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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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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I created what I called *the Unbulletin* for our contemporary service.
We had a sentence to two at the top to frame the theme of the service.
Then listed the main scripture passage or passages that we were drawing from.
A list of the songs we were singing that day (in order)
A brief paragraph about the message (… the theme on steroids).
This way people were oriented as to what was going on, without scripting everything out like a traditional bulletin. Songs, passages, and the occasional unison prayer was on the screen.
Should a weekly “message from the pastor” be in the bulletin? I’ve done this for two years at my current church because the previous pastor did it, and I was told by a few people when I came here that it was an expectation. Frankly, I think very few people read what I write. I get almost no feedback. I even tried a test to see if people read my column. For two weeks earlier this year I put a P.S. at the end of the column stating that I would give a free $10 Panera Bread gift card to the first five people who gave me some feedback on church communication and publicity. Feedback could be in the form of a suggestion in the church’s “suggestion box”, a Twitter message, sending me an email, or posting something on our Facebook page. Only two people responded in over two months. I’m seriously thinking of discontinuing the column except on special occasions since it seems to be a waste of my time.
These are exactly the things we put in our weekly bulletin. I guess we’re doing OK, huh? 🙂 Every week I wonder if there isn’t a better way though. When/if the Pastor decides to vary from the order of worship, it’s OK. Just because it isn’t printed in the bulletin, doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Or visa versa. Sometimes in the time between printing and Sunday mornings things change. We also still do a printed monthly newsletter! Fewer copies are printed than we used to. It is also posted on our web site. I only print 60 newsletters and that’s too many most months. We have about 20 people who want it mailed to them, so no more bulk mailing either. That saved us a lot of money each year!
What people want and what people need are often two different things. As part of the spiritual leadership of my church, I am not trying to accommodate the “wants” so much as the “spiritual” direction we believe God would have us go. People “want” nice sermons that lead them to believe they are “OK”. People “want” to believe that their attendance somehow counts for “points” on a heavenly tally sheet somewhere. I think we should try to help people engage in the worship service as best we can, but getting hung up on what people “want” in the bulletin is probably not all that important as what they hear from the pulpit, the music, the interaction of the body of believers in worship and the transformation that should be taking place in individual lives as a result.
I’m not surprised at all by this top five. What surprises me is all the discussion about why people want the order of service included in a church bulletin. If I visited another church and they handed me a bulletin that was missing the order of service, I’d wonder if they’d made a mistake that week. I don’t expect to see every detail scripted out, but it is good to have some idea of what to expect in a service, especially if I’m a visitor.
Two items I would add to the list are:
1. General church contact information (phone, email, website, office hours)
2. A list of senior staff and their duties
Yes!
Our order of service is kept is simple. for instance, instead of listing every song, we title it worship in song, followed by the scripture. This gives a newcomer an idea of what is happening and what to expect.
It is true, that a bulletin isn’t a necessary item. However, it is relevant for a newcomer to be able to get an idea of how the services and activities work and flow. Also, new activities coming up are listed under SAVE THE DATE. On the back we list our mission statement, contact information for pastor and a thank you to those who participated that day. Sermon notes are an insert with reference scriptures listed.
If your leaders handle changes smoothly, then the congregants will follow. Everyone makes mistakes….we laugh them off and move on. If the Holy Spirit calls us, we follow it not the bulletin.
I love a bulletin that list the order of Worship, because that fits my personality. But I can relate to the Holy Spirit moving in a service, and I love to experience that. And that’s not something you can plan. So why does it have to be one way or the other? Put the order of Worship in the bulletin for those who like it, and allow for change if the Spirit so desires to take the service in another direction. ” Plan for Spontaneity “
Amen.
We always enjoy getting a paper bulletin each Sunday. Unfortunately, when our former song leader passed away recently, we haven’t had any bulletins. Now my DH has recently taken on the task of song service and I’m currently working on a new improved bulletin. Thank you all for the different ideas that are used. I like the thought of printed announcements, rather than more time on forgetting what was just said. Normally activities are written on the front board, but rarely anyone copies the info down. I’d love to add a place for sermon notes, which would help fill in the extra space that I’ve got after the bulletin is done. I’m thinking even adding in a weekly prayer too.
I do have a comment on why I like the bulletin too. Most of the music that is done in our church, is not from the hymnal. So words of the songs is printed on them. We typically do 2 printed songs, then 2 from hymnal. They also come in handy for when my girls get restless. I’ve perfected several origami animals that keep them occupied for a bit. 😉
At our church we print the order of service in the bulletin out of necessity. Our sanctuary is very traditional and almost 130 years old. We only have one screen and it is retractable so that it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb from the stained glass, wooden pews, etc. It serves its function for announcements prior and post worship and for any sermon illustrations.
My issue is that we HAVE TO print the entire order of service and we do print announcements but by the time I plug in ALL the details – newcomer info, O of S, announcements, schedule for the day, I can easily print a 20 page booklet (5 sheets of 8.5 in x14 in folded and stapled.)