RULES For Church Announcements You Should Follow

[@prochurchtools]

Rule #3 is a new one and I think it really makes all the difference. In the past some of you have asked, "what about the announcements that don't fit into the rules?" That's what Rule #3 is for.

[@SeanShineYouth]

“Storytelling forces our brain to Pay attention. I’ll never forget when…” *starts telling story*. Love it.

[@ThomasReece86]

Going down an unnecessary rabbit hole here but to anyone else who is tired of stuffing eggs, last year I decided to do the eggs like you would have a ticket at an arcade. Then you could take your eggs to your age specific prize counters. There you could exchange one egg for a small piece of candy, or a few eggs for full size candy, or small toy/Pokémon cards/fidget etc... It was a huge hit! Parents loved it, it was easier on myself and staff, and the kids got more than just candy so they were having a blast!

[@prochurchtools]

Oh yeah. You cooked with this.

[@devisinggood]

Dang, hello production quality! I've seen all the videos you've done on these rules to date, but this one was so pleasant to watch. Nice work! I'm going to use this video to facilitate some discussion with our campus pastors. 👏🏽

[@prochurchtools]

Appreciate the kind words. Glad it's going to be useful for you.

[@austenalbert832]

DITTO

[@SirD1]

Even 10 minutes is too long

[@TrevWILL79]

Helicopter egg drops are the biggest waste of money. And that only comes from a certain demographic that can afford something of that nature.

[@mixedbagclips2511]

I don’t know if there are literally eggs but as someone from Latin America, hearing this is sad, the waste of food… I hope it something of translation…

[@charlescarmichael1124]

@@mixedbagclips2511 yes. It's something different. He's talking about plastic eggs that split into 2 pieces and snap together again. They are filled with little chocolate candies for Easter. I don't get that either but some churches do Easter eggs.

[@boodaddytvs]

This feels like De Ja Vu. I swear I’ve seen this video before lol

[@GospelMissionChurch]

What do we do for "House Announcements"? We've noticed people talk during this portion of our video announcements where we talk about giving, our kids programs and welcoming new comers. How can we make it different so people actually pay attention and don't miss anything?

[@prochurchtools]

Biggest thing would probably be switching to live announcements. General courtesy is to not talk when someone else is talking. That doesn't get observed in the same with videos.

[@sobyntahondi]

the only Christian i know that makes smuggling a righteous thing😄

[@allennolan]

gold!

[@conradaleshire4428]

Killer video as always. Keep up the great work

[@prochurchtools]

🫡

[@AllThingsTheology]

That text masked to be behind you, fair play. That’s serious effort

[@austenalbert832]

props to the editor!

[@blakefilmco]

I work at a church and am in charge of creating video announcements. I love the 50% rule and have communicated it to my supervisors. They respond by saying it is out of our authority to decide what should or shouldn’t be in announcements, therefore everything should be announced equally. I think this is a response out of fear of undervaluing curtain events/ministries potentially bringing hurt to ministry leaders that didn’t get as much “screen time” as other things. I guess my question is how can we show all ministries/events value, but also applying the rule 1 strategy?

[@blakefilmco]

Also give your editor a high five for me! Great video! Oh and you did good too Brady! 😂

[@prochurchtools]

No rule or policy will help if the leadership believes that every event and ministry is (and/or must) be treated equally. Because that's just not the case. Whether it's frequency, budget, attendance, etc. a hierarchy already exists in every church. It's a universal rule, try to communicate everything and communicate nothing. I sympathize with leadership because the easy approach is to just say, "we're gonna treat it all the same!" Everyone suffers in that case though. The congregation ends up ignoring promotions because most don't apply to them. And leadership gets aggravated as no one listens and responds to what's happening in the life of the church.

[@andrewtate3857]

Hey Brady! Excellent content as always. What would you say about the frequency of a particular announcement? For example, as a general rule (to which there are always exceptions), we'll start announcing something three weeks in advance and we'll announce it for those three weeks in a row. Curious on your thoughts! It seems to serve us pretty well (we try to stick to the 50% rule and limit it to 3 announcements max, and try to keep it as brief as possible), but of course I know we can always get better! Thanks!

[@prochurchtools]

Yes, I think three weeks is right in that sweet spot.

[@lucycliburn2344]

Helicopter egg drop. Am I truly the only one who thought WKRP in Cincinnati Thanksgiving turkey drop?😂😂😂 it was one of their all-time best episodes.

[@charlescarmichael1124]

I think church announcements should never be more than 4-7 minutes. We've had an experiment where we incorporate them into ministry time. Once we had a bit of a traffic jam so we made an announcement about the new exits built on the back of the property (mega church). In order to get people to follow instructions when leaving, we asked all of the traffic coordinators to come to the front at the end of the service. The pastor then asked everyone to stretch their hands towards them, and we prayed for them for safety and patience. When he had everyone's full attention, he said basically do what these people tell you and when you leave go out the back exit. The problem that we were having with traffic ended right then and there. Another time, they started the announcements video, and about 15 seconds in it had an embedded scratching noise, along with what looked like a film break. Then it showed our editor sitting in the editing bay, and then he looked over at the camera with the music off and said "oh, shoot, it broke! Sorry Pastor, I'll just read these here…". He had everyone's attention. It was hilarious.

[@klomax7089]

This is AWESOME and is gonna help our church soooooo much! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@fionascheibel977]

The first bit of announcements and does it relate to 50% of the church just reinforced my thought that people can be so self centred. "Doesnt relate to me so i wont listen or care" If the church is supposed to be a community. It wont kill the men to listen to what is happening in the womens ministry or the young adults to know what is happening in the senior members program. Maybe one of those "not involved" people could check is a senior person needs a lift to the activity or the men could remind the women about the activity or ask how it went. If the church is a community then care about what is going on in the community. But yep. Dont make the announcements drag on forever and announce things in several ways. In the service, on a bulletin, on the website or facebook, via the inchurch communication like email or messaging.

[@JulieS261]

Packing Easter eggs and using a helicopter definitely sounds like an American only thing. I have never done something like this let alone heard of it here in Australia.

[@3wrapframe]

It’s not about filling the eggs, it’s about the WHY behind it. You have to give the vision behind the why… info is info… give the vision of the why. You can ask people to give their tithe to pay a light bill… but the that don’t speak to people… it’s all about the why… so people come to Jesus.

[@JoshSorensonJosh]

My church in Indiana did 250k eggs one year for real; I do not recommend it.

[@MelvinDlaCruz]

How you made this overlay in the back?

[@timbushong4387]

Oh no...

[@ptrsamson21]

Can’t tell you how many times I just conk out on the 30 minute announcements.

[@mrsebastianhendricks]

im struggling with young adults ministry can you help me

[@katiep.1267]

I discovered the 50% rule when I took over our announcements. I love it because it's my out not to announce every random thing in our church. What do you recommend when it's s light event week without events that affect over 50% of the church. Would you skip them?

[@prochurchtools]

Yeah, no need to force announcements.

[@theodoretturman1]

Hey Brady. Is there any value to presenting an announcement that violates the 50% rule simply for the sake of "looking good" or attractive to first-time guests, or as a way of communicating church priorities? As an example, Next Gen min announcements violate the 50% rule but we want to show we care about families.

[@prochurchtools]

You're hitting on something important. The difference between your existing congregation and the congregation you're trying to reach. The 50% Rule can also be applied to the congregation you're aspiring. Just don't want to be switching back and forth.

[@hitechchristiancenter]

Great Resource...Thank You!

[@jimmyhudson3379]

What is the strategy then for those ministries who do not meet the 50% mark? Are they communicating internally? How can I help the smaller ministries feel cared about and that their events matter?

[@prochurchtools]

Internal and Rule #3.

[@SquishyJoshy]

Hey Brady, always been interested in your content. I have a bit of a Random Q, which I hope you can help me with. Whats your take on a church that is... lets say, hypothetically struggling... financially, has a generational gap (little to no young adults), but loves to see the next generation step up and "take over" so to speak. The only thing is, they don't take change too well or are "not prepared" enough. Is that hypothetical church destined to "crumble" or just "keep on scraping by" OR is there a chance for it to revive, survive and thrive? I'd love to know your thoughts. Cheers from Australia, Josh --- oh hey just before I sent this message I noticed you have a video called "How to change a stubborn church" might look into that one haha!~

[@prochurchtools]

Yeah, I was going to point your to that video for sure.

[@sethamgardner]

With rule one; where does a first time guest announcement fall? Those apply to so few people, is it just a matter of being quick with the announcement?

[@prochurchtools]

Typically we don’t categorize a guest welcome as an announcement.

[@jim_tennant]

The story bit. Mind. Blown. 🧠

[@damenmoore]

Great video, I like how the 3rd rule has evolved. Thought we might see some barna stats, or some guidance towards duration of the announcements. Any advice there Brady? Keep up the good work, and give your editor a high-five for us!

[@prochurchtools]

No data on this stuff as far as I'm aware. I'm trying my best to synthesize the 25,000 announcements I've done over the years, but nobody's funding church announcements studies haha.

[@goodmaneffah]

Not you smuggling the 10 rules video with your mum story at the end 😂✌🏾

[@prochurchtools]

Double Smuggle

[@RevDanTheMan]

This is SO GOOD...

[@prochurchtools]

Happy to serve 🫡

[@bethezebra]

😂

[@5NOV]

Thanks Brady, very helpful. Here is a rule I didn't see (or at least I didn't think I saw), if you are doing announcements EVERY week, how do you change it up to not seem redundant or using the same script/tone, etc. all the time?

[@prochurchtools]

That's why the formula of story + next step is so important. Bringing a different (or, at least, augmented) story each week allows you to indefinitely promote the same thing without it getting tired.

[@5NOV]

ah that makes sense, thanks bro! New sub earned! @@prochurchtools

[@theblacklines]

Brady, can we talk about your watches? I think I've spotted two in this video: Santos and an Oyster Perp.

[@prochurchtools]

Yeah, those are my two! Good eye.

[@theblacklines]

@@prochurchtools you've got GREAT taste!

[@TyroneLT]

Rule #3 is something I do all the time on our socials. I just didn’t have as cool a name for it as you lol! I find people in general don’t like ads (hence why people can’t wait to hit the skip ad button). So Rule #3 I find is a great way to avoid our content feeling like ads.

[@prochurchtools]

The Smuggle™

[@johnmcgary]

Very cringe

[@CreutzfeldtTV]

Thank you

[@BasementBerean]

So, what is your solution for the 49% of the church who won't find out something they'd need or want to know through announcements? Consider that there are many elderly who aren't fluent in Internet usage. I personally don't care if only 1 person needs an announcement, as long as they really need it, and the announcements are done quickly.

[@prochurchtools]

Hey there, not sure if you watched the whole video, but at 7:11 I address elderly/non-techy folk. And Rule #3 is dedicated to the 49%.

[@BasementBerean]

@@prochurchtools I did watch the entire video. So, you have the elderly, perhaps people who find it hard to stand or walk, standing in line with everyone else for someone with a tablet to personally tell each of them something? Do you think someone who needs a walker or a cane should hobble over to your kiosk every Sunday morning just to know what is going on because they're the "under 50%" who isn't worthy of an announcement so they can keep track of the activities they are part of?

[@prochurchtools]

In the event a personal interaction in the lobby doesn’t make sense for your church, and the vast majority of your announcements each individually apply to the minority of your congregation making Rule #3 challenging, may I suggest an aggregation approach? Combine the leftover announcements into a weekly bulletin. Only print as many as you’ll know you need each week. Collectively, all the events in that bulletin would be relevant to more than 50% of the congregation so you could deliver a church-wide announcement highlighting the bulletin each week. For the elderly, this gives them something tactile instead of something digital. And they can go through it at their leisure. A win-win. We serve the unique needs of your church. We keep the announcements policy in tact.

[@BasementBerean]

@@prochurchtools Thanks. That's not an awful idea, but it's really just going back to old labor intensive tech. May as well just print a bulletin, hand one to everyone, and skip the announcements all together, which to me would be great. I'd love to go to that church.

[@prochurchtools]

Yeah, there’s a reason virtually every church has announcements. And it’s not because we love them. But in practice, they’re necessary for driving next steps. If you can do without them and not suffer from a decline in church participation, amazing!

[@DobyWan]

Great editing on this one!

[@prochurchtools]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JefferyHunt]

There should be a 4th rule for “when”. This is more of a liturgical concern that needs to be addressed according to your philosophy of worship, but I’m going to say before the call to worship is best.

[@prochurchtools]

Yeah, we're doing ours before right now and it's working. We did them between worship and the message before that.

[@johannkarsten]

Church doesn’t need corporate marketing techniques. Pastor makes announcements after the service, and we’re done. But I also don’t attend a church with 10,000 attendees who the pastor never talks to.

[@prochurchtools]

Storytelling isn’t corporate marketing. It models the way Jesus talked about the Kingdom. About ⅓ of all his teachings in the Gospels were story-based.