QR codes are everywhere in church bulletins now, which is a good sign — it means people have mostly stopped being afraid of them. The problem I keep seeing isn't the code. It's where it sends people.
Scan the QR code on most bulletins and you land on a homepage. Full nav bar, a hero image, a "Welcome to Our Church" headline you already know because you're literally sitting in the building. Somewhere on that page, usually below the fold, is the thing the bulletin was actually trying to get you to — the online giving form, the sermon notes, the volunteer sign-up for next week.
Match the Link to the Moment
A QR code is a physical object pointing at a specific digital action. The bulletin insert about the fall retreat should have a code that goes straight to the retreat registration, not the homepage with a small "Events" link buried in the menu. The welcome card in the pew should go straight to a next-steps page, not a general site. Every extra tap between the scan and the actual destination is a chance for someone to give up and put their phone away.
This is most of why link shortening and QR generation ended up built into 412links instead of being a separate tool. If creating a QR code takes opening a third-party generator, copying a URL, downloading an image, and importing it into whatever's designing the bulletin that week, most people will default to the one QR code they already have saved — usually the one pointing at the homepage, because it's the easiest one to find.
A Short List of What's Worth Its Own Code
Giving, if that's a specific ask that week. A sign-up for something with a deadline. The one page a first-time visitor should land on, not the site they'd find anyway with a search of your church's name. If a QR code and a plain "visit our website" would send someone to the exact same place, the code isn't doing anything the words next to it couldn't already do.