By Jessica Marston, Communications Specialist
Your church newsletter is a powerful communication tool whether it’s an emailed digital form or a printed paper copy. It distributes information about future events, special missions, and ministry projects, and provides individual faith growing opportunities in the form of prayer, devotions, and sermon discussions.
The danger comes when your newsletter starts to look like an insider’s bulletin board and less like an inclusive and inviting faith community. So what do we do?
You start by looking at who you are trying to reach – your audience or audiences. In this case you have two: church members who are already established in the church and new potential members and visiting guests who are search for a new church home.
Beginning in 2019, Faith Christian Church, Wichita, saw their vision and mission leading them to be an outward focused church. In doing so, all of their communication including their newsletter would be aimed outside their walls.
“By creating two newsletters we have given our members a new tool,” said Andy Newbrey, Pastor at Faith Christian Church. “We eliminated housekeeping items such as meetings and reports from the sharable newsletter, letting seekers, and potential guests know that we are not a club and we are intentionally opening our doors to the world.”
In their “Member’s Newsletter” Faith CC shares internal community and faith building opportunities as well as housekeeping items such as prayer list, serving schedules, church statistics, birthdays and anniversaries, and all the things their guests don’t need to know.
“In everything we do we try our best to view from the perspective of our guests,” said Andy. “This info just looks to them like ‘private club news.’”
Their “General Faith Newsletter” is packed full of faith development and community fellowship opportunities designed to be shared through easy share links.
“The church is not a club and not a cruise ship, we are a fishing boat and we have a job to do,” said Andy. “Our congregations really do want to grow! They really do have the heart for Christ! They need tools and resources. This strategy of two newsletters is one tool you can give your people to reach out and let seekers, guests, whoever know that we are not a private club.”