Why this matters
A simple way to keep church announcements straight is one weekly rhythm built from one list: write it once on Thursday, email it on Friday, put the same items in a homepage block with an end date, and say three of them out loud on Sunday. Everyone gets the same news, and nobody writes it twice.
Most small church websites show some sign of upkeep. In our 2026 State of Small Church Websites study, an audit of 2,000 church websites, 72.8% of small church websites (n=1,734) showed an update within a year of the July 2026 check, about three in four. The rhythm below sets a weekly bar instead of a yearly one, so the news on your homepage matches what people heard on Sunday.
At a glance
- One list, written once a week, feeds the church email, the homepage and Sunday's spoken announcements.
- Thursday: write the list. Friday: send the email and update the homepage. Sunday: say three items and point to the rest.
- Every item carries an end date, so nothing on the homepage stays up more than a week past its date.
- If your homepage doesn't show service times yet, fix that before you add announcements.
What does a weekly announcements rhythm look like?
It is four short jobs across three days, all working from the same list. Here is the whole week in one table you can copy into a shared document.
| Day | Job | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Delete anything past its end date, then write the new items: one or two lines each, with a date and an end date | One shared document |
| Friday morning | Send the list as the church email, with the service time and address at the top | Your church email list |
| Friday | Paste the same items into a short announcements block below the service times | Your homepage |
| Sunday | Say three items out loud, then point people to the email and the homepage for the rest | From the front |
If your church prints a bulletin, build it from the same list on Thursday too.
How do you set it up, step by step?
Pick one owner, then run the same four jobs every week. The first week takes longest because you are building the list and the homepage block. After that, each week reuses both.
Step 1: Name one owner and one shared list
Choose one person to own the list, and say their name at a staff or volunteer meeting so everyone knows where announcements go. Then make one shared document, such as a Google Doc, that anyone with an announcement adds to by Wednesday night. The list is the one place anyone edits: if a time changes on Saturday, change the list first, then the homepage block.
Step 2: Write the list once on Thursday
Open the list on Thursday and delete anything whose end date has passed. Then give each new item a line or two: what it is, the day and time, where, and how to sign up or who to ask. Add an end date to every item, usually the day of the event or the sign-up deadline. Thursday is our rule of thumb: the week's plans are mostly settled, and there is a day left to catch a wrong time before the email goes out. Any day works if it stays the same each week.
Step 3: Send the email on Friday
Turn the list into the church email and send it Friday morning, so people have it before they plan the weekend. Put the service time and the address at the top, so a member can forward it to a friend who might come. Use the same subject line every week, such as "Sunday at" followed by your church's name, so people learn to look for it.
If you send from Gmail, you can write the email on Thursday and set it to go out on Friday. As of October 2026, Gmail's Schedule send option sits under the down arrow next to Send on a computer. Put the list's addresses in Bcc so members don't see each other's emails. If you use a newsletter tool, check its help pages for a schedule option.
Step 4: Put the same list on your homepage, with an end date
Paste the same items into one short announcements block on your homepage, below your service times and address, with each item's date showing. Call the block whatever your church already says, such as Announcements or Coming up.
You might assume a yearly update keeps a homepage looking current. Our 2026 study also measured a tighter bar: across all judged sites (n=1,930), 41.2% showed current content, meaning something dated within about three months. Say a couple new to town opens your homepage on a Saturday night, and the first announcement is a breakfast that happened two weeks ago. They may wonder whether the service time above it is still right.
The weekly reset is the fix. Because you rebuild the block from the list every Friday, nothing on it is ever more than a week past its end date, and the dates show a guest that someone looks after the site.
Step 5: Say three items on Sunday and point to the rest
Pick the three items that matter to the most people, say each one in plain words, and then tell people where the rest lives. In our view, three is about as many as a room can hold onto on the walk to the car, and the email and the homepage now carry everything else. Here is a sample script to change as you like:
> Three quick things. The men's breakfast is Saturday at 8 in the fellowship hall. We need two more helpers in the kids' room next Sunday, and you can sign up at the welcome table. And the meal sign-up for a family with a new baby is in Friday's email. Everything else is in that email and on our homepage.
When is this rhythm the wrong fit?
This rhythm is the wrong fit when your homepage can't yet tell a first-time guest when and where you meet, or when nobody at church can log in to change it.
- If the service time and address aren't near the top of your homepage, put them there first. Announcements on a page missing the basics give a guest one more thing to read before they find what they came for.
- If nobody can edit the homepage, getting that login back comes first. The email and Sunday steps still work in the meantime.
- If the list grows so long that nobody reads past the top, trim the list before you add another place to post it.
And if your bulletin, email and homepage already say the same thing every week, keep going. You don't need a new routine, and you don't need us.
How can you check it on your phone in a minute?
Open your church homepage on your phone on Saturday and find the announcements. Every date you see should be coming up or from the past few days, and the items should match Friday's email. If anything is more than a week past its date, take it down now and put Thursday's list on your calendar as a weekly reminder.
What can you send to whoever updates the site?
If someone else edits your website, here is a short note you can copy and send:
> Starting this Thursday, I'll send you our announcements as one list, each item with an end date. On Fridays, could you replace the announcements block on our homepage with that list, below the service times, and remove anything past its end date? If there isn't a block yet, please add one. Thank you.
Frequently asked questions
How many announcements should a church make on Sunday?
In our view, three is a good number to say out loud. Pick the items that matter to the most people, say each one in a sentence or two, and point to the email and the homepage for the rest.
Does a small church still need a printed bulletin?
That is your call, and this rhythm works either way. If you print one, build it from the same Thursday list so the bulletin, the email and the homepage match. If you stop printing, the email and the homepage carry the same news.
What day should the church email go out?
Pick a day and keep it. Friday morning is a good default because people have the news before they plan the weekend. If you send from Gmail, Schedule send lets you write it Thursday and have it go out Friday, as of October 2026.
What belongs on the church website and what belongs in the email?
The homepage gets short items with their dates, below the service times. The email can carry more detail and the full list. Anything a first-time guest needs, like the service time and the address, belongs in both.
Where this connects in our work
- Our 2026 State of Small Church Websites study for how both freshness figures in this post were measured.
- The Church Digital blog for "How to add one event to your homepage without burying Sunday", when one event needs more room than the announcements block gives it.
- The Church Digital blog for "A church website maintenance checklist you can actually keep up with", the monthly and quarterly checks that sit around this weekly rhythm.
Next step
If announcements are under control but the rest of the website keeps slipping, tell us what's going on and get a free written plan: what to fix first, what you can do yourselves, and what we would do for you if you'd rather hand it off.