On Sunday morning people need time to settle in and get prepared for worship. It’s Sunday-morning settle-down hour: Your congregants trickle in, check out the bulletin, mentally plan their afternoon and finally focus on the service.
Then it takes a prayer, a song and half the message for them to get their hearts in a receptive place. By the time they’re truly ready, the service is over.
A weekly, congregation-wide e-mail offers an opportunity to connect with your church members and help them prepare for the worship service before they get there.
There are two ways to tackle this:
1. Send a weekly heart-preparing devotional.
Introduce Sunday’s sermon topic. Suggest a related passage to read and ask a few thought-provoking questions, like this e-mail from the pastor of Landsdowne Baptist Church.
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If recipients have time, they can read up and meditate on the subject, and if not, they can at least keep it in mind. Then on Sunday, they’ll be able to slip into that prepared mindset.
2. Use the weekly e-mail for announcements.
Tackle your house-keeping duties in the weekly e-mail. Then not only can you skip the distraction of announcements during worship time, but no one will be studying the bulletin instead of perusing Philippians, or planning their dish for the potluck during the opening hymn.
For example, the pastor of Storehouse Church uses weekly e-mails to make announcements, leaving the church free to skip traditional bulletins and focus on the message.
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Here’s How to Get Started
These are just two examples of intentionally using e-mail to enhance the worship service experience. Here are some tips for how to make it happen:
- First, make sure you get permission to e-mail everyone you want to send to. You may already have e-mail addresses for some of your congregants, but it’s important that they agree to get these weekly e-mails before you start sending them, or you may irritate or alienate them.
- Then, set a plan. What day of week and time of day is best? You’ll need your Sunday service planned out before you send. You’ll also need to provide a substantial enough window for recipients to check their e-mail before Sunday.
- Finally, stay consistent. Set a publishing calendar with alerts. If several people are involved, make sure everyone plans to do their part by the same time each week.
Benefits
With dependable broadcasts, you’ll create an experience that your congregants will come to rely on. You’ll develop their trust by being consistent. As an added bonus, when people know what’s in store for the service and have already invested effort in preparing, they’re more likely to come in. You’ll raise attendance (which can also raise the offering) and raise Sunday-morning attention at the same time.
For more information on using e-mail to attract new members and build relationships with the ones you have, download the free E-mail Marketing Guide for Churches from the e-mail marketing company AWeber.
Kellen
August 29, 2011
I like this idea, but what about the elderly generation who haven’t taken to computers as readily as the younger crowd? What system would be in place for those who cannot be reached over the internet?
Ed
August 29, 2011
We have a congregation where probably 25% are not internet/e-mail literate. Although we send out a weekly email every Friday morning with a Sunday preview and the announcements for the week, we do still publish a bulletin each week, and snail-mail a monthly newsletter. It’s duplication of effort, but it’s essential if we want to reach everyone. We have not been able to completely eliminate announcements, but we do limit it to only the most important items, usually no more than a couple.
CheezeWhizChurch
August 30, 2011
Yes, there will be some of the older congregation unable to get the messages because they are stuck in the 20th century. Using e-mail for primary church communications is a brilliant way to weed out the less relevant and those who refuse to get with the mission. Younger members are what we want. They fit better into the exuberant mission of cutting edge churches. That’s why we stand so much in worship now. It weeds out those older members who stick to traditionalist ways and won’t get with relevant, missional direction. Brilliant.
Patricia Tucker
August 31, 2011
Your comment is one of the sadest things I have read about the church for some time.
Justin Dela Cruz
September 8, 2011
lol. @Patricia – i agree.
@cheezewhiz – email yourself your comment and keep in somewhere that you can read when you are 70. Then see what you think about it. Oh wait, but when you’re 70 you’ll still be stuck in email when the younger generation will be using…who knows what!
Becky
September 1, 2011
Wow CheezeWhizChurch, you’re kidding, right? You intentionally ignore the older generation “because they refuse to get with the mission.” What is the mission, to be age-ist against the elderly? To cause the older generation pain in church and make them uncomfortable?
Kevin D. Hendricks
August 29, 2011
No matter what approach you take you’re going to have to duplicate some efforts in multipel mediums. Web, newsletter, announcements, etc. If you’re relying on a single medium it’s not going to work.
Eric Granata
August 29, 2011
We recently started an email list that we email sermon notes to before the weekend services. This gives the savvy types time to copy/paste into their favorite note taking apps and others to do a little of their own prep before hearing the sermon.
Yuriy S
August 30, 2011
With the rapid proliferation of smartphones with email capability you can still end up with half the congregation checking their email during worship.
Todder
August 31, 2011
I’ve been doing weekly announcement emails for several years now. I send a weekly prayer list, weekly announcements, a Sunday follow up, special events, and can send to differant segments of the email list (because I set up the sign up process that way).
Yes, there are people who don’t have email, but a large portion of our group does. No, not everyone who has email checks it every 30 seconds like I do, but they will check it every couple days, so being proactive and sending out the email regularly, and way ahead of a special event is key.
I used ConstantContact for a couple years with no issues whatsoever, but settled on MailChimp because they had a free plan so long as I didn’t send out over a couple thousand emails a month. MailChimp has been good to me.
Start small and easy and work up.
Bev Mello
September 8, 2011
Interesting string here…hey cheezewhizchurch, I thought I was reading The Onion there for a minute. Get a grip on your walker when you’re 70.
Patskychuk
September 15, 2011
I’m reading cheezewhizchurch’s comment as an over-the-top sarcastic response to the modernization of church… More of a backhanded defense of the people who are being left behind in the whole cutting-edge push of churches today. He’s not dissing old people, he’s dissing modernized-at-all-costs church. (A message which, because of his delivery method, will ironically be totally lost on many of the older generation who read it.)
Mary Hearn
September 19, 2011
@cheezewizchurch those same people you want to weed out are most likely providing most of the financial support. Statistics beAr this out…i think it is 90% of the pledges come from 10% of the congregation. You’d best be careful!
Mary Hearn
September 19, 2011
I am offended by the icon you put above my name…I totally agree we need to be using modern methods to reach the reach the congregations and potential members. In fact, if you have a guest book or card visitors fill out, it should include a checkbox for “yes, I’d like to receive email [sermon notes/news] or something to that effect.
Kevin D. Hendricks
September 19, 2011
Uh, Mary… welcome to Church Marketing Sucks.
PatrickC
September 20, 2011
Like someone else said above, the email approach is not meant to replace regular announcement times and or bulletin but to merely enhance it. Sending out mass emails is a great way to keep the congregation engaged but if you add mass text messages and voicecasts, it can enhance it further. Let us all remember, however, it is merely a medium of sending out messages not our focus which should be only on Christ. Check out http://trumpia.com and try it out.
PatrickC
September 22, 2011
I think that’s a great way to engage your congregation. Email and text messaging should be part of a church’s efforts to stay everyone connected. It is important to remember, however, that emails and texts are merely methods of communication but not the focus which should always be Jesus alone.
Damian
May 1, 2012
One size seldoms fits all.
I agree that this is a great tool to add to the tool chest (I could say arsenal, but that does not seem very peace loving). We added a regular broadcast email a year ago, and while I don’t read all the emails, it has been helpful when I have time or interest. I have seen no one reading emails during service with one exception, and it was not the church ‘bulletin’ email, deadline work (does not make it right, just stating what is).