Several local churches publish weekly bulletins. They serve a number of purposes for the local congregation. The bulletin lists the elements of the worship service and indicates who the speakers will be that day. In addition, there is plenty of room for announcements and other information important to the congregation.

The software program recommended for designing Sabbath bulletins is Microsoft Publisher (See Buying Software). This program makes it easy to manipulate both text and graphics. The most popular format for the bulletin is an eight and one-half by eleven inch piece of paper folded in half. That gives you 4 pages for the bulletin. Simply make a template of the Bulletin and each week you only have to change a few items such as the date and those speaking, etc. Following is a suggestion for the layout:

On the front page, top center place the seal of the ICG if you are a chartered church or the EA seal if you are an affiliated church.

On the front page, bottom center place the name and address of the church. Some add a small photo of the city or region where the church is located.

On the inside, page 2 you can place a graphic with matching Bible verse. (see example below).

On the inside, page 2 bottom, place a statement of welcome like, "Welcome to the…Church of God".

On the inside, page 3 top list the elements of the worship service. These elements could include: date, location, name of the worship leader or song leader, the sermonette, the sermon and the pianist (see example below).

On the inside, page 3 bottom, place the most important announcement of the day and below that a standing announcement of the regular location of Sabbath services.

On the back, page 4, place announcements.

Print out a master and either take it to a local printer like Office Depot where 50 copies will cost you about $3.00 (price cut when 50 or more are printed).

A nice marble design paper makes a good impression. Buy 4 colored reams (say light pink, blue, green and gray) and rotate the colors every four weeks.

Sabbath bulletins make good enclosures for the Sabbath Package Program.

If you would like a template for the bulletin in Publisher, contact us.

All of this is just one possible design for your church bulletin. You may have others. For those that have not previously designed or used a Sabbath bulletin, this information gives you a good starting point as you design your own bulletins.