Youth group texting: how to text students and parents without a group chat

Students do not read email. Parents do not check the church app. A text from you gets read. The trick is sending it to 60 people without starting a group thread, and without losing your Wednesday night to copy and paste.

Keep students and parents on separate lists

Students need short, fun, "see you tonight" texts. Parents need the logistics: times, costs, forms, pickup. Keep two lists so each group gets the text that fits them.

Why not a group chat?

• Every student sees every other student's phone number.
• A dozen "k" and emoji replies buzz everyone's phone, and people mute it.
• Parents get pulled into student banter, or the other way around.

A personal text from you, with their name in it, feels like an invitation. A group thread feels like noise.

Ready-to-copy youth group texts

Rotate the wording from week to week so it does not read like a robot.

Three ways to send them

By hand (free): paste the text into a new message for each person. Fine for 10 students. Painful for 60.

A church texting service (monthly): works for large lists, but texts come from a number students have never saved, and the bill runs $25 to $39 or more a month.

Bullhorn Text (Mac, one payment): write it once, click Send, and each student gets their own text from your number with their name in it. Upload a spreadsheet with a "kid" column and parents get "See you and (kid) Saturday." Set the weekly reminder to go out on its own every Wednesday at 3 PM.

Be wise with student texting

Follow your church's policy on texting minors. Many ministries ask leaders to copy a parent or keep texts in a group setting. Bullhorn Text keeps a History of every text you sent, which makes it easy to show what went out.

Common questions