Effective Bulletin Communication

Have you ever viewed our weekly bulletin through the lens of someone who's unfamiliar with the Grace Brethren, has never been to our or any church before? I'm convinced that we do not communicate effectively with that audience. I found the following excerpt online and it made me feel the way I would guess our bulletin makes some people feel...

Hey ppl whats up ? not much here really just
hangin out and stuf im whachin the football game yeaa..... so ya my
friends are thier they r so lucky bt ya im @ home rite now im just chillen my
bro went to the store and im here whachin teh game its great bt ya . Ppl if u
wana do sumthin plezzzz call me im so bored i have no life ya no lol bt ya
i gess.....im doing ok bt ya anyway no biggy so ya im just
reallyyyy...........ya anyway ......well leave me sum 2 cum back 2

Though I've reread those sentences several times, I have very little comprehension of what the writer is trying to communicate - I need an interpreter. But how often does the bulletin contain jargon and acronyms that are specific to us and foreign to others? BNYC, FGBC, CE National, The Chateau, Alpha Lobby, Threefold Communion, Trine Immersion... the list can go on and on. We're accustomed to them and we know what they mean, but many have no clue. Of course to explain each item each time we talk about them can get tedious, is time consuming and takes up printed space. But we have to weigh those concerns against the effectiveness of the message.


I admit that it's hard to think beyond ourselves in this way, but I that's our challenge. As we create the bulletin each week, we've got to keep our audience in mind, with whom are we trying to communicate and what's the most effective way to communicate with them.

The bulletin for Sunday, October 16 is unlike any bulletin we've published in my time at Grace. We changed it because the entire morning this Sunday is aimed at reaching unbelievers. The normal weekly bulletin will return next week, but I hope to keep pressing us to use language that's understandable to the masses in our announcements.