Effective Church Communications

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators. 

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators.

Free Social Media Invitation and Postcard Templates for Mother’s Day, set 2, using AI-generated images in BOTH Canva and MS Publisher

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Free Mother's Day Social Media Invitations
This is one of a set of Free Social Media & MS Publisher invitations for Mother's Day. This set of images was created using the AI program in Canva.

This second set of Social Media invitation templates for Mother's Day was created using AI-generated images. To go to Set #1, CLICK HERE.

I did them in Canva using variations of the prompt: "Mother's Day background, using flowers, roses, or lilies." I changed the style for variations of the images. I wasn't looking for anything spectacular, but something useful. I then resized them in Canva and added the text boxes.

Below the images of the social media are links that will take you to the Canva files and MS Publisher files where you can modify them however you wish, adding your church's specific event information, or referring them to another place for it. Regardless of where you direct them, be very clear as these messages may be forwarded (hopefully they will be) to someone who may not be familiar with your church and exactly where you are or when you meet.

For the Canva Files of Free Mother's Day Social Media Images, click on the links below.

AI Images INSTAGRAM SIZE
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFgIlx5BuU/7NwcI5bWxcHFG5by4qtYeA/edit?utm_content=DAFgIlx5BuU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

AI Images FACEBOOK SIZE
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFhLB6oNh8/gZUlNba9dvcbvMl32OSLsw/edit?utm_content=DAFhLB6oNh8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

AI Images POSTCARD SIZE
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFhLO-Xphk/R3t-4uwpGpx4TbtbyNsfIg/edit?utm_content=DAFhLO-Xphk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

For the MS Publisher file of Free Mother's Day Postcards or for the image in PDF format, download the ZIP file below to your computer, open, and modify as you wish.

To download the editable MS Publisher file for the postcards, click the following link: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/JPG-Images-AI-created-POSTCARD-SIZE-T-2.zip

REMEMBER the most important reason for using these invitations

Of course, you want to make Moms happy by inviting their loved ones to attend church with them but remember that this is a fantastic opportunity to share the good news of salvation in Jesus with family members who may not have heard it or responded to it.

Do honor Mothers on this day, but most of all, with all the unchurched family members who will attend this day, be sure to make it one of your best outreach days of the year.

Free Social Media and MS Publisher Postcard Invitation Templates for Mother’s Day, set 1

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Free Mother's Day Social Media and MS Publisher Images
This is one of a set of Social Media and MS Postcard Template files for you to create invitations for your church's Mother's Day services. Modify and use however you want!

Everyone wants to make Mom happy on Mothers' Day and one of the best ways for either children or spouses who don't come to church regularly is to join Mom for church on Mother's Day!

Following the images below are links to editable Canva files and MS Publisher and PDF files for you to modify and use however you want.

Below the images of the social media are links that will take you to the Canva files and MS Publisher files where you can modify them however you wish, adding your church's specific event information, or referring them to another place for it. Regardless of where you direct them, be very clear as these messages may be forwarded (hopefully they will be) to someone who may not be familiar with your church and exactly where you are or when you meet.

There is a second set of layouts that were created using AI-generated images. To go to that free set, CLICK HERE.

For the Canva Files of Free Mother's Day Social Media Images, click on the links below.

Standard Images INSTAGRAM SIZE
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFgOpC8bBM/xnqU3HRtajIwJnSxjEyrZg/edit?utm_content=DAFgOpC8bBM&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Standard Images FACEBOOK SIZE
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFg5FEC-0o/SpWZSAGNCjpH5Rey-mR4-A/edit?utm_content=DAFg5FEC-0o&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Standard Images POSTCARD SIZE  https://www.canva.com/design/DAFg_FZT2E8/nOCTMODeo93VQgNlSoNRSA/edit?utm_content=DAFg_FZT2E8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

For the MS Publisher file of Free Mother's Day Postcards or for the image in PDF format, download the ZIP file below to your computer, open, and modify as you wish.

To download the ZIP file, click on the following link: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/MOTHERS-DAY-POSTCARDS-SET-1.zip

REMEMBER the most important reason for using these invitations

Of course, you want to make Moms happy by inviting their loved ones to attend church with them, but remember that this is a fantastic opportunity to share the good news of salvation in Jesus with family members who may not have heard it or responded to it.

Do honor Mothers on this day, but most of all, with all the unchurched family members who will attend this day, be sure to make it one of your best outreach days of the year.

After GIVING TUESDAY—my gift to YOU—dozens of FREE CHRISTMAS Templates!!!!! No strings attached…..really FREE

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Effective Church Communications has gifts for you!
Effective Church Communications has gifts for you--totally free templates for all occassions.

I do love the idea of Giving Tuesday but I must admit many of the ministry requests for giving in the midst of the crush of buying demands for Black Friday often felt like one more case of financial badgering.

I understand the need to raise funds whenever possible. When I was senior editor at both Compassion International and Young Life, I wrote many of those fund-raising appeals myself.

I thought about doing a plea for support for the Effective Church Communications Ministry. But I just couldn't add one more to an already lengthy list of the appeals you received from ministries doing truly important kingdom work. Then I realized......

This is an opportunity for me to GIVE to YOU!

It isn't anything new really, just a reminder of the many TEMPLATES and especially the Christmas ones I have for all of you for FREE!

Here are some of the ones I have and there are many, many more the links to all are at the bottom of this article:

[Read more...]

SEND OUT THOSE POSTCARDS!!! National Study on the importance of Direct Mail confirms the effectiveness of postcards

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Postcards are an effective way to communicate
Even though we have many channels of communication, postcards are still one of the most effective, as this current study shows.

The direct mail and marketing companies, Lob and Comperemedia just sent out some highlights from their 2022 State of Direct Mail: Consumer Insights report. I think it's fair to say that where they list "direct mail" we can substitute the word, "postcard."

Here are their findings:

  • 72% of respondents read direct mail immediately after or on the same day they bring it inside their residence
  • Of the 62% of consumers that have taken action on a direct mail piece, 64% were inspired to take action because of an offer or promotion
  • 45% of consumers say receiving direct mail from a brand feels more important than receiving an email from a brand

Though these companies of course want to sell you their direct mailing services, as church communicators we can learn a lot from them.

Based on these statistics, one of the most successful communications churches can create for outreach is a postcard

As I have reminded church communicators for many years, when a person gets a postcard out of the mail, for the brief seconds that they check it out, you have their complete attention. They cannot help but read the message you have on it.

It is one-on-one communication. [Read more...]

Colorful, fun church reminder postcards for Summer

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Summer church reminder postcards
Remind people in fun ways about what is going on at church this summer with these cards.

A light touch, a gentle reminder is often all that is needed to let people know what is going on at church during the summer and to help you do that, I revised some summer postcards I made with www.tagxedo.com, a fun site you can use to create word cloud images that you can then place into any publication you are working on.

The cards below were designed as reminders or notes that you can send out to remind people of what is going on at the church. Make them up for Sunday School Teachers, Small Group Leaders and Pastors to write a few notes a day to various church members. Summer is time for fun, but the best of times are often with our church families and these cards can remind people of that.

Below the illustration of the cards is a downloadable ZIP file that has ready-to-print PDFs and editable MS Publisher files.

To download the ZIP file for the images above, click the following link: Fun Summer postcards