We have a monthly church newsletter that contains a note from our pastor/interim pastor, birthdays, calendar events, council notes, finance statement, missionary updates, and other news or updates from church members or organizations we support.
Around a year and a half ago, we reformatted our bulletin. We made some good changes, but it left us with less space for announcements so some of what previously went into the bulletin is now found in the newsletter.
For us, our newsletter feels like a good way to get out a lot of information all in one place.
I personally do, but there was a bit of an adjustment period because people were so used to everything being in the bulletin. We are using less paper now, so that's a good thing.
One of the problems I've run into was once in a while someone would ask for something that really is a newsletter item to be put in the bulletin because "no one reads the newsletter." Sometimes you can still put it in the bulletin (which people have also told me no one reads) but other times I have to put my foot down and just say that we just need to let people know this information is in the newsletter. This hasn't happened as much recently though.
A few years ago I started using the free version of MailChimp to let people on our email list know when a newsletter comes out instead of just a regular email. What's nice is they give you statistics as to how many people are reading it. I also print out around 40 physical copies (a number from a kind-of trial and error) because not everyone is super tech savvy.
This is what we wrote on our website in our Q&A section about church dress: "The dress here is diverse. Some people wear business or business casual (like khakis and button downs) while others wear jeans. You should wear what you are comfortable wearing and think is appropriate for worship."
On a personal note, growing up there was a growing emphasis that you didn't have to dress up for church. I think it stemmed from the idea that not everyone has or is comfortable in dressy clothes and it becomes a barrier from entering church.
I agree with some of the comments here that sometimes church libraries turn into an area full of books no one else knew what to do with. Ours even has a "Dutch" section, with books that most of us can't read because we don't know Dutch. Last year our church sent out a congregational survey asking members how they felt about certain areas of church and there was a section about the library. Turns out around one fifth of survey takers didn't even know we had one!
We are in the midst of a building project and that area will be redone. Maybe we could use some of the input seen here going forward. Thank you for bringing this up in the Network.
Our church has refreshments after the morning service. Generally it's coffee, tea, juice or iced tea, and doughnuts or baked goods (we're fortunate to have two bakery-owning families within the congregation). We've also made the first Sunday of every month Birthday Sunday, where we have a list of everyone's birthdays that month and offer cake as well as everything else.
Once in a while, a family will do refreshments in honor of a milestone birthday or anniversary.
Hi Joshua. This might be a little dependent on how big your church is and how much you're willing to pay for it. If your church is fairly small, you can probably get away with just an Excel sheet. If you have a mid-sized or larger church, I would recommend looking into a church database software.
The upsides of church-specific software is they generally offer other features like online giving, child check-in, volunteer scheduling, and more. I believe Planning Center lets you use their People (database) feature for free and the other features are subscription based. There's also Breeze, which gives you everything for $50/month. Some are programs you download and would pay a one-time fee for, but most programs have an online version that you subscribe to instead.
Our church switched the database software last year and I looked into a few programs. Feel free to reply if you have any questions.
Are you planning on printing these, having them be online only, or both? I'm not sure what programs you use already, but you can put together email newsletters using sites like MailChimp.
For newsletters that are more printer-friendly, you can create templates in Canva or Microsoft Publisher. Either program should have sample templates you can try out.
So when you click on New in Publisher, in the search templates tabs you can type in Newsletter. There's a few options in there if you would like to look at those.
Alternatively, you can set up a free account on Canva's website and look at their newsletter templates for inspiration.
Yeah, you have to be careful with what you click on with Canva. They do have a lot of free options, but sometimes it isn't clear which is the paid option.
If your church is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit, you can get a Canva for non-profits account for free.
Posted in: What Goes in Your Church Newsletter?
We have a monthly church newsletter that contains a note from our pastor/interim pastor, birthdays, calendar events, council notes, finance statement, missionary updates, and other news or updates from church members or organizations we support.
Around a year and a half ago, we reformatted our bulletin. We made some good changes, but it left us with less space for announcements so some of what previously went into the bulletin is now found in the newsletter.
For us, our newsletter feels like a good way to get out a lot of information all in one place.
Posted in: What Goes in Your Church Newsletter?
I personally do, but there was a bit of an adjustment period because people were so used to everything being in the bulletin. We are using less paper now, so that's a good thing.
One of the problems I've run into was once in a while someone would ask for something that really is a newsletter item to be put in the bulletin because "no one reads the newsletter." Sometimes you can still put it in the bulletin (which people have also told me no one reads) but other times I have to put my foot down and just say that we just need to let people know this information is in the newsletter. This hasn't happened as much recently though.
A few years ago I started using the free version of MailChimp to let people on our email list know when a newsletter comes out instead of just a regular email. What's nice is they give you statistics as to how many people are reading it. I also print out around 40 physical copies (a number from a kind-of trial and error) because not everyone is super tech savvy.
Posted in: What Is the Unofficial Dress Code at Your Church? Does it Matter?
This is what we wrote on our website in our Q&A section about church dress: "The dress here is diverse. Some people wear business or business casual (like khakis and button downs) while others wear jeans. You should wear what you are comfortable wearing and think is appropriate for worship."
On a personal note, growing up there was a growing emphasis that you didn't have to dress up for church. I think it stemmed from the idea that not everyone has or is comfortable in dressy clothes and it becomes a barrier from entering church.
Posted in: Is There Still a Place for Church Libraries?
I agree with some of the comments here that sometimes church libraries turn into an area full of books no one else knew what to do with. Ours even has a "Dutch" section, with books that most of us can't read because we don't know Dutch. Last year our church sent out a congregational survey asking members how they felt about certain areas of church and there was a section about the library. Turns out around one fifth of survey takers didn't even know we had one!
We are in the midst of a building project and that area will be redone. Maybe we could use some of the input seen here going forward. Thank you for bringing this up in the Network.
Posted in: What Refreshments (If Any) Does Your Church Offer Before or After Worship?
Our church has refreshments after the morning service. Generally it's coffee, tea, juice or iced tea, and doughnuts or baked goods (we're fortunate to have two bakery-owning families within the congregation). We've also made the first Sunday of every month Birthday Sunday, where we have a list of everyone's birthdays that month and offer cake as well as everything else.
Once in a while, a family will do refreshments in honor of a milestone birthday or anniversary.
Posted in: Track Church Membership Using Excel?
Hi Joshua. This might be a little dependent on how big your church is and how much you're willing to pay for it. If your church is fairly small, you can probably get away with just an Excel sheet. If you have a mid-sized or larger church, I would recommend looking into a church database software.
The upsides of church-specific software is they generally offer other features like online giving, child check-in, volunteer scheduling, and more. I believe Planning Center lets you use their People (database) feature for free and the other features are subscription based. There's also Breeze, which gives you everything for $50/month. Some are programs you download and would pay a one-time fee for, but most programs have an online version that you subscribe to instead.
Our church switched the database software last year and I looked into a few programs. Feel free to reply if you have any questions.
Posted in: Searching for Spiral-Bound Green Celebration Hymnal
Thank you!
Posted in: The Houses That Build Us: My (Slightly Dramatic) Network Farewell
Thank you for all your work with the CRC and Network these past years. Blessings on your journeys ahead!
Posted in: Template for Congregational Newsletters?
Hi LaRue,
Are you planning on printing these, having them be online only, or both? I'm not sure what programs you use already, but you can put together email newsletters using sites like MailChimp.
For newsletters that are more printer-friendly, you can create templates in Canva or Microsoft Publisher. Either program should have sample templates you can try out.
Posted in: Template for Congregational Newsletters?
So when you click on New in Publisher, in the search templates tabs you can type in Newsletter. There's a few options in there if you would like to look at those.
Alternatively, you can set up a free account on Canva's website and look at their newsletter templates for inspiration.
Posted in: Template for Congregational Newsletters?
Yeah, you have to be careful with what you click on with Canva. They do have a lot of free options, but sometimes it isn't clear which is the paid option.
If your church is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit, you can get a Canva for non-profits account for free.
Posted in: Tips on Tracking Visitors?
I agree with Bob's suggestion on using a church database to help keep track of everyone's information.
You can also have a sign up sheet or get Welcome Visitor cards if guests would like to give you their contact information. Here's a link to some basic ones you can buy if you would like to go that route: https://www.christianbook.com/welcome-visitor-pew-cards-50/pd/210500?event=ESRCQ