Yep, you read that correctly. Your church should stop printing things. Does the idea of cutting printed materials make you a bit nervous? We get it. There is sure to be some (completely understandable) pushback to this idea, but what if we told you that you could save time, save money, and increase engagement by going digital with your bulletins, sermon notes, forms, and other resources? Well, that’s exactly what we’re telling you! Let’s take a look at three ways a lack of printed material can actually help your church:
Save Time
Does your church have a Sunday bulletin? How about signup forms? Small group resources? Chances are you have all of those things, and chances are somebody on staff is responsible for creating, printing, distributing, and logging responses from those resources. That is no small task! These are all important things to your ministry, but your time is invaluable as well. What if there was a way you could continue to make use of these resources, but save hours of time in the process? Well, there is! Adding your printed materials to your app is a great way to streamline your internal processes. Instead of printing and distributing those resources, simply add them to your app and direct people there instead. You can announce this from the stage on Sunday and send push notifications as well. Additionally, if you go digital with your signup forms (we can help you do this with Subsplash Connect), all of your responses automatically filter into the same place! Say goodbye to data entry and use that time for other projects.
Save Money
Printing isn’t cheap. Paper, ink, and cost per click add up pretty quickly. We recently talked to a church of around 2000 people that was spending about $1000 each month just to print their Sunday sermon notes. Imagine what your ministry could do with thousands of extra dollars every year! There are no extra fees for adding your printed materials to your app. Wouldn’t it be nice if distributing your sermon notes only cost $100 each month instead of $1000?
Increase Engagement
Yep, that’s right….cutting printed materials can actually increase engagement! Think about it for a second: you hand someone a printed bulletin on Sunday. They read it, take notes in it, and a few people take it home (let’s be real, lots of people are probably throwing it in the trash on their way out the door….just ask your cleaning team). Are those people who take bulletins home saving up a stash of 52 weeks of sermon notes in their house every year? Highly unlikely. So in reality, you are spending thousands of dollars on materials that will get thrown away, whether it be within two hours or two weeks. Are your bulletins and other printed materials a waste, though? Of course not! In fact, they are super important! And you can utilize your app to make sure they get proper (and continued) attention. We live in a mobile generation where everyone has their phone on them 24/7. All of their most important information - bank accounts, email inboxes, travel itinerary, and more - is always in their pocket. Don’t you wish your Gospel content had that same proximity? By hosting your Sunday bulletins, sermon notes, small group curriculum, event forms, and more in your app, you allow your congregation to access that content at any point in time. If someone is having a rough day and is trying to remember that important bullet point from Sunday’s sermon, their notes are just a few clicks away. If they get a push notification reminding them to sign up for an event, they can fill out the form immediately and add it to their calendar. If they need to preview tonight’s discussion questions for their small group, it’s right in their pocket. All of the material they may otherwise throw away is now in one place that is easily accessible and with them at all times.
Our friends at Calvary Chapel Worship Center recently stopped printing Sunday bulletins and saw these exact results. Check out our interview with Pastor Rich if you haven’t already! And if you have questions about cutting printed materials, let our team know! We realize that every ministry has different needs and challenges, and we would love to help you in any way we can. Drop us a line at hello@subsplash.com.