Weekend Promotional Guidelines

Grace is a pretty big church these days! Because we have so many requests for weekend communications, we have created the following guidelines. We will do our best to accommodate your requests, but ask for your patience. Often there are more requests than we have time or space for in our announcements or publications.
What we do, how and why we do it the way we do.
The purpose of our weekend services is worship and spiritual growth through teaching. With this in mind, the purpose of our weekend publications is first and foremost to support the worship and message with excellence and accuracy.

Secondary to supporting the worship experience and teaching our communications will:
  • Guide newcomers to their next steps in becoming part of our church family
  • Wet the appetites of our members/attenders for more information on next step opportunities for them to grow and connect. We will point them to the web and The Commons area for details on those opportunities.

Verbal Announcements

People attend the service to worship and hear relevant teaching. With this in mind, we keep our announcements brief and targeted to:

  • C.L.A.S.S. Information, encouraging people to take their next step
  • Upcoming Message Series
  • All-Church Events that all members are encouraged participate in such as:
    • Missions projects
    • Giving or invite campaigns
    • Special holiday services
    • Concerts or other major events held in the Worship Center
    • Fall groups kickoff
  • Major ministry events such as:
    • VBS
    • Fall Festival
    • Conferences
  • New ministry start-ups.

 

Verbal announcements should not exceed 3 topic points and will direct the listener to our website and The Commons area for details. We will not announce any event that does not have adequate details provided on the web or in The Commons area for further reference by our attenders.


Process:

  • A preliminary announcement plan is made at the beginning of each month based on ministry event calendars and promotional request forms from the ministries. The plan is posted on The Office portion of our website.
  • Ministry calendars are reviewed weekly prior to verbal announcements being finalized as part of the weekend services meeting each Tuesday.
  • If verbal announcement list exceeds 3 announcements the weekend team will determine the top 3 priority announcement or make an exception as needed.

Weekend Bulletin

Purpose:
  • Visual support of the message series theme
  • Outline of the message
  • Information for newcomers
  • Highlight events attenders may want to learn more about and point them to the web and The Commons for details
Process:
  • Message outlines are provided at least 1-2 weeks in advance by the teaching pastor.
  • Event information for use in the bulletin is generated from our ministry web calendars. Because our strategy is to point people to the web for details, we will not list or highlight any event that does not have adequate details provided on the web.
  • Calendar events are listed in the bulletin as space allows for and will be prioritized by the reach of the event.
  • The bulletin is finalized after the service planning meeting each Tuesday. Printing is done on Wednesday and insert stuffing is done on Thursday. The office is closed on Friday.

Bulletin Inserts

Purpose:

  • Provides expanded information and/or a registration form for events that are relevant to the congregation.
Note: It is recommended that flyers for events impacting specific age groups or smaller audiences be distributed at booths in The Commons or passed out in specific ministry areas rather than in the bulletin. This makes sense from not only a cost perspective but with our effectiveness in communicating to our attenders.



Process:

  • Submit Weekend Promotional Request Form at a minimum of 7 days out from the weekend service.
  • Ministries are responsible for having the insert proofed and making copies of the insert with costs applied to the ministry budget. Copies must be ready for the bulletin team no later than 5pm on Wednesday of the insertion week. (Holiday weeks may require earlier completion)

Pre-Service Slides

Purpose:
Visual promotion before and after the services that highlight visitor information, growth and connection opportunities at Grace. Again, pointing viewers to the web and The Commons for details of these opportunities.

Process:
  • A promotional plan is made for promotional slides at the beginning of each month based on ministry calendar data. Calendars are reviewed weekly and slides updated as needed.
  • Requests for promotional slides may be submitted via email only when details are posted on the website or in the Commons area for further reference.
  • Slides are finalized and submitted to the weekend team no later than Wednesday of each week.