Communication

Church communication plan: deciding what goes where so people actually hear it

Announcing something three times is not the same as people hearing it. A plan for which channel carries what, and when.

By Steven Chen · November 9, 2026 · 12 min read

Why do people say "nobody told me" when you announced it three times?

Because the three announcements were in three places chosen by three different people, and none of them was the place that person looks. The pastor mentioned it from the front, the youth leader put it in the group chat, and the administrator buried it as item nine in an email that opened with the parking lot repaving.

A small church does not have a volume problem. It has a sorting problem. The potluck does not need to be in six channels; it needs to be in the right two, at the right time, written so it lands in one pass.

What channels does a small church actually have?

Most small churches already use five or six channels without having chosen any of them. Here is what each is good for and where it fails.

Sunday announcements

The only channel that reaches everyone in the room at once, and the most expensive, because every minute of it is a minute of the service. Good for two or three things that need everyone's attention this week. Bad for details: nobody remembers a time, a price and a sign-up link from the front.

The bulletin (paper or digital)

This week's reference sheet: service order, this week's events, who to contact. People pick it up on Sunday and, if it is paper, it lives on the fridge until the next one. Good for anything happening in the next seven days. Bad for anything that needs a reply, because nobody replies to a bulletin.

The email newsletter

The channel with the most room. Good for the two-to-four-week view: what is coming, what to sign up for, a note from the pastor. Bad for anything urgent (people read it when they read it) and for anyone who does not open email, which is more of your church than you think.

App push notifications

If your church has an app, a push notification reaches the phone directly and is read within minutes. Good for reminders ("Potluck tomorrow, bring a side") and changes ("Service moved to 11 for the snow"). Bad past one or two a week; people turn them off and never turn them back on.

Group chat

Channels and group chats for a ministry, a team or a small group. Good for conversation among people who already belong: the worship team, the kids volunteers, the women's Bible study. Bad for church-wide announcements, because a chat moves and the announcement moves with it.

Texting

The most direct channel, and the one people guard most. Good for the urgent and the personal: a cancellation, a same-day reminder, a reply to a guest. Bad for anything long, and dangerous for anything frequent. Save it.

What goes where? A matrix for a small church

This is the heart of the plan. Print it, put it in the office, and point to it when someone asks you to "put it everywhere."

Two patterns to notice. Almost nothing goes in every channel; even the church-wide event is staged across weeks. And text appears only where the message is urgent or personal. Keep it that way and people will keep reading them.

What should a weekly communication rhythm look like?

A rhythm tells ministry leaders when to hand you things, and tells the congregation when to expect them, so the newsletter becomes a habit instead of a surprise. Here is a sample week for a church with one Sunday service and a part-time administrator.

The Monday deadline is the piece that makes the rest possible. Without it, the newsletter is written on Wednesday morning from texts received on Tuesday night. Hold the deadline kindly and consistently for a month and leaders will adjust.

How do you write announcements people actually read?

Most announcements are written by the person who cares most about the event, which is why they are too long.

1. Lead with the thing, not the ministry. "Potluck this Sunday after the service" beats "The Hospitality Committee is pleased to invite you to..."
2. One announcement, one action. Sign up, bring a dish, show up, or pray. If there are two actions, it is two announcements.
3. Put the when and where in the first line. Day, time, place. If a reader stops after one line, they should still be able to come.
4. Say who to ask, by name, with one way to reach them.
5. Cut the adjectives. "Wonderful," "exciting" and "special" do not add information. Date, time, place and a reason to come do.
6. Read it aloud once. If it takes more than thirty seconds, it is not a spoken announcement; it is a newsletter item.

Here is the same announcement, before and after.

Before: The Hospitality Committee is excited to announce our annual Fall Harvest Potluck, which will take place on Sunday, November 23rd, immediately following the morning worship service in the Fellowship Hall. This is always such a special time of fellowship and we would love to see everyone there. Please consider bringing a dish to share, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to a member of the committee.

After: Potluck, Sunday November 23, right after the service, in the Fellowship Hall. Bring a main or a side; drinks and dessert are covered. Questions: Linda Park, 555-0162.

The second version is a third as long and answers every question the first one raised. It works spoken, printed, emailed or pushed without rewriting.

Newsletter structure that gets read

Keep the same order every week so people learn where to look: a short note from the pastor (three or four sentences), this Sunday, the next two to four weeks in date order, one section per active ministry with one or two lines each, and who to contact. Put the one thing you most need people to do at the very top if it is time-sensitive.

How do you reach people who never open email?

Every church has them, and in a small church they are often the most faithful members. Three groups, three answers.

People who have a phone but ignore email are reached by whatever lands on the lock screen: a push notification from the church app, or a group chat they are already in. Keep push to reminders and changes, as the matrix says, and they will keep it on. If your church has an app, a volunteer at the welcome table can install it for anyone who asks.

People who are not on a smartphone are reached by paper and by voice. Keep printing a short bulletin for them, keep a notice board, and keep the spoken announcements. For a cancellation, someone calls them. Put their names on a short phone-tree list so that call does not depend on anyone remembering.

People who are in the building but not on any list are the guests and the irregular attenders. Until the connect card gets them onto a list, the bulletin and the announcements are all they get, so make sure those two carry the essentials on their own.

The rule underneath all three: every church-wide message needs one channel that does not depend on email, and the plan should say which.

How do you handle unsubscribes and permission?

Sending to people who did not ask is how a church ends up in the spam folder for the people who did. The principles are the same in most places, even where the law differs in detail.

• Only add people who expect to hear from you. Members and regular attenders who gave you an address, and guests who ticked a box asking for the newsletter. Not the address book from the Christmas concert.
• Every bulk email has an unsubscribe link, and it works without emailing the office. Same for texts: "reply STOP" and it stops.
• Honor it the first time, across every list. Someone who unsubscribes from the newsletter should not get the same content as a "pastor's update" the next week.
• Keep a suppression list of people who have opted out, so a re-import from the old spreadsheet does not add them back.
• Separate the personal from the bulk. An unsubscribe from the newsletter is not a request to stop pastoral contact. Keep those as two different things and say so.
• Texting is stricter. Most places require clear consent before a church sends bulk texts, and people feel the intrusion more. Collect the number and the permission at the same moment, and write down when.

Consent rules differ by country and sometimes by state, so check what applies where you are, especially for texting. For the guest side of this, see how to follow up with first-time guests without overstepping.

Who owns the church communication calendar?

One person. In most small churches that is the administrator, part-time or volunteer, and the job has four parts: keep the calendar, hold the deadline, write or edit everything in one voice, and send or schedule it. Ministry leaders submit; they do not send. The pastor approves the message when it matters and stays out of the mechanics.

The calendar itself can be a shared spreadsheet with a row per send: date, channel, audience, item, status. The point is one view of this week's newsletter, bulletin, Thursday reminders and Saturday push, so the potluck does not go out four times by accident and nothing is forgotten when the administrator is away. Name who covers that week before it happens.

When is a spreadsheet enough, and when does software help?

When a spreadsheet is enough

If your church has one service, a handful of ministries and one person sending everything, a shared spreadsheet calendar plus a free email tool and a paper bulletin is a complete communication system. The matrix and the weekly rhythm in this article are the plan; no software makes them happen for you.

The cracks appear in predictable places. The email list and the member directory drift apart, so new members miss the newsletter and people who left still get it. Unsubscribes come back as replies to the office and get forgotten. Someone reprints the bulletin at 9:40 for a typo. And ministry leaders, tired of waiting for Monday, start their own group texts, which is how a church ends up with six channels nobody chose.

When software helps

Software helps when the email list is the same list as the directory, so adding a member once puts them in the newsletter; when unsubscribes are handled on every send without anyone in the office doing it; when the bulletin can be corrected after it is out; and when every send across every channel shows on one calendar. It also helps when the owner changes, because the plan lives in the tool and not in someone's inbox.

If you are choosing software for the first time, the buyer's guide to small church management software covers how to weigh communication features against the rest, and our article on whether a small church needs church management software is an honest starting point.

In Churchory, the free Core gives you one directory and church-wide email and push. Newsletters and Digital Bulletin add the weekly send and the Sunday bulletin, each with the comms planner so every send sits on one calendar, and Newsletters can pull in upcoming events from Events if you run it. Chat gives each ministry its own channel. Two-way texting, with keywords and opt-outs honored automatically, is in beta and not on sale yet; you can join the waitlist. Churchory's own guide to email, text, chat and app goes into the channel trade-offs further.

Write the plan this week

Copy the matrix and change the rows to match your church. Pick a newsletter day and a Monday deadline. Name the owner and a backup. Choose the two or three things that will be spoken this Sunday, and move everything else to the bulletin. Then tell the ministry leaders, kindly, that this is how it works now.

If you want the directory, the newsletter, the bulletin and the push in one place, Churchory Core is free forever and every product comes with a 45-day trial and no card. You can start free and see whether it fits.

Common questions

What should a church communication plan include?

The channels you will use and what each is for, a weekly rhythm for when things go out, rules for writing announcements, a permission and unsubscribe policy, and one named person who owns the calendar. A one-page document is enough for a small church.

How often should a church send an email newsletter?

Once a week on a fixed day works for most small churches. A midweek send, Tuesday or Wednesday, gives people time to plan for Sunday. Sending less often makes each email longer and less read; sending more often trains people to ignore it.

How many announcements should a church make on Sunday?

Two or three, spoken, each under thirty seconds. Everything else goes in the bulletin, the newsletter or the app. Spoken announcements are for the things that need everyone's attention this week.

How do you reach church members who never open email?

Use a second channel that reaches the phone directly: a push notification from the church app, a message in a group chat, or a text. Print still matters for some members, so keep a paper bulletin or a notice board for the people who want it.

Who should be in charge of church communications in a small church?

One person, often the administrator or a reliable volunteer, who keeps the calendar and sends or schedules everything. Ministry leaders submit requests by a weekly deadline. The pastor approves the message, not the mechanics.

Does a church need permission to send email newsletters and texts?

In general, yes. Send bulk email and texts only to people who gave you their address or number and expected to hear from you, include a way to unsubscribe on every send, and honor it promptly. Rules differ by country and state, so check what applies to you.

Small Church Admin is written by the team behind Churchory. Choosing software? Read how a small church should choose church management software.