[0:00]
Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network. G'day, I'm Scott Sanders. And I'm Madeline Gulliam. Welcome to the one thing. A podcast is I'm going to give you one solid practical tip for Gospel Center ministry every week. Now, Madeline, you've been part of a few churches in your life. What's been your favorite church experience?

[0:33]
Number one, oh look, NBM will always be home. So this is a church you grew up in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Went through kind of everything, you know. Yeah, so I should assume people. Teenage, that's a church your dad planted and started. Yeah. And so you left there, what, 20? I left 18 when New Zealand for a year Auckland EV. So I love those guys. And you were there from the start, church plant. A couple months in, yeah, I moved over and that was great. Came back joined NBM again and then left

[1:06]
probably for good. A couple years ago and at Grey City, which I also love. I don't know, you know, when you grow up somewhere, it's pretty kind of like quarter who you are. But I've loved Auckland EV and Grey City. So that's who knows what's next. No, no, you haven't had to make a choice there. Well, the one thing's brought to you thanks to Geneva push the Australian Church money network. And over the past 10 years, we've helped plant 100 churches in Australia and we want to see 200 more by 2030. But for now, you've pressed play on another

[1:37]
episode of the one thing church announcements. Okay, so announcements, they're quite necessary part of your gathering. It's really easy way to communicate with your members, with newcomers. And it can even reflect on how inside or outside of focus we are. So are all our announcements for the non-Christian or the newcomer? Are they all for our members or is there perhaps a

[2:07]
bit of a helpful mix? Are they are they necessary part of church life? Oh, well, they don't have lots of announcements. Well, maybe not lots, but I guess do we need to have announcements? Well, it's interesting, I mean, it's interesting thinking about sort of the reform, theological, you know, service if you jump into systematic theology, you'll see often that announcements are at the at the front, you know, of the service. So before you do your call to worship often, that is when you have your block of announcements. And it's almost like,

[2:38]
okay, I am talking to the insiders, I'm talking to, you know, the gathered church community and I'll give my announcements will keep that kind of out of the service, you know, so the flower rosters up and, you know, personally park their car again in the wrong spot. Could they move their car? You know, kind of get all those announcements out of the way before you did a call to worship and then, you know, we gather around God's word. Do you have those announcements at your church? No, I don't. I was just just using numbers as an example. Yeah, okay. I feel that we didn't, you know, you do need announcements as a, just a community aspect, you know,

[3:13]
they promote things, they tell people what's happening. As you said in intro, they, they kind of give a bit of a hint to whether you're inside or outside of focus, then what's actually important. Or if you've got lots of them, what's not important because there's no focus around those announcements. Yeah. And I think for, if a new person for them to hear the exciting things that are happening for the members, it's like, you're not part of this community, but it's kind of showing these are the things we're looking forward to. Hopefully it would make them want to connect in and be a part of that community.

[3:48]
Yeah, my home church just over the last few weeks we've had kind of a vision series which has been tied with a building campaign. We just needed to get pledges and money in before 30 June. And it's been interesting watching the announcements and the way that they've talked about how, you know, how this building is important for mission, how this building's been important for our community, how this building will be important for us growing as God's people. And there's been a real deliberateness to, you know, to the announcements and all that sort of

[4:19]
aspect of our service which has been really helpful. Scott, what would you say to someone who said announcements, they're not in the Bible, can't find them anywhere? Oh, it's a good question. I'm just trying to think through Acts now. Again, I don't think Acts is more descriptive, so it's not, you know, every denomination can kind of go to Acts and say, here, look, it's here in the Bible, but I think Acts is more descriptive. And we see how much of principles taking place. I'm thinking about that, you know, Acts 2. What do we see as the early church gathers?

[4:54]
Devote themselves the apostles teaching, breaking bread, you know, fellowship praying. We see signs of wonders happen. We see they regularly together in their homes. They ate, they praised God. You don't, you're right. You don't see announcements there, but I think part of a healthy functioning community is that you make, you know, make people aware. The thing is, again, the Bible is not prescriptive. You could do that by emails. You could do that by a section and a time in your service.

[5:25]
But there's an importance to, you know, healthy community regularly hearing what's going on. Yeah. And we could have assumed that at some point they said, we're going to eat together or these people are going to get baptized. It's going to be in the glares house this week and everyone's going, oh, yeah, we're going to wait for a feast, you know, oh, it's going to be in the sandest house next week. Okay, it might be just a little bit more sausages and polenta. Bama. Family, you are multi. All right. Well, we're now going to hear a clip from Alana Glover on how best to do announcements. She's from Emu Music and does a great job singing.

[6:04]
And I heavily involved in that ministry. Announcements are church are important. They contain lots of helpful information for people to get involved with the community life of your church. But they can sometimes feel out of place or hard to do well. So here are some tips on doing announcements effectively in your church. Firstly, don't overload your congregation with too many announcements at one time. Limit them to a maximum of three in any one service. This doesn't sound like much, but it's unlikely that people will remember much more than this.

[6:41]
It helps to focus people's attention on the few important things that you're talking about that week. We recommend that you keep each announcement short and sweet. Cap each one at 30 seconds, maybe a minute. If there are announcements that require a lot more detail, then point people to a place where they can get that in-depth information. When you're trying to decide what should be announced, try to think about how many people your announcement is relevant to.

[7:12]
If it's less than a quarter of your congregation, then the service is probably not the right place for it. The only exception might be a newcomers event, because it's difficult to reach new people through other communication channels. As for how you present your announcements, try to keep your language engaging and clear. So here's an example of what not to do. Our newcomer event is on Saturday 14th June at 6th. Speak to Roy up the back for more information.

[7:44]
It isn't warm and inviting, and chances are new people won't know who Roy is. So we like to use this formula instead. Storytelling plus next steps. So using something creative like storytelling, or even a short interview with someone who has done the event before, can really help your announcements come alive. Maybe try something like this. I remember the first time I stepped into church. I was super late because I mixed up the times, and I just sat up the back by myself, because I didn't know anyone.

[8:15]
But I liked the sermon, and I was keen to get to know people, and no more about church. Now, maybe this is you here today. Well, the good news is that we have a newcomers event coming up on Saturday 14th June at 6pm. Check out our website on the URL on the screen for all the details, and we'd love to see you there. Finally, we encourage you to set up a go-to page on your website, where you can consistently put all the information about church events. Rather than directing people to a random guy named Roy, or a bulls and board that's only accessible in church times,

[8:51]
having all the important information online means that people can easily find out about events at any time during the week. You can also make this interactive by adding things like a sign-up form to make admin easier. By referencing a consistent online platform in your announcements every week, you train your congregation to be self-sufficient in finding out event details. So, to sum up, maximum three announcements per week, keep them concise, think about the size of your audience, be creative and engaging, and direct people to your website.

[9:27]
So, Maddie, she talks about limiting to three announcements. It's quite prescriptive there. I like it. So, why do you like it? I think people can't concentrate for that long. I feel like I've noticed that when churches do have three, they can still be an emphasis on one. The one that maybe you want to push the most, that might be a bit longer. But I think I mean, don't have seven maybe. I'm not going to tell people what to do, but just concentration.

[9:58]
And I think clarity with announcements is pretty key. So, the more you have, maybe the less clear. Yeah, it's helpful if she says limit it to three. Like I'd regularly say to people, you make sure you have two. If you're not a Christian either, then we've got a course or we've got a next step for you. If you are a Christian, well, great to have you here. We'd love you to find out more about our church and here's the next step. So, at least have those two steps and those two announcements. And then obviously, you know, you need a third one every now and again to say, hey, we've got a picnic at the glist house. Come on over.

[10:31]
All right, I really liked the, she mentioned how many people is this, when you think you're through announcements, how many people is it relevant to? And I hadn't thought about this before, but she said, if it's for less than a quarter of your congregation, maybe use another form of communication to share it, unless it's for newcomers. I thought that was a helpful principle. I hadn't heard that before. Yeah. And again, I think useful in that sort of how many people is this relevant to sort of asking the asking the question of the person giving the announcement. Can you deliver this through another communication method? Is this the only way that you can get it out to your people?

[11:08]
Yes, I'm thinking of the, if there's a particular announcement for women or say men, for example, it's probably going to be sort of 50-50. I'd be still asking a question, is this really the best way to get this out? Could we not get this out through another method? But I have seen, I think I do like though, I've seen announcements just for women, and then they kind of say it's like a women's event, and then they say to the men, so can you organize the babysitting so your wives are free to go? Like, you know, that kind of, you can still make it applicable, but yeah.

[11:40]
Yeah, she gave some great examples of what not to do. Yeah, so she didn't announcement and kind of suggested that you go talk to a Roy, this guy up the back who, if you're a newcomer, you're not going to know who Roy is. Yeah, and later on she talks about, she gives a helpful tip on combining your announcements as part storytelling and then a next step. I think I liked it, it's quite warm and personal, it's clear. So I feel like waffle can often happen in announcements, which is a bit unhelpful. Because often you hear announcement and it'll be this is happening and here's the date and here's this and here's all this information, which could helpfully put on a screen behind you, or helpfully be the thing that you refer to.

[12:21]
But actually telling the story, hey, when I came to this church, we went on to New-ish and it was one of the best experiences. We were over the Galleas house and they loved us, we had the most amazing multi-sphere and we found all out about the church. And it was really the first point that I got welcomed and we just stuck. New-ish is happening next week, the details on the back screen. You've said nothing about, but you've told people what it's about, or actually using the story to tell a bit of vision about the church. So at this church here, we really value the women in our church and that's why we've got a women's nourish event happening in the next few weeks.

[12:57]
Husbands just to shout out, make sure you're aware you've got all these things happening. But actually here at our church, we actually want to see men and women spiritually grow and that's what this church is all about. So we talk about that vision piece, remind people about who we are. As again, you just simply say, hey, come along to this event. Again, good graphic in the background with the details on it or actually have the handout or the email or the go-to area, but you don't have to do that in the announcement. Yeah, I was thinking though, say you have three or four announcements, would you have a story with each one?

[13:29]
Well, this is where I think it depends on the time. There's a whole bunch of questions that would go into that. And again, I think if they're scripted and they're tight, then you can have three, you know, longish announcements. I think a great story is going to be interesting in and of itself, but do you want to have three big stories? Maybe not. Yeah. And she also made the point of, you know, what's their next step? Do you have a, like, encouraging, maybe have a website?

[14:01]
It's clear, you know, if you have an integration course, you have maybe a, some form of, like, a mission course. Just make it, people know exactly where to go, what their next step is, so that they can book in, register or find out more. I think this is also just, just thinking sort of ecosystem, having a culture of teams, and also having a culture where your team leader or your ministry actually works out, what's going to be the best way to communicate? Means that you might have a whole bunch of different various communication methods. You know, people might be using messenger, they might be using a closed Facebook group, they might use WhatsApp, it might be an email, it might be a roster.

[14:37]
But actually having a culture where the team kind of works out the communication, you work out what's works, it might be actually getting on the phone, you know, like the sort of, you know, prayer chain where, you know, it's called Lindel, yeah, my mom Lindel. She's got to call, you know, the next person, and that's just how they do, you know, passing around the, the prayer list. I don't know if millennials answer their phone, but that's a good point. So, so I just think here, this is another, think about your announcements, but as you do your announcements also, I think if you're running the gathering and, and that's kind of your role to sort of be thinking about the, the litigy or the service flow,

[15:16]
you can actually do a bit of, you know, teaching and help, you know, help the hygiene of teams by saying, hey, I think, I think you may have a problem with your communication if you're thinking this is the best place for, you know, to announce, blah. Yeah, Scott, what's the one thing you want to say about announcements? Limit them to three, keep them short and sweet, and ask the question, how many people is this announcement relevant to? That wasn't one thing that I'll let it slide. What's in the toolbox?

[15:46]
Well, the content today from Alana is all part of a new Ministry of Good course called intentional gatherings. Now, Ministry of Good, if you haven't heard, is a platform for online training for churches. It's something that we have been supporting and, and using as a network with our church planters and now with a whole bunch of established churches as well. It's a great resource, a great tool, and we're filled up with a whole bunch of Australian resources. Now, you can get a three-month trial for you and your church just by going to churchinabox.online forward slash minute regret. The link's going to be in the show notes.

[16:18]
Now, if you think about church bulletins, there's also a great article on the Geneva push website that I'll put a link into as well, because I think announcements and bulletins kind of go hand in hand. And there's two old episodes on the one thing, way, way back in the past, and there's a whole bunch of episodes on the one thing, where you can get a five-month trial for your church and your church. The one thing is part of the Reach Australia Podcast Network, along with three other podcasts. Reach Australia, Church Planning Australia, and Homegrown Faith.

[16:48]
The Reach Australia Podcast is longer form, deeply theological discussions of different areas of church. Church Planning Australia is the new kid on the block. It's specifically about starting a new church in an Australian context. The Reach Ministry and is more of a relaxed discussion of life and theology. Just type Reach Australia, Church Planning Australia, or Homegrown Faith into your podcasting app. I'm Madeline Glea. I'm Scott Sanders. Chat soon.