How to Publish a Church Bulletin on Your Website
- Andew Wiest
- Jan 2
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 13
With more and more people turning to the internet to find their information, it is important for churches to publish weekly updates online where church members can find them. But how does a church do this successfully without leaving an ugly-looking blob of words on a page?
In this article, I cover why you should publish bulletins on your website, what should be included in your bulletins, and the best way to post them.
Why You Should Publish Bulletins on Your Church's Website
The internet is an incredible tool. Whether for students, employees, or congregation members, it can be used to find information in an instant. Because of this, you should consider utilizing your website to keep your church members updated week-to-week.
Don't have a website? Consider creating one with us. We provide a singular comprehensive plan for churches that includes what you need and saves you money when compared to the competitors. Email me or click here!
Church members are never guaranteed to attend each week. Whether they get sick, are on vacation, or simply want a break, members will not always be in person to gather information from a paper bulletin. I know personally that I have missed important news from my own church after missing a week for being sick or on vacation.
This creates an issue because now something is happening in the church that some members aren't aware of. This can lead to these absent members not signing up to volunteer, not showing up, or not supporting the event.
It is important for congregation members to know what is happening in their church! Members shouldn't be left out because they missed a week. This is why you should publish bulletins on your church's website!
What You Should Include in Your Bulletins
I am sure that if you are reading this article, you likely already know what to put in a bulletin. You're probably thinking "I'm just going to skip this section." But wait!
It is important to consider what may be appropriate to put on a physical handout in service vs. what is appropriate to include on your online bulletin which anybody on the internet has access to. We'll dive into the don'ts in a moment.
Typical church bulletins will often include:
A greeting and welcome
A note or a short message from the pastor
Important announcements
Tithe updates or financial updates
Sermon notes
A connect section (may include your website, phone, or email)
Social Media Platform Handles
Prayer requests
Each of these items helps make your bulletin feel whole and tell the congregation what they need to know.
It is important, however, to understand how to present the information in your bulletin. For example, when announcing an event, be sure to keep the information brief, but concrete. Your congregation is more likely to read an announcement that says:
"New Bible Study over John: November 12th at 9:00 am in Room 4"
as opposed to
"In three Sundays from now, Pastor Rick will be leading a New Bible Study over the book of John at 9:00 am. We will focus on spiritual growth as we follow the life of Jesus. The Bible Study will take place in Room 4. Be sure to bring your Bible and a coffee!"
The first announcement was short, but concise while the second announcement was extremely wordy and included information that wasn't fully necessary. This principle applies especially when posting a bulletin to your website. People are less likely to read a big paragraph from their phone, so a short sentence with concrete information works best.
By now, you're probably wondering why I italicized prayer requests in my list. Remember when I said there were some don'ts about including information on your online bulletin? Well prayer requests are a tightrope that you must walk over.
While you want people to know things to pray over within your church, especially if they missed a physical bulletin, it is important to use discretion when including requests. Sometimes, members share prayer requests with the congregation that are meant to stay in the room.
For example, my church had a member diagnosed with cancer. They requested prayer from the church even though he had not informed the rest of his family. He trusted and confided with the church before telling his family.
If the church posted that on their online prayer bulletin, perhaps the rest of his family would have discovered and he would have been frustrated. It is important to consider that anybody on the internet can find this bulletin, so when publishing prayer requests, consider if it is appropriate to publish the request online.
A good idea, if you choose to publish prayer requests, is to include a link to a form on your website where the person can request prayer.
Tip: Make sure to set the link to open in a new tab so that way when they submit the form, they can find the bulletin in their tabs without issue!
How to Display Church Bulletins on Your Website
There are many different ways that you can go about posting your bulletin to your website. There are 3 ways that I encourage my clients to use. Here they are:
Use a PDF
Most churches create their bulletin on Docs or Word. This makes it easy to export to their printer to print. It is a cheap, but effective method.
Simply edit up a copy of the bulletin to look how you would like on your website, add links where they should be (remember, people can click links now), and export it as a .pdf file.
Docs
Go to File
Download
PDF Document (.pdf)
Word
Go to File
Save As
PDF
Save
It is as simple as that! Now you can create a page on your website where you weekly update a .pdf file, your bulletin.
Use a Blog App
The majority of my clients' websites are created with Wix. This makes it easy to add a pastor, office administrator, or other person as a collaborator. Wix makes it easy by creating apps which are essentially programs that make a desired process easier.
One app that is useful is Blog. In fact, I am using that app for this article. Each week, somebody from the church can create a post and type out the information on the bulletin.
This is also convenient because it can serve as a catalog or database for past bulletins!
Use a CMS
A CMS, or a content management system, is like a Microsoft Access file that is built into a Wix site. With it, you can create an information section that you update from this "Access" file.
I personally would not use this option, however, I could see it being a viable option for churches that need to publish large amounts of information at once. Or perhaps you are tech-savvy and would like to import your information from a CSV file.
My Personal Recommendation
Alright, I know what you're thinking. If you wanted options, you would have just figured something out. You're here because you want an answer. I get it.
Out of these three options, I would recommend using a Blog App. For my Wix users out there, take a victory, make your life easier, and use a Blog App to publish your bulletins. It will save you time and a headache.
Simply publishing a PDF file to a webpage can be problematic from a design standpoint. This is when you start to see a website that looks like over time everything was just nudged out of place until the point that it is unrecognizable from the original site.
Using a CMS is pretty unrealistic as publishing your announcements, sermons notes, etc. is information you would traditionally type out. A CMS will do this, however, it won't be optimized for this.
In summary, make your life easy by using a blog :)
Conclusion
Publishing your church bulletin to your website is very important. It can ensure that members who miss a week stay in the loop. It can also help people who are not regular members get a feel for the church.
If you are a church member, board member, pastor, office administrator, or anything else, and you know your church website could use an overhaul, or maybe you don't have one, feel free to contact me! As I stated above, I offer one simple comprehensive package with everything you need, no extra paid services.
