"Why bother to do church communications?"
"Who do we do the church bulletin for?"
"What are some of the biggest mistakes people make in church communications?"
"How did you get started in this ministry?" [Read more...]
Christmas church bulletin example
After sending out the Hark the Herald Angels gospel presentation, I just got this example of how one of the ECC Members used it and wanted to share it.
It is a wonderful example of how to put together a very clear and complete presentation of how to come to know Jesus personally at Christmas. Following is a picture of the bulletin--click on the images to download the PDF.
For the original file with the Hark the Herald Angels Sing files, CLICK HERE.
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Church Bulletin Tips and Resources from current Church Bulletin Sample Books
As part of gathering samples for our current selection of Church Bulletin Sample Books, we asked contributors for resource and production tips. The best ideas and resources come from all of you. Please add your tips and resources in the comments section. A brief video that illustrates some of the best resources and websites listed is available if you CLICK HERE.
Below are tips and resources for creating church bulletins:
**We tried various formats before we developed the one we are currently using. One of the problems we had was getting people to sign up for various opportunities and how best to do it. We decided the Connect Card would solve the problem. It is a tear off section of the bulletin. We use the information to record attendance, receive prayer requests, requests for information, and finally on the back side sign ups for opportunities being offered. We print it on 11 x 17 paper and it is a tri-fold. The only complaint I have is that it is labor intensive in that I hand perforate all the copies and it can get time-consuming. I do call for help when I’m really rushed with several things at one time. Susan
**Keep announcements (PowerPoint) open while working on slides for worship, so changes can be immediately made on both. Learn how to use tabs!Keep learning more about the computer programs you use. April
**Perhaps less is more, or don't be afraid of white space. I think there is a tendency to overload bulletins with information instead of using inserts.Crystal
Lots more tips:
**Following are some great resource links, CLICK HERE if you want to see a video that previews them for you. Some of my favorite websites:
- http://www.bamagazine.com/
- http://ilovetypography.com/
- http://desktoppub.about.com/
- http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php
- http://www.churchartpro.com/
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
**When I create something that has to be printed outside, I always do 2-color to save money. We have a top-of-the-line color printer in house that handles most of our regular volume. My bulletin is printed free of cost by an outside company that sells adds for the back cover. Eulene
**I have found actionenvelopes.com to be the cheapest source for printed envelopes. But not the fastest. I use nextdayflyers.com for all of my really urgent printing. If I have the files uploaded by 6pm they will have the printing done overnight. They will do quantities as low as 100 and they are not much more expensive. I use gotprint.com for most of my regular printing of over 1000 pcs. Both next day and got print are local in southern california, so I can print multiple jobs and pick them up with no shipping costs. Nextdayflyers, and gotprint have done good jobs for me, but when you are doing very color specific work, or using pantone colors, you do need to talk to them. They will fix things that are wrong, but that doesn't help with urgent printing. I don't worry about it with my printing. For my flyers and the things you looked at anything is close enough. I use San Diego Web Offset for newsprint. I have printed magazines, and a newsletter in Newspaper size and format with them, they are fast and reasonable plus easy to work with. Graphics for an old web press like they have is different, but our newspaper was one of the most enjoyable things I have printed. One more, for big printing I use BPgraphics.com in Phoenix, AZ. They are cheap cheap and they do printing of almost umlimited size. They do billboards mostly. That is printed on reinforced vinyl like banners, the rolls are like 200feet long and i believe 16 feet wide. Plus they can be welded together to make unlimited size. One warning, when banners are made for use indoors, the full color printed ones, are best when they are uncoated matte finish, they don't reflect stage lights and stuff. But many banner printing places BPgraphics included UV coat their banners by default. And their uncoated banners are still extremely glossy. So they don't work that well for use under stage lights. Paul
**I use Churchart.com for cover graphics and have OT & NT lectionary grahic art when it fits with pastor's selection of 3 out of 4 pericopes. Tom **Here at Immanuel Lutheran Church ELCA in Forest City we have 2 services on Sunday at 8:00 inside the Sanctuary and at 10:00 outside under the umbrella of trees on the Waldorf College campus by their pond (weather permitting). Our 2 bulletins are done as a Word document. The early service is usually a tradition service mostly from the ELW hymnal. The second service, since it is outside, songs are all printed or music inserted since we don’t use a screen outside. Jaci
**We print a different bulletin for each service. The parts that change are the liturgy, the servants and the front page date and time. The bulletin is a bi-fold printed on white paper; the ‘blue sheet’ is printed on blue and cut in thirds then inserted into each bulletin. Pat
**Previously our two worship services had a different order so the inside left column was the order for first worship and the right column was the order for second worship. We put the words to the songs that are not available in the hymnbook in case someone is unable to see the screen because of where they are sitting or limited eyesight. We print our own picture on the front of the bulletin. Usually it is a sketch of the church but we use other pictures that will go along with a specific sermon series the minister is doing. Teri
**This is a preprinted bulletin shell that I do all the inside in B&W but for the website I scanned in the front and insert it and I change all the graphics to color when I upload it to our website. Also normally we have sermon notes on the back but for the Lord’s Supper he does not have notes. Hope you can use it! Thanks for all you do for us!! Jeri
**I have found it helpful to have a monday meeting with the pastor, to review what will go in the bulletin this week, and what inserts might be needed. Always good to touch base before things go to press on Thursday.We are a small church, so our pieces are very simple and printed in house. Jennifer
**Attached is our bulletin for last weekend and one from a week or so before. To be honest we have had a few bulletin makeovers in the 6 years I have been at the church, and we still are not really happy with what we have. To explain the threads “theme” (logo at the top of three pages) – we believe a balanced believer will have all three threads woven into their lives– worship, grow, and serve.
**Tips: · If something is going into the bulletin it has to fit in either worship, grow, or serve. · We have one contact person per ministry who submits the bulletin request. · Wednesday by 5 pm deadline. · We eliminated pictures/clipart due to space and it being too busy looking. Kelly
**For the weekly bulletin I open up the previous week’s bulletin and then save it with this week’s date before editing. The items you see along the edges include calendar info for meetings that are recurring, (e.g. weekly, and monthly). This eliminates retyping or opening a previous bulletin to cut and paste. Our ushers for the 11:00 service do a particular week each month (1st, 2nd, etc.) so I have the groups set up in a file named “Usher” which is inside my main “Bulletin” folder. Each week’s group of ushers is set up so I can just cut and paste them into the bulletin. Unfortunately the others aren’t consistent enough. My pastor doesn’t give me hymn and sermon info until Wed. so on Monday or Tuesday I go ahead and do the calendar and lists of worship assistants on the back as well as delete old announcements. That way I am ready for his info and can get it back to him to proofread quickly.
**We print and fold our bulletins inhouse so I now have volunteers on Friday morning that cut the inserts and stuff the bulletins. It took me several years before I realized what a help this could be. It always seemed more inconvenient to call people and ask whenever I needed someone. We now have a “Taking Faith Home” insert each week so I know I can use someone every week and can ask several weeks out. Gordon
**In the Episcopal church we use a prayer book and hymnal. To make it more user friendly (rather than fumbling between books) we develop, each week, a booklet that includes all the liturgy and music. We have a wonderful copier that copies, folds, and staples…couldn’t live without it! Here is a sample. Sara
Keep track of your ideas and share them with us!
In the coming months we'll be asking for lots more ideas to put into our Great Ideas and Sample Swap books--you all have the greatest ideas! As we tackle various types of communications, share with us! ***In addition to helping others out, all the contributors to each of the Great Ideas & Samples Swap collections get a FREE copy of all the samples submitted. This is an extraordinary deal! Be sure to sign up for our newletter--on the home page so you will know when we are collecting samples.
Check out the current GREAT IDEAS & SAMPLES books--to see the bulletins created by the people who shared the tips above. CLICK HERE to go to them!
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Be a better listener, part one: Mastering the Most Overlooked Communication Skill
Ed. note: this week celebrates Administrative Assistants and this series of articles gives some of the best advice possible for good working relationships. Without listening, it's hard for anything constructive to take place in the church office—give yourself a gift—read all three parts as they are posted, and learn to listen well.
“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I said.”
This classic statement proves the point: communication is not easy.
Listening and hearing are not the same.
Americans spend at least 80 percent of their waking hours communicating—speaking, listening, texting, emailing, reading, and writing. The form your communication takes varies, of course, depending on your lifestyle, but a common rule of thumb says that on average 9 percent of our communicating is done by writing, 16 percent by reading, 30 percent by speaking, and 45 percent by listening. Factoring in email, tweets, and instant messaging, we might adjust the percentages a bit, but taking in information (listening in one form or another) still takes the lion’s share of communication time.
Verbal skills enabling you to express yourself and get your point across are vital to your ability to do your work well. But equally important for the Christian professional— perhaps even more important—are listening skills. Every day you have an opportunity to work better, serve better, minister better by listening better.
The idea of listening as an acquired skill may be unfamiliar. Many think of listening and hearing as the same. Not so. You can hear and never really listen. Hearing is entirely passive; listening is an active process.
Often the more you hear, the less you listen. You are inundated with noise and messages every day. You are aware of the sound. Though you may not even try to comprehend what is being said, though you learn to filter out much of the noise around you, you hear it. In fact, you may become so used to filtering out sounds that even when you try to listen, you cannot. Listening, unlike hearing, is a skill that requires understanding and grasping the idea. Listening gives meaning to the sounds you hear. Because few of us have been trained how to listen, most of us are rather poor at it.
But you can master the art of listening, our most neglected communication skill.
Three levels of listening
You learn to become a good listener the same way you learn to become a good speaker: discover the system and practice. Just as some speakers are better than others, some listeners are better than others. Similarly, as a speaker your performance will vary. Your performance as a listener can vary too.
Each of us listens on at least three different levels, each requiring a higher degree of concentration and sensitivity. You may use all three levels during the course of the day.
At the first level, marginal listening, little real understanding occurs because you are preoccupied with your own thoughts. You tune in and out, following the discussion just enough to get the gist of it. A speaker generally knows when the marginal listener is not paying attention.
At the second level, evaluative listening, understanding is superficial. You stay emotionally detached, and do not actively participate in the communication. You ask no questions and give no feedback. You may even fake attention while really concentrating on what you want to say when the speaker is finished.
The third and most effective level is active listening. The active listener is sensitive to the meaning behind the speaker’s words. You are totally attentive, watching for overtones and body language. You show both verbally and non-verbally that you are there for the speaker. This active listening behavior is known as “attending.” Attending is one of the biggest compliments you can give as a listener.
Little instruction in listening
When it comes to teaching communication skills, schools traditionally concentrate on reading and writing. Some instruction is directed toward verbal skills, but virtually no instruction is given in listening, the skill we actually use most in life. As a result, the average adult listens at no better than 25 percent efficiency.
One obvious difference between written and verbal messages is that if you do not understand or remember a written message, you can go back to it later. It is permanent. But, usually, what you hear is fleeting; either you get the message right, remember or note it, or it is gone. Retention is essential.
We don’t do so well, despite the fact listening as a way of taking in information is used far more often than reading. Immediately after listening to a ten-minute presentation, the average person understands and remembers only about half of what was said. After 48 hours less than 25 percent is remembered. Perhaps this is to be expected in a society that places tremendous value on speaking and seldom recognizes the value of listening. People who speak out are generally seen as assertive, capable, and in control—even if what they say is of little value. The quiet listeners, on the other hand, may be perceived as lacking in confidence. Yet, it is often the listeners who have the best grasp of situations and a greater insight into possible solutions.
Becoming an active listener involves sharpening your ability to understand, evaluate, and respond to what you hear. The single most important element in your ability to do these things is not intellect but attitude. You must realize the importance of listening, want to improve your skills, and believe that you can.
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Series of the Three Articles on Be a Better Listener by Gayle Hilligoss
Click on any of the links to go to the article:
Be a better listener, part one: Mastering the Most Overlooked Communication Skill by Gayle Hilligoss
Be a better listener, part two: AIM, the three significant aspects of listening by Gayle Hilligoss
Be a better listener, part three: Ten techniques you can start to use now by Gayle Hilligoss
