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.

Flashy multi-media in church communication and why it doesn’t always work

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True story here: A church wasn't getting the response they wanted to get people to attend the various events of the church including small groups.

Their response: Instead of asking folks why they weren't coming, or doing an informal survey to see what they were or were not communicating with current materials, someone made the suggestion that the church start a new video newscast during the church service. The thinking was something like  "this is what will appeal to people today."

Two interns from the local Bible college were the newscasters, and with a team and a bit of time and effort, produced a highly entertaining video. Announcements were made for more folks to join the news team and to help with the production; mention was made of upcoming events of the week and the congregation encouraged sign up for small groups. The congregation loved the videos for the two weeks they were produced. They were filled with chatty banter, silly jokes, and tasteful humor.

Did that increase attendance at church events and especially in small groups?

Sadly, no. There was no increased attendance in small groups. [Read more...]

Resources and Links to help you explore the Christian faith

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Take time to explore the Bible
Take time to explore the Bible and learn for yourself if its extraordinary claims are true.

This section has Resources and Links to help you explore the Christian faith, to explain the Christian faith, and to help people grow in spiritual maturity as a Christian.  Just click on the links below to check them out.

Most of the sites below have added links to similar sites that might explain what it means to be a Christian and the truths of the Christian faith in another way.

As a church communicator you need to be assured and solid in your faith to communicate it effectively to others--these sites will help assure you of the eternal importance of your work.

In addition, the material here needs to be passed on to your congregation. Take a few minutes when you can to look over the material on these sites and link to and reference it in your church outreach and discipleship materials. We want our people to be able to answer questions about the Christian faith with peace and confidence.

Websites for those exploring the Christian faith

Christian Research Institute
http://www.equip.org/
This is the website of the Christian Research Institute and Hank Hanegraff, the Bible Answer Man-it has been redesigned and is a challenge to find the fantastic resources on it, but if you go to the search bar, bottom left corner of the home page, and type in a topic, it will take you to a list of their great, free articles.

Who is Jesus?
http://www.whoisjesus-really.com/english/menu.htm
Lots of questions answered here about Jesus.

Need Him

Home 2022


This site approaches questions about the Christian life from the perspective of various life stages.

Campus Crusade for Christ
http://www.ccci.org/
Lots of information for those exploring the Christian life and for those who want to live it.

Lee Strobel's Video website about the Christian faith http://www.leestrobel.com/channels/Christ.php
This site has videos with short interviews that explain the basics of the Christian faith--this link takes you to the one about Jesus.

Websites for defending the Christian faith and answering questions about it

Apologetics 315
http://www.apologetics315.com/
An apologetics resources site including audio, debates, podcasts, book reviews and more.

An Apologetics Reading Plan for Beginners
http://www.apologetics315.com/2012/03/apologetics-reading-plan-for-beginners.html
An excellent article not only for those who want to learn how to defend the Christian faith, but for those who want to explore the Christian faith.

Lee Strobel's Video website about the Christian faith
http://www.leestrobel.com/channels/Christ.php
This site has videos with short interviews that explain the basics of the Christian faith--this link takes you to the one about Jesus.

The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
 http://carm.org/
A site that analyzes religious and non-religious movements and compares them to the Bible.

Websites for those wanting to grow in the Christian faith

Ten Action Steps for a New Christian,
 http://www.rbc.org/rtb/
A simple, yet vitally important list of the actions important for a new Christian, with clear explanations.

Our Daily Bread
http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml
A wonderful daily devotional for both new and more mature Christians.

Radio Bible Class Ministries
http://www.rbc.org/
There are a wealth of resources on this site for growing in your Christian life. There are Bible reading plans, articles on finding a church, answers to many questions people have about the Christian faith.

Into Thy Word
http://sites.silaspartners.com/partner/0,,34418,00.html
A wonderful site that will teach you how to study the Bile, lots of great Bible study articles, fantastic links on their Bible Study Tools page, lots of great information. Highly recommended.

OnePlace.com
http://www.oneplace.com/
A very fun site and educational site. This site has the links to many Christian radio stations. You can listen to your favorite radio preachers live here and can download messages.

The Blue Letter Bible
http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.html
A classic site of free Bible study tools: commentaries, maps, all sorts of study guides. This is a fantasttic site.

Incarnation-a continuing challenge and model for church communication

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"The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

The ethereal became earthly, the intangible became touchable when Jesus became flesh and blood. In a similar way, your church communications help make the intangible realities of your church flesh and blood in the lives of the people in your church and those you want to reach. A grief recovery workshop helps no one until the materials announcing it are created and responded to. The greatest youth program involves no one until postcards and email inform the teenagers of the dates, times, and locations of meetings. The most inspiring conference helps no one if the church is empty because no one took time to promote it professionally and prayerfully.

To help our communications be effective in making the message of Christianity tangible and touchable in our world today, let's look at the Incarnation, at Jesus becoming flesh and blood, for inspiration on ways to lead and to make our communications real and response-producing in the lives of people we want to reach.

[Read more...]

The media isn’t our message—our message is Jesus

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Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked,

 "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:40-42).

When Marshall McLuhan, early pioneer of electronic media, pronounced in the early sixties, that "the media is the message," he was predicting that the means of communication would be more important than the message it carried. For his time, the primary media was television; more and more in our world it is computers and the resulting forms of digital communication: desktop publishing, the internet, cell phone, and small screen communications.

Though it is easy to get caught up in the complexity and power of digital communications, as Christians we must constantly remind ourselves that these incredible innovations, and any that are to come, are only tools. The power doesn't come from the tool or media-the power comes from the message.

As the apostle Paul said , "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16). The world "power" used in this verse comes form the Greek word, dunamis. It's the same root for our world dynamite and it means a "miraculous, mighty, wonderful power."

Our message, not the media we use to share it, is the source of true power. It was the same for the early disciples writing with pens on parchment, it will be the same for us if we are creating virtual reality holograms to illustrate Bible stories in the years to come.

We live in an age where the pace of change is incredible. Many of you started out in communicating with pencils, progressed to typewriters, and now operate computers on your desk more powerful than the ones they used to put a man on the moon. This pace will not slow down.

We need to always remember that no matter how powerful, overwhelming or impressive the technology, there remains, "only one thing that is needful" -the good news of salvation found in Jesus.

_________

From The Heart of Church Communications by Yvon Prehn, available either as a download or in paperback book form from www.lulu.com/yvonprehn.

Don't hide your PR materials on your website

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One of the attendees at my seminar asked me to look at her online newsletter and website.

The website was attractive and welcoming, but there were no links to a "newsletter." However, because I see the publications from hundreds of churches each year, I suspected that the label "Messanger" was probably the newsletter. I clicked on it and it was.

I emailed her back and let her know that though both the website and newsletter were well-done and very seeker friendly, this was a good lesson for all of us--when we know and love certain publications in our church, we need to remember that unchurched folks visiting a website might not know the favorite name that we have for the publications.

A church newsletter is a great way to introduce your church to potential visitors who may be checking out your site to see if they want to attend your church--but if they don't know the name of your newsletter they may not be able to find it.

Application: make it easy for people to find things. Use their generic name: church newsletter (not The Messanger), children's ministry (not PromiseLand), single adult ministry (not OASIS) and so on.

Make it easy for people to connect, come visit and get involved.