Your church’s announcements may highlight upcoming celebrations, prayer requests, fundraising needs, and more. Taking the time to make these announcements more exciting and meaningful can increase their impact and entice members to share them with others. Read on to learn how to make compelling church announcements and enjoy the free templates included.
Church announcements are vital details and messages your church shares with parishioners. These announcements may be prayer requests, church member updates, fundraising needs, etc.
Churches can make announcements at any time during the service. However, traditionally, churches make announcements right after their welcome message.
This article will share ways to create exciting church announcements and tips to better interest your church members.
The problem many churches have is providing too much information in their announcements. People’s attention is limited, so if you want to keep your parishioners interested, it’s best to keep your announcements short and sweet.
We’ve shared three steps you must take in church announcements below.
Your church will often have new visitors and members. Make sure to give a little more attention to these new people to make them feel noticed and appreciated. It is a crucial part of your church announcements.
A warm and interactive welcome gives life to your announcements. More people will pay attention, which is crucial for the effectiveness of your announcements.
After that, it’s time to share how guests can learn more. You can do this by sharing a few words about your church and giving them a link to your website.
Or just provide a QR code that easily takes them there – the easier, the better!
Next up is another simple way to keep the attention of your parishioners. Include a connection card – it is a quick way to engage the audience and learn more about them.
Churches can include a card in their programs and ask for contact info, how they learned about the church, and ways the church can help. Keep it concise with no more than a couple of questions and fields. Remember to collect the cards before they leave.
If guests have questions, you should have volunteers for assistance after the announcement.
Time to make the announcement! This is your call to action.
If your church announcements include details on an upcoming event, you must include a way to RSVP for the event. Online methods are highly effective, so make sure to have an event page ready before the announcement.
If it’s a giving request, share with your parishioners how they can give. It is advisable to include quick online methods such as text-to-give. Quickly explain to them where they will have to send a text and what the content will be. Donorbox gives you a unique campaign ID and a simple texting number – both easy to remember and share! Or you can create a custom keyword and use the shortcode number with the shortcode plan.
Once your donor sends a text, they’ll receive a link to your online donation form where they can quickly and easily make a donation using their preferred digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
If your announcement is educational or informational, be sure to include the best way for your church members to follow up.
Pro tip: Focus on the need or the story related to the announcement. Do not spend too much time explaining what to do and how to help. For that, you should provide ways for parishioners to easily be redirected to your website or an online landing page.
Churches need one person in charge of planning and sharing announcements. This makes it easier for everyone involved and builds trust with church members and attendees.
Choosing a single individual to give announcements helps people know who to contact with dire prayer requests and other crucial information.
When you choose that individual, you’ll want to find someone comfortable with public speaking and with the ability to communicate with members.
Once the individual is chosen, have your announcer write out what they’re going to say beforehand. They do not have to write a script but should answer the following questions: who, what, where, when, and how.
When writing out church announcements, ask your designated person to find a way to connect them to your church’s mission. Ensure that the individual making the announcements understands your mission and can find creative ways to merge the two.
Another role of the individual in charge is to collect details related to the announcement.
People and staff members will wait until the last minute to send important messages, so you must set a deadline. For your church members, ask them to fill out an online form with their requests.
The best way to keep people’s attention during church announcements is to keep it simple and share only more vital and last-minute announcements from the pulpit. Include other details in your church program.
You’ll also want to try to make your announcements different every week. If you share the same things over and over, people will stop listening.
If you must share the same thing, try and find different ways to make it enjoyable. Tell a story instead of listing a few details. Storytelling helps you grab your audience’s attention while still imparting important information. Do your best to find stories that help share details, however, and keep them concise and to the point.
Most announcements occur after welcoming attendees, but others may fit better during other times in your service.
Think of ways to share announcements during music presentations, the sermon, or offerings if it works better. This may also make it easier to find creative ways to inform parishioners.
The time also depends upon the urgency of your announcement. If it is for a tragedy-giving request or an immediate need for help, you should not wait until the last minute. Encourage people to act urgently and offer them quick ways for that.
The best way to improve your church announcements is to be creative. Find new, exciting ways to connect with your audience!
A picture is worth a thousand words, so find ways to include impactful images in your church program and verbal announcements. The photos in your church program should give people a better idea of your church’s mission or activities instead of a generic nature or spiritual image.
You’re luckier than most if you have a professional photographer on staff or as a volunteer. The rest can use free image tools like Ministry Designs, Unsplash, or Canva to project relevant pictures along with your announcements.
People react better to videos than to other communication forms. Social media and other media sources have made video communication easy and vital for churches.
If you want to use videos to share important announcements, get creative and let different groups and members help. Children and teen volunteers and classes can help spice up your video announcements and give you a way to reach young people.
You can also personalize some more serious announcements by asking your pastor or missionaries worldwide to share a message via video.
Some of your announcements may be an ideal opportunity to act out. Vacation bible school is an exciting time for young believers.
One way to start that excitement early and encourage more participation can be to let children from past years plan and act out a vacation bible school skit. Getting your youth ministry involved will result in more entertaining – and more engaging – church announcements.
Since time is limited, you won’t be able to share all the crucial details during Sunday services. Social media accounts give churches another tool to educate and inform parishioners about church announcements.
Post all church announcements on your social media accounts, including ways to find you online, and invitations to join your church program.
Thanks to the welcome cards you’ve included just before your announcement, you should be able to collect new emails. Weekly emails are an excellent way to reach out to parishioners and share information on upcoming events and volunteer needs.
This works as a great reminder for your verbal announcements as well.
Finding the right tone for your church announcements may be challenging, so we’ve provided two free templates to help you get started.
Dear loving members and guests,
We want to give you an exciting opportunity to share God’s message and love.
Tithing and weekly offerings help our church run and reach more people, but once a year, we come together to fund our missionaries and other outreach activities. This year, we’re collecting funds to help (include cause).
God inspires a few special church members to spread His word to those in need. As His followers, we can help answer His call by supporting these individuals with monetary gifts. Funds collected during our annual campaign (include details).
If you feel so moved, visit our website at (include link) or speak with (include a contact name and number). You can also easily connect with our online giving via text. (Share details)
Thank you for your generosity!
Dear followers,
The church is safe for many looking for a home with Jesus Christ. As members of His family, we do our best to provide support for all who need help. We received a call from one of our families needing your prayers.
This family asks to remain anonymous (or include their name) but asks that we pray for (include prayer request).
Please take the time this week to pray for (family name or this family), and join us as we pray together.
Church announcements allow you to connect better with your parishioners and strengthen bonds with your members. They also help churches share giving and volunteer opportunities with the community.
Churches can use time during Sunday services, special events, church programs, social media, and emails to send announcements to parishioners.
As your church delves into new ways to spread God’s word, Donorbox MinistryMatters is there to help! Thousands of churches have chosen us to accept online tithes and offerings using our simple and affordable features like text-to-give, fundraising pages, recurring donations, crowdfunding, QuickDonate™, and more. You can sign up for free and get started right away!
For help with church fundraising, check out insightful guides and articles on the Donorbox Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll ensure the best resources reach your inbox every month!
Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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Kristine Ensor