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.

A Free Template of the Christmas Story and short gospel presentation based on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”

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Christmas evangelism bulletin insert size
This is a set of bulletin insert-size Christmas evangelism publications--please share!

This has been one of our most popular communications for Christmas—it's an upbeat, but thought-provoking presentation of the good news about Jesus for Christmas based on the popular hymn, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing!" and I wanted to share it with you this year.

When I first created the piece it was a full-size sheet and in a 3-panel brochure format, but after sending that out (CLICK HERE for original article and for 8 1/2 x 11-inch size flyers and for brochure size) I got a request to create a bulletin insert-size piece. What a great idea! And I was happy to do that. The images are below and below them a ZIP file for everyone to download ready-to-print PDFs, the editable MS Publisher file, and images of the pieces.

I wrote it and created the communications and you have my permission to share or use it in any way you want.

Be creative in how you use it

Of course, you can print them up and use them at Christmas outreach events or as a bulletin insert.

You can also copy the text or the entire communication and share it on social media for your church or personally.

It's also useful to make copies for your congregation to put into their Christmas letters. Either with the templates here or the ones in the link above (where there is a full-page version), you have my permission to upload any of the PDFs to your church websites for your people to download to print at home and share with their friends and family. I've printed them out for my Sunday School classes and people have greatly appreciated it.

Encourage your congregation to put them into their Christmas cards or enclose with gifts (remembering Jesus is the greatest gift of all!).

[Read more...]

Super Important–Last Minute, FREE TEMPLATES for Christmas Connection Cards, and communications to get people to return after Christmas events

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Christmas connection card
Even more important than getting people to come to our Christmas events is getting them to come back. This will help.

Wouldn't it be great if just one fantastic church service, event, or sermon could assure that unchurched visitors would come back to your church, learn about Jesus, come to know Him, and become a member of your church? When we create our invitations to Christmas and other special events, we silently hope they will help do just that.

Though we work hard, hope, and pray for great spiritual success, we know one great communication or the event it points people to probably won't do all we wish it would.

Eugene Peterson described the Christian life as "a long obedience in the same direction" and I think successful church communications fit that description. We want to bring people from outside the church into it, involve them with the life of the church, help them to come to know Jesus, and grow to be a mature disciple. It takes many communications online and in print to do that.

Getting people to the Christmas eve or day service or other special event is great, but making sure they come back is even better. To make that happen you need more than the invitation that got them there.

To help you do that, we have a number of communication ideas and free templates that can help. Some will help you get contact information, others will inform people about your church, others challenge them to think about Jesus as more than a baby.

Following are descriptions of essential Christmas Communications along with strategies for using them. The ZIP files below each example contain ready-to-print PDFs and editable MS Publisher files. You are free to use them in any way you want and to pass them on. All the artwork and text are copyright legal. Or you can use any part of them for inspiration and create your own or pull out the text for digital or social media sharing.

Christmas Event Sign in and Registration Card

One challenge with special events is how do you get people to give you their contact information so you can follow-up. Especially at events where people are moving around, they probably don't want to sit down and fill out a card. Here's an idea we've used these very successfully when we host a Christmas or other holiday event--we do drawings for great door prizes!

One Christmas we had big table at the door and an assortment of wonderful gift baskets. Some had food, others pampering items, all were gorgeously wrapped. One church I know has Target gift cards they give away at all events for when people fill out their information for a drawing.

We are always upfront with people about why we are doing this and what we want the information for. Following is the message on the card; you can also take this message, enlarge it and put it in a literature stand by the cards, when we do that, we have no problem at all with people signing up:

We are so glad you’re here! Please take a minute to fill out this card so you can be entered into our door-prize drawing and so that we have a record of your attendance and a way to contact you about future events for your family. Be assured this information will not be shared or used outside the church office and you can have your names removed from the list at any time by calling the church office.

Following are images of the templates that we have. [Read more...]

Halloween Outreach Materials: postcards, invitation cards, bulletin inserts, sign-in and follow up cards

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Cover of Overview of the Editable MS Publisher Files
Click here to download the PDF. It is an overview of the editable MS Publisher files and how to use them for effective Halloween Outreach.

This publication is from several years ago, yet it has some materials that are also useful and the process is very useful also. You can change images or the media, but the strategy of what to do before, during and after a special event to get the most out of it remains the same.

The publications illustrated here cover every aspect of preparation for, what to use during and follow-up for effective Halloween outreach including:

***Motivational bulletin insert
***Invitation Cards
***Case-study, volunteer recruitment brochure
***Sign-in cards
***Cards to give out as people leave your event

Click on the PDF for a free overview of all the communications with ideas on how to use them. [Read more...]

Better than roses—an essential communication piece for Mother’s Day

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Bulletin insert for Mother's Day
Help a mom say what she wishes she could say to her child about Jesus with this bulletin excerpt.

As we've talked about before, the biggest reason Mother's Day has such a large turn-out isn't because of the Moms. They are always there. It is because of the unchurched children and spouses that show up that day to make Mom happy. To make the most of it, the church needs to say to that audience what Mom can't—that the most important gift you can give her is a relationship with Jesus.

Here is a publications that will help you do that.

Mother's Day Bulletin insert

This insert doesn't pull any punches, but makes it clear that more important than anything else to a Mother is her child's relationship to Jesus. A bulletin insert can challenge, but also gently guide to websites and sources (please add your own from your church) so that a piece of paper, quietly put into a pocket, may be looked at in a quiet moment and an eternity changed.

Here are images of the insert. Click on one for a larger view.

Below is the text as a free gift to everyone to use however you want: a link for more is at the bottom of the page and you can download a large file that has lots of inserts you can personalize.

Above all PRAY for open hearts for the children and spouses who attend Mother's Day services that they will be convicted of the need to draw close to Jesus. [Read more...]

Jesus, the Reason for the Season postcard, flyer, program cover or bulletin insert

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Jesus is the reason for the Season postcard
Our world needs to be reminded that Jesus truly is the "Reason for the Season." This publication can help you do that.

We know that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas, we know Jesus is the reason for the season, but many of the people who visit your church or are in the neighborhood around it don't have any idea what that means. This communication piece will help.

Though it is done is a casual, upbeat style, the content is actually taken from the Nicene Creed, one of the most widely accepted creeds in the Christian Church and one that defines the identity and role of Jesus as our Savior. Below are pictures of the file. One is in color and one in grey scale. The grey scale looks good printed on some a rustic-looking or colored paper.

[Read more...]