Are you Mr. Preacher Announcerman? 3 Ways to Tighten Announcements in your Service.

flickr / dan waugh

I’ve seen so many events happen where people didn’t show up. I believe one of the main reasons this happens is because churches focus so much energies on every event. But what do most ministers think about announcements? Are they a necessary evil, or do they really benefit the congregation?

Thom Rainer did a survey of pastors and found that the majority of ministers do not want announcements as a part of their service. The other problem is, many churches under the size of 200 persons, taking away that part of the service would cause controversy and division among the members.

What can we do to have both this moment of time to announce important events and allow ministers the freedom to not have them?

Here are three ways to tighten up our announcement time.

1. Keeping the vision tight. Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Prov. [29:18]) This is the fundamental responsibility of any church or organization. We must know where we are going if we’re going to be taking people on a journey to get there. If our announcements don’t line up with our vision, they should not be announced. Our vision must be so solid and so part of our DNA as an organization that anything announced that doesn’t fit with that is just noise that clutters the congregation’s mind.

2. Keeping the main thing the main thing. Nothing is more important than a pastor who is clear on what he communicates. The pastor’s number one job is to communicate the mission of the church in everything he does. He should not be bogged down by taking the time to announce. This should be given to someone else on their team. The pastor’s job is only to communicate the main focus of the church.

3. Don’t announce or allow everything announced. Everyone in every team in every department believes their events are the most important in the church. It doesn’t matter if it’s the youth group or children’s ministry, they want their event announced from the pulpit. I personally believe that each ministry department is responsible for letting their people know what events are happening. The main job of announcements are for main church events that focus and further the vision of the church.

If you’re announcing everything, you’re announcing nothing. – Jerry Lawson

This is what it’s all about. Because our goal is to further people’s lives by clearly communicating the vision, we must be vigilant to only announce what is worth our time. Don’t be Mr. Preacher Announcerman, but be someone who has clear direction and clear focus in everything that is presented from the front pulpit.

What do you think? How do you run announcements in your church; do you announce everything or just the main things that further the vision? Share your thoughts below, Facebook or Twitter.