Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Bulletins at St. John's

St. John's, Ocean Springs, has, heretofore, had one Sunday bulletin.  The bulletin was for the 9:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. worship services.  The 7:30 a.m. service had no bulletin.

I decided it would be more "user friendly" if the 7:30 a.m. service had a bulletin.  So, I started experimenting with creating a bulletin for that service.  The "feedback" I have received from those attending the early service has been positive.

As for the 9:00 a.m./ 11:15 a.m. bulletin, the combined bulletin worked fine as long as the music and liturgy was identical for both services.   The organist and I, however, began trying to tailor the music and liturgy of each service to those who attend each service.  What was working at 9:00 a.m. was not working as well at 11:15 a.m.  The volunteer choir at 9:00 a.m. makes some things musically possible that are difficult to replicate without a choir at 11:15 a.m.

Once the music and liturgy at the two services were not identical, trying to share the same bulletin became confusing to those trying to use the bulletins.  Therefore, for the last two weeks, we have produced a bulletin for 11:15 a.m. as well as a bulletin for 9:00 a.m.  Which means, effectively, that we (at least at the moment) have a bulletin for each of the Sunday worship services.

You may have noted that not only do we have bulletins for each service, but they look different.  That is because the way they are created is different.  The 9:00 a.m. bulletin is the same and remains unchanged.  The other two (new bulletins), however, are created by me and I'm doing them the way I do bulletins.  Because I'm creating them, they look different.

Newcomers to the Episcopal Church struggle with juggling the Prayerbook, the Hymnal, and a bulletin (usually with added inserts).  The bulletins I have been creating for the 7:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. service are all inclusive and easy to follow for newcomers.  They are, in fact, not "bulletins" at all (no "bullets"), but full-service leaflets.

Let me know what you think about the experiment.