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.

Follow-up after a church holiday outreach event: speed dating or relationship building?

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Church visitors, speed dating or relationship building?
How do we treat our visitors? Like speed dating or do we work to build a relationship? This article will help you see the difference. Image from Flicker, Gangplank HQ

What kind of relationship do you have with someone, if you meet them, have a great time, and then walk away, never to call, talk, or see the person again? Not much of one is it?

In contrast, what about a relationship where two people meet briefly but then keep in touch through letters, emails, phone calls, and other get-togethers? What if they take time to interact and get to know each other? We’d label that a meaningful relationship.

If we want any kind of relationship, friendship, or romance to progress, we know we’ve got to expend some effort to grow the relationship.

As a church, we begin relationships with the people in our communities when we host outreach or holiday events. Sometimes they develop into a meaningful, long-term relationship with visitors, but in the majority of cases, they don't. Take time to consider some of the following thoughts and evaluate how your interactions with visitors.

Make your church outreach events more than Speed Dating

Unfortunately, instead of taking time to develop relationships with the guests who visit, many church outreach events are similar to the Speed Dating popular today. If you are unfamiliar with Speed Dating, this is where single people spend a few minutes with a potential romantic interest over coffee, dessert, or some shared activity (one recent speed dating event for farmers had folks weeding a field together) and then they move on to the next person, spend a few minutes with that person, and on to the next one.

Though lasting a bit longer, some churches offer a sort of speed dating experience to unchurched members of their communities. With fall events as an example, the church invites the community to a Community Thanksgiving Service and Christmas Caroling and Hot Chocolate. The visitors are hustled through the event and then leave, hopefully with a nice feeling about the church. The church staff breathes a big sigh of relief to have that activity over for the year. [Read more...]

How to make Mom really happy, cards that will make you smile and challenge family members

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Don't you wish that the people you love who only come to church on Mother's Day and other special events would come every week? It won't happen by simply wishing it will Come Back #1 IMAGEhappen. You have to intentionally let them know you want them to come back to church. You have to invite them back.

Subtle doesn't work as a communication strategy in our world today. Think of how the secular media bombards us with repeated messages to buy this, come to that, don't miss out on some special sale. Though we don't want to be obnoxious we do have to be persistent and clear.

The cards illustrated here will help you do this. They were designed to make people smile, but they also share a true message—that moms want more than anything to share their faith with their children.

This card above is a PDF sample for you.  To download it, click on the card or click here.

In the section following, you will find ZIP File download that not only has this invitation, but also has the following five invitations. The ZIP file also has the original MS Publisher files, plus a jpg file of each invitation and a ready-to-print file of each one.

For other materials that will help you make the most of Mother's Day, click here: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/category/seasonal/mothers-day/

Below is a ZIP file that contains:

  • All four Mother's Day Come Back to Church Invitations
  • MS Publisher Original files (you must have MS Publisher to use this file)
  • PDF Files
  • Resizable jpg files

Click the following link to download the ZIP file of the above items: Make Mom Happy MDay Come Back to Church

    After you download the file, SAVE it to your computer, then click on it to "unzip" it and the files are ready for you to use.

SPECIAL PODCAST: Yvon Prehn Reading One Mother’s Prayer

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One Mother's Prayer--audio versionThis is the podcast of Yvon Prehn reading One Mother's Prayer. There is no intro or music--just the words.
I did this and am giving you the embed code after the Podcast so if you want to use this on any social media you have, you can.

If you'd like free print versions of it, go here: https://wp.me/pDky9-5HO

This little piece has helped thousands of people all over the world remember to pray for those they love and to trust what God can do. It is useful not only for Mother's Day but for any ministry group or women's group that prays. I pray it will be useful to you also.

This is the embed code:

<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/yvon-prehn/embed/episodes/SPECIAL-PODCAST-Yvon-Prehn-reading-One-Mothers-Prayer-e3usu0" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">

Mother’s Day Connection Cards can minister to family members

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Mothers Day Connection CardIn addition to having a way to connect with guests so you can follow-up and invite them back, the set of connection cards here can also minister to unchurched spouses and family members who may be visiting. There is a link below to a FREE set of downloadable ready-to-print PDFs and editable MS Publisher files for you to use for Mother's Day. These can do more than simply get a name by adding these messages:

Thank you for being part of our Mother's Day Service today. We'd love to stay in touch, answer your questions, and pray for you. PLease fill out the information below and put it in the offering plate. May your Mother's Day be joyful!

Then the normal fill in information sections on the card.

Across the bottom is the following checklist:

If you'd like info on any of the following ministries, please check the box:
Single's Events
Men's Group
Women's Ministries
Children's Ministries

These messages accomplish several things:

[Read more...]

How to use Mother’s Day to Grow your church, evangelize, and disciple

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Mother's Day gets the third highest attendance at church right behind Christmas and Easter. What churches often forget is that the large increase in people does not come from more Mothers attending--they are there every week! It comes from the unchurched children and spouses who show up to make mom happy on her special day.

Churches that recognize this and use church communications in a way that makes the most of it can make it a day truly worth celebrating for Mom's because nothing is more wonderful to a Mother than for her child to come to know Jesus.

Our Church Communications Training School has a short video course: How to use Mother's Day to Grow Your Church, Evangelize, and Disciple—and it will totally change how you approach Mother's Day!

Below are the sets of communication Templates shown in the video with preview images. Click on the title to go to the set you want.

    Click on any image to enlarge and see more detailed previews. Click on the link below the images to download the Templates to your computer.

    [Read more...]