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; we can help.

Bulletin insert example: compassionate, timely fund-raising for current spring disasters

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WECLA Severe spring storms Bulletin inserthen disaster happens, some of the first responders are always the churches. Their work doesn't often make the evening news, but I know it brings joy to our Lord.

How we respond is also a powerful witness to our world, not only in our work, but our works. A blog linked to the ECLA disaster site (http://blogs.elca.org/disasterresponse/) quoted one pastor who challenges us during this Lenten season before Easter: “There is resurrection even in this life. You can live again in houses that looked like tombs." That is a message we all need to hear and share with our world.

Disaster assistance is costly and raising money for it always a challenge. I've long been a fan of the power of church bulletin inserts and I just received one as I was finishing up my newsletter to church communicators that I wanted to pass on to you. There are few other tools that can be quickly and easily created plus providing immediate impact to and a plan for action for your congregation.

This example is from the ECLA church. The example is to the left and if you click on the image you can download a copy of it.

It is an excellent example of this type of publication because:

  • It states the need clearly and concisely
  • It asks for help
  • It tells you what will happen to your donation

I'm passing this along to you,  not only as a great example of what can be done to tell your congregation about needs and to ask for donations, but if your church does not have an outreach program like this, I'm sure ECLA wouldn't mind at all if you used theirs.

Take a minute to pray

In the midst of your busy day, take a minute to pray for all the people going through these very hard times.

  • Pray  for victims and first responders.
  • Pray for those who clean up and rebuild.
  • Pray for strength, peace, and healing of communities.
  • Pray for comfort for those who have lost loved ones and healing for the injured.
  • Pray that the church of Jesus Christ will bear a strong witness to the world that no matter what the storms of life (literally and figuratively) that we have Savior who is with us in the storm and who will see us safely home.

Q & A: Is it OK to freely use music from iTunes or Amazon in my church videos if I give them credit?

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Loving a song doesn't give you permission to legally use it.
Loving a song doesn't give you permission to legally use it--here are the rules and resources for legal ones.

QUESTION:

I am wondering about getting permission to use music. I understand the copyright law to mean that as long as we properly cite copyrighted material, we can use it. Is that not right? I always buy the song for 99 cents on Amazon.com and then cite it at the end.

ANSWER:

Though my specific answer here will involve music, this question of the proper use of copyrighted materials has caused confusion for decades for church communicators and the confusion has only gotten worse because the internet makes it possible for us to easily download and use anything that is online. I usually find a few good Christian music on https://musiccritic.com. After I find something that my ears love, I download them somewhere else. But we often forget the legalities of such actions as we only use them personally.

In addition to ease of use, another confusion enters in with the idea that, as the person above mentioned, that it is OK to use something as long as you cite the source. Here's a synopsis of how I'll answer these questions:

Is it OK to freely use music you download so long as you cite the source?   

The short answer is "no." I'll explain why and why there is confusion about it. [Read more...]

Q & A: Introducing a new category to answer your questions

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If you have a questions ASK it at yvon@effectivechurchcom.comI often get questions from readers and members of Effective Church Communications and I welcome them because the primary purpose of this site is to serve all of you and to help all of your churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission.

There is a lot of content that I know, from over 30 years of teaching church communications, that is useful for you and I am working hard to get that into a manageable form for this site.  At the same time, I have so much material that I may publish in the future, but that you need right now. When I get a question on topics in that category, I try to answer as soon as I can.

I've been doing this for a long time, but I realized that the answers to many questions were either in email or comments and though I trust they helped the individuals who asked the questions, many of the answers would be helpful to many readers. To make them available and at least a little easier to find, I've set up a new category on this site: Q & A. You'll find it on the top line of content tabs. CLICK HERE to go to the current listing. Each question will have its own article and you'll be able to click through the questions to look for ones you want the answers to.

I will be getting some of the past questions into the section and will continue to answer new ones. If you have a qWe have answers for you!uestion you'd like to ask, or a project or communications you'd like to see discussed, please email me at: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.

I can't promise I'll answer them all or quickly, but you will get a response from me.

Your membership in this site helps support answers for everyone.

Q & A: Resources needed for proofing communications in the church office

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QUESTION:

Do you have any recommended resources that you would recommend that I can give to our church's admin assistant to improve her proof reading skills?

question sent by a pastor via email

ANSWER:

Proofing publications is critical and horrible; important and irritating. One of my favorite quotes on this topic is:

"The urge in a human to love or hate, is never as strong as the urge to amend the writings of another" 
quote from a class on editing

To get on with answering the question, I have several resources that you will find useful:

Click on this image to download the PDF Chapter on Proofing.
Click on this image to download the PDF Chapter on Proofing.

A PDF of a chapter on Proofing.

This is from my book on the Back to Basics.

Jesus and Perfection in Publications

This is an important balancing article, CLICK HERE to go to it. It is important, because though proofing and a desire for perfection is important in our church communication work, there are other considerations that are equally, if not more important that must be looked at if we want to conduct our ministries in ways pleasing to the Lord.

If you have a question on church communications that will be considered for an answer in this series, please email it to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.

Q & A: I need a resource for bargain software—is Consistent Computer Bargains still in business?

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QUESTION:

Yvon,

A number of years ago (app. 2004 or earlier) I attended one of your seminars. You handed out a book with a couple of resource pages in the back. I’m interested in one particular resource, Consistent Computer Bargains (www.ccbministries.com).

In 2004 when we purchased a new computer we were able to order software from this site for a reduced price for churches, we saved quite a bit of money. We are again looking at purchasing a new computer and would like to again order this discounted software. However when I check out the website another site comes up that doesn’t look right.

Do you know anything about the current state of this company? Are there other companies out there who will give generous discounts on software programs to churches? Computers also.

I would appreciate hearing back from you so I can forward the information to the person at our church in charge of making a new computer purchase for us.

Thank you ahead for your help and for all you do to provide help for church secretaries and their churches!

Connie, Trinity UCC

ANSWER:

CCB onlineThe best place is till Consistent Computer Bargains. Though they have changed their name somewhat, here is their website: http://www.ccbnonprofits.com.

I spoke recently to their Director of Religious Sales, Patti Lojeski. I have known Patti and the folks there for over 15 years and I can't recommend them enough.

Not only for MS Publisher, the company still has many fantastic deals on software for churches—they are able to sign churches up for nonprofit pricing for the companies that offer this. You can't get these prices in regular retail stores, you must use a group like CCB.

In addition, they have also expanded their offerings in hardware, software, and cloud services.

I featured them in my e-book:  9 Reasons why MS Publisher is a great program for churches to use for print and graphic creation. This ebook is free for ECC MEMBERS and is an inexpensive download for others. For more about it, to link to the book and download, CLICK HERE .

Here is Patti Lojeski's contact information. She can refer you to someone who can specifically help you. Do let her know I sent you!

800-342-4222 ext. 107 | patti.lojeski@ccbnonprofits.com