Church Bulletins

(1) Decide on your format. How much promotional information do you want in the bulletin? Do you want a worship order? Do you plan to use scripture or other printed material to enhance the worship experience? Are you using a printed order of worship? Do you need to provide a place for sermon notes or an outline? Establish a pattern of content you'll use every week to build consistency.

(2) Don't over-design. A bulletin should be sparse so as not to be a distraction from worship. Avoid heavy graphics and too much promotional content. Use simple headlines and concise paragraphs that give just the necessary information. Design so that a reader could glance at just the headlines and get most of the news that they need. Remember that this is distributed and read during worship, and that the worship time itself must remain the top priority.

(3) Everything can't be an insert. Establish a maximum number of inserted items into your bulletin and stick to it. Determine what circumstances demand a special flyer or inserted media (for instance, only churchwide events, or only with the Church Administrator's permission). Every event and ministry can't be an insert. Some bulletins are like magazines--turn it the wrong way and 50 promotional flyers fall out. Inserts should also adhere to the standards established for all other printed media.

(4) Proofread. The person preparing the bulletin should never, under any circumstances, be the only one to proofread the document. For any churchwide publication, like your bulletin, have at least 3-4 people proofread for errors and type-os.

(5) Forget the high-cost options. Bulletin shells look nice, but are really not worth the money unless you're doing a tremendous volume--1,000 or more each week. Remember you are dealing with basically a throw-away item--use once and then discard. Shells cost more than colored copy paper, which looks just fine with a simple and consistent design. You can be in keeping with your church's overall look and image without blowing funds on a fancy worship shell. Likewise, even in a large church environment, avoid "full color custom" design for every message series and theme. Ask yourself before spending that money, "Will people remember this in a month?" Likely, no.

(6) Distribute to everyone. Your bulletin is like the Sunday Morning News for your congregation. Make sure extra copies are distributed and available to your entire staff, the Church Office/receptionist, and the preschool/childcare area (these folks really appreciate being kept in the loop).

(7) Room for notes. Leave room for sermon notes, or print the sermon outline with fill-in-the-blanks. A specific area set aside to take notes encourages listeners to participate in the message by writing down key ideas. Retention increases immediately by 70% when a listener writes down notes about what they are hearing.