ProductiveMinistry.comTips and tools for making ministry happen.

This is the third post in our series on Email Errors. Be sure to check out our first two on attachments and subject lines.

Newsletters have been a part of ministry for as long as I can remember in various forms. Today, many churches have stopped producing printed newsletters to be mailed via USPS in favor of email newsletters. The benefits are stark. Less expense. Easier to produce. And easier to disseminate greater amounts of information to a larger audience.

With all the benefits of email newsletters there are plenty of ways that newsletters can be mishandled. Today we’ll address seven errors people make with their email newsletters.

Unpredictable Frequency

People like routine. For every one person who thrives on change and unpredictability there a hundred people who want their world to be predictable. When you’re sending out newsletters on a random schedule you’re encouraging people to not read it.

So pick a frequency. You could do weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even daily, but you need to be predictable. People will forgive you if you miss a time or two, but if they don’t get a newsletter for three months then all the sudden you flood their inbox with three emails in a day you’re like to lose them.

Boring Subject Lines

If you’re using the same subject line every time you send out an email, stop. It’s so incredibly boring to see “My Church Newsletter XXIII” in your inbox. It doesn’t really help me know what’s going on and people are not as likely to open the email.

You can and should have some sort of regularity and identifiable branding in your newsletters, but add a little preview about what’s in the newsletter. Example: “My Church Newsletter  XXIII: VBS Starts This Week!” That will get more people to read your emails.

Not Having A Defined Purpose for the Newsletter

Have you ever sat down and thought about why you’re writing the newsletter in the first place? Who are you communicating with? What actions are you trying to get people to do? How does your newsletter’s purpose fit into the broader purpose of your organization or department as a whole?

If you don’t have a set purpose for your newsletter you’re likely to run out of ideas for content and end up writing about whatever random ideas you have on the day you’re supposed to send it out.

Putting Everyone’s Email Address in the To Field

This is the easiest way I know of to get people to hate you. People spend an incredible amount of time trying to keep their email address out of the hands of spammers and if you put everyone’s email in the to field you’re just asking people to share that list with others.

Instead of doing that you could put the emails in the BCC field, do a mail merge, or better yet use an email marketing solution (see below).

No Easy, Obvious Way to Unsubscribe

While you want to think that everyone who is getting your newsletter will read every word you’ve written and will forever be a loyal subscriber, that’s not going to happen. People move. They lose interest in your topic. Or they just might not have the time to read all the messages in their inbox every day.

In every newsletter you send you should make it obvious and easy for people to unsubscribe. If you don’t, your email address might get added to their spam filter.

Going Overboard With Formatting

It’s great that you’ve figured out that you can add a fancy background, change the font colors, and use different fonts in your emails. While you might think that adds value and excitement to the newsletter the reality is it doesn’t. It’s actually more distracting than anything else.

Your goal should be to keep the formatting simple. Only use bold fonts or headings to create separate sections and only use one font. A lot of people are reading email on their phones now anyway, so all that work you’ve done on formatting won’t be seen. Keep it simple.

Using Standard Email Software (Outlook, Gmail, etc.) Instead of Email Marketing Solutions

Email marketing has been around for a while now. The basic concept is to make it easy for you to create and send newsletters to a large or small audience and give you a toolset that you don’t get from you standard email software. Some of the best features are:

• Making it easy for people to subscribe and unsubscribe
• Ability to track statistics (open rate, forwarded stats, etc)
• Manage your subscriber list easily
• Advanced formatting options (but remember the point about keeping it simple)
• And quite a bit more

The big dog is Constant Contact and they end up being a bit pricy. There are at least two alternatives out there that offer similar features for less: Mail Chimp (which has a free option) and Mad Mimi. Any option is better than using Outlook.

Those are just some of my thoughts. What experiences do you have in email newsletters? Share in the comments.

This is the second post in our Email Errors series. See our previous post on attachments.

Ok, I’ll admit it. This post is mostly about me and how I treat email. I don’t usually read all my emails word for word. I tend to read the subject line to decide whether or not to open the message, but then only skim through the content of the email. It’s probably not the best way to manage email, but I bet I’m not the only person who goes through email like that.

With that in mind I’d like to point out a few ineffective ways people use the subject line in their emails.

Vague Wording

This can be as simple as only using a word like “Request” or “Question” or “Lunch.” While using subjects like that is ok from time to time and will likely get your recipient to open the email, there’s a better way. For example, instead of saying “Request” or “Question” go ahead ask your question in the subject line. If your question is complicated or fairly wordy at least put some of the details of your question in there, like “Request for help with website” or “Question about next week’s meeting.” Doing this will assist your recipients and help you improve your communication skill.

Too Much Detail

This is the opposite of the above and not nearly as common. You don’t want your subject line to get much longer than about 40-60 characters (about half the size of a tweet). Once that long it’s likely that many people’s email systems will chop off the words at the end. Aim for the core details of your email for your subject and nothing else.

FW: Fwd: RE: Fw: re:

Once an email gets passed around and replied to between different email softwares and accounts it might get tagged with prefixes letting people know if it’s a reply or forward. This is helpful as long as it only happens once or twice. But once there’s a chain of three or more it just looks cluttered. Delete any of these that you don’t really need.

Blank (No Subject)

Leaving off a subject may happen by mistake, impatience, or lack of creativity. Any time you’re communicating with someone else there’s going to be a message that you’re relaying, so you should put something in your subject line every time. If you leave it off for me I probably won’t open it very quickly.

Overselling The Email

Writing the subject in ALL CAPS, adding tons of exclamation marks, or making it high priority don’t really have their intended effects. First off, not all software handles priority the same. Second, the other person you’re sending the email to may not think it’s as important as you do. Third, if your email is really that important you might consider picking up the phone to call or text. Emails can lay unopen for extended periods of time.

These are just a few examples. What are some ways you’ve seen people misuse subject lines? Share in the comments.

Love it or hate it, email is an integral part of every minister’s life. Whether it’s communicating with co-workers, writing email newsletters, coordinating with volunteers, or the many other ways we use email these days it’s very likely that you’re emailing people multiple times every day.

Sometimes email will help you be more productive and other times it will kill your productivity. This week we’re kicking off a series of posts on errors people make using email and suggest some ways to fix those errors. If you know someone who makes these errors point them this way! Check back each day for more!

Today we’re going to talk about email attachments and some of the common ways I see people using them in less than ideal ways.

Forgetting to Actually Attach the Attachment

I think EVERYONE falls victim to this one from time to time. You tell the recipients of your email to see the attachment, but you didn’t remember to click a couple buttons to add it to your email. It’s embarrassing to be the one to forget the attachment, but you can easily fix this.

If you use Gmail you have a built-in reminder to make sure you don’t forget an attachment (one of the many great reasons to use Gmail!), but it if you use Outlook it’s a little more complicated. Check out this article from LifeHacker on how to set up a macro to help keep you from forgetting to include that attachment.

Trying to Collaborate on an Attachment

Sometimes there’s a document, PowerPoint Presentation, or spreadsheet that you’re working on with a team. There are some areas that need to be edited by one person and other areas that the whole team needs to look at. Not too long ago this was ridiculously hard to pull off. Some people would edit the original, others would edit a new version, and someone was left to try to pull together all the edits into one document. It easily could take hours and hours to pull off.

That’s not the case any more. There are two free solutions that make it really easy to collaboratively edit. If you use Gmail you already have an account with their Google Docs, so just click the Documents link at the top of your Gmail page. If you’re looking for another solution (maybe you or someone you know is anti-Google) you could check out Zoho. They’ve got a nice selection of free tools.

Pictures: Don’t Attach Them Unless You Have To

It’s great that you’ve got 27 pictures from the youth group mission trip that you’d like to have up on the website, but sending those files to your volunteer who runs the site in an email (or 27) is just not the best way to do it. For one, you’re using up a TON of unnecssary storage space and bandwidth. The newest digital cameras on the market take HUGE pictures that might just end up being too big to attach or receive as attachments depending on the mail service being used.

Instead of doing this, open up a free account with flickr (from Yahoo) or Picasa (another Google product). Either service gives you adequate amounts of storage, allow you to share the pictures with others with just a few clicks, and automatically resize the photos for you to make it easier to use in various ways. Either way is SO MUCH better than attaching photos.

Videos: Um, YouTube?

It doesn’t happen too often anymore, but occasionally I’ll get an email with 45 MB (or larger) video attached to it. I can almost always find the same video on YouTube, but I don’t have to wait for it to fully download before  I view it.

Instead of wasting someone else’s email storage and download time you should upload the video to YouTube or Vimeo. They both offer some nice options for sharing or embedding the videos on websites and sharing on facebook/twitter. Don’t attach that video to an email unless you absolutely must.

Closed File Formats (AKA Microsoft Publisher)

It’s great that you’ve spent a ton of time working up a new design for the publication piece, but sending it to me as a Publisher file will do nothing but frustrate me. I don’t have Publisher on my computer and I don’t intend to switch over to Windows just to view it.

Instead of sending that Publisher file (or any other proprietary file for that matter) take an extra 20 seconds to save it as a PDF. This is ridiculously easy to do in Mac (click print then the PDF button on the bottom left of the print dialoge window), but it’s also easy to do in Windows, too. There’s a free app called doPDF that functions as a virtual printer. Once installed you can select doPDF as the printer then save the PDF to wherever you want.

What are some ways that you’ve seen people misuse email attachments? Share your stories in the comments.

By: Dan Heath

In this article for Fast Company Dan Heath suggests that self- control is an “exhaustible resource.”  Meaning that people only have so much self- control, and when that self- control is gone- it’s gone.

Since Change requires so much effort and self-control, there is a limit to how much change people are able to handle.

This makes sense to me.

I have served at churches that were going through periods of transition too quickly. Some of it was planned and some was just unfortunate circumstances.  I have seen the damage change that happens to quickly causes.

It reminds me of Ecclesiastes 3:1-15, that there is a time for everything.

Sometimes, because of zeal and ambition we try to force change when doing so can cause disaster. I’m not saying that we should not change. I am saying let’s be responsible stewards of our congregation, and show love and patience because change is hard, and requires effort. Let’s move lovingly, patiently, one step at a time. Instead of having a one year plan to turn our church around, let’s have a 5 year plan.

If our congregations are not moving at the pace we want them to, it is not a critique of our leadership, nor is an indication of a lack of commitment. The truth is we can only handle so much change.

I want to hear your stories.  Have you pushed for too much change from your congregation? What was the result of that? Is there merit for the Church in the things Dan Heath is saying?

Written By: Caleb Kaltenbach

So, this week I will have been in Dallas, TX for 90 days! WOW… I can hardly believe it. I have taught and preached on a regular basis before, but I havenever preached as a senior pastor before. So, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on preaching that I’ve had over the past 90 days.

• No matter how good of a preacher you are, you can’t write a sermon in 4 hours. It takes 12-20 hours to formulate a good sermon
• The sermon is just as much for the preacher as the congregant. I find that God explores my heart during the week as I dig into His Word, and on Sundays I get to share what He and I have done
• Preaching without notes makes one more conversational, more relaxed, and makes it feel more real
• It is possible to have so much flash and “piz-zaz” in your sermon where the Word is compromised or undercut in your delivery.
• There should be a good balance between teaching the text and applying the principles. Too often, people either do one or the other
• Preachers preach for different reasons. I think that the Bible was written for life-change, Jesus died for our life-change, and we need to preach for life-change. Gaining knowledge about the Word is a nice sidedish to life-change
• Get insight into sermons from other members of the congregation. Make them feel like they’re part of the process
• Plan ahead of time what you will preach for the entire year. Bring staff and elders in on the process—don’t just think that you can do that all on your own. Other people hear from God too!

Many people probably already knew these, but I thought I’d share anyway

[image via Mathieu Struck]

A few years back I hit a wall. I had thought that I was a competent minister, but when I changed roles from youth ministry to working with adults I started to feel overwhelmed with the work-load. Some of the stuff that I learned from four years of working with high school students applied, but there were a bunch of new things I had to learn, and learn quick.

So I started to search for some ideas to help me become more productive, which inevitably took me to David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. I hate to admit this, but it took me a long time to get through the book, and I really didn’t even finish it until I picked up the audiobook from the library (which is a really cheap way to read a lot of books, by the way). The hardest part for me about the book was how complicated it seemed. There’s projects, next actions, contexts, and the funniest term of the book the tickler file. It all seemed so complicated to get started.

Until I started implemented the simplest idea in the book: the two minute rule.

The essence of the two minute rule is that if a task comes into your inbox (be it virtual or physical) and it will take you about two minutes or less to complete it, you should do it immediately. That’s right. Get it done in 120 seconds or less.

The most enlightening part of this concept to me was how many actions I had in my life and ministry that seemed like they would take a long time to get done, but they really could be done in less than two minutes. Here’s a list of actions that I’ve found can take less than two minutes:

• Emails sitting in your inbox that you need to reply to.
• Emails in your inbox that you need to archive/trash/file.
• Quick phone calls to volunteers to confirm things (be careful with this one, you could get trapped in an hour long conversation).
• Papers on your desk creating clutter.
• Books laying around that need to be put back on the bookshelf.
• A conversation with another staff member.
• Cleaning up your computer’s desktop of the clutter of files and folders.

There’s a lot of other tasks I could list, but I’d like to hear from you. If you’ve implemented the two minute rule in your ministry, what actions have you been able to do in two minutes or less?

Or if you haven’t ever tried the two minute rule, give it a shot right now. As soon as you stop reading this post take a look at your task list (or your office) and figure out as many different things you could do right now that will only take two minutes. When you’re done come back and share in the comments about your experience.

[image via Leo Reynolds]

By: Tim Jenkins

In January, I accepted a position as the new Director of Student Ministries at FUMC Rowlett. The week before starting, a friend and I sat down to make a big list of all the things I would need to do or find out in first few weeks. Among the many things that appeared on this list was a simple question: “What is your home number?”

“Home number” refers to the number of students between 6th and 12th grade that go to our church. It’s a good number to know, because it’s a different number than how many students attend events. In fact, it gives meaning to your attendance number, because it lets you know what your potential is, even before you begin affecting the community.

As it would happen, the same week I began searching for our home number, I learned about another number, Dunbar’s Number. Robin Dunbar is a British anthropologist who, after studying non-human primates, proposed a theory that there is a limit to the number of relationships the brain can handle. The basics of the theory are this; there is a limit to the number of personal relationships your brain can stably maintain, and after that limit, relationships will begin to disintegrate. So, you will have the relationships you are maintaining, and then you will have the relationships that are fading away. Or, maybe to put it simpler, you can’t stay friends with everyone forever.

So, what was that number, Dunbar’s number, the number of relationships your brain can handle? While the number varies between people, especially along the lines of male and female, it averages out to 150 people. Dunbar said, the average person’s brain can handle maintaining close personal relationships with 150 people. Want to know what our home number turned out to be? We have 157 students.

Now, whether you want to dispute Dunbar’s theory or not, the message is clear to ministers: You can’t do it alone. Unless your plans are to keep your congregation or youth group small (and I mean really small), you just simply can’t do it all alone. What I found out that day I counted up my home number was I that I was already short on the number of new relationships I could handle (remember, Dunbar’s number includes friends, family, and spouses, among all the other people who will become a part of my life).

It is incumbent upon me to use the people I have around me to do the work that needs to get done. If I refuse to rely on other people, not only will I stifle growth, but people will slip through the cracks. Dear friends, brothers and sisters of faith, what we’re doing is too important to let that happen. In fact, because I know my own temptation to try and do it all, I made a sign that hangs right in front of me at my desk. It says: “Our home number is 157. Dunbar’s number is 150. You cannot do it alone.” I’m hoping that I won’t forget, and I hope the same for you.

You just read the latest and greatest how to ministry leadership guide and are excited about all of the wonderful things this book is going to bring to your church or organization. There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything, including implementing ideas that are not your own. Here is the right way.

What are you trying to accomplish?

The golden rule of leadership: you need to see where you’re going before you can take others there. Don’t start changing things around until you have asked yourself,  “What can this idea or system bring to our ministry?” Is there a specific problem you are hoping to solve? Is there a ministry you are trying to improve? What results will the successful adaptation of this idea produce? Be specific.

If you get to this point and realize you are  excited about the idea because it produced tremendous results for someone else, but it does not solve or improve anything at your church, then let it go! Celebrate that leader’s success and move on. Change for the sake of change is a ridiculous waste of time, energy, and resources.

Are you the right person?

Adaptation is about taking a good idea from a field you understand and making it better. Just because you are the leader does not make you the expert at everything, nor does it mean you need to be the one to develop the plan. So you read the book and you think, “Wow, this is a great small group model that I believe has merit at our church.” Who is in charge of the small groups at your church? That is the person you need to equip  to adapt this change. They understand all the specific issues and will be able to take what is good about the idea or system and apply it specifically to the culture of your church.

As a leader if you see a deficit or room for growth in the ministries you oversee it ‘s your job to train and equip those leaders. Explain to them what you liked about this book and “encourage” them to bring these types of solutions or systems to their ministry.

Making it better

The next most important thing is to make the idea better. Stealing ideas is lazy leadership, and doesn’t work. Great success comes from leaders who meet the specific needs and solve the specific problems of the organization they work in. Ask yourself how we can make this work at our church. What can we change about this idea so it translates to our ministry culture? Develop a plan that will work at your church. Make the idea a better by making it your own idea.

Image via flickr user royblumenthal.

Use these five tips when communicating new ideas with leaders and you will find that your not just spinning your wheels!

Talk to the right people

Talk to them in person

Be prepared

Go in with more than just an idea

Don’t wait for a response

Our blog is officially relaunched! If you’re in ministry, either as a paid staff member or a volunteer, we really think you’ll like what you find here. In the coming weeks and months we’ll be making tweaks here and there in the site, so you might notice some changes, but that’s OK.

We’ll be blogging about tips, tools, and anything else we can think of about helping you be as productive as possible in ministry. We believe that the Gospel is the most important message that the world needs to hear and the church needs to spread the Word in as efficient and effective means as possible.

You can always come back to this site directly in your browser. But you can also connect with us by subscribing to our RSS feed, following us on Twitter, or becoming a fan on facebook.

We hope you’ll join us for this ride! Also, we love getting feedback (either good or bad). So if you have any ideas, thoughts, or questions feel free to leave a comment below!

Image by Flickr user p c w