Our church was young and growing rapidly, and communication was becoming a big problem. At Creekside Church in Aurora, Colorado, we were struggling to connect with our attendees. Members complained about feeling disoriented. They were frequently unaware of prayer needs and ministry opportunities. And we weren’t connecting volunteers with places of service.
We needed better communication.
The idea of a newsletter was raised, but our senior pastor, Jim Piper, was reluctant to implement a traditional newsletter since an earlier attempt had failed. Another idea occurred to him, however. After founding the church, Jim began collecting the e-mail addresses of attenders. Before long, he had a substantial list. Much of our congregation was wired, so why not launch an electronic magazine?
An e-zine! Thus, CreekVision E-zine was born.
Today, the e-zine is working well. It’s cheaper to produce than the usual printed versions most churches can afford. It’s colorful. And we’re in contact with our congregation.
Because of the e-zine, volunteerism is up. “People today are far more discriminating about their use of time,” Pastor Piper says. “They’re not willing to make a commitment after hearing one announcement from the pulpit. But with the e-zine, they can think about it at home and make a careful decision.”
The church body is more aware of volunteer opportunities, and vacant positions are being filled.
Before you publish
E-zines are effective, inexpensive, and eye-catching, but they are not for everyone. The best candidates for this type of newsletter are churches with at least 60 percent of their congregation on-line.
Even if a church has many e-mail subscribers, there will be some who are not on-line. Printing paper copies for the unwired to pick up can keep everyone in the loop.
Here’s how to get started:
Gather e-mail addresses. Include a short form in your Sunday bulletin asking for members’ e-mail addresses. You will want to provide a similar form or section in the e-zine itself to allow subscribers to update their information.
Determine who you want to reach. That will determine the content of the publication. Church members want to know details about activities and opportunities. “If the target group is church members, the information and language contained in the e-zine will be exclusive,” Piper says. “If the e-zine targets a larger group, such as visitors and people checking out the church on the Web, the language should be inclusive, focusing more on the cause of the church and perhaps some community topics.” Creekside’s e-zine, targeting seekers as well as members, frequently explains the purpose of the church.
Choose the best type of e-zine for your church. The easiest e-zine is basically an e-mail you send to the people on your list. If you want to share a few prayer requests, volunteer openings, and the weekly schedule, that may be sufficient. But for color, graphics, and enough room to include the pastor’s column and some articles, you should move up a step to the Web-page e-zine.
Designate an e-mail address coordinator. Although it’s not difficult, maintaining an e-mail list takes time.
An easy option for managing group e-mail is to set up a free account with a service such as yahoogroups.com. This is a free service that allows creation of an online mail management system and e-mail group mailings. With such an egroup, members can subscribe and unsubscribe at will without creating extra work for the e-mail coordinator. If your e-zine is a text-only newsletter, a mail management system like yahoogroups is all you need.
People, Time, and Money
If you are ready to become a Web-page publisher, you will need to fill two more positions: an e-zine editor who compiles the information and creates a layout for the Web page, and a Web master who uploads the information and makes it work on the Web.
The editor gathers and edits the copy, designs the layout, and sends it to the Web master to be posted. The Web master then changes the newsletter file into html (Web language) and uploads it to the Web site. When the upload is completed, the e-mail coordinator sends a notice to subscribers that the e-zine is ready for viewing.
If a volunteer Web master isn’t an option, consider enlisting a Web design company that caters to Christian businesses and non-profits. Site design costs range from $125 to $375, depending on the complexity of the format. Web hosting and domain name registry cost extra.
There is also an ongoing cost for upkeep. Hourly costs for edits and uploads can run from $15 to $50, while monthly fees range between $15 and $100. Uploading a four-page newsletter generally takes one to two hours. If purchasing newsletter software or hiring a Web master isn’t within your church’s budget, there are companies on the Web that allow you to create and send out e-zines for free. They also provide how-to instructions for building an e-zine. Ewaydirect.com is one such company. The drawback is that if you want their service for free, your e-zine must include one advertisement, and there is no guarantee as to ad content.
One note of caution: before publishing your e-zine on the Web, pay careful attention to privacy issues. It is best not to publish the full names of minors, the addresses and phone numbers of staff members, or the addresses and phone numbers of church members without first receiving permission.
E-zines are just one way to tackle the communication challenge. At Creekside, they’ve proven their worth. The better we can communicate within the body, the more unified we become in spirit and purpose.
Teena Stewart is the gifts discovery and lay empowerment director at Creekside Church in Aurora, Colorado. jnstew@libertybay.com
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