Church bulletins were made to help the congregation be informed about upcoming events. The bulletin board was once a focal point in almost every church. It was where you could find information and announcements. Today, bulletin boards are few and far between in churches. Technological advances have replaced many of the original duties of a bulletin board, but churches still hold onto the tradition. Many people, though, are using their computers to create church bulletins and just print it out in order to avoid the hassle of formatting and printing on the computer. This is a blog post about software that is available for making church bulletins.
Church Bulletin Templates
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Essential elements of a church bulletin
Each church is unique. Even churches of the same religion have their own staff, their own followers, and their own way of running things. This is where church bulletin templates come in handy. You must come up with your own church bulletin ideas to fit your target audience and the needs of your church.
You can either download a church program template or create one on your own. Either way, you need a template to work with for all the bulletins you plan to print out in the future. Having a template for your church bulletin layout gives you an excellent starting point saving you a lot of time and effort.
When it comes to designing church bulletins, you may want to practice some restraint. Although you would like to share so much information, this isn’t a good idea since people won’t want to read a bulletin that’s too long. That’s why you would notice that even large churches have simplistic church bulletin templates.
As long as you include all of the essential information, this ensures the effectiveness of your bulletin. This information includes:
- Information about your church’s website and social media profiles if any.
- The physical address of your church and a contact number.
- A welcome statement or message.
- Some kind of tear-off card for readers to fill out and drop in a provided drop-box so you can follow-up.
- A listing of the most important events and activities.
- A blank space somewhere so the readers can take notes if they want to.
That’s about it! If you’ve included all of this information in your church program template, this will make it effective and interesting enough. Also, make sure that your template has a simple and clear design with easy to read fonts.
Church Program Templates
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Tips for creating church bulletin
There are a lot of church bulletin ideas out there for you to draw inspiration from. These ideas can help you come up with a concept for your church bulletin layout but you have to come up with the content yourself. Then you can download church bulletin templates and customize them as needed.
If you have computer skills, you may also choose to make the template yourself. Whether you plan to work with a downloaded template or you want to create the template from scratch, here are some pointers to guide you:
- Think about the design of your template
For any printed document, the design is essential as it can either compel the readers or make them feel disinterested. Try to come up with a clean and organized design to convey your message without distracting them. For the design, keep these tips in mind:
Use a simple design for the cover and include your welcome message.
Choose the fonts carefully and don’t use more than two.
To emphasize the headlines and sub-headlines, make them bold.
You may want to combine sans-serif type fonts with serif-type fonts to create a distinction between the information.
Make room for whitespace so that your design doesn’t look cluttered.
Use images or graphics sparingly and make sure that they match with the content of your bulletin. - Choose the content carefully
For a church bulletin, you don’t need to create too many pages just to make it more interesting. Think about the most relevant and important information that you’d like to communicate each week or each month. That way, the readers only get the key information without getting distracted by fillers.
If you want your readers to learn more about an event, an activity or any other thing featured on your bulletin, refer them to your church’s website. This not only helps your readers learn more, but it also makes them aware that your church has a website which they can visit.
Keep in mind that your church bulletin also serves as a reminder for everyone of all the ways they can connect with or contact your church. You can also include other important information about your church such as:
Weekly or monthly updates
Schedule of services
Some sermon notes
Inspiring quotes
As long as there is still space on your bulletin, you can keep adding information as you see fit. When you’re thinking about the content, try to think from the perspective of the readers, not from your own. That way, you can better determine what information to include and what information to leave out. - Be both consistent and creative
It’s important to use the same template or formatting for the church bulletin in order to help everyone know what they are to expect from you each time the bulletin comes out. Consistency in the content and the design helps people see your bulletin as a dependable tool to find the updates and information they need.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t insert your own creativity as well. Just because you’re using the same layout and format, that doesn’t mean that you can’t change things up a bit. From the content to the graphics and the fonts, you can make modifications here and there as you see fit.
If you want to engage your readers, you can even ask them to share content like short anecdotes and inspiring stories and make these a part of your church bulletin. Remember that you want to make this as interesting as possible and involving the readers is a great way to do this.
When it comes to your church bulletin template, there are no “standard” rules for you to follow. As long as you know what you want to share with your readers and how you want to share this information, the process of creating the template becomes easier.
Church Bulletin Ideas
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Tips for designing your church bulletin like a “SAINT”
After you’ve created the content of your church bulletin template, it’s time to think about the design. There are several design principles you should keep in mind but since this is for a religious purpose, you may want to design it like a “S.A.I.N.T.”
- Simple: For such a design, less is more. Use minimal decorations and concise text to ensure that you convey your message clearly.
- Absolutes: In design, this refers to contrasting elements. Thus, you may want to use a combination of small and big fonts, dark and light colors, thick and thin shapes, and the like to make it easier for the readers to understand everything.
- Important: As aforementioned, it’s best to only include important information. This applies to design as well. Don’t add unnecessary graphics, shapes or borders as these might clutter the design.
- Neat: If you want the church bulletin layout to look neat, try breaking up the information into sections. This way, the readers only have to read a small bit of information on each section.
- Type and Images: Maintain the same font and font size across all headlines and paragraphs. Also, try not to use too many types of fonts so that the readers are not left confused. For images, make sure to choose high-quality ones which are both relevant and appropriate.
Church Bulletin Layouts
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Digital supplements to your church bulletin
Apart from sending out sample church bulletins, there are other ways to spread the word about your church. In this digital day and age, you can take advantage of different virtual means to share the information with your followers and to anyone else who’s interested.
Conclusion
Have you ever had to make bulletins for church? Most of us have at some point in time. I know that since I’ve been in the business for quite a few years and seeing churches come and go in different locations. I’m not here to share with you the excitement that thousands of pastors get when attending the annual Christian Education convention which is always held in January, but rather to share with you what software I use when making church bulletins.