6 Things To Consider When Designing Your Church’s Sunday Morning Bulletin

Your church’s Sunday morning bulletin is very much like a corporate salesperson’s business card.  No really, it is!

Business cards are nice and handy because they’re small, easy to carry and give away, contain important contact information, provide bright colors and slogans, and are typically branded.  Yes, business cards are a lot like your church’s own Sunday morning bulletin.

Like you, I’ve been to many different churches in my lifetime—both before and after getting saved.  Whenever I step across the threshold of the church building, a Greeter meets me with a smile and sticks a bulletin into my hand.  That is generally the first encounter a person or family has at your church each Sunday.  Wouldn’t it make sense to consider how to make it as positive an experience as possible?

Your Sunday morning church bulletin tells me “almost” everything I’d care to know about your church.  I’ve been to churches where their bulletin was nearly a dozen pages long and to other churches where there must have been two dozen 1/2-page inserts tucked inside, just screaming to fall out.  I’ve been to churches that have full-color, magazine quality bulletins and others that are boring black and white and are printed out on a desktop printer.

Yes, your Sunday morning church bulletin says loads about you church! (Almost everything I need to know.)

Isn’t it strange that churches have very little structure when it comes to “branding” what their church is all about with regards to their bulletin?  After all, it is the main thing a church gives to their people each week and many times it is the only “gift” the church gives to their first-time visitors (and potential future members!)—whatsoever.

With this being the case, doesn’t it make sense to produce and distribute the best possible church bulletin you can?  I think so.

Here are six things to consider when designing and creating the best church bulletin you can.

1. Be Creative.  If you do a Google search for church bulletins, you’ll find hundreds of companies that charge roughly $6.99 for 100 bulletins. All you have to do is insert you church’s own logo, text, and then print.  But do your church a favor and don’t do that.  Those mass-distribution bulletins are using cheesy clip art and there must be thousands of churches all around America dishing those out each week.  Are you telling me that no one at your church has any creativity?  If nothing else, have someone take a fun (but high-quality) picture of the people at your church and paste that on the front cover.  Be personal.  I mean, no one wants to go to a boring church, right?  Mix it up.  Keep it simple, but keep it creative.
2. Don’t Be Boring.  This is the opposite of #1 above.  The way I judge this is whether or not I throw the bulletin away at home first chance I get.  Are you adding content in the bulletin that people can use repeatedly?  If not, then it is boring.  Boring churches tell me that the church is boring and that the people are boring and if I go to that church then I will likely be bored.  This isn’t always the case, but I do believe it is closer to 99 out of 100 then most of us would be comfortable with.  It isn’t heresy to be creative with your church bulletin, by the way.
3. Will Your People Share It With Others.  I know of a few church bulletins that have been specifically designed so that the regular attendees can hand-deliver it to non-member friends and/or acquaintances or even mail it to someone they know.  It almost serves as a newsletter rather than destined trash.  Your church’s bulletin could be used to get the word out about your church and, if it is visually pleasing and stimulating, the people at your church just might be more willing to share it with others they know (which would likely increase the visitor traffic next Sunday).  Or maybe that’s not what your church is hoping for?
4. Make It Evangelistic.  Why not put a gospel presentation on the back cover so that someone could read it in order to understand what the Bible teaches about salvation?  Who knows, God might just use that gospel presentation to lead someone to Him!  If nothing else, it would likely spark some interest from “seekers,” and that’s always a good thing.  Moreover, I’m willing to bet that if your church’s bulletin contained a gospel presentation on it, your people would give it to other non-members and non-Christians far more frequently.  Most Christians would love to be more evangelistic themselves, and so making it easy for them to do so is a great idea.
5. If It Is In Bold Print Then Nothing Is Bold.  Use different fonts and bold type sparingly.  Less is more.  If almost all of your text is in bold print, then remember that almost none of it really is.  Give your people the information but don’t overwhelm them with it.  Too many fonts and too much bold print looks cheesy (yes, I like using this word when it comes to some church bulletins).
6. Think Outside The Box.  Look at your bulletin from the perspective of a non-member.  If you were given your church’s bulletin, would you be impressed?  If the answer is no…then start over.  Use different pictures and don’t buy your bulletins from those companies.  Do not hand out that same bulletin next week.  Maybe you’ve been using the same 8.5 x 11 piece of paper and were folding it in half the same way.  Why not reformat it and fold it the other way?  It’s subtle, but people will notice.  If you’ve always used plain white paper, try a different color.  Instead of 8.5 x 11, why not try Legal-size and go with a tri-fold format?  There are so many things to try out there so pick one each week and see what works or doesn’t work.  Ask your people about it.  Get suggestions from others and implement them.  After all, what’s the worst that could happen?  If it doesn’t work you can always try something new next Sunday.

But keep in mind that a boring Sunday morning bulletin is indicative of a boring church.  If you’ve bored me with your church bulletin, then I expect to be bored with the music, bored with the preaching (maybe), bored with the Sunday school group, bored with your children’s ministry, bored…bored…bored.

Again, there are certain exceptions to this rule and the look, quality and content of your church’s bulletin might not be an accurate representation of who and what your church is really all about.  And yet, if it’s not an accurate representation, why in the world would that be the case?

QUESTION:  What things have your church done to create a better church bulletin?  What worked and what didn’t work?  And what would you like to see differently in your own church’s bulletin? 

* Photo credit: kristykak22j (Creative Commons)