For some time the Green Sanctuary Movement has urged congregations to go paperless. Starting this month, we are taking a couple more significant steps in that direction.
First, you’ll notice a dramatic reduction in the number of inserts in the order of service. A couple of times a year the staff may include something for major all-congregation events such as our major fundraisers, but week-to-week we’re going to be taking advantage of our sanctuary’s projection system to highlight upcoming events. Events will be displayed on the screen before and after services, including throughout coffee hour. To have your event (an on-site church event open to all members) included in the Sunday “rotation” of events, please send to Carli the event’s name, date, time, a very brief description, and an optional graphic. We’ve found that more than a sentence of description gets lost on screen. These announcements are less for detailed information and more about getting the date and time noticed.
Second, the newsletter is finally going natively digital. Until now, we’ve designed a paper newsletter, turned it into a digital PDF, and then expected 90 percent of you (percent of members not getting a mailed paper copy) to read it on screen. Random polling at all levels of membership and leadership suggests that as many as half the congregation isn’t reading the newsletter. Starting with the August newsletter, we will cease monthly publication of the PDF version and go to a weekly electronic format with “live” links to columns (a.k.a. blogs) by staff and leaders, events, and all the information you’re used to getting from the PDF version. For those of you currently getting the newsletter in electronic format, the only thing that will change is that you’ll get more timely information in a format that is easier to read on screen.
For the very few people who are now getting the newsletter in paper format, we will have paper versions of major articles and columns available each Sunday — AND we will be offering classes in how to access the new online formats. We will also be teaching some general computer skills that will help get you up and running with all the congregation’s online stuff: the Website, Facebook, and the eNewsletter.
In short, these changes will help us serve you better in at least four ways. They will: – Allow the office staff to focus their time, training, and talent
- Serve more timely information with weekly instead of monthly publication
- Save vast amounts of paper
- Give more groups the opportunity to get their messages out
The Earth thanks you for your support!
Rev. Bret