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.

PODCAST: What can happen if you work hard on your event, but don’t have time to work communications FOR the event

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Easter joy and links to free Eastertemplates Will you get the same number of people the Sunday after Easter that you have on Easter Sunday?

We know we won’t, but in Today’s podcast we’ll talk about how you can increase the response by what you do on Easter Sunday.

Today we’ll talk about…….What can happen if you work hard on your event, but don’t have time to work communications FOR the event

This is a true story.

Though the specific event discussed is Easter, the lessons learned from it can apply to any event. In addition to applying to any event, we can all identify with the situation here. The challenges of ministry are so huge, it is very easy to get overwhelmed in one area and totally forget another one. May the Lord have mercy and help us all.

In one of my seminars, at the break, a lady literally came running up the aisle to talk to me.

“Oh, thank you, thank you,” she said, “Now I understand what went wrong.” [Read more...]

PLEASE modify the Templates from Effective Church Communications Resources—an example to show you how!

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Poem about Resurrection
This is a creative modification of one of some of the FREE template and text material available to you on this site. You are encouraged to do whatever you'd like with the materials.

The free templates from Effective Church Communications can be used as is—but you can also modify them!

Many ECC Members have done that over the years and I love it when they send me the final result.

The one here (after the link) is by Georgia Bamber from Harvest Assembly in Toronto, Canada. She took the postcard with this text on it, changed the background and put it into her newsletter that she does in MS Publisher.

Not only did she encourage me (and I hope inspire all of you with her shared example), but she called the text "a poem." I hadn't really thought of it as this and a number of similar things I'd written (and make freely available to you) as poems before. I looked up the definitions of prose and poetry and she was right. I ought to have known that; I was an English teacher many years ago. But having that label on them, I hope to be much more intentional about creating them in the future.

Poem or simply "inspiring text" as I called it, is available to you along with the many free templates and other text messages. The links are at the end of this blog.

PLEASE DO send me your creations or modifications along with permission to use them and I will pass them on to inspire others. [Read more...]

Notes to Boomer church leaders as you prepare for Easter

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We may be shocked at today's culture and amazed at what people don't know about Easter, but we can't let those attitudes make us less effective as we reach out to our world with a clear message about the resurrection of Jesus. This article has some practical tips to help.

You don’t have to be an astute analyst of the culture to understand that we live in a far different world than Baby Boomers grew up in. Many Boomer church leaders may be aware of the changes in life, technology, and culture (“You can show that on TV now?), while at the same time planning for Easter church celebrations the same way they did when Ozzie, Harriet and family was the target audience. Being shocked about TV is one thing, sticking with outdated and ineffective ways to promote and celebrate Easter has far more serious consequences.

If you want share the power of our risen Lord in ways that will change people today and forever, you may need a new strategy, but before we get into that, let me be clear. . . .

This isn’t about Boomer bashing, any age group can make the same incorrect and ineffective assumptions

The mindset that needs a new strategy isn’t confined to any one age group, though many leaders in the Boomer generation seem to be stuck in it. I’m not bashing Boomers, this is my generation  and many of my peers in ministry provided the inspiration for this article. The mindset (not the age range) that I see with Boomer friends and church leaders of various ages, but similar mindset, assumes:

  1. People outside the church know the basics about the Christian faith and what’s in the Bible.
  2. Your community members know the story of Easter and are looking for a place to celebrate it.
  3. All we have to do to get them to get saved and be part of our church is to have the biggest, loudest, most colorful Easter service in town, complete with a petting zoo for kids and brunch served on the premises.

These assumptions range from totally incorrect to ineffective.

As we plan Easter outreach and celebration, we need to realize that contrary to the assumptions above:

[Read more...]

PODCAST: Connection Cards—What really works best to get people back to your church after Easter is one of the least impressive things you do

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Easter Connection Cards
This is one of a downloadable set of Connection Cards for Easter. They are one of the most effective tools to make sure people come back after a special service.

Following is a text version of the PODCAST

Many churches go all out for Easter celebrations: special music, drama, free food, an Easter egg hunt or petting zoo for the kids. Though all these things are fun and may impress visitors with the ability of your church to put on a special event, there is one thing they probably won't do—get people to return to church the next Sunday. Almost every church experiences disappointment the Sunday after Easter because few of the visitors return.

It doesn't have to be this way. Following are 3 Reasons why big, special, Easter events won't get people back next Sunday. That's the bad news. The good news is that one of the least impressive things you do, the lowly communication tool of a Connection Card, can do what the big events can't. The big events might get people there on ONE Sunday, but it's the quiet link the Connect Card provides that will help them come back.

What follows is a little bit brutal, but done to shake us from our complacency. We have an opportunity to change the eternal destiny of people who visit our churches on Easter Sunday and we need to be honest with ourselves why they often don't come back.

Reason #1: Your special activities weren't very special to your unchurched audience

A painful reality check is necessary here. In the days when many people lived on farms and TV options (if you had a set) were limited to three choices, the music and special events put on by the church were a big deal in the community. In the days when no one had attended a live concert or watched a streaming one, the Living Nativity Scene (complete with animals) at church was awe-inspiring and the Easter Musical was magical.  Not so much today. [Read more...]

PODCAST: Beyond the Easter Egg Hunt—ways to involve children in Easter outreach and evangelism

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Church Bunny Invitations What are you planning for children at your church and community this Easter?

In addition to fun, have you thought about how the children themselves can be involved in Easter outreach and evangelism?

Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and welcome to the Effective Church Communications Podcast!

I’ve got some ideas for how you can do that in today’s podcast:

Beyond the Easter Egg Hunt—ways to involve children in Easter outreach and evangelism

Following are notes from the Podcast, along with links to the free templates talked about in it. [Read more...]