Five Things Church Members Want in a Church Bulletin

When you walk in most church worship services, you are typically handed some printed material. It goes by different names, but the most common and the longest standing name is “bulletin.”

There was a time that you could expect consistency in bulletins among many churches. Such is not the case today. There are differences of opinion and a variety of ideas about what should be in the church bulletin.

Rather than speculate, we conducted an informal survey among church members. We asked one simple and open-ended question: “What do you want in a church bulletin?” The respondents could give as many answers as they liked. There was much agreement on the first four items. Beyond the top four was considerably fragmented opinions.

Here are the top five responses. I list them in order of frequency of response.

  1. Quality. This one issue was a near unanimous response. Church members see the bulletin as a reflection on their church. They are embarrassed when the bulletin has incorrect facts or grammatical errors. They don’t want something in their bulletin to become the next “bulletin blooper.” They want the bulletin to reflect quality, not a gathering place for a collection of ancient clip art.
  2. Sermon notes/outline. Church members want a place to take notes on the sermon, even if the same material is on the projection screen. They want notes they can take home and study. They especially appreciate any helps, such as an outline or references.
  3. Order of service. Frankly, I heard some complaining about this matter. Apparently a number of churches once put the order of their worship services in the bulletin; but they don’t now. Church members miss that in the bulletin and they want it back.
  4. Attendance/stewardship statistics. I thought numbers were being deemphasized in churches. Well, maybe they are, but church members want them back. They want to see the giving patterns and attendance patterns each week.
  5. Announcements. There is a big gap between numbers four and five. If not for its brevity, I could have made this blog about the top four things church members want in a church bulletin. While church members do want some announcements in the church bulletin, they do not want it cluttered with announcements. They prefer for announcements to be on a screen before the services or on the church’s website.

Are you surprised by these top five? What would you add to the list?

Posted on April 8, 2013


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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144 Comments

  • 2 and 5 surprised me. 2 because it hadn’t even occurred to me – it’s an interesting idea, but wouldn’t fit in with my usual pattern of writing my sermon on Saturday afternoon! 5 because in my inner city congregation made up of older West African/Afro-Caribbean members a large proportion (1) do not have regular internet access and (2) aren’t in church early enough to read the notices before the beginning of worship. And I doubt 10% would have an idea what a QR code is.

  • I find these responses amusing and interesting. They reflect the many different types of personalities in every group or congregation.. The “Detail” people (the High “C”s on a DiSC personality profile) like lists, all the detailed information so they know what to expect next, etc. The “People” people (the High “I”s on the DiSC profile) like to know who is doing what so they can be part of it. The High S personalities do not care one way or the other about a Bulletin as long as we all get along, while the dominant High D personalities want order and structure and want to know who is in charge of this operation (and where they fit in).

  • Cole Howe says on

    I like good looking, full-color bulletins. We print all of the above in them and have for years. Why? The bulletin is an official document of the church (containing name, events/activities, contact information, etc.), a legal document (activities listed should reflect events listed on the church calendar – i.e. youth activities, etc.), and a historical document. It’s interesting to look back over the years (since these are always kept) to see what has happened – attendance wise, events, etc. Can it become too bulky? No doubt. Do people really read it? If good information is put in it. We usually insert quotes, some funny sayings, etc. As the pastor, if I need to change the order of service, I do. Simple as that, and our folks are always show much grace when that takes place.

  • Hugh Patterson says on

    A few surprise here – I guess after serving as a Minister of Music for the past 33 years in many capacities (part-time, full-time, interims) I have experienced every church size dynamic. The common thread has always been the “order of service” being printed. I will admit in the past 5-7 years that “order” has diminished with the influence of contemporary worship being more “laid back, go with the flow” style of worship than a formalized order, as found in “traditional” worship. However, I personally believe we miss the boat in this regard. Let me explain.

    It has always been my belief (though not always shared by the other staff members I have worked with) that the “Bullein/Order of Worship” has a greater purpose than just the “task list” for the morning. We as ministers have become lazy (in general, not all) with regards to our worship planning and it manifests itself in the way in which we present the service to our congregants. We have allowed ourselves to be more relaxed in our approach to the music we present and its desire to be “popular”, “hip”, “current on the radio, Pandora, Spotify” whatever. We have also become much more “specialist” centered instead of “congregational” centered. Basically, if the congregation does not regularly listen to the contemporary Christian radio station (if your city even has one), then they will have no foundation or base from which to have experienced the music prior to the 3 minute presentation within a worship service. With no printed music or other guide, save the words printed on the screen, there is no way for a congregant to participate in the act of worship. Even a trained musician is totally lost in such a service with no musical point of reference. Therefore, if the bulletin is nothing more than just “Worship Set”, “Scripture and Prayer”, “Talk” (which is the new term for Message or Sermon), then we leave our congregation no option than to be spectators instead of participants.

    I belief the bulletin should be a tool for and of worship. It is more than just the detailed guide for the “hour of worship”, but a tool in which they can take home and revisit the service throughout the week, read the texts of the music (whether hymns or contemporary), read the scripture passages, review their sermon notes, etc. This allows a more thorough response to worship and a life experience instead of just a task list for Sunday morning (or whatever time the worship service happens).

    Intentionality is the driving force. Everything we choose to print in the bulletin should be done with great intentionality; the detailed “order of worship”, any statistical information, listing of worship leadership for the day and the church staff contact information, etc. We should never just “fill up the space” with whatever we can think of or is coming up. But this requires specific preparation and thought AND then education of the congregation to know and understand why the bulletin is crafted in such a way and what the expectation is for them to reap the greatest benefit.

    Again, I believe we miss the boat in the preparation of our deliverables to our congregants, and with the availability of social media, we should take every opportunity to give them as much information “in hand” as we can to guide their worship, both in church and in private. We must remember, contemporary does not be lazy or uninformed and by presenting just an outline (that basically never changes) or nothing at all, we miss the opportunity to teach our congregants how to live worship, not just attend worship once a week. Here’s an idea, with the availability of software like Constant Contact or even Worship Planning Software (worshipplanning.com or planningcenteronline.com) we could email the order of service to the congregation on Thursday or Friday, asking them to begin praying about what they will experience and who they might invite to engage this service!! WOW, that’s an idea, takes mass media marketing to a new level!!

    Just my thoughts, what think ye??

    • Karen Trask says on

      Good thoughts!

    • Ed Mitchell says on

      Hugh, I think you’re spot on! The “good enough” attitude runs through too many of our churches – mine included. How many times have I been tempted to “wing it” because I didn’t think folks would know any better? Yet I’m much more at peace and more open to receive from worship myself when all the “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” crossed. Thanks for the challenging reminder.

    • Loved your comment. As a church secretary, it has made me stop and think about what I am putting in the bulletin.

    • We have allowed ourselves to be more relaxed in our approach to the music we present”
      That’s good! Contrast this with, for example, a traditional Lutheran service and bulletin, which carry the congregant through the morning’s program in complete lockstep. While this degree of rigid control meets the needs of some worshippers, including many for whom this style of worship has been a lifelong custom, I think what we are talking about in these comments is the evolution of the church experience and accompanying bulletin format in contemporary times.
      “With no printed music or other guide, save the words printed on the screen, there is no way for a congregant to participate in the act of worship”
      Nonsense! First of all, the music itself ministers and carries intangible nuances of meaning, messages, and transformative states such as healing, inspiration, joy, hope, etc. Isn’t that why we have music? Secondly, how is reading and singing the lyrics from a screen not conducive to a worship experience?
      “a tool in which they can take home and revisit the service throughout the week, read the texts of the music (whether hymns or contemporary), read the scripture passages, review their sermon notes, etc.”
      Yes! For those few who will refer back to and use the bulletin in these ways, wonderful potential exists for extended benefits beyond its primary function of guiding / informing / engaging congregants during the worship service.
      “we could email the order of service to the congregation on Thursday or Friday, asking them to begin praying about what they will experience and who they might invite to engage this service!!”
      Brilliant! For those few who would make use of it, we should be offering this. Not least of additional reasons why is the capability of linking to myriad other resources such as Bible study outlines and the church FB page. Check out the link to the Engedi Church handout shared by Josh Bishop,, above. The font is almost unreadable on my laptop,, but otherwise this electronic bulletin is beautiful, functional, engaging, and rich in ways to learn, grow, connect and give, and even get to know the church a bit before ever visiting for the first time! The format makes it possible for the reader to choose which topics and ministry areas to access, a key capability for contemporary congregants accustomed to navigating webpages and cell phone aps based on individual interest.

    • As a small church pastor, I am responsible for both the planning the service and for developing/printing the bulletin each week. I do believe that our members all have different ways of communication. Some need verbal announcements and some need written communication on paper. At least for our smaller/older congregation, we *need* the bulletin.

      In deciding what should go into the bulletin, though, I think we could go without the service order. It’s not that we don’t plan our services. Every person involved up-front gets a copy of the service order… detailed to the nth degree. But our service is generally the same exact order every single week with only an exception when we add Communion before the Offering on the 1st Sunday of the month. Printing the order of service is a matter of taste and tradition and really is not essential. And eliminating it saves money on paper and ink. 🙂

  • Stephen Newell says on

    Announcements is the one that surprises me. We switched to announcements on screen a couple years ago but found that to a person no one paid any attention to it. Then we would get complaints of not knowing what was going on, even though announcements were still readily available on our bulletin. Maybe it’s just the nature of our church but our members seemed to be more connected when we have announcements not only on the bulletin but during worship.

  • Very interesting. I’m surprised “order of service” made the list. I know it was an informal survey, but I’m curious what types of churches the respondents attend. Order of service makes sense in a more traditional or liturgical church, but less so in a more contemporary service.

    Here’s a link to our church’s “bulletin” if you’re interested in a peek: http://engedichurch.com/resources/events/ There’s no order of service, but it does include a QR code for online notetaking, slides and Bible references (analogue tools available in the aisles, as you can see); stewardship statistics but no attendance stats; and tons of announcements.

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Thanks Josh.

      • Relevant article, and interesting discussion, but needs survey data to be credible. Number of responses, what denominations, styles of service, geographical locations.

    • Jordon L says on

      Josh, I love that handout!

    • Josh,
      I love the handout. Do you make it a tearoom on the visitor part? Is it front back no fold?
      I may use a design like this.

      • Jake—
        Yes, the top portion is a perforated tear-off for the visitor/contact info, which is why there’s so much white space on the top front, where it says “The Handout.” Front and back, no fold. It’s not a standard size, either, but I’m not sure the exact dimensions (smaller than 8.5×11).

    • Luke Robertson says on

      Your link was not working. I would like see if possible.
      thanks

  • I must be an oddball. I love getting the church bulletin every week. I love that it lists the order of service, otherwise I feel adrift at sea. Of course there is room to deviate as the Holy Spirit leads. The order of service is merely a guide. I don’t need room for sermon notes, though, as a separate notebook that I provide works just fine. Knowing the attendance numbers and offering amounts is nice but not necessary. Major announcements that affect the whole congregation should be included, as many people don’t have time to visit the various ministry tables or they forget about doing so (and some, especially the elderly, don’t have computers for checking the church website).

    I may be a grammar snob, but number one (even if it wasn’t number one) is definitely important to me. A grammatically-correct, clean, crisp bulletin is appealing (though we must be ready to forgive mistakes, since no one is perfect).

    Interesting post, Mr. Rainer.

  • Two thoughts:

    From a church leadership perspective, I see the other side. It may be what they want, but is it what they need? For instance, including attendance/offering stats can create negative opinions if attendance/giving numbers are low. More than once I’ve been in a church where these numbers are listed in detail and because they were “poor” thought to myself, “This is a sinking ship.”

    I would be interested in the sermon notes question whether or not people benefit from filling in blanks in an outline or not.

    • For us sharing the statistics for attendance and giving is important simply because we want people to know whats going on. Its not the staff’s church its God’s church and if the numbers are not great people need to know so they can be apart of the solution. I think Hybles is the one who said that “facts are our friends.” You could always share the numbers at the same time you celebrate a ministry victory, ie. “we 5 kids who were saved at church camp.”

      Currently at my church, our teaching team uses an insert in the program to fill in blanks during the message. As a member of the teaching team I am aware that every time I step on sage I am fighting for the attention of people in the congregation. We find that “fill in the blank” outlines helps us. However… for the OCD people… if you don’t provide an answer for every blank, their world is out of sorts until they fill in all of those blanks!

    • Numbers are not important to most.
      Sermon notes: YES!!!!!!!! I know lots of people in our church fill in the blanks and keep them for months or a year. I do so myself. Helps me remember and pray about what was shared. Or, I pass them on or use them as an opening for discipleship/discussion.

  • I understand why people want to see the order. It gives them so idea about what is going to happen and when. One of the core believe that I have is that no one wants to feel stupid in worship.

  • We stopped printing bulletins a few years ago and do not miss them. The people that complain they aren’t aware of what is going on complained they weren’t aware when we had bulletins. We have ministry handouts- Pre-School, Children, Teens, Discipleship, etc. on various tables in the foyer and an email newsletter via Constant Contact.
    Are bulletins even that important or is it something tangible that “church people” can take with them? I grew up and served as a student pastor in churches that had an order of service printed and never understood why it was deemed so important. As pastor of a SBC church, the Holy Spirit has been moving in an incredible way and do not want to stifle Him in anyway by following a schedule. We have the songs and sermon planned out but there are some elements that happen unplanned each week. If we printed an order of service, I can imagine the complaints that would come- “You didn’t follow the order that was printed. How are we supposed to keep up?” or “If you don’t follow the order of service we have, how can we follow you?”

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Good points Zach.

    • Yeah, can’t see how following a schedule is going to ‘stifle’ the Holy Spirit. Just pray that God guide you, then plan, then do what God guided you to do. Or does God change his mind? No, don’t think He does. I think He knew what He wanted you to do before you were born. And that is do all to His glory. Now if you schedule something and realise later it wasn’t to God’s glory, then by all means, change it.

      • Couldn’t agree more Clark!

      • Ingrid E says on

        I agree Clark. I don’t see where the Holy Spirit moving will be stifled, if you plan. I don’t like going to church where little or no planning is involved, just pull stuff out the hat. That’s nonsense. God is a God of order. Everything he does is well thought out and planned. He gives us his best. Why should we do different? As Christians, we are expected to have planned and well thought programs to present to the Lord, recognizing that he is the audience in worship, not the people. As we plan, the Holy Spirit will guide us in what to bring to give worship to a Holy God, who is worthy of all praise and honor.

    • Larry B says on

      Responding to the question, “Are bulletins valuable?”, I say yes, particularly on Bulletin Night at Chick-Fil-A

    • I used to think like you Zach and still agree on a number of your points. However, something was pointed out to me a few weeks ago that made me think of bulletins in a different light. Bulletins are NOT for your church members, but for the visitors. When a stranger comes, having a bulletin in hand gives them something to look at while they wait for the service to begin. It can tell them a lot about the place they are visiting and help them decide if they want to return. I know we all want our regulars to be friendly and approach new people, that ushers and greeters will automatically recognize a “new face”, but it doesn’t always happen. And if the stranger is shy then they can “hide behind the bulletin” in the awkward minutes before service. What if we look at the bulletin as an welcoming tool rather than “in house” communication device? How would it be different?

      • Keith Wissman says on

        Thank you! A bulletin can be an important part of “guest services” and to encourage a sense that this is a “safe place”.

      • As a busy wife & mother who works full time in addition to being responsible for our church bi weekly bulletin……I love that I can stick the bulletin in my purse and have all the important dates, names and info right there to see when I need it. I am also in agreement as to using it as a resource for visitors who may be interested in getting to know us better.

    • I have served as a Senior Pulpit Minister for more than thirty years and as a Minister of Music for more than ten years before that. I assure you, from personal experience, that there are many time that I have changed the topic of the lesson at the last moment because I always ask the Spirit to lead me to what the people in attendance today need. Often it is not what I had prepared. Had I been bound to a pre-advertised topic, many hearts that were touched may not have been. The same with music: really good, accomplished ministers respond to the “vibe” of the audience and adjust accordingly. Eventually we arrived at a compromise whereby we published blocks of time in worship dedicated to various aspects without nailing down specific topics or hymns and all worked well. I really believe that the main concern with the order of worship, although it pains me to say this, is “how long are we going to be here?” Once the time issue is resolved, including topics and hymn numbers seem to have little significance to people. That has at least been my experience over the past almost half century.

  • Number three surprised me. I didn’t think anyone cared except those who had a responsibility that morning.

    Number fiver surprised me at first but then it occurred to me that when someone says, “That’s been in the bulletin for a few weeks!” People act like it never occurred to them to look there. I guess its another example of things changing in such a way that the church has to change too simply to accommodate.

    Excellent list, thanks for this.

    Michael

  • This amazes me on 2 areas. Order of service…Almost all I have ever encountered with putting that in a bulletin is grief if we do not do everything that is listed in the order it is listed. In many cases it doesn’t allow for flexibility in the eyes of melancholics. I am also surprised at wanting attendance…people usually know if numbers are low or there is a large crowd in attendance, on the other hand if a visitor comes in and sees numbers dropping week after week while they are deciding to become a part or not it would deter them from involvement in a sinking ship. Just my experiences.

    • Thom Rainer says on

      I was surprised too.

      • Jeri Barrett Thomas says on

        What I’m discovering is that what most people refer to as a bulletin is really what I would call a newsletter. Any bulletin I’ve ever seen in church contains the theme of the worship service, the order of the worship service, and announcements.

    • Most visitors look at bulletins to see what kind of church they are attending. Does the church have things going on? Is there activities I can get involved in or anything that sounds interesting. Us this a relevant church, or are they dying out. Activities are in my age bracket, or just older people, or are there children’s activities? I’m not sure I would care about church attendance, just what is going on. Is this a happening place where Gods work is bring carried out, teaching and spreading the gospel? But I agree that the bulletin should look good and represent well what the church is doing. Paper handouts are good because the visitor can take this with them. Overhead announcements tend to get forgotten, but look great up front from a marketing standpoint. It also depends on the size of your church with which would work best for the congregation.

      • That’s why this post is called “What Church MEMBERS Want In A Bulletin” and not “What Church VISITORS Want In A Bulletin.” And you’ve made a good point that most bulletins are geared to members (insiders)

        I’m of the opinion that there needs to be more in the bulletin geared to visitors than members. Members have about 17 other ways to hear about what’s going on…or they’re already involved in regular activities.

        A bulletin that is geared primarily to members communicates that visitors are not important and are just outsiders.

    • As a music minister, I wish we wouldn’t have to insert of the order of service. I believe it limits flexibility and spontaniety. Since we put every song on the overhead, it’s a mystery to me why people insist on the bulletin order of service. I’ve never heard a valid argument for it’s insertion.

      • Control…people want to know how long things are going to take and what to expect.
        Intentional times to shake them of that is good, other times pastoral sensitivity suggests that we may include it to help them relax and engage Jesus Christ.

      • Randy Underwood says on

        I understand your desire as a music minister for flexibility in the order of service, however, as a member of the congregation it becomes frustrating when the music minister goes one way and the operator of the multi-media providing the words goes another or can’t follow at all. If you and your multi-media team are together it seems quite easy to include the designer of your weekly bulletin. Thanks for hearing my thoughts.

      • Vannessa Aldridge says on

        That makes sense

      • Nicole says on

        I believe if your regularly attending you don’t need the words on the overhead.

      • I agree, I don’t believe there is a valid argument for having the order of service in the bulletin. Those who are so rigid that they have to see what’s going to happen next are simply checking things off the list rather than focusing on worshiping. As an Administrative Assistant, I can tell you that the order of service in a bulletin is a nightmare, and I am so thankful that we stopped putting it in our bulletin. Some people complained at first, but that only lasted a couple of weeks. Now, three years later, no one gives it a thought.

      • Marti, I agree totally with your statement. In my case, I was having to wait until everyone was in agreement with the order of service to do the bulletin. Of course, that meant many many times, I had to stay over (WITH NO PAY) to finish the bulletin. What I am experiencing now is that leaders want to get up and make announcements instead of putting them in the bulletin. As a consequence our bulletin is stale and unimportant for members. Unfortunately for visitors, they are missing events and ministry.

      • Order of Worship shows purpose and intent. Placing this in the bulletin shows members and guests that time, thought, and prayer have been put into planning Corporate Worship. As the Worship Pastor or Leader, we have to remember that this is for the congregation as a whole and not just for us. We are wanting them to join with us in Corporate Worship and if we explain to our congregations what this is for, they can prepare their hearts and minds as they anticipate the beginning of the service.

    • I agree that there is a certain amount of complaints when the order of service is not followed, but I have also observed that those that complain are the people who consistently find fault. Thank them for their observation and don;t take it personally.

    • I agree 100%

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