Bulletin Ideas
Your Missions Conference Bulletin should be nicely done and represent well the Lord and your church. It should be something of interest to your people, something they will use not only during the conference but throughout the year. It should include information they will need, want, and use. It should be of a quality that they will not want to throw away.
A good bulletin requires creativity, diligence, time, and hard work. Sometimes the Pastor is responsible for the bulletin. At other times a staff member or secretary is responsible. Still other churches delegate the responsibility to a committee or other interested individuals.
Some basic decisions need to be made before working on a bulletin, such as:
- Amount of Money to Budget for the Bulletin?
- Number of Pages?
- Person/Group Responsible?
- Theme of Conference?
- Missionaries Participating?
- Speaker Invited?
- Faith Promise Goal?
The Front Cover
The front cover needs to be attractive and can include any of the following information:
- Theme of Conference
- Appropriate Picture or Photo to Reflect the Theme
- Dates of Conference
- Name of Church
- Address of Church
- Pastor’s Name
- Name of Main Speaker
- If possible, coordinate your bulletin cover with the banner used in the front of the auditorium during the conference. This will give emphasis and continuity to your theme.
The Inside Content
The inside may include many different ideas based on the amount of space, time, and money you want to put into the conference bulletin. A list of optional ideas is given so that you may vary the content of your annual missions conference bulletins.
- Word of Exhortation from the Pastor about the Conference & Its Theme
- Theme Song
- Theme Verse/Passage
- Faith Promise: Previous Year Income & This Year’s Goal
- Explanation of the Conference’s Missions Project & Financial Goal
- Bible Verses Dealing with Missions
- Schedule of Times & Activities of the Conference
- Names of Missionaries participating in the Conference
- Missionary Family’s Birthdays
- Missionary’s Biographies (Salvation, Call to Missions, Years of Service, Testimony from Experience, etc…)
- Missionary’s Addresses/E-Mail/Web Site/Phone Numbers
- Missionary’s Photo or Copy of Prayer Card
- Speaker’s Biography
- Speaker’s Photo or Copy of Prayer Card
- Mission Boards Represented and Their Addresses
- Hymns and Choruses regarding Missions
- Flags of Countries Represented by the Missionaries
- Maps of Countries represented by the Missionaries
- Statistics/Fun Facts of Countries represented by the Missionaries
- Maps of Continents
- List of All Missionaries & Mission Boards Supported by the Church
- Clipart of People from Various Countries
- Page Border Examples:
- Border of Palm Trees to represent Tropical Areas
- Border of Flags from any certain Country
- Border of Soccer Balls
- Border of Animals to represent some Area (Kangaroos, Panda Bears, Elephants, Giraffes, etc.)
- Border of Birds or Reptiles (Tropical/Regional Birds such as Macaws, Parrots, Toucans, or Ostriches, etc.; snakes such as Anacondas, Pythons, or Cobras, etc.)
- Border of Jungle Huts to represent Primitive People Areas
- Border of Igloos, Teepees, etc. to represent Certain People Groups
- Border of Large Buildings to represent Metropolitan Ministries
- Border of People/Children in Native Dress (Japanese in Kimonos, Scottish Kilts, African Warrior Dress, etc)
(If you have Nationals in your conference, you may want to be careful about the way you portray someone from their country because they may possibly get offended by the way Americans “stereotype” their people.
- Border of World Globes
- Border of Airplanes
- Border of Foreign Phrases
- Border of Country Names in a Continent
- Border of Children representing Different Races
- Names of People Serving on the Missions Committee
- Special Pages for Conference Notes
(With advance notice the missionaries/speakers can send in an outline of their notes for publication in the bulletin. You may want to leave some blanks for the church people to fill in during the preaching.
- History of Year-to-Year Faith Promise Goals &/or Actual Giving
- Total Amount of Money Church has given to Missions since a Specific Time
- Outline of Mission’s/ Faith Promise Giving
- Outline of How to Pray for Missionaries
- World Statistics (Information for this may be gleaned from the Internet Links provided)
- List of Churches Missionaries Commissioned by Your Church Throughout the Years
- Month-by-Month Missionary Prayer Calendar
- Famous or Challenging Mission Quotes (The SWMI site provides a list of Quotes for your Use)
The Back Cover
The back cover may include something that will be needed repeatedly during the conference. This may include ideas such as:
- Theme of Conference
- Theme Song of Conference
- Theme Verse of Conference
- Schedule of Conference
Conclusion: A well-prepared bulletin will add a special touch to your missions conference. Many booklets that I have seen are used often during the conference. Moreover, it cannot only be used effectively during the conference but also after the conference is long over. A well-informed people will pray, give, and do more for missions. Get your people excited and involved in missions all year long
