2 Tips to Improve your Church Press Release

Many churches have special events that they would like to inform the public about.

One technique is to issue a press release, often published in the local section in Religious notes.

Here is press release that I found in May 2008. 

I’ll simply reproduce the text from the Religion notes section (because the original link disappeared). 

From that, allow me to give you two tips:

Evangelism session scheduled

name of town, Va. — [XYZ] Baptist Church in [name of town] will host a “How to Be a Contagious Christian” evangelism workshop for the community on Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

This strategic workshop will empower participants to boldly share their faith with confidence through relational evangelism. The Rev. [name and title] will facilitate the workshop.

[snip out the details of contact and meal].

1. Title Press Release Accurately

The most important comment about this press release is the title — What they are announcing.

The title calls it a session, the text call it a workshop.  For people who read with short attention span (skimmers), the headline might not draw them into reading the actual announcement.

The headline “Evangelism Session” can be confusing.  Where is the emphasis?

• Is this a counseling session about evangelism?
• Are we going out to share our faith at 6pm on Tuesday?

However, changing the title to “Evangelism Training Workshop” would immediately get its purpose.

Those skimming the headlines would know immediately what your content will be.

2. Invite the public with action words

Even in the part I snipped out for date location and time, there was no real invitation, no real action words, in this press release.   It was simple information.

No call to action. 

Two ways in this example would have been

• “Receive evangelism training”
• “Come and receive evangelism training”

Consider a call to action in your press release, particularly if you are hosting evangelism training workshops 🙂

Revised Press Release

Let me show you the changes I might have made.  Changes in bold.

Evangelism Training Workshop

[XYZ] Baptist Church in [name of town] will offer a “How to Be a Contagious Christian” workshop for the community on Tuesday from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

This strategic workshop will empower and equip participants to confidently share their faith in ordinary conversations. The Rev. [name and title] will facilitate the workshop.

Register to receive this training at [contact details with phone number and how to register.  Meal information]