channels

Don’t limit your church announcements to only your weekly services—there are so many ways to reach your community with important information! Here are a few communication channels to explore:

• Intro slides—While people are beginning to arrive in-person or tune in to your live-streamed service, you can incorporate some church announcements in your welcome-to-church visuals.
• Website—Keep your online calendar up to date with the latest events, and consider using pop-ups to highlight the most pressing announcements. Also, consider using your website’s blogging function as a weekly bulletin—this can save your church loads on printing costs! 
• Mobile app—Push notifications are a simple, effective, and accessible way to inform your community of the latest announcements right on their mobile device. You can send a notification with a link to your bulletin, a reminder about next week’s fundraiser, your latest devotional video or other media, or a volunteer signup form on your website—the options are endless! 
• Group communication tools—Need to send a message to only a specific subset of your community without overcomplicating your in-service announcements? Look no further than a group communication tool like Subsplash Messaging! It’s the perfect way to quickly inform a group of volunteers about a change in scheduling, notify the women in your community about an upcoming women’s ministry retreat, and more. 
• Social media—Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) shouldn’t be your church’s main avenue for church announcements, but it’s a great way to communicate to a larger potential audience. It’s crucial to consider what announcements are worth sharing to public-facing channels and what could reach those not yet familiar with your ministry. Make sure to also adhere to your church branding and tone for both visuals and captions.

Consider your audience

Not every church announcement holds the same weight and relevance for everyone. For example, an upcoming men’s bible study announcement more than likely won’t impact women, young adults, and youth in your community. Segmenting audience-specific church announcements through Subsplash Messaging, push notifications, and email are a few ways to do this. Also, consider which announcements are important for the majority of your community to know about—those are the ones worth highlighting during your service!  

Another essential aspect to remember about your announcements is that not everyone in your audience is a member of your community. Announcements are an ideal and simple way to show returning and first-time visitors what you’re all about! Make sure to avoid having too much “insider language” that could potentially alienate visitors or less-active members of your community.

Find the right time

As in all things, timing is everything—and church is no exception! Here are some considerations about timing for your church announcements:

• During services—Will your audience benefit most from hearing the announcements before, during, or after your sermon? Maybe your church wants to reach people right away when they’re focused and eager, or maybe your announcements will stick better at the end and act as the perfect send-off. Also, consider if it makes sense to naturally incorporate an announcement into the sermon (such as connecting the Good Samaritan to an upcoming fundraiser for a homeless shelter). Feel free to test out what’s best for your church and community—what’s perfect for your church might not be the same for others.
• ‍Push notifications—Don’t send push notification announcements mid-service (too distracting), early in the morning, or late in the evening. Push notifications with the best open rates are sent when people are most likely to be experiencing downtime—after waking up, during lunch time, and after work or school. ‍
• Email—Since email isn’t the most effective communication channel when attempting to get your messages seen by a broad audience, it’s crucial to aim for higher open rates. Studies have shown 10 a.m. to be the most effective time to send an email, and also that Tuesday through Thursday are the best send days. A general rule of thumb is to send emails on weekdays between 9 and 11 a.m. local time.
• Text messages—With church text messaging services, you can instantly share your important announcements with individuals, specific groups, or your entire congregation.

Ready to learn more about how the Subsplash Platform can level-up your church announcements with email, text messages, and group messaging tools—all on one easy-to-use platform? [.blog-contact-cta]Let’s chat![.blog-contact-cta]

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