Salem's Green Newsletter

We are making a big transition in one of our communication practices. This week we are mailing a paper copy of the monthly newsletter for the last time. We will no longer print and mail in bulk The Forecaster. Rather, we will email it to as many people as possible. We will still print and mail a paper copy to our shut ins, of course, and to those who do not have electronic access, and we will still print and have some paper copies available at the church.


We are transitioning to a new way of communicating. This is good stewardship as it is cost effective (the new postage rate just about doubles our cost of mailing), saves paper, and utilizes the technology that many if not most people already have in their homes or access to elsewhere. We are certainly not the first congregation to make this change. Many churches have already begun this practice. The Iowa Annual Conference also continues working to have good stewardship practices.


The Bishop announced that the Sessions Committee (the group responsible for planning our Annual Conference meeting) voted to conduct the 2012 Session of Annual Conference as paperless as possible. Therefore, they are encouraging as many members as possible to use electronic devices to download the Pre-Conference Manual instead of requesting a paper copy. It was also announced this year that the annual Journal will no longer be printed. It will be available on the Conference’s website and also as a PDF, a “portable document format” that provides a digital image of text/graphics and looks like a printed document. When we email the newsletter from the Salem church office, it will be sent as a PDF.

I am encouraging those who wish to receive our newsletter to make sure the church office has their current email addresses and to download Adobe Reader if it isn't already installed on their computer.

The Forecaster, our current newsletter has been printed and mailed for more than 23 years. Communication is very important in the church and our newsletter is an important part of that communication. This is another transition in the history of the church, but we will continue to share important information and the Christian message with the congregation and beyond. We will continue to share the church’s story, encouraging and building up the congregation as disciples of Jesus Christ.


Our purpose in publishing The Forecaster is to educate, inform, and edify the congregation. As one local church communicator put it, "Communications ministry provides a way to take a large number of ministry events, needs, activities, and opportunities and package them for presentation to the congregation and the community…Communication helps the congregation grow spiritually, be uplifted, feel a part of the church community, be active in the life of the church, and make informed decisions (about giving, for example)” (from Communications 2009-2012 © 2008 by Cokesbury).

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