We’ve faced a bit of struggle with regards to communicating our church announcements during our services. There are a lot of things going on throughout the week that people want to know about, but it’s not always easy getting that information into the hands of a crowd. The trouble is…announcements are boring.
We’ve tried having one person come up after the music to tell everyone the announcements.
That didn’t work.
People were falling asleep in the middle of the service when our goal is to keep them awake until at least the 40 minute mark. Plus, no matter how vibrant the announcement-giver-person was…people still said they weren’t aware of the upcoming this-or-thats.
We’ve tried canceling live announcements during the service and referring people to a hand-out program, email, website, etc..
That didn’t work.
No internet access, can’t/don’t want to read the program, etc..
We’ve tried using two real life humans during the services…sort of a host and co-host kind of deal – tried it at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the service to see if we could find the peak point of pay-attentionality to effectively communicate future happenings.
That didn’t work.
Two real life humans are apparently no more effective than one real life human. Who knew?
And so we’ve hit the bottom of the barrel. Our last resort. Video announcements.
Myself and my esteemed cohort Jon have been tirelessly writing incredibly mind-blowing story lines and figuring out the most cutting edge ways of translating normal, everyday church stuff into Emmy nominated action thrillers.
See for yourself:
Announcements 11-06-2010 from Josh Emerson on Vimeo.
Announcements 11-13-2010 from Josh Emerson on Vimeo.
Announcements 12-04-2010 from Josh Emerson on Vimeo.
Announcements 12-18-2010 from Josh Emerson on Vimeo.
Believe it or not…I think they’re working. Just curious though – if’n you’re the church going type, how does your church handle the announcements dilemma?
Our church has recently closed its doors due to lack of finances needed to keep it open, but being a small church, we didn’t have a WHOLE lot of events. When we DID have events, they would be announced (usually by the pastor) for a few weeks before the event and we would also run powerpoint shows and/or videos before church. It seemed pretty effective (and we hadn’t used programs for about a year because…no one was looking at them!).
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Videos…. great idea!
Our church does announcements from the pulpit, in the weekly handouts, via powerpoint projected on a screen before and after the service, and on the website/facebook/twitter feeds. Video is about the only thing we haven’t done.
While visiting a friend’s church, I noticed (and liked!) how they delivered their announcements. After taking the offering, they used a video showing a countdown clock with lively music that timed the person giving the announcements. The music got more intense as the time dwindled down. It was humorous watching him try to say it all before he ran out of time, and then a loud buzzer went off.
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I am a member of a very large Episcopal church, St. Martin’s. The church prints and mails a monthly newsletter. I look forward to receiving it!
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Hey, our church is a large church outside of Atlanta and we do similar video announcements. While folks are coming in, written announcements flip on the large screens and then five minutes before our service begins, we start “THE FIVE BEFORE.”
The five most important announcements/events we have going on at that time quickly flip to music, and then there is a video of more in-depth information. Here’s a link so you can see the current one that is on our website: http://gfc.tv/snellville/news/the-5-things/
And here is another link to an earlier version: http://vimeo.com/17714273
I think you are off to a great start!
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Ryan, I LOVE the video announcements. You and Jon are absolutely hilarious. However, not everyone does like them. I think this is one of the areas where you won’t please everyone. My feeling is if people truly want to know what is going on-they will listen, or read or whatever it takes to find out. Also, the people that really want to know are all of the ones that already do-the volunteers. Just my 2 cents.
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I have to agree. I go to a huge Methodist church (*cough* on Easter). Even though I don’t attend often, I read the newsletter that comes in the mail. I always know what’s going on that way, and it’s how I learned that my pastor was putting his sermons on podcast, which is now “church” in our home with the toddler afoot and a baby on the way. I’m not much of the “get in there and volunteer” type, but I have more than once brought stuff out for their charitable activities because of something I saw in the newsletter.
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Kristin says:
December 29th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
@Kristin, Sorry, LOL, meant to say I agree with Alison.
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As a preacher’s kid, lay pastor, and just plain involved church goer, I have seen them done a million different ways, both low and high tech. I find that people who want to be involved usually find out what is going on and remember what interests them. People who don’t want to be involved tend to make excuses.
As far as a delivery system goes, remember that different people learn and communicate differently. If I were in your shoes, I would try to do two or three delivery methods very well and trust that the ones who want to know, do.
Keep the video announcements if you can afford the time. They are memorable!I would also have hand outs for the ones who like to have paper to carry around, and I would put them on the web for those who must remain connected to everything. Once you have done that much, what else can you do, really?
Blunt, bold and honest opinions given daily wanted or not,
Phil
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we’ve tried it all, too. they’re just a pain in the rear. we’ve “settled” on having one of our elders (who happens to kinda/sorta double as our church comedian) give them after music, limiting them to about a minute. the least painful method we’ve found. if it was up to me, we’d just bag them entirely.
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Our church gives us a newsletter every week. The priest also does an announcement of the highlights in the newsletter before the final blessings.
Some people pay attention to the announcements and ignore the newsletter. Some people read the newsletter and ignore the announcements. Or some people (like my mom) read the newsletter WHILE the priest is doing the announcements =D
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Our pastor gives us the announcements right after worship. We also have more information located at the aptly named information table, if folks would like to learn more or have questions. We alos have announcements showing on the screen {our church is in an old theatre} as people walk in.
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the announcements are ok. maybe try mulitiple sources of information..texting folks w/txt messaging, email folks with email addresses, flyers at church for the folks not plugged into technology. you could try a game show format from the pulpit too. the folks with the answers in the audience would be planted of course, and maybe keep trying videos. shorter and more to the point. .
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During worship time, the worship pastor gives the “top three” with a single slide showing the details. He lets us know that the rest of the announcements are in the bulletin. After that, we collect the offering during the next song. We also receive emails about large upcoming events, especially if a high number of volunteers are needed (Christmas party, ect).
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The church we attend now does their announcements this way too. we like it, it’s interesting, gets to the point, sometimes it’s goofy, and shows we’re all human. The bloopers are always fun to watch too.
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I agree with Kelly. The videos are fun…But if people really want to know what is going on at church they will A) Pay attention to whatever form of communication is used (They don’t want to read the bulliten?! Well, Waaaah! That’s their issue not yours…SIU, I say!) or B) They will be involved in what is going on.
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I like your video announcements, they crack me up!!! Unfortunately they would not go over well in my very conservative church, we don’t even have announcements read during the service, they are however written in the weekly Bulliten. Our church members are very involved so maybe that makes a difference.
Oh and just so you know – we don’t actually know how many wisemen there were – the bible doesn’t actually give a number, most assume 3 because there were 3 gifts – but hey, there could have been 5 or 2. Another mistake people make is thinking the wisemen visited Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem, but they didn’t, if you read the account he had left Bethlehem by the time the Wisemen arrived, they afterall had to journey months to see Christ.
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Due to issues with immunosuppressant medication (dang that is TMI isn’t it) we no longer attend services – BUT when we did go – they did all of the above – including the comedian guy doing a series of vids. Sorry – we are hardcore about it – you cannot drag people across the finish line – if they want to be involved they need/must/no bull about it – seek the information whether it be newsletter, email carrier pigeon or “boring” announcements nobody said being a Christian was easy did they? The videos are clever and old saying is “what works today won’t work someday – so do what works til then”
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I think that’s brilliantly done!
You guys are hilarious!
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I think this is great!
We have a calendar of events on our weekly handout…. powerpoint that runs before service starts as people are mingling…. powerpoint running on a screen in the lobby…. a website…..
No awesome videos though!
Most of our things are the same days and times week to week, or the third sat, last fri, etc.
If people want to know, they’ll watch for it.
Good job!
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We have a website, a monthly newsletter, and a handout that goes with the worship aid every Sunday. AND we announce things that are happening that week right after worship on Sunday.
All that, and people still complain that they can’t get the info.
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We get a weekly handout and everything is announced right away during the service. Everyone arrives, we sing, announcements and prayer requests, Pastor’s sermon, singing, go home.
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I love the videos! Our large-er church still prints a bulletin with the announcements, special upcoming events are also mentioned by our enthusiastic youth pastor or done on video. Nothing quite this entertaining though! Great job! Lots of work just to get the word out, I’m sure.
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honestly?
use Facebook. create a Facebook page for the congregation, advertize THAT, and you have a high probability of people joining. that or use Yahoo groups, where people can sign up for an email list.
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My church just keeps it short and to the point our entire worship service on Sunday morning from our praise songs, the sermon and announcements lasts roughly an hour. I think the key for us is to keep it moving so noone has time to get bored. Our announcements are done several ways, on the program, by a person and with a slide presentation. That way noone can claim they didn’t get the info somehow! We have a very small church but I don’t think the size matters when it comes to people participating in events. People will participate if they want to and the whole “I didn’t know that was happening” thing is just a good excuse when they didn’t want to because flat out saying “I didn’t want to do that” seems a little rude. For us mostly it is the same crowd everytime who participates in anything but we always have hope more will join in and feel as blessed as we do when we serve in our community through the church.
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At my church we have videos done kind of like a news cast, a printed program that includes a form for first time visitors to fill out or current members to fill out for change of contact info.
The accountments are also added to the website and the church’s facebook page.
I loved the videos, but they seemed a bit long for just one announcement.
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The pastor gives a few announcements before and during the offering and we often have videos – yes, those do work very well. We also get an email monthly that has more information in it. A few announcements are on the backside of the sermon notes. The staff tries all methods trying to keep everyone informed!!
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Message them to death. that’s what we do. sounds like that’s what everyother church is doing too. I think we churchgoers have been conditioned to be bored by announcements because they have always BEEN…maybe try no announcements for a month…..huh? we do all of the above and people still call the office cause they were not paying attention or weren’t there. announcement boredom, a disease i think…
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My church does video announcements too, but only on the first Sunday of the month. Things are still printed in the weekly bulletins too. The leadership faced the same problem your church is having, and this new method seems to be working well.
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I think that the video announcements that Vineyard Westside does are great! I think they should continue if you can afford the time and necessary resources to create/produce them. I would also continue to: put them in some form of handout, on the website, and send emails. You are not going to please everyone so don’t try. The people who are interested and want to be involved will pay attention to what’s going on by whatever delivery media best suits them. Those who don’t really want to be involved will make excuses. Just my 2 cents for what it’s worth.
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I love it! Sadly, our church announcements are boring. I just look at the bulletin and be done with it. If people choose not to read it or listen to announcements giving after singing or whenever, it’s their loss and their bad attitude. If they “really” wanted to know, they would pay attention.
Happy New Year!
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We have a bulletin and after communion but before the final blessing we do announcements. If it’s anything that needs a sign up, we do it in the gathering space.
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I agree with some of your posters that you may have to use several types of announcements at one time. Our church (sevierheights.org) is highly multimedia. Announcements play at church on displays when church isn’t going on. We also have Facebook groups, emails from the church for groups we have signed up for (i.e. parents of 5th graders, highschoolers, etc), we get an handout that circulates thought Sunday School classes, some limited announcements in the weekly bulletin, and the church’s web page. Also special video type announcements for special events and announcements from the pulpit. Gasp…. seems like info overflow, but with all of this and a family who is heavily involved in church activities, I still sometimes miss getting something into my calendar.
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Speaking personally, I think the PowerPoint slides during the service and the monthly newsletters are the most helpful. We get all of our information this way.
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Our church does it all. Announcements are in the bulletin every week. Minister announces some. REALLY important ones are done in a video shown uring worship. Lately, they have started doing Youtube videos – especially for the youth, but sometimes for adults as well.
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T Hager says:
January 2nd, 2011 at 11:08 pm
oh yeah – LOTS of email group messages and facebook groups too.
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Hi. Our church does video news too.
Here is a recent example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P391Vet5NWE
Enjoy!
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This is definitely something our church has struggled with as well. We have a printed bulletin that gets handed out, announcement slides that play before and between services, a daily e-mail with announcements and prayer requests that is sent out on weekdays, and a monthly newsletter. In addition, a few of the most pertinent announcements are given verbally from the stage by one person (the same person each week) after the first song of the service. The matching slide is displayed on the screen while the announcer talks about the particular event. This brief announcement time also serves as the lead-in to a short “meet-and-greet” time before the second song starts.
With all that said, I still manage to miss some events because I didn’t know they were happening. I am one of the worship leaders, run the Youth Group, attend both services most weeks, and am at the church building 3-5 days per week and still don’t catch everything. I don’t list all of those things to toot my own horn or sound “religious” (ick), I’m trying to make the point that stuff will fall through the cracks.
I think it’s as much the responsibility of the ministry leaders to make sure their events/news are appropriately advertised as it is the responsibility of the members to get involved where they feel led.
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Our church uses the foyer to great advantage – it is huge, a gathering place, and is walled with little booths, or areas where one can get involved – it is fairly impossible to go to services there without knowing a lot of what the church is doing and being reminded of it, plus there are monthly newsletters one can pick up with highlights of developing projects/studies/etc (no pastor’s letters or ads), the weekly bulletin for notes/prayer lists/highlighted projects AND the chosen few announcements are given in person by a pastor in between worship and teaching, the overhead screens flash quick bits before service begins. I think they sneak it in from every side!
The kids’ zone will occasionally pass out a postcard sized invite or announcement, post notes by the door, even occasionally use an automated phone system for very special events. Another part that seems to be important is that the overall attitude is very welcoming to people of all stages but they do not infanticize anyone – I’ve always gotten the impression that they welcome involvement but trust us to discern and take action ourselves, no coercion or pleading or striving as a rule. It’s an unusual church in a number of ways, come to think about it… hmm. Keeping a church community knit together in this age takes herculean effort, doesn’t it? I’d bet nearly half the “official” work they do at our church is focused on that goal… whether it be producing a bulletin and video interviews or outlining guidelines for small group leaders/researching training for ministry areas.. kinda seems to flow right into delegating the ministry to the community, how could one pastoral team do it all? 
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sorry this is a bit of a late response, but thought you might like to know the method still…
We do the worship, meet and greet and then the lights go out (all at once) and the video comes on with the announcements. They keep it short – usually just 3- and then the video is followed by a mini introduction into the series that we are going through at that time. We have not had any problems with the lights going out (we meet in a college auditorium so there are steps everywhere) we just know not to wander too far away from where we were sitting. Also,the black out gives the music team time to move their instruments, microphone stands etc. to the back of the stage as well as find their seats, exit the stage etc. without being much of a distraction (the light from the screen is all they need to do their thing) to the rest of us.
Also we have the announcements video on our website as well as flashing on the home page of the website, and they print the three or four announcements on the back of the information/get involved card that they hand out as we are coming into the auditorium.
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