Effective Church Communications

Halloween, a great time for evangelism…..really!!

4 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Halloween Evangelism card — Halloween is a fantastic time to get people to consider the one person who conquered death--Jesus.

I realize a lot of churches have problems with Halloween and I understand why, but along with the problems it is a fantastic opportunity for evangelism!

Here's why: people are thinking about death, dying, and the afterlife more than any other time of year. Yes, their views are totally wrong and distorted, but at least they are thinking about it. Following are some not very subtle suggestions that people may want to consider Jesus—the one person who conquered death.

These cards have the thought-provoking challenge on the front and then on the back you can either put websites for them to check out in more detail (as I did on one of the cards) or you can link them to other websites or sources at your church. Best of all, consider a time at your church holding some Bible Studies for people to consider the Christian faith.

If you hold a Trunk or Treat or other event, these are great to put into goodie bags. You can do that at home also.

Just like the Apostle Paul used the idols of Athens as a bridge to sharing the true God, we can take an admittedly horrible time of year and use it to tell people about Jesus.

Resources to help you share the gospel at Halloween

Below are both business cards and half-page size cards or bulletin inserts for your inspiration.

[Read more...]

Video: about ECC TEMPLATES and an overview of FREE CHRISTMAS TEMPLATES

28 November, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Christmas is incredibly busy and Templates can be a great time saver when you want to do something quickly without having to take time to agonize over design or legal images or what typeface to use.

Effective Church Communications has created hundreds of Templates for you that will not only save you time, but that will help you accomplish the ministry goals of helping people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to maturity in your Christian faith.

The video here explains how and why our templates can be useful to you and gives you an overview and examples of how we put our ministry strategy into practice for Christmas.

You can download all the Christmas Templates HERE.

Here are just a few samples of what's on that page. [Read more...]

What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? Or other seasonal outreach times? Try this Biblical alternative!

15 February, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Equip your people --free Easter invitations — You may not want to be this obvious, but when your people believe this and want to tell their friends, it's the most effective form of church outreach you can do.

Ed. note: This is a repeat of what I did last year, but it is incredibly important--because YOUR people are always the most important outreach tool you have. Though you can use every available tool you have and can afford to reach out to people, you don't need to do anything more than encourage and inspire YOUR congregation.

The Podcast:

What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? No sending out of postcards purchased from some national company that end up looking like the several other churches produce.

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

Today we'll talk about alternatives that you can do in-house--by your people that can accomplish much more.

As I mentioned in the intro—Far too often, when a church is planning a major holiday outreach, a catalog of professionally produced postcards are selected, purchased and mailed out by the church. This can cost a lot of money, but sometimes a smaller church desperately wants to try something that might result in growth, so they spend money, that perhaps could have been used for other things and try it. Statistically, as the companies will tell you a certain number ought to respond and though we rejoice if even one new person comes and ultimately comes to know Jesus as Savior because of that process, let me suggest another strategy that is more biblical, more successful, and that will probably save your church some money also.

A new strategy—Involve the whole church in seasonal communication

Everyone in the church needs to be involved for holiday and special events to be successful. Everyone needs to be part of and feel responsible for the outreach and growth of your church. When Jesus said:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

He did not qualify these commands by saying:

"The command to be my witness and to reach your world is only for pastors and for the communication director of the church.”

No—outreach, witnessing, sharing your faith is every believer's task and seasonal celebrations and special events are a great way to be obedient to Jesus' command to be his witness and reach our world. The tools of technology available to us in ministry today make it possible for everyone in the church to have a significant part in the outreach of the entire church. [Read more...]

Back-to-church invite cards for late summer events–Free Templates and PDFs

5 August, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Summer Back to Church Invitation Card — If you are holding a summer community outreach event, these cards are essential to bring visitors back to your church.

Many churches hold end-of-the-summer events. Ours ours does a Lemon Festival with a free community BBQ and a huge lemon dessert contest. We are a neighborhood church that was built in a former lemon grove and the festival is a fun and fitting way to invite the community to the church one more time.

If your church is doing something like that, make the most of the event by giving everyone an invitation card that invites them back to church. If you are truly reaching out to people who don't normally attend church, they have no idea what else you do or when you do it.

A card that gives details and links to your website and social media can make all the difference.

Below are some FREE templates for you to use to make business-card size back-to-church reminder cards and you can personalize them by putting your information on the back. The ZIP File for them has a ready-to-print PDF, plus editable MS Publisher files and image files in hi and low resolutions.

To download the ZIP file that contains the cards above, click this link: Back to church invite cards for summer events

Please take a few minutes to make up something like this for your end-of-summer events, it can make all the difference for a guest who needs to find the Lord.

*****

For more SUMMER Templates: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/summer-themed-templates/

More powerful than social media to invite, connect, share your faith—church & ministry business & invitation cards

2 October, 2018 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Mom's Morning Out Business Card — Cards like this are great to make up for members of the group to give out at playgrounds or in line at the grocery store.

Social media is powerful, but there are many times in our day and ministries where we don't have or can't use it—at a hospital visitation, in a casual conversation, times when we want to anonymously share a ministry, a resource, or hopeful advice. Business cards are the perfect ministry solution for all these situations.

Below are links to articles, two video classes, a podcast and templates.

Key article: Church Invitation Cards, business cards with an eternity-altering purpose: https://wp.me/pDky9-1tQ

Here is an excerpt from it:
How do you get unchurched people into your church?Despite all the high-tech and expensive advertising methods available today, one method remains the most effective way to get new people to come to your and that is a personal invitation. Your members inviting their friends to church beats any advertising campaign at any cost.

Key article: Why church business cards still work in the digital age, and bonus content on anonymous cards: https://wp.me/pDky9-8dp

Here is an excerpt from it:Business cards never have downtime. They're always accessible, and never have dead zones or Internet outages. Your business card can be viewed no matter where you are located, and even times when cell

There are many ways to create church invitation cards and many setting you can use them in, check out the materials here for ideas!

phones and other devices must be turned off, such as on an airplane ride or in a hospital. Your business card is always working for you.

Article: How to pass sensitive ministry information for domestic abuse, drug abuse, and pornography addition help: https://wp.me/pDky9-8fh

Video class: on Church Business and Ministry Invitation Cards, go here: https://church-communications-training.teachable.com/p/church-and-ministry-business-and-invitation-cards

Part of the Church Communications Training School, a good video to share with staff on the many uses and types of these cards. Especially important is the section on how they can be used in sensitive and challenging ministry situations.

Contemporaty, square church business card — A contemporary church business and invitation card--check out the Template link for lots of unique cards.

Podcast: ECC Podcast: Church and Ministry Business and Invitation Cards: https://wp.me/pDky9-8df

An audio format with content similar to the video, but good for both preview and review of the importance of church and ministry business and invitation cards.

Video: How to modify the FREE Templates for Church Business and Ministry Invitation Cards: https://wp.me/pDky9-8ea

The templates can inspire, but they are designed for you to modify them for your church or ministry. The video link above is part of the course on the cards and the link below is to the Templates themselves.

FREE Templates: https://wp.me/PDky9-7TT

Below are samples of some--many more on the link above.