The Burden of Ministry Newsletters
By: Sara Payne, Magnify Missions Coach
Email: sara@magnifymissions.com
It’s the end of the month again-how did that happen so fast? You’ve been coordinating a mission trip for the last few weeks, meeting one-on-one with college students for discipleship, and helping run a youth program. A LOT has happened, and you are reflecting on all of the amazing things God has done. Then it hits you, it’s time to do a ministry newsletter. It’s going to take forever to cover all of this. Then the pictures-you’ll need to sort through those and of course praises-too many to count. Prayer requests-yup a lot of those too. You haven’t even covered what happened last month and come to think of it the month before that. Ugh! This is going to take forever and you don’t have time. You’ll do it next month-yes it will be a lot slower then, but it never actually is.
I recently had a coaching session with a young missionary who is working overseas and is in this very situation. The theme of our session could have been titled-the burden of ministry newsletters. She is literally in the thick of her work right now-running a coffee shop, facilitating large group trips to her mission site, mentoring students, and trying to keep her head above water in their busiest season. You know what was not on the top of her priority list? Sitting down and writing up a ministry newsletter. In fact that had not been her priority for the last 6 months and she was feeling overwhelmed and bogged down by it. Every month that passed made it feel worse, but who has time for that when you are in the midst of the ‘real work’?
I could relate to her sentiment. Sitting down and reflecting on what God is doing can be encouraging but it takes time and well it requires… sitting. Also, there is a sense of wanting to share everything and to do it well, dare I say perfectly, for those who will be reading what you share. I mean if I don’t communicate well and cover everything how will people see the impact of my ministry or know how amazing this work is-right!? I spent two years working overseas after college, and ministry newsletters often felt daunting and tiring. I mean I wanted to absolutely share what God was doing but by the time I wrote each one I had to mentally walk through the entire month and try to capture the highlight reel of all that had happened. I remember it took time and a lot of brain power. I was always relieved to be done and happy I had at least 30 days until I had to do it all again.
So we talked about how to change her perspective on this task and to make it less daunting. Here are a few ways we broke it down:
Strive for Completion NOT Perfection
Before you start-PRAY. Ask God what He wants to do through this update and ask Him to help you let go of perfection. When it comes to an update to supporters, I think there can be a sense of pressure for it to be absolutely excellent and “WOW” people each time. That mindset can be the main road block to getting done. We can be so paralyzed by our fear of failure and mistakes, we don’t do what we need to do, which is write and send that newsletter! Remember He sees your heart and knows best what to communicate and how to bless people with it. Be faithful to finish and leave the results to Him.
Caring for Your People
When you are in ministry, you most likely have donors/supporters/ministry partners. Whatever you call them, you’ve probably got a group of people who are supporting you through prayer and finances. These people are the ones that God has put in your life and who have not only connected with you, but also the work you’re doing in the field. At some point, God put it on their heart to invest in this particular work and in you. That’s a big deal, and it’s a beautiful picture of how the Body of Christ works! Those people are unique souls living out their own lives as well and your connection with them shouldn’t just be about you and your ministry. You should view them as a part of YOUR ministry, a part of the people who you are called to minister to as well. Think of your newsletter as an encouragement and a way to bless them. They may be needing to hear a story of hope or of someone coming to know Jesus, or just to be reminded that God IS working even if they can’t see it in their part of the world that day. If you look at it from that viewpoint, then you see a greater need for regularly and consistently encouraging and updating them. Again, be faithful to finish and leave the results to Him.
Time Blocking
Take a look at your schedule for the week or month and find a block of time when you will intentionally sit down and work through your newsletter. I would say 2-3 hours is an adequate amount of time to get a solid start and even hopefully finish. Like most things in life, if we don’t plan for them then they don’t happen or get pushed off (which means they never get done.) If doing a ministry newsletter is a daunting task, then be sure to schedule it when you’re most awake and mentally ready for working. Don’t block out time when you feel most drained or distracted. Choose a time when you’re fresh and ready to work. If 2-3 hours still seems overwhelming try committing to write for 5-10 minutes each day for a week. The point is to schedule and start somewhere.
Make a Template
Create a structure that you can consistently use each time you write or create a newsletter. This takes the mental work out of it and lets both you and your readers know what to expect. A lot of times the longer you wait to write, the longer you feel that you need to keep writing and sharing. People want to hear about what’s happening but you’re probably going to lose them after the second page. Not everyone has the time to read your entire email update so if you keep it shorter and consistent it’s easier for you and your audience. Obviously choose the kind of structure that best works for you and hits what’s important to you, but here’s one structure we came up with in our coaching session.
Personal Update
Provide a paragraph of 6-8 sentences about how you’re doing personally and how life has been going for you over the past month.
Ministry Story
Highlight one person or story that stuck out for you in the last month. The tendency might be to share ALL of the stories, but focusing on just one still allows for you to share the work that’s been happening. God knows all that’s happening and that’s enough-look at your newsletter as a snapshot not a full photo album.
3-5 Pictures
This is another area where people will want to put as many pictures as possible, but you’re going to spend a lot of time sorting through photos instead of finishing. Pick 3-5 that reflect what you shared in your personal update and ministry story. I recommend adding captions, which allows you to share some more details and highlight what’s going in. If you make a folder on your phone of photos for each month and even star your favorites as you go, that will also save you some time. Again as you get into the habit of doing this each month and creating a process, you’ll find how much easier it is.
3-4 Praises
Again, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you stick to the template then you can depend on the predictability and you can combat it getting too long. I would recommend sharing at least 1-2 personal praises and then 1-2 ministry focused praises.
3-4 Requests
The same as I mentioned above-do a mix of personal and ministry-focused. People want to pray for you too, not just about the people you’re serving and the work you’re doing.
Support Button/Link
Put a clear and visible way for people to support you on your newsletter. This can be helpful for several reasons. First off it keeps the need front and center for people. Maybe someone is praying for you, but then decides to additionally start supporting you. Or you might have a specific need come up and people decide they want to give an extra gift that month. Also, if people share your newsletter with their church or others who might be interested in supporting you, then there is an easy and immediate way for them to start supporting you as well.
Batching
Batching or creating several newsletters at once is a great way to keep on top of them. Once you’ve created your template, duplicate it for the next 6 months. We recommend using an email system/service like MailChimp. You can make email lists and templates easily. Plus you can schedule when you want your emails to go out. As you go through the month keeping a running Google Doc or even a note on your phone where you can dump ideas and stories. The point is to save yourself the time and mental energy of trying to think through a month or months of ministry highlights. An ongoing list will allow you to capture those moments in real time and be a trigger for you when you do come back to actually write out your newsletter.
If you’d like some help with creating your own newsletters, use our Ministry Newsletter Template, which is a resource created to serve as a guide and example. It’s based entirely off of the sections outlined above. I hope it can give you a jump start on getting your newsletters launched.
At the end of the day the goal is to share what God’s doing, connect with people, and get the newsletter done. It doesn’t have to be perfect (and it probably won’t be), so give yourself grace in the process. I received a newsletter update last week from the missionary I’ve been coaching, and I was SO proud of her for making the time and using an easy template. I loved hearing about her work and seeing a few highlights. Getting an update is better than getting nothing at all. It’s time to conquer this thing!
Sara Payne is first and foremost a beloved child of God. She likes to surround herself with people who love Jesus, be out in nature, work out, cook, and drink delicious cups of coffee. She is married to Ryan, an amazing man who loves Jesus, and also is (in her opinion) a rock star with a band called Attaboy. They have one beautiful little girl named Isabella, who is a joy and delight! Sara’s first job after college was as a missionary serving overseas in Budapest, Hungary. She then transitioned into being a full time English teacher in a PBL school on the south side of Indianapolis, IN. There her mission field was high school students. After getting married, she worked for Magnify Learning as a Branding Manager and PBL facilitator. Since becoming a mama, she now works for Magnify Missions where she is able to combine her love of missions and teaching to serve and coach missionaries around the world.
