9 Best Practices For Making Church Announcements | Tithe.ly

Church announcements are important for the community of your church.

There are many ways you can share with people what’s going on during the week or what’s coming up. Announcements may feel dull or burdensome. But this weekly rhythm is an important way to keep people informed and involved in the life of your church.

Here are nine tips that will help you to make clear, concise, and compelling announcements.

#1. Acknowledge your guests

It’s important to acknowledge your guests and help them to feel comfortable. Visiting a church can be uncomfortable for many people.

Let guests know what to expect, how they can learn more about your church, and make sure you express your gratitude for their attendance. These small gestures will go a long way in helping visitors to feel welcome.

Acknowledging your guests is something your church should do every week. This will help to create an expectation among the members of your church to invite new people to attend and ensure that you do not miss a first-time guest by accident.

#2. Let people know how to connect

What is the next step someone visiting your church should take to learn more about your church?

For most churches, this next step is for visitors to fill out a card with their contact information and perhaps answer a couple of questions — e.g., How did you hear about us? How can we help you?

When encouraging visitors to provide their information, let them know how you will contact them, how often, and when they should expect to hear something from you. This way they will understand that you will not spam their email, call them in the middle of the night, and what to expect for providing their information.

#3. Keep it simple

You want to focus on a few key announcements for church events or news every week. Making too many announcements at church is a great way to ensure no one will remember anything you said.

Fight the temptation to announcement everything a member of your congregation suggests. If this is a challenge for you, then create a way for people to submit announcement requests and a deadline. This way when someone approaches you on Sunday morning with a request, then you can let them know that you’re unable to accommodate their request since they missed the deadline.

#4. Provide next steps

For your announcements, be sure people understand what they need to do. For example, do they need to sign up or RSVP for your event? If so, then tell them how they can do this. Some churches often forget this important step.

#5. Use social media

Are you organizing an event open to the public? If so, then make sure you share it on social media. This way people new to your church or people considering attending your church’s event can learn more without having to make a phone call or email your church.

For public events, you can even create an event on your church’s Facebook Page. This makes it easy for the members of your church to share it with their friends on Facebook, as well as to create an easy way for people to let you know whether they are attending. Use social media to share announcements to a large audience, and not make them feel overwhelmed.

#6. Send an email

Sending out a weekly email is a great way to remind people of what’s going on. You can email people what you announced the previous weekend, as well as things taking place at your church.

Also, within these emails, you can provide exclusive content for people, such as a story or devotion, to further encourage them to open the emails and read what’s going on.

#7. Use videos

Church video announcements can be a great tactic for church announcements. Video will give you the opportunity to review the material ahead of time and you can be sure that they don’t run over.

If you’re new to video announcements, be sure you and your team have the bandwidth to do so before committing.

Also, you can use videos to only make key announcements instead of announcing everything going on at your church. This is one way to better emphasize an event or to share with people an encouraging story or the work of your church in the community.

#8. Get the timing right

Your announcements should be at the beginning or end of your church worship service. But you should avoid making announcements in the middle of your service. Doing this can create distractions among your visitors and congregation and disrupt the flow of your worship service.

#9. Be prepared ahead of time

Who’s making the announcements during your worship service?

Be sure whoever is responsible for announcements has the information he or she needs. It’s also a good idea to encourage them to read through the announcements ahead of time. This way to spot any errors, ask any questions, and be better prepared to sound clear when making the announcements.

Editor’s Note: This post was updated on August 6, 2020 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.