9 Tiny Habits That Can Cause Huge Disengagement During Announcements

When you have a little pebble in your shoe, it’s hard to focus on anything around you besides that minor discomfort, right? We sometimes do the same thing with our tiny habits during our weekend service announcements.

What about that little smudge from your kid’s finger on the TV as you watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster? Small distractions can deter even the biggest fan from concentrating on their favorite movie.

People can get distracted by the smallest of negative habits that you might have when you’re hosting your weekend services.

Your goal during these 5 minutes of “doing the announcements” at your church is to motivate people to spring into action. Part of the service is asking people to engage. These are incredibly important moments every weekend when you attempt to inspire people to plug into a group, join a service team, or give to the mission. Surely you don’t want a small (bad) habit to distract them from doing good deeds.

Churches looking to grow in the future have to find ways to increase engagement.

Jesus didn’t call people to “attend” to him; he called people to “follow” him. Engagement has been baked into Jesus’ message from the beginning!

Eliminate These Tiny Habits from Your Weekend Hosting to Boost People’s Engagement

Sports commentary // Commenting on the local sports heroes all the time or every weekend will drive people to stop listening. It’s a crutch when you don’t know what else to say—don’t do it! Add a high-value transition, like commenting on what just happened in the service rather than what your sports heroes have been up to.

“Blessings” and other insider language // I don’t know what it is about doing the announcements that makes some people use “churchy” language. Rather than talking about how great the youth event was, they talk about what a blessing it was for the youth to be involved in fellowship in that way. What?! Use language that makes sense to people who don’t normally attend church. (And stop taking up those “clap offerings!”)

Ignoring what just happened // We’ve all been in that sort of service where someone gets up to make the announcements and their hosting is completely disconnected from what just happened. It’s like they were only waiting backstage for the rest of the service to be over so that they can perform their part. Your announcement is part of the experience your guests just had. Treat it as the same service and respond to what happened and look for a way to elegantly hand off to what’s coming next.

Shielding your eyes from the light // You go on stage and there are bright lights for people to see you. You want to be able to see them too, so you make a shield over your eyes with your hand. Stop that! It takes people out of the moment, reinforces the fact that those lights are there, and makes people feel disconnected from you because they can’t see your face clearly.

Not introducing people // Who are all those people on stage with you? If you’ve ever visited a church and not known who was on stage, you know how disorienting it can be. Take 10 seconds to introduce everyone—it puts first-time guests at ease.

Acronyms or fancy names // Does your church use a bunch of acronyms for various ministries and departments? Stop it. Acronyms are how insiders talk to one another, and they deliberately build walls because new people don’t understand them. Cut it out! Just say the whole phrase and avoid the use of acronyms. The same rule applies to “clever” but unclear names for various ministries. I once heard an announcement inviting people to a “keenagers” event. What exactly is that?