Ever felt like hiding at your own ministry or pretended you were not there? If so, it likely happened during the announcement time. Honestly, a time or two it happened during a student testimony. But, the most common time was during announcements. Since lots of us have been through that experience, there are many ministries that say, "We don't do announcements at our main event.". I am not of that school. Since there are things we need and want everyone to know, we have to have some announcements.
A prime example came several years ago when I had been invited to speak on a campus for a weekend and they had arranged for me to come and speak at their large group event on Thursday night. They had asked me to speak on a topic I had done that had significant student interest. They had done a great job promoting it and inviting students. There was a large crowd and I was told there were lots of new faces. Shortly before time for me to get up and speak, the "Announcement Team" took the stage and did a twenty minute skit containing the announcements with lots of corny and inside jokes. The longer they went the more I was calculating what I would cut out of my talk to stay within their allotted time. When they finished, the leader of the ministry got up (obviously frustrated) and said, "We are going to go overtime tonight to allow our speaker to have his full time and do what we asked him to do.". We have all been there in one way, time or another.
The Four Laws of Announcements:
1. Make NO more than four announcements!
The more you make.....the less people hear. If one announcements is the KEY announcement, do it at a different and separate time.
2. The person making the announcements should know and understand what they are announcing.
All of us have heard someone read announcements off a sheet in the world's worst monotone. Or, we heard someone "promoting" an event they obviously did not have a clue what it was.
3. The announcements should be such that a first time attendee understands what is being announced.
Often, the announcements seem to be in "insider code". Only a few in the crowd understand what it is about. It adds to the discomfort and the "Maybe I don't belong here." feeling.
4. The announcements should not become the main event or distract from the worship.
Obviously, a twenty minute announcement skit has been a time issue. But, I also think about the time our worship team had an ice breaker where there were volunteers swallowing all sorts of things quickly. To see the lead vocalist throwing up at the side up the stage before going back up to sing was just a bit distracting to the worship event.
Announcements can be done in a quick video which insures the proper amount of time. They could be run at the beginning and end of the event. Each person could be handed a annoucement flyer as they leave. But, mostly someone who knows what is going on and is comfortable on stage making no more than four announcements they understand will almost always work. One idea is to pick out four or five of your students who do a good job with this and rotate them around making announcements. Then, maybe you will not have to pretend you don't know who is in charge of this ministry!
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