Managing Updates and Notices in Church Settings

Posted on 2/9/2026, 6:49:37 PM

When you’re running communications for a church, you’ll have different groups and different types of messaging needs to manage, from church staff to elder representatives, leaders, members of the congregation, and more. Getting your messaging right and being able to send out effective updates and notices means everyone knows what’s going on, with the right information they need, without overwhelming them with every communication all of the time.

Let’s take a look at how to manage updates and notices for your church to improve the process and experience for everyone.

Decide What Qualifies as an Update or a Notice

Before you send anything out, you need to know the difference between updates and notices, as this will influence how you share information.

Updates are time-sensitive and impact things like attendance, timing, safety, or staffing, while notices are more informal and future-focused — for example, upcoming events, reminders, or general announcements.

The line needs to be clearly drawn so you can segment outgoing information and deliver it accordingly.

Adding Ownership for Sending Updates

You need to have one owner, where possible, in charge of sending out the messaging. This makes it much easier to handle, track, and understand what’s been sent, without crossed wires. Multiple people sending out updates and notices can lead to duplicate messaging, confusion, or miscommunication.

Lock this down to one person only. Others can collaborate on the wording and details, but only one person should send the message.

Match the Message Type to the Channel

Not all information needs to be sent everywhere. Take updates, for example, they need to reach people immediately when action or awareness is required. Notices, however, don’t have the same urgency.

Have a clear list of which communications go to whom and with what level of urgency. Something that needs to be communicated for the next day should take priority over an event happening next month.

For urgent messages, text updates are useful because texts are disruptors. They interrupt attention and prompt people to take notice. Tools like SMS for Churches allow you to organize updates and send communications consistently, so messages reach the right people rather than getting lost in long-form communication.

From there, notices can sit in other channels such as bulletins, emails, online calendars, or even blog posts if needed.

Segment Who Receives What

This has already been touched on, but it’s essential to decide which groups receive which messages. Volunteers may need rota updates, parents may need changes to children’s activities, and service-level changes may need to go to the wider congregation.

Segmentation removes unnecessary messaging and prevents people from becoming overwhelmed or missing important details they actually need.

Standardize Message Structure

To make communications more effective, recipients need to understand the structure and find it familiar. Standardizing how you communicate and the templates you use across all channels helps streamline the entire process.

Lead with the change, not the background. State what has changed, when it applies, and what action is needed. This level of consistency helps people scan messages quickly and know where to look for key information, regardless of the format used to send it.