Effective Church Communications
Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission
C.S. Lewis reminded us: Jesus Christ did not say, "Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right."
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He said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
Church communicators are often frustrated, if they read the fine print of many clip art sites, both paid and free in the many areas they are not allowed to use the clip art in.For example, most sites don't allow you to use their clip art if you want to make a t-shirt with it. All the clip art on this site is totally copyright free,in the Public Domain and you can use it any way you want. Having said that, the clip art is a bit tricky to download and the site somewhat confusing to use.
This brief video review shows you how avoid problems with the site, download and use the materials for guilt-free creation of anything you want using the images.
PLEASE take a couple of minutes to watch the video--the site made me crazy (OK....it doesn't take much) trying to figure out how to download and save the images. It is not at all obvious--but it is simple once you figure it out and this video will save you time and frustration.
The Internet Evangelism site is an extensive resource for inspiration and instruction for sharing your faith online. Each year they celebrate Internet Evangelism Day with a special focus on sharing your faith using the tools technology makes possible. This year the celebration is on April 21, but the resources available on the site are useful all-year round.
I haven't been able to do as much as I wanted to with IE Day this year (coming between Easter and Mother's Day is a bit of a communication challenge for U.S. churches), but the site itself and the resources on it are one of my most highly recommended resources for churches. As I was looking over the current resource list I found a new one to me: http://www.yesHEis.com. This site has an unusual approach in that it isn't a typical "apologetic site" where you hammer people with truths about the Christian faith.
Not that there is anything wrong with that approach--sometimes it is exactly what is needed (as a drill sergeant's daughter I've been known to use that at times)--but not always--this site has a totally different approach.
Here is how they describe themselves and below it is a very brief video explains it.
We here at yesHEis exist to help you share your faith online. Whether it be a new video that shares the gospel, helping to answer the tough questions that come back your way, or exposing new technology you might find helpful, we’re here to help in any way we can.
Here is the URL for the site: http://www.yesHeis.com
We are told to be "all things to all people that we might win some" as we communicate our faith and this is a great tool to help us do that.
It's easy to get buried in the burden of work required of any committed church communicator. Your world can easily narrow to a computer screen and a list of seemingly endless projects that all need to be done now. When you feel overwhelmed, it's also easy to forget that in many ways the immensity of your challenges is a correct representation of the eternal importance and value of your work. I wrote the following devotion to remind you of it:
You are the Great Ones and far more than important than you may realize
Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. (Dan. 12:3)
Often when I ask someone who has come to one of my church communication seminars what they do in the church, they often respond by saying something like: "Oh, I'm just the church secretary" or "Oh, I just help work on the church newsletter" and similar self-deprecating statements.
My heart is broken when I hear that because the person who says it (and you may have thought similar things about yourself) has no idea of their true worth. Let me explain what I mean by sharing a story from a scene in C. S. Lewis' book, The Great Divorce. In this scene the main character is being escorted around heaven. He sees a woman coming toward him magnificently clothed and attended to by a great procession. The book goes on:
"Is it?...is it?" I whispered to my guide.
"Not at all," said he, "It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green."
"She seems to be . . . well, a person of particular importance?"
"Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things." [Read more...]
