{"id":13478,"date":"2023-01-24T07:30:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T12:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=13478"},"modified":"2023-01-23T16:59:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T21:59:00","slug":"church-bulletin-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is something about the church bulletin that screams, “PUT EVERYTHING IN HERE BUT THE KITCHEN SINK!”<\/p>\r\n

We live in a society that is quite literally saturated with information. We stand by the statement that \u201cmore is more\u201d, and yet, the competition for space in our brain is an ongoing battle.<\/p>\r\n

Enter the church bulletin.<\/p>\r\n

The church bulletin is a sacred cow. Some pastors and church secretaries live in fear of changing church bulletins. There is an unstated rule that announcements must be in for at least two months, on repeat like a bad episode of Little House on the Prairie.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Announcements people will read<\/h3>\r\n

Communication is a fast-moving, ever-changing machine of sorts. With cell phones, social media, and streaming services, the competition for our attention is fierce. Swiping, scrolling, and deleting is the trend. If you can\u2019t read it in five seconds, it\u2019s not worth reading.<\/p>\r\n

More words only mean more words. If you read something too many times, you become \u201cblind\u201d to it. How many of us have put something in the bulletin; announced it from the pulpit; had posters up; and sent e-mails spreading the news, and people still say they didn\u2019t know about it? We put so much \u201cstuff\u201d in our bulletins and newsletters that news is skimmed and ignored.<\/p>\r\n

Pastors and church secretaries need to remember the five second rule: if you can\u2019t read it in five seconds, it\u2019s not worth reading. Every single detail is not needed.<\/p>\r\n

Don’t be afraid to edit<\/h3>\r\n
\"\"<\/a>
Photo by hannah grace<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

Editing feels \u201cmean\u201d for some. If we are handed an article, we assume we must use all the words provided. Consider this example:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Come and join us for our famous spaghetti dinner on April 3 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. We will be having spaghetti, meatballs, salad, rolls, and your choice of cake or cookies plus a coffee, tea, or punch. Hope to see you there. See Marge Acosta for tickets.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Whew! That’s a lot of information.<\/p>\r\n

Being a discerning editor is one step toward a cleaner bulletin. “Come and join us” is redundant. Every food group doesn\u2019t have to be listed. Keep it short and to the point.<\/p>\r\n

New spin on old announcements<\/h3>\r\n

Finding new ways to say the same thing is another tool. Let\u2019s look at the spaghetti dinner. What if you begin with:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\u201cRagu for You! Coming to a Fellowship Hall in November!\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Teasers and pithy statements create curiosity. Curiosity generates interest. Interest saves space in a person\u2019s brain.<\/p>\r\n

Take your bulletin to a new level. Edit. Set limits. Add a dash of humor. Tighten up your copy. Let this be a first step to better communications in 2023!<\/p>\r\n

Quick Tips to Makeover Your Church Bulletin:<\/h3>\r\n
    \r\n
  1. Limit articles (the, an, etc.). Announcements don\u2019t always have to be complete sentences.<\/li>\r\n
  2. Use \u201c7 pm\u201d instead of \u201c7:00 p.m.\u201d It reads easier and saves space.<\/li>\r\n
  3. Abbreviate days and dates (\u201cTue. Aug. 14\u201d not \u201cTuesday August 14th\u201d)<\/li>\r\n
  4. Instead of saying “If you have questions” simply say “Questions? Contact Mary Smith 412-999-2222.”<\/li>\r\n
  5. AVOID USING ALL CAPS! It translates as screaming at the reader.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    \"\"<\/a>The Rev. Dawn Lynn Check \u201998 is the senior pastor at Otterbein UMC in Greensburg, Pa., and has decades of experience in communications, media, and public relations.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There is something about the church bulletin that screams, “PUT EVERYTHING IN HERE BUT THE KITCHEN SINK!” We live in a society that is quite literally saturated with information. We stand by the statement that \u201cmore is more\u201d, and yet, the competition for space in our brain is an ongoing battle. Enter the church bulletin….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-13478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\r\nExtreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1062\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1068\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\"},\"wordCount\":557,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Ministry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\",\"name\":\"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"description\":\"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg\",\"width\":1062,\"height\":1068},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"description\":\"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\",\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ptsblog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_description":"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/","og_site_name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","article_published_time":"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1062,"height":1068,"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ptsblog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ptsblog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/"},"author":{"name":"ptsblog","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"headline":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin","datePublished":"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/"},"wordCount":557,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","articleSection":["Ministry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/","name":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-24T12:30:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"description":"Take your church bulletins and newsletters to a new level with these editing tips from the Rev. Dawn Lynn Check '98.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","width":1062,"height":1068},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-bulletin-makeover\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Extreme Makeover: Church Bulletin"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/","name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f","name":"ptsblog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ptsblog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Church-Bulletin-scaled-e1674511050409.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MvlM-3vo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13478"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13745,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13478\/revisions\/13745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13478"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=13478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}