The framework
Channels, levels and lead times, set once per church in its own terminology. Every schedule is generated from it, and a rule changed in the framework changes every event scheduled after the change.
The site without the marketing.
marketing off
What it is:
Promotion planning for churches. The schedule is generated from the size of the event. $29 a month per church.
The assistant answers from what this site says and nothing else.
Anything it cannot answer: contact@engine.church
/ask
Ask what it costs, what it connects to, or what the assistant does.
Promotion planning for churches
The promotion schedule, generated from the size of the event.
Promo Engine builds a church's promotion schedule from three inputs: the event's date, its size, and a framework the church sets once. Every newsletter mention, post, announcement and poster is written with a publish date, a due date and a person on it, up to six weeks ahead. Nothing is sent or published by the software.
$29 a month per church. Free for 15 days, no card. Built by a church communications director, in a working church.
NewsletterPromoInstagramPromoFacebookPromoSunday announcementPromoSlidesPromoWebsitePromoTextPromoPosterPromoStory emailPromoReminderPromoRecapPromo
How it works
Three steps
Most churches promote every event for the same length of time, and the large events are not distinguished from the small ones. Promo Engine sets the length of the run from the event's size.
01
A request is entered
A pastor or a ministry lead enters an event, or Promo Engine reads one off the calendar the church publishes. It appears on Home with its date, waiting for a level.
02
A level is chosen
Three levels by default: the whole church, one group, a handful. Each level is a set of rules in the framework: which channels, how many weeks before the event, which weekday, and how many days of lead each piece gets.
03
The schedule is generated
Every piece is written with a channel, a publish date and a due date, and assigned to a person. Each person sees their own pieces on their list, in their calendar and in the chat tool the church connects. Publishing is done by people.
What you get
What the subscription includes
One product, with all six parts included. None of them is an add-on, and none is charged per person.
Up next
One list, ordered by urgency: requests waiting for a level, late pieces, pieces with no one assigned, then your own pieces, then your team's.
Plan
Every campaign with its piece count, how many are done, how many are late, and its schedule. Moving the event date moves the unfinished pieces to the new dates; finished pieces keep theirs.
Sermons
A writing space for a pastor with the passage text at hand and the studies kept beside the sermon. A series is a campaign, so its promotion is scheduled by the same rules.
The assistant
Drafts the copy for a piece from its brief, in the church's own terminology, up to five drafts per request. It counts late and unassigned pieces against the framework's rules. It sends nothing.
Delivery to your team
A message in Slack, Google Chat or Microsoft Teams when a piece is assigned, an email in every case, and a calendar feed for each person's own pieces.
Works with
The tools it connects to
Promo Engine posts into Slack, Google Chat or Microsoft Teams, and reads a calendar published from Planning Center, Google, Apple or Outlook. Nothing is moved out of the tools a church already runs.
Microsoft Teams
BreezeChurchSuiteChurch Community BuilderTithe.lySubsplashAIO ChurchQuickBooksAplosXeroGoogle ChatGroupMeWhatsAppBANDTrelloNotionBasecampNiftyPMMailchimpClearstreamText In ChurchMicrosoft 365CanvaGoogle CalendarOutlookApple Calendar
Pricing
One subscription per church
Free for 15 days, no card. Cancel anytime. No per-seat pricing. Everything in Promo Engine included.
Every church
$29
a month, per church
Free for 15 days. No card.
The whole product, for everyone on the staff, on one subscription per church. The first 15 days are free and no card is taken until they end.
- PromoThe framework, Up next, Plan, and the schedule for every event
- SermonsThe writing space, the studies and the series
- Everyone on your staffOwners, staff and volunteers, with a list each, at no charge per person
Questions
Questions about promoting church events
The answers apply whether or not a church signs up. Anything not covered here: contact@engine.church.
01
How far in advance should a church promote an event?
The length of the run depends on how much of the church the event affects. An event for nearly everyone, such as a Christmas service or a church weekend, is promoted over six weeks, with the pieces spaced so that interest builds toward the date. An event for a group the church can name in a sentence is promoted over four weeks. An event for a small group or a serving team is promoted over two, to that group only. Promoting every event for the same length of time is the most common error, and it leaves the large events indistinguishable from the small ones.
02
How many times should a church post about the same event?
Fewer times than a team tends to assume, and further apart. A six-week run across a newsletter, social and Sunday announcements is about ten pieces of work, spaced to increase toward the date rather than repeat evenly. The practical limit is on the number of different asks live at once: two across all channels in one week is the ceiling before response to all of them falls.
03
What is the difference between when something is due and when it goes out?
The date a piece is seen is not the date the work has to exist. A story email sent on a Monday needs a person asked, a reply and an edit, which is about ten days of lead time; a reminder text is written the day before. Planning against publish dates alone is the usual reason a church finds out on a Sunday that a piece was needed on the Wednesday before. Promo Engine records both dates on every piece.
04
What happens when an event date changes?
Moving the date moves every unfinished piece with it, keeping the same weekday and the same lead time, so a Sunday announcement stays on a Sunday. Assignments, briefs and notes are kept, and finished pieces keep their original dates.
05
Does Promo Engine replace Planning Center?
No. Planning Center handles services, people and giving. Promo Engine handles the promotion around them: what is announced, on which channel, how far ahead, and by whom. It reads the calendar Planning Center publishes and raises any event on it that no campaign covers.
06
Can volunteers use it without training?
A volunteer sees only their own pieces: a list of what they have been assigned, each with a deadline and a link to the brief. They are notified in the chat tool the church connects when a piece is assigned, and the piece appears in their own calendar. There is nothing for them to configure.
07
What does the assistant write, and what does it not?
Given the event and its size, it drafts each piece in the church's own terminology, up to five drafts per request. It does not choose the message, the voice or the creative direction, and it does not send or publish anything. A person presses every button.
08
What does it cost?
$29 a month per church. Free for 15 days, no card. Cancel anytime. No per-seat pricing. Everything in Promo Engine included.
09
What about the rest of Engine?
Promo Engine is the first of Engine's three products and the one available now. People (guests and care) and Operations (forms, meetings and finance) are in development on the same account. When they open, a Promo Engine account becomes an Engine account with everything carried over.
Coming soon
The rest of Engine
Promo Engine is one of Engine's three products, sold on its own. People and Operations are in development on the same account.
People
One record for every person, with follow-up that is scheduled rather than remembered.
Guests · Care
Operations
Church administration: forms, meetings and finance.
Forms · Meetings · Finance
When they open, your Promo Engine account becomes an Engine account. The framework, the campaigns and the team carry over; nothing is set up twice. What is coming, at engine.church
Set your church up
Setup takes about two minutes and asks for no card. The first schedule is generated the same day.