Challenges, commentary, and free templates to help churches create communications that help people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples.

In other words, to fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Effective Church Communications

Timeless training from Yvon Prehn to help churches create communications that will enable them to fully fulfill the Great Commission.

A solution to giving for churches that are not meeting and it doesn’t involve online giving

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How to collect an offering even though the church isn't meeting
Just because the church building is empty, we can still encourage each other and financially support the church.

How can a church keep going financially when we don't meet and aren't able to take up an offering?

Hi, this is YP and welcome to the Effective Church Communications podcast!

In our current challenging times, many churches are concerned (and justifiably so) with how they will pay the bills when the church is not meeting together regularly. I've got a great solution for you and you don't need to learn any new technology to do it.

Listen to the podcast below or continue reading for the solution.

For many churches, the Sunday morning offering is still the primary way the church gets tithes and offerings from the congregation.

The frequent response to this situation of churches not meeting is to emphasize online giving and though that is a great solution in many churches (and I personally love using it), it isn't a viable solution for many others. Either the church does not have online giving in place, doesn't want to set it up, or a large group of people in the church simply don't want to use it.

Technology isn't the answer to everything and sometimes trusted methods work well in challenging times.Continue Reading

The POWER of PRINT, with FREE POSTCARDS during this challenging time for people

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encouraging postcards to send from churches during the virus
Postcards can reach people that streaming services can't. Please share with those who may be alone.

This morning our church held its first online service. We are a small church, not especially technically advanced, and we don't typically do this type of thing. But here in California, it is a state mandate for the services to cancel and as positively as possible, we complied.

It was delayed for some time because of who knows what difficulties and the final product was a little choppy. Only about a third of the music people had any lights on them at all. Yet I was amazed at how touched I was by the service and how effective it was. Because of the delay, everyone in chat was very talkative while we waited. We are an older congregation and I was surprised at the amount of interaction between all ages. The closeness of everyone was palpable and I felt the reality of the Body of Christ in my heart more than I've ever felt in a service together. All in all, a wonderful experience.

But I was also very aware of the people who were not part of the service.

There are numerous people in our congregation who I know do not have computers at home or smartphones (they have been in my Sunday School classes and I know them well).

In this time where the virus is incredibly isolating, we are able to do great things with technology and it's a fantastic time for churches to stretch themselves in this area. But not everyone has access to the technology to receive what we put out in new ways. Those who can't are some of the most vulnerable, fragile, and isolated people in the church. We must take care of them also.

So what to do for them?

Print is still possible!

The mail doesn't seem to have been affected by the virus and it's an opportunity to take a second look at one of my favorite forms of communication—The POSTCARD!!!!

I'll be doing a series of articles and sharing ideas and FREE TEMPLATES for you in the coming days on how to communicate during this challenging time, but to get you started, I created a set of FREE POSTCARDS for you. They are all simply non-editable PDFs I created using Canva Templates (you have to download them as a complete graphic, that's why you can't edit them). But I did a layout for you in MS Publisher so you can print them 4 to a page and print or write a message from your church on the back.

This set was created to encourage people—fear and uncertainty are pervasive, but it is also an incredible opportunity to encourage people in our great God. When I did the first draft of this post, I made it specifically for everyone who doesn't have access to online materials. However, I then realized that EVERYONE needs tangible encouragement--so make them up for everyone!

Below are pictures of them and below that a ZIP file for you to download, save, and print. Please freely share these with anyone who would find them helpful.

Much more will be coming. Pray for me for the strength and focus to do all that will be helpful for Church Communicators. I am praying for all of you that you step up and serve as never before to equip and encourage your people in our Great God!

CLICK the following link to download ready-to-print PDFs of the Postcards: PDF Quarter Page Encouraging Postcards

CLICK the following link to download IMAGES of the Postcards: Postcards to Encourage

The total file was too big to combine both, but you can use the single images however you might want.

 

PLAN NOW for what you will do for the Sunday AFTER Easter, so people will return

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Invite people to engage with you after Easter
Invite people to engage with you after Easter for a lasting impact on their lives.

One of the biggest challenges for churches is how to get people to come back to church after holidays and special events. There are many things you can do that I'll be sharing but now is the time for the most important thing you need to do to get people to come back after your Easter celebrations.

You need to schedule an event to give people a reason to return.

No doubt you'll do a fantastic job in your Easter celebration, but think about the people who perhaps came to your Easter service because a friend or family member asked them or the church was holding an event for their children. Easter may have brought up questions. People new to the message of Easter may find themselves asking:

Did Jesus really rise from the dead? And if he did, what does it mean to me?

Plan ahead for your church to answer those questions

There are many ways you can do this. Some that have worked well for churches in the past include:

  1. A sermon the Sunday after Easter entitled "Is there really life after death for me?" The pastor of a large church in Colorado Springs preached a similar sermon for many years the Sunday after Easter, they advertised it well at the service and to the community. As a result, they always had as large of a turn out than they did for Easter Sunday. If you've done a good job of presenting the resurrection of Jesus, answering the question of "what does it mean to me" is a natural follow-up.
  2. You can invite them to a series of seeker Bible Studies. They can be something created by your church looking at the life of Jesus or you can use a program like Christianity Explored, which is an excellent presentation of the life of Jesus for people outside the church using the Gospel of Mark. I highly recommend you look at it.
  3. You can invite them to "Latte with the Pastor." I've recommended this a number of times and in many situations, but the basic idea is to follow up with guests (you did use connection cards, didn't you? If not, please see the materials on them and use the free downloads for them) who gave you their information with coupons for a free latte or two and an invitation to join the pastor to "ask any question you want about the Christian faith" at your local coffee shop. I've made a set of postcards to help you do this. Here they are and the link is at the end of this article:

There are many variations of this that you could do: asking people to come to a dessert at church for open-ended discussions, or for people in the church to have small groups in their homes or whatever would appeal to the age group or community you are ministering in. Whatever you choose, the idea is to do something to engage people outside the church to return to ask questions they have about Jesus.

DO THIS NOW

As you get closer to Easter itself and in the midst of Easter celebrations you'll be too busy to think about what to do after Easter. You need to plan ahead. You need to get all the materials done and ready for it or it won't happen.

Of course, you'll be tired after Easter. Exhausted most likely.

Many pastors take the week off. Taking that time off to rest is understandable, but if you do you miss out on an incredible opportunity to make a lasting, perhaps eternity-changing connection with the people who came on Easter Sunday.

This year, push through the exhaustion, remembering Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before him, endured" and connect with the people you challenged at Easter and lead them to an eternal relationship with Jesus. That is what He came to bring about. It's your task to make it happen in your community.

For follow up materials, go to FREE TEMPLATES for Easter follow up here: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/easter-templates/#toc-3

While you are there, look around—there are lots of FREE TEMPLATES you can download and use for all aspects of your Easter Celebrations.

10 essentials to prepare your church website for Easter

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Unchurched people will check out your website.
Unchurched people will check out your website if they get an invitation to your Easter service. And it won't be to listen to your praise music or admire your inspiring graphics. Here are some things to consider.

With the importance of digital information to people today, it is incredibly important that your website be ready for Easter or any special event. Before they meet your welcoming people, have fun at children's events or hear your challenging sermon, chances are they will go to your website. In large measure, whether they visit your physical church or not, may in large measure depend on what they find on your site.

Unchurched people visit church websites for the same reason they visit the website of any secular company—they are checking you out. They see an advertisement (your Easter invitation) and then go to the website to find out the details: who you are, what you are selling, how easy is it to find out information and get answers, if you are worth a live visit.

Potential customers form an opinion about a company by their experience on the website. If a company has not updated its website in months, if links don’t work, if the website is filled with splashy images but little real information, if all the terms are insider jargon (whether it's about a product or a church), if emails are not responded to quickly, a potential customer most like won’t care about learning any more about the company, let alone visiting.

Keep in mind that the visitor you sent an Easter mailing to doesn't know how nice your people are or how powerful the preaching is, or how the music will inspire them until they come to your church. Your website is what often stands between your invitation and their response.

Here are 10 suggestions to make your website one that will result in a visit to your church

1. Answer the "what's in it for me?" for your visitor

Sometimes it merely takes rewording to make the events you're doing appeal to visitors. For example instead of an insider announcement such as "traditional Kid's Kove Easter Morning" say sometime like:  "Join us for our Giant Easter Egg Hunt,  Muffins &  Juice for All Children of our community! Parents are invited to free coffee  and donuts while the kids have fun."

Make it clear that your events aren't just for members only and there is no obligation to attend.

2.  Provide clear explanations of the simple details of what you do—especially for special events

Make the service times, parking directions, child care and programs all easy to find. This is especially important for an event like Easter where you may have totally different service times than your regular ones. If you aren't clear and you don't change your usual times on your website, it can be very confusing.

Answer the question of what to wear if it matters at your church or even if it's like churches in S. California where anything other than a wet swim suit if pretty much OK. A bit dressed up or totally comfortable—let people know.Continue Reading

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