Have you ever felt like your church kills an entire forest printing its weekly bulletins? Liturgy, songs, entire Bible passages, announcements, and all of the prayer requests are added, until the bulletin begins to resemble a beginner’s chapter book.

Using a content management system (CMS) can help condense your bulletin or just expand and update your website. A CMS allows you to distribute frequently updated information, and it makes sure people actually see it. Your visitors can subscribe to this content, which means they will receive instant email notifications when you post new information.

With a CMS, or what we call “Feeds” in Church360° Unite, you can add posts (including photos, audio, and videos) and comment on others’ posts. There are endless ways this can be used to engage your members, but here are a few examples of how some churches use them:

Blogs

Blogs are one of the most common uses of feeds. When church workers blog, they not only have the opportunity to share their insights, but church members also benefit from what is shared in a casual and accessible way. In her post titled Why Your Church Should Have a Blog, author Lora Horn shares tips on starting a blog and connecting with members through your content.

Sermons

Many pastors like to share their sermons online. Doing so allows members to easily access sermons they missed or want to hear again and allows potential visitors to preview the preaching before coming to a worship service. Sermons can be uploaded as a transcript, an audio recording, a video, or all three.

News & Announcements

One of the main reasons church members will visit the website regularly is to get the latest information. Posting announcements through feeds gives church members a single location to view all the latest news, with the most recent information at the top of the feed.

Prayer Requests

Most churches publish prayer requests in the bulletin but do not include the context of the request. When using a feed to post prayer requests, the church office has space to explain the circumstances (if appropriate) and provide updates using the comments feature. It’s also easy to make this type of feed a private page.

Community Care Requests

Church offices often receive requests for help—such as meals for families in need, furniture movers, handyman repairs, general yard work—and sending an email is a great way to get that information out to the congregation. Another option is using a feed to share this information, which allows everyone to review the needs and comment on the posts if they are able to help, creating a flow of conversation with the latest post always at the top.

This blog post is an excerpt from our ebook “5 Ways to Make Your Church Website More Than an Online Bulletin Board.” To download this free ebook, which outlines even more ways to perfect your website, click the button below!