Community Engagement: Making a Better Newsletter 💡

Three years ago, our church’s newsletter was just a weekly email.
​But today, it's become a vibrant community hub, connecting with people all over the world.

Back then, I wouldn't have imagined our humble newsletter could make such an impact.

How did we go from a few hundred readers to an engaged community?
Today, I'm sharing this incredible journey — the things we learned and the best practices that we curated through the process — and how your church can do the same.

Perhaps right now, maintaining your weekly newsletter already feels challenging, and the potential of doing more seems daunting...

Maybe it feels like your newsletter will never matter to your church.

I used to think the same.

Even with a decent-sized congregation, our newsletter felt... underwhelming.

We wanted something more than just “here’s what’s happening this week”.

We made five transformative changes that deeply connected us with our community, and I want to share these exact changes with you.

We embraced Mailchimp.

Using the right tools for your newsletter can be a game-changer. Think of it as a craftsman selecting the right tools for a project.

Mailchimp has been our “go-to” tool, offering flexibility and ease of use.

If you are using Planning Center, it is likely something you already have integrated.

We shifted away from basic text-only email templates (which limited our ability to truly connect) to dynamic content.

The result? A noticeable increase in engagement and positive feedback from our congregation.

How did we achieve this? Utilizing Mailchimp and really learning its features has allowed us to create more interactive and personalized email experiences.

Remember, your newsletter is your bridge to the congregation.

Learning how to use the tools already at your disposal will not only make your life easier but will also allow your congregation to get more from your church.

Here’s a tip: Learn one new thing about Mailchimp per month. Maybe the feature is filters, segments, journeys, etc. Use it each week for several weeks before adding a new feature. Giving space to learn the feature will give you time to practice what you’ve learned.

We started segmenting our congregation.

We have a diverse community, and one message doesn’t always fit all.

Here’s how we approached it:

​We first considered our audience. In marketing, these are called personas. It’s the demographic of people that you want to read your content.

We thought about it this way:

​Some members are new to the faith and seeking basic guidance, others are long-term members looking to get involved, some have kids, some don’t, Etc.

The list of potential segments is endless.

​Start with six segments and write specific content for them. Write what you think would be valuable to them.

​Here are a six segments you can use yourself:

• Men

• Women

• Has kids

• Not in a group

• Not a member

• New to the church

Segmenting people in Mailchimp allowed us to address these needs and provide a personalized experience. ​

In addition, new subscribers to our newsletter were invited to complete a short survey. The survey helped us understand their spiritual journey and needs. We took those survey results and reimported them as tags. We later used those tags as additional segments to help provide personalized content.

Here’s our advice for implementing surveys:

• Make the survey’s purpose clear (“help us serve you better”)

• Keep it short and straightforward (under 20 seconds to complete)

• Use easy-to-answer questions to encourage completion

We focused on engagement levels.

​Effective ministry through newsletters is about providing value by tailoring your message to meet specific needs.

By segmenting our congregation based on engagement, we’ve been able to:

• Identify members who frequently interact with our content or events

• Customize our messages for different levels of faith and engagement.
  

​Combining Planning Center lists and Mailchimp segmentation has allowed us to do this seamlessly.

Here’s a tip:

Use tags for members who show interest in specific ministries or events. You can use these for upcoming promotions.

We personalized our communication.​

Our goal - make every member feel seen and heard.

With Mailchimp, we:

• Send welcoming emails to new subscribers, fostering a sense of belonging.

• Offer personalized content based on their interests and survey responses.

• Adjust our messages to reflect the diverse needs of our congregation.

• Incorporate highlights and sermon quotes from the previous week.

• Provide encouragement for the struggles of life.

• Refrain from making a newsletter solely about events.

• Use “Dynamic Content” to build a custom newsletter for each congregant.

Mailchimp makes setting up these personalized emails easy. We have email sequences in place for follow-up for all types of things: first-time guests, decisions for Christ, membership class attendance, you name it. This allows us to get the right message to the right person at the right time. We have found that this approach has deepened our connection with the congregation and has easily doubled our open rates.

We reinvested in our community.

​To extend our reach and impact, we’ve reinvested in:

• Developing more engaging online content.

• Testing emails in an A/B format to discover what congregants found most interesting.

• Including video and audio resources for people who don’t like reading.

• Enhancing our website for easier access to resources and information.

• Growing our ministry team to better support our congregation when they reach out for assistance.

Key Takeaways.​

View your newsletter as a cornerstone of your ministry.

Shift to a tool designed for community engagement.

Deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.

Segment your congregation based on the following:

• Engagement levels

• Spiritual journey stages

• Survey responses

Our newsletter has helped our members engage with our church as a whole. Readers are encouraged, discipled, and given ways to connect with the church and each other. We have built a church community around our newsletter and empowered people to find their place within the church. I hope these five tips help you do the same.

Michael Visser

P.S. Here’s how I can further assist you:

#1: Looking for more tips and tricks? Check out our blog.

#2: Check out our YouTube Channel for all things Planning Center.

#3: Reach out to us directly if you have questions or want us to write on a particular topic. info@threefold.solutions