If you want to walk into a church and find dinosaurs, ask for a copy of the bulletin.
There may be some churches that speak of it in hushed tones. They may not know where it comes from every week, but there are still a lot of people who read them ... religiously. I've been working in church communications for 12 years, so this comes from the most honest and kind place: you probably don't need a bulletin.
If you look at the numbers, I'm willing to bet that your website is the number one place people are searching for current events, Sunday content, and maybe a fresh blog post from your lead pastor. From a cost-perspective, printing something on a weekly basis that expires in 7 days is an expensive habit. Unless you're on-it with recycling, it's also not a sustainable choice.
But some people in your church might want one. If your church is a multigenerational community, you probably don't want to ignore an entire age group of people who love to take home paper.
Here's the micro evolution of a dinosaur.
before...
better...
Today
Today we have an online bulletin that's freshly published each Saturday.
You can stalk it if you want to. It always lives on the same webpage (/bulletin). It's easy to update if someone writes in that the potluck admission is $8 instead of $7 this week.
You can stalk it if you want to. It always lives on the same webpage (/bulletin). It's easy to update if someone writes in that the potluck admission is $8 instead of $7 this week.
Wait. But what about the multigenerational approach?
When we compromise, we compromise in style. A curated selection of the 6-8 most important events, with priority to anything relevant to senior adults is used as the cover of our printed message notes.
When we compromise, we compromise in style. A curated selection of the 6-8 most important events, with priority to anything relevant to senior adults is used as the cover of our printed message notes.
Will people call this printed document a bulletin? Yes.
