I’ve thought about this for a while now. Why do we print bulletins each week with virtually the same information that is on our web site? Isn’t there another route we can take? Today, I saw Tim’s post today and it got those creative juices flowing again.
About 3 years ago, I attended one of Granger’s Saturday night services. I still remember Tony saying that we could use their free WiFi and connect to a special site to get the bulletin there. I downloaded and saved the file which you can view here and here. I loved this idea and always kept it in my head that this was certainly a new idea for churches to use. As far as I knew, no one had ever done it like that before.
About a year ago, my family visited Pete’s church (Crosspoint) and noticed that their bulletin had general information about the church. Inside the bulletin was an insert with message notes and simple announcements on it. After the service, you were encouraged to drop off your used bulletin that would be recycled. Keep the notes, reuse the bulletin. Innovation at its best.
So why do churches still print bulletins? Answer, because it’s always been done that way. In this techie world we now live in, I’m thinking it’s time for some changes. Why not link up with facebook for your announcements or scheduled events? Or possibly have an rss feed (Google calendar) with your upcoming events scheduled. I know LifeChurch.tv already uses this on their site. Another thing is to have signups using your online church database like CCB or Fellowship One. How could we make message notes available with fill in blanks? Not sure about that one, but somebody will think of a way.
How can you incorporate all of these things into weekly bulletin and do it with excellence? Right now, I’m just beginning to think about this process. It sure opens up the door for some major opportunities.
