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; Effective Church Communications can help.

Great Idea Swap: Samples of Children’s Ministry Communications

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Note: these are from a previous GREAT IDEA SWAP, but are some wonderful samples for Children's Ministry that I thought would go well with the Postcard samples we just shared.

Children's ministry requires a large number of communication pieces for a successful ministry. The following pieces are a from various churches and should give you some ideas for your ministry. These samples are from our Great Idea Swap. A brief description and a few comments goes with each one.

Click on the the image to download the PDF and to be able to see the entire communication piece.

Children's ministry Brochure

This brochure that describes the Preschool ministry at this church is short, sweet and to the point, but it gives you the information you need and how to contact someone at the church for more information.

One other thing I really like is the image used to illustrate the ministry—instead of just a piece of clip art of children (and there is really nothing wrong with that), they used the watering can and water illustrating growth—neat image and I have an idea a really neat ministry also.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image.

Christian growth bookMy Christian Growth Book

Don't let the simple cover fool you, this booklet is a jewel.

It has a detailed, complete program of discipleship for children presented in a systematic, upbeat way, with prizes and rewards as the children work through different levels.  The program includes becoming a Christian, baptism, life-style guidance, learning books of the Bible and the flow of Bibical history, plus a group of key passages and verses for the children to memorize.  You can of course adapt the material to the training of your church, but the important thing here is that this can inspire you to have a discipleship training program for your children.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image. [Read more...]

Mail for KIDS! A special outreach letter for children

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Back To Sunday School Letter
A letter like this is a special and very effective way to reach children in our digital world.

Here is how Sandra Coulson from Ascension Anglican in London, Ontario Canada describes the wonderful sample of a letter to children:

Sunday School letter is a piece I helped the Sunday School teachers create to send to the children of the congregation to remind them of start-up in the fall. It might seem strange to send out snail mail to a generation that is so attached to digital communication, but the advice I received from parents and grandparents (I don’t have children myself) is that printed letters are so unusual as a form of communication for these kids that it really stands out for them. In fact, I’m told that they actually get excited when the postal carrier delivers a letter addressed to them. Who knew?

I just LOVE this! And I can imagine the excitement a child would have who received it.

In fact I liked it so much, I've made a whole set of POSTCARDS designed specifically for Kids that you can send out from your church. CLICK HERE to go to that post.

A full-size PDF of the letter is available for Effective Church Communication Members at the end of this post. [Read more...]

Bulletin Inserts: Shop for Your Christmas Child Boxes during back to school sales

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Sam Purse bulletin inserts 1
If you shop during Back-to-School sales you can get great deals you can put away for your Christmas Child Shoe box. These bulletin inserts contain this and other great tips.

This time of year, when lots of sales are going on for Back-to-School, is a great time to buy for the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child. This is a wonderful ministry where people in your church pack shoe boxes for children in need around the world.

A bulletin insert like the ones to the left are a great way to remind people in your church to buy these items ahead of time.

I'm making our archived designs free for everyone in a ZIP file that has:

  • Ready-to-print PDF files of all the images, 2 to a page, you can print the front without editing  and add any additional church-specific information on the back
  • An MS Word File with the wording if you want to use it in other communications in print or on the web
  • Editable MS Publisher files of each design
  • PNG images at  96 dpi of each file if you would want to post it on your website or in an email.
  • JPG hi-resolution images of each file if you want to use it in your bulletin or other print publication

Sam Purse bulletin inserts 2Sam Purse bulletin inserts 3All of these items are in the ZIP FILE at the end of the article. I

See the official list of items recommended by Samaritan's Purse, and all the related information about what to buy, not buy, packing information and shipping costs on their website: http://www.samaritanspurse.org website.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE

How to make Bible school more than a happy memory

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Make the joy of VBS last -- invite people back to church!Some of the happiest times of my life as a child were in summer Daily Vacation Bible School and that wonderful experience continues in many churches today. Kids have a wonderful week, but thoughtful communications can extend that week into a continuing relationship with the church.

There are several ways you can do this, but the over-riding idea is that you need to intentionally communicate connect with parents, let them know what else is going on for their children at the church, and invite them to take part in it.

Why this is so important

If you asked a person in the neighborhood of your church, who does not go to your church, "What does our church do on Sundays for children?" you would most likely be met with a blank stare. Most people who do not go to church have no idea what people do in church other than the media picture of people standing around singing with their hands in the air.

The parents of the neighborhood children you worked so hard to reach so their kids would come to VBS are no different. To many of them the church is providing a nice summer community service and they get a few hours of free (or almost free, as many VBS programs charge these days) child care for a week. That the church has anything else of value for their kids is probably something that never crossed their minds.

For the church staff putting on VBS that's difficult to imagine, but it's true and though you want people to so love VBS they will bring their kids back on Sunday to your children's program and begin a relationship with the church, this won't happen unless you are intentional about it. Here's how to do it: [Read more...]