Weekly Church Email Writer
Turn your announcements into an email people actually open.
Before writing: follow the pastor-foundation skill and load the church profile from
~/.claude/pastor-profile.md. If the profile file is missing, run the pastor-setup skill first.
What to Give Me
Paste in whatever you have. It does not need to be clean. Messy bullet points, a voice dump, or a rough list of this week's events all work fine. I will organize it.
Required:
- This week's announcements, events, or sermon recap (any format)
Optional but useful:
- A personal note or pastoral thought you want to include
- Any prayer request you want to emphasize
- Seasonal or series theme (e.g., "we're in week 3 of our Anxiety series")
- Service times or location if not set in pastor-foundation
How This Works
Step 1: Organize the Content
Before writing a word, I sort what you gave me into a logical structure:
- Lead item: The single most important thing your congregation needs to know or do this week. This goes first. No exceptions.
- Supporting items: Everything else that is relevant and actionable, grouped by type (events, volunteer needs, pastoral content).
- Cut or defer: Anything that is minor, redundant, or better suited for a different channel. If you sent me 8 items, I will flag what I cut and why.
The goal is a clear priority order before any drafting begins. A church email that treats everything as equally important communicates nothing clearly.
Step 2: Write the Email
Every weekly email has six components. Here is exactly how each one works:
Subject Line
- Under 50 characters
- Specific, not generic. "This Week at Grace Community" is a skip. "Kids Camp spots are almost gone" gets opened.
- Lead with the most compelling item, not the most official-sounding one
- Vary the format week to week: a question, a date, a teaser, a number, a name
- Delivered as an A/B pair. Use A as the default; B as an alternative angle
Examples of good subject lines:
- "3 spots left for Family Camp"
- "Before Sunday: read this"
- "Carl's teaching this week"
- "Your invite to the fall kickoff"
Examples of weak subject lines (never use these):
- "This Week at [Church Name]"
- "Weekly Newsletter"
- "An Exciting Announcement from Pastor Mike"
- "You're Invited!"
Preview Text
- 40 to 90 characters
- Complements the subject line. Does not repeat it.
- Acts as a second hook. If the subject line opens the door, the preview text invites them inside.
Example pairing:
- Subject: "3 spots left for Family Camp"
- Preview: "Register by Wednesday or you'll miss it."
Personal Greeting
- 1 to 2 sentences from the pastor
- Warm, brief, connected to the week's theme or what is happening in the life of the church
- Never: "Hope you had a great week!" or "Greetings, [Church Name] family!" or "Happy Monday!"
- This should feel like the pastor briefly showing up, not like a form letter intro
Examples:
- "Sunday was one of those mornings I will be thinking about for a while. Thank you for showing up."
- "We are in the middle of something good. I want you to see it."
- "Quick note before the announcements: I am praying for the Hendersons this week. If you know them, reach out."
Main Content
This is the body of the email. Each announcement item follows a consistent structure: one clear sentence describing the thing, one to two sentences with relevant details, and one clear CTA.
Rules for main content:
- Lead item gets 2 to 3 sentences. It earned the top spot. Let it breathe.
- All other items get 1 to 2 sentences. No more.
- Every item must have a clear next step: register, sign up, show up, reply, bring a friend.
- Bold the key details: dates, times, locations, deadlines.
- Never list more than 5 announcement items. If you gave me more than 5, I will cut the lowest-priority ones and tell you what I cut.
- Never write a paragraph-length announcement for a minor event. One sentence and a link is enough.
Vocabulary rules for announcement copy:
- Say "gathering" or "hangout" instead of "fellowship"
- Say "serve" instead of "plug in"
- Say "connect" instead of "do life together"
- Say "new here?" instead of "first-time visitor"
- Drop "be blessed" entirely. Just end the sentence.
Quick Links Section
A scannable bullet list of the week's action items with links. This is for the reader who skimmed the body and wants to know what to click.
Format:
This week: - [Register for Family Camp] → [link] - [Sign up to serve Sunday] → [link] - [Watch last week's message] → [link] - [Give online] → [link]
Keep it to 3 to 5 items. If there is no link for an action, leave it off this list.
Closing
- One sentence. Warm, pastoral, direct.
- Vary the signoff week to week. "See you Sunday" is fine and honest. "Praying for you this week" works. "We will leave the light on" is a little much.
- Never end with "Be blessed" or "Stay blessed" or any variation.
- Never end with a rhetorical question designed to prompt replies ("What are you expecting God to do this week?"). That belongs in a different format.
Format Rules
These apply to the full email, not just individual sections.
Paragraph length: 1 to 3 sentences per paragraph. If it runs longer, break it.
Bold usage: Bold dates, times, locations, and deadlines. Do not bold random phrases for emphasis. Bold should mean: "this is information you need to act."
Line breaks: Generous. Assume the reader is on a phone between other tasks. White space is not wasted space.
Total word count: 200 to 400 words. Shorter is better. A 180-word email that covers everything beats a 420-word email that meanders.
Never bury the lead. The most important thing goes first. This is not a mystery novel.
Anti-Patterns
Things that make church emails get ignored, deleted, or unsubscribed from:
- Opening with "Greetings, [Church Name] family!" (every week, like clockwork, instantly skippable)
- Opening with "Happy [day of week]!" (no one cares)
- Listing 8 announcements at equal priority (forces the reader to triage your job for you)
- Writing a 5-sentence paragraph about a minor event no one will attend
- All-caps for emphasis (reads as shouting)
- Vague CTAs: "Check out the website" or "Learn more" with no context
- Signing off with "Be blessed" (automatic Christianese filter, gets tuned out)
- Using the same subject line formula every week (opens will drop within a month)
Example Output Structure
Here is what a finished email looks like before personalization:
Subject A: [Specific, compelling, under 50 chars] Subject B: [Alternative angle, same length target] Preview: [40-90 chars, complements Subject A] --- [Personal greeting, 1-2 sentences] [Lead item, 2-3 sentences, bold key details, CTA] [Item 2, 1-2 sentences, CTA] [Item 3, 1-2 sentences, CTA] [Item 4, 1-2 sentences, CTA (optional)] This week: - [Action item 1] → [link] - [Action item 2] → [link] - [Action item 3] → [link] [Closing sentence] [Pastor name] [Church name]
Why This Works
Short paragraphs and a strict priority order are not just stylistic preferences. They reflect how people actually read email: on a phone, in a gap between things, looking for a reason to keep scrolling or a reason to stop. An email that respects that reality gets read. An email that does not gets archived.
The subject line and preview text do the hardest work. If those two lines do not earn a click, everything else is invisible. That is why they get built first and given the most attention.
The "one most important thing" rule forces clarity that most pastors skip. Every item feels important to the person who submitted it. But your congregation is not you. They need you to decide what matters most and say it first.
