Church newsletters are a useful tool that keep your members engaged and informed, and email newsletters, especially, are cost effective and useful since they allow your members to receive updates from you no matter where they are. When you include components in your newsletter that keep your members interested and up-to-date on church happenings, you’ll not only improve open rates, but you’ll also build stronger relationships.
Here are four components to include in your church newsletter so that it is enjoyable and useful to your congregation:
A Note from the Pastor’s Desk
Providing a note from the pastor or other church leaders will build trust between you and your members. It’s also a fun way for members—new and old—to get to know their pastor better and help build a stronger sense of community. Not sure what to write? Your pastor can use this segment to share additional content from Sunday’s sermon or a personal story. The space doesn’t have to be used exclusively by the senior pastor either. Other leaders can share stories that will allow members to get to know them better. Need more ideas? Include a personal devotion or give a summary of a recent sermon with a link to a video of the full sermon.
This Weekend’s Message
Share the upcoming sermon title and a summary in this segment along with the dates and times of the services. Highlight scriptures that will be featured in the upcoming sermon. You can also link to earlier sermons if you’re in the middle of a series so your members who’ve missed earlier messages can catch up. Also consider listing the songs or hymns for the worship set so that people can come prepared to worship. They can study the scriptures, look up any songs they’re not familiar with, and join in prayer before the service.
News Updates
Keep your members informed by providing updates about events happening in your church. In this segment, you can promote upcoming events, share volunteer opportunities, and share community outreaches. Let your members know about causes your church is involved in both locally and around the world. This may prompt members to donate even more to those causes or volunteer their time at those organizations. And if registration is required, provide an event registration link.
Volunteer Spotlight
Churches often have difficulty finding enough volunteers to fill the spots in their ministries. Yet, almost 25 percent of people volunteer at least once during the year, and just over 33 percent of those volunteer for institutions of faith. Use this segment in your newsletter to encourage volunteerism in your church by highlighting the work your volunteers do and thanking them for their contribution. You can even point out the work your members are doing throughout the community.
Need more ideas for encouraging volunteerism in your church? Read 7 Ways to Improve Your Volunteer Recruitment. The personal nature of newsletters makes them great tools to build and improve relationships with your congregation. And good church management software like FellowshipOne has newsletter-creation capabilities, so you can choose from a selection of newsletter templates that make creating a church newsletter is even easier. Click here for a free demo to see just how easy it is!
