Women's Ministry Promotional Tools: Newsletter Content Tips

Written by Sammie J. Barstow and Tep Lim

Women Reaching Women: Beginning & Building a Growing Women's Enrichment Ministry, Revised

If word-of-mouth is the most effective advertising, how do you get the word about women's ministry into the mouths of women? One popular way to do this is through a newsletter.

Before we launch into the technical how-tos of producing a women's ministry newsletter, let's first look at content. Really, concerning content topics, the sky's the limit! Make sure you communicate clearly what you want ladies to get out of your newsletter, and don't be afraid to get creative.

These questions will help you decide what to put in each edition of your newsletter:

Who are we trying to reach?
What do we need to communicate through this edition of the newsletter?
What is the most important information? What is least important? (Rank the elements in order.)
How do we best communicate this information (article, testimony, graphic, ad, etc.)?
What follow-up actions do we want women to take as a result of reading this?

Choose standard features for each issue, and clearly identify that this newsletter comes from your church's women's ministry. It's a great way to reinforce your church-wide or ministry-wide emphasis with women by including a logo, mission statement, tag line, etc., to remind them of why they're receiving the newsletter.

Need content ideas? Try these:

Schedules for Bible studies and ministry/missions opportunities
Publicity for special events (banquets, retreats, conferences, and so forth)
Personal testimonies
Biographical sketches of women in the church
Introductions of new church members
Poems written by women in the church
Articles that inform, educate, inspire, or encourage others (This is a great way to get your ladies involved by using their special abilities and gifts.)
Special emphases: holidays, celebrations, weeks of prayer, news from missionaries serving from your church, "letters to the editor," tips on homemaking, career success, time management, money management, and so forth
Fun items, such as bulletin bloopers, "church" jokes, cartoons, or drawings done by women in your church

(Note: Remember that if you wish to reprint song lyrics, a poem, or another work owned and copyrighted by someone else, you must request permission to reprint that from the publisher or individual.)

Whether you have a "one-woman show" or a whole team working on your newsletter, the ladies responsible for the newsletter might want to sketch out an editorial plan for several months out - the things you know you must communicate to women and when you must include that information.

Other features or fun items can be worked in around that central information. Involve as many women as possible, and remind them they don't have to be professional writers to contribute.

Your newsletter can be a vital part of getting your women where they need to go in women's ministry. In our next article, we'll look at the nuts and bolts of putting the newsletter together.