Email and Text Messages for Churches
By Thursday, one parent is juggling practice pickup, another is working late, and someone who missed Sunday never heard about the church dinner. A good weekly newsletter gives all three a place to catch up. A short text on the day of the dinner can help them get out the door.
Reach your congregation with weekly updates and important messages
Give the newsletter a rhythm people can count on. Open with one warm sentence, lead with the next thing people can join, and make the date and next step easy to scan. Save texts for timely reminders, cancellations and changes. For example, “Church dinner tonight at 6 in the fellowship hall. Come as you are.”
What email and text numbers actually tell you
Mailchimp’s published nonprofit benchmark was about 40% for email opens. It covers nonprofits broadly, and Apple Mail Privacy Protection can distort opens. Watch clicks to directions or registration alongside open rates. Standard SMS generally gives you delivery status, not a reliable read receipt. For texts, track link clicks, replies and sign-ups instead of treating delivery as an open. Mailchimp benchmark and methodology.
Mailchimp for weekly newsletters
Build one audience and use tags or segments to distinguish congregation-wide news from ministry updates. Start with people who opted in. Authenticate your church sending domain, choose a reply address someone checks and send a mobile test before scheduling.
What Mailchimp costs
U.S. budget examples checked November 2026. Confirm renewal rates, billing terms, taxes and eligibility before buying. Mailchimp Free allows up to 250 contacts and 500 sends per month, with a daily limit of 250. Essentials starts around $13/month at the entry contact tier. Pricing increases with contact count and plan. Check your list against both the contact cap and send allowance. See Mailchimp pricing.
A weekly newsletter to 100 people uses 400 sends in a four-send month. A 200-person list uses 800. Include five-send months, welcome emails and event reminders in your estimate.
Choose a text messaging tool
Look for opt-in and opt-out handling, a shared inbox for replies, and a way to connect the tool to your existing workflow. Compare plans using your expected message volume and confirm whether fees are per message, per segment, or bundled.