Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; Effective Church Communications can help.

ebook: Back to Basics, writing and design skills for church communicators

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Back to basics cover
This book will teach you the basics of many needed, but often not taught, communication skills in graphics, design, typography, writing, and managing. If you want your church communications to look more professional, you need this book. Available in print and ebook formats.

Most people who work on communication creation in churches have no training in design, layout, typography, and many related skills they need to do a good job. Training material is not easy to find because many of the materials available on communication design and related areas, require the use of expensive, advanced software and teach a secular, image-heavy approach that doesn't always fit the needs of the church audience.

This book provides basic training that can help every church communicator, even those with no previous graphic arts training create, write for, and manage a church communication ministry. This book is not a how-to on a particular software, but about the basic design and communication principles that form the foundation of effective communication creation.

This book is a scanned reprint of Yvon Prehn's earlier book, How to use your computer to create Better Bulletins, Newsletters, and More! All the examples in the book are from church communications and the advice is practical and Bible-inspired.

To be honest, the quality of the scans in the book isn't the greatest, but I felt the content was worth it to make this book available to you.

To buy a paperback version of the book on Amazon.com, CLICK HERE.

If you'd like the book in e-book, PDF format CLICK HERE

How to make the most of mission trip photos

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Most mission trip photos are of groups of people smiling into the camera--nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't tell you much more than a lot of people went on a mission trip. With some simple editing, you can tell a story with your images that focuses on one person and their experience. The video that follows shows you how.

Software used in the video: Paint.net

Paint.net is a fantastic image editing software and best of all, it is FREE. For a series of videos that shows you how to download and use it, CLICK HERE to go to my playlist on Paint.net on my Youtube Channel.here to find it and how to download it. ideo that shows you where to find it and how to

How to learn from Yvon Prehn Instructional videos

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The purpose of the videos I create for you is so that you will learn how to be a better communicator, but I know sometimes the videos go by quickly and it's difficult to follow the steps. This video shows you how to make the most of the instructional videos by watching a segment, then pausing it while you try the steps and going back and forth, basically copying what I do. I hope this helps--let me know either in the comments or via email at yvon@effectivechurchcom.com:

  • Did this help?
  • What would you like to learn from the videos?
  • Topics, subjects, what have you liked or want more of?
  • Any way I can make videos more helpful or effective for you?

How to turn a simple photo into a powerful illustration

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When you want to illustrate a mission or outreach project, you may have photos, but you might want an illustration and not a photograph to promote your project. Perhaps your printing method or website calls for a high contrast image or perhaps you want to universalize the image--whatever the reason, this short video will show you how to turn a good photo into a high-contrast image.

For a video that shows you how to download paint.net, the program used to create this image, click here.

How to take, modify, and use photos more effectively in print and online

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Ed. note: at the end of this article are links to videos that illustrate how to modify photos for ministry impact and a very useful, free program that will help you do that.
Photographs can be one of the most powerful communication tools in church communications and today there is almost no cost to producing them in digital format. However, in this situation, more isn't always better (look at most photo albums on Facebook) and a review of why photographs are useful in ministry and church communications and how to produce more effective ones may be useful.

Why photos are important in church and ministry communications

They are impossible to ignore. People can easily ignore page after page in print or online of what might well be very important text, but they can't flip through a newsletter or website without looking at the pictures and  reading the captions associated with them.

Because people will always be drawn to a photo and because they can have a powerful effect on the ability of your church to communicate its message, following are some tips that will help your photos be more effective.

Photos that tell a ministry story

Head shots or formally posed pictures don't tell you much of anything about a person. If you want your audience to know something about your staff, missionaries or whoever else you want to feature, you have to do more than share a head shot. Get your subject involved in action. A head shot merely labels a person, an action shot tells a story.

Think of how much more people would learn about your leadership if instead of a mug shot of the minister each time you had his column in your newsletter or blog, you had a picture of him in action. Use pictures of him with his family, interacting with a Sunday school class, or in his study. Capture him participating in a hobby, or at a church activity. A series of photos such as these would give a more rounded representation of your pastor as a person.

Additional tips to help you to get good people pictures

It is said that public speaking is people's number one fear, even above dying. I disagree. I think it's having your picture taken. I've seen countless people in ministry who are comfortable speaking to hundreds of people turn into jelly when approached by a camera. What is even worse than the fear of getting your picture taken is the result. A stiff, formal shot of a person clearly not enjoying the process doesn't communicate any reality about the person.

Pictures are put into publications and on the web so people can see the people involved in the ministry. But the strained person standing up against a white wall with a terrified expression is not the same person who can captivate a room full of sixth graders with stories about Jesus. The severe look on the face of the man in the buttoned up suit is not the same pastor who chopped wood for you when your husband was sick or comforted your niece when she lost her baby.

The pictures you take of people in ministry are of people God uses to inspire lives and change souls for eternity. Your challenge in taking pictures is to capture that person, who they are, and share him or her in your communications.

One of the best ways I've found to capture the real person is to photograph them doing what they do best-in the midst of ministry. If they work with kids, take a picture of them with kids; if they preach, photograph them preaching.

If you can't do that, at least take someone with you to talk to them while you are taking pictures. I've found this method works great even for people who hate to have their picture taken or don't normally photograph well. People in ministry tend to be interactive people—they come alive in relationships with others. Often when you've got them talking to someone else you can take a photograph that shows them at their best. It also takes their mind off the experience of being photographed.

You have to be brave to get the best shots

It isn't easy to get the good, gutsy photos; to get in the middle of ministry situations and shoot incredible pictures. It's easier to line people up against a wall or have them squint into the sun and smile on the count of three, but you'll never get a memorable photo doing that.

One possible solution is in your head to play photo journalist; be another person. Get in the middle of the group, on a chair, on the floor, shoot at odd angles. Talk to your subjects; get them interacting and take lots of pictures. Forget all about yourself and catch your subjects being themselves.

Photographs of sensitive situations

Sometimes photos are too real. In ministry we deal with some really tough situations: hunger, pain, disabilities, emotional and mental problems. The challenge is to illustrate these situations while retaining the dignity of the people involved.

Show the results of your ministry, not the problem that prompted it

• This means showing your youth group involved in serving meals at the senior center, not kids hanging out by graffiti­ covered walls.

• This means showing children fed and at school, not starving and holding their hands out.

• This means showing women working and healed and not battered and poor.

Not only does this kind of photography emphasize the good news of the gospel, but this way a person is not forever labeled in your photograph as a victim.

Final tips on effective photos for your church or ministry

• This is not portrait photography or studio work. You are taking pictures to use to communicate a message.

• Choose your photos for placing in publications or on the web as carefully as you choose your words.  Don't just dump the entire digital file on a page. Be sure the photo backs up the message of your words.

• A photo of a large group where you can't see anyone clearly is like a story with too many words. Just one person doing what the event is all about gets to the point of the story.

• Cut extra stuff from the photo as you would cut out extra words. The contemporary style for photographs, especially head shots, is very tight cropping.

• Drama is always more important than quality. Concentrate on taking pictures that tell a story.

Finally, ALWAYS caption your photos—in print and on the web—a picture may be worth a thousand words, but without a caption, the question is, "Which thousand?" People will make up a meaning in a photo if you don't tell them what you want them to see.

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Click on the title to go to the video

 How to turn a simple photo into a powerful illustration

How to download a FREE image editing software: Paint.net