Church budgets are tight. Indications are they might get tighter. When that happens, a temptation that some churches succumb to is to strike through whole budget line items in order to save every penny possible.
This axlike approach to paring the budget frequently results in a weaker church, not a healthier one. A wiser way is to evaluate what the church is doing to see if there is another way of accomplishing the goals to which the church is devoted that might be less expensive.
When churches begin evaluating their communications ministries, they usually conclude that using a local church edition of the state Baptist paper is the most effective and least expensive option for producing a church newsletter available.
Producing a church newsletter to mail to members is an expensive undertaking. One has to consider the cost of supplies — paper, ink, toner, labels, tabs for sealing the newsletter. One has to add in the cost of postage and return postage. There is the cost of equipment used to print, fold and address the newsletter and the cost of maintenance of the equipment.
The most expensive part of producing a newsletter is the time spent by office staff. The newsletter has to be laid out, printed, folded, addressed and mailed and every step has troubleshooting. Some churches indicate it takes up to two full days of staff time to produce a newsletter.
That kind of time investment translates into dollars.
A local church edition of the state Baptist paper has no supplies cost, no equipment cost, no addressing cost, no postage cost. All of these are included in the regular church budget subscription cost of The Alabama Baptist, which is 24 cents a week or $12 a year.
As for time used, practically every church that has gone to the local church edition of the state Baptist paper reports it takes no more than one-third the time used to produce a church newsletter. For many, it takes less time.
At the recent Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference, then-President Rick Evans urged the pastors to consider a local church edition. Evans said a local church edition saves Dalraida Baptist Church, Montgomery, where he serves as pastor, both time and money when compared to the newsletter the church used to mail out.
That extra time can be devoted to completing some of the urgent projects every church has waiting for attention.
The result is a more efficient church office and a stronger communications program. Studies indicate local church news and the regular news of the state Baptist paper both get better readership when the two are combined into one publication delivered into the home.
A local edition does have a small fee — $40 each time it is used. This is a handling fee to pay for changes on the press and keeping church mailing lists separate. Local church editions are not a profit center for the paper. They are offered in order to share the news of Alabama Baptists as widely as possible.
And they are offered as a wise stewardship opportunity for Alabama Baptist churches. Study after study has found that a church mailing out a weekly local edition can pay for all its subscriptions and the local church edition service fee and still save money over what it spends producing a church newsletter.
For smaller churches, the local church edition offers communications opportunities not available without using first-class postage. There are no minimum numbers for a local church edition.
Almost three out of four Alabama Baptist churches provide the state Baptist paper to at least some of their active resident members. The paper needs to be in the hands of every active family.
The Alabama Baptist is the primary source of missions information for church members. It is the primary source of promotion of all Baptists do together through their state and national conventions.
When a church does not provide the state Baptist paper, members do not read the inspirational stories of faithful service by fellow Baptists or God’s victories in difficult situations. Members do not receive news about the latest ministry resources. Members are denied an important source of information about what Baptists believe and how Baptists work together.
In short, members of Baptist churches do not have access to that regular reminder of what God is doing through Baptists in Alabama and around the world. The result is churches begin to cocoon or draw back into themselves.
The Alabama Baptist is not a budget line item that can be struck without negative results. The state Baptist paper is a valuable investment in the members of the congregation and the church body as a whole.
A local edition of the state Baptist paper strengthens local church members. It improves church communications. It saves the church money. It increases office efficiency. Baptists do not have a better communications channel available to them than a local church edition of the state Baptist paper in which church, associational, state, national and international news are all combined into one publication delivered into homes each week.
About 150 churches and associations use this service and the number is growing. We would be glad to talk with your church about joining the list of those making the wise stewardship decision of using a local church edition of The Alabama Baptist. Call us at 1-800-803-5201, Ext. 106, or e-mail local@thealabamabaptist.org for additional information.
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