In a recent CTA newsletter I wrote about getting your church ready for Easter visitors. I encouraged readers to examine their bulletin boards and announcements with new eyes. This week I took my own advice. I realized that the vagueness I noticed probably wouldn’t affect visitors so much as it would make it hard for new members to become involved. In a way, that does affect visitors, though. If they’re looking for a church to belong to, and it looks like it might be confusing to be involved, perhaps they’ll look elsewhere. Some examples:

• “The annual Easter Egg Hunt is on April 11. Please consider taking home a bag of empty Easter eggs and filling them with individually wrapped candy or Christian Easter stickers and returning them by April 5. Thank you for your help! The eggs can be picked up in the main entrance. Return filled eggs to Jane’s office.” [Who is Jane and where is her office?]
• “The New Song Service is offered each month on the second and fourth Saturdays at 5:00 PM.” [This must be something different than usual. Is it a service with a different worship style? Is it a time for me to show up and learn new hymns/songs that we’ll be using in regular worship? If it’s something different, is it located in a different space?]

The prospect of many visitors coming to church on Easter Sunday is exciting. As you prepare for them, take a moment to read through your announcements once more from their perspective.

For all the “regular” Sundays that follow, keep those new members in mind as you write announcements. It’s one way to encourage them to be more involved in your church family.

I’d love to hear from you. Is this something that’s happening intentionally at your church? Who’s the watchdog in your congregation? Who’s keeping those new people in mind?

Blessings to you as you prepare to remember our Savior’s suffering and death and as you celebrate his victory, now ours!