A method for transmitting a common message includes determining, by a base station, a first transmission configuration. The first transmission configuration includes a group of transmission parameters and a moment for using the group of transmission parameters. The group of transmission parameters includes a control channel scheduling indication that is used to indicate whether to use a control channel to schedule and send a common message. The method further includes transmitting, by the base station, the common message to a machine type communication (MTC) device according to the control channel scheduling indication.