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.

Outreach Church Bulletin inserts, an idea you can use all year around

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Church Bulletin inserts can be great outreach tools
Church Bulletin inserts can be great outreach tools--check out the 5 minute video here to see how!

Churches go all out at Easter in outreach and in inviting people back to church after Easter. Though it's wonderful to do this at Easter, outreach needs to be a priority always. Obeying the Great Commission isn't only for special events. Bulletin inserts can intentionally give people information that tells them about the church and gives them a reason to come back. The inserts can highlight programs and upcoming events that might interest visitors.

The short video here shows two samples of real church bulletin inserts that were used at Easter to do this but that could be easily adapted to any Sunday. They were sent in by ECC Members. PLEASE send us any samples you have with permission for us to use them. We all learn best from the experiences of each other. If you have some you'd like to share, please check out our Great IDEA SWAP!

Update note: though the basic flyers are great, Microsoft no longer lets you access clipart (bummer, some of us still like it), but you could find the clip art on other sites and put it in.
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Sample: Flyer for volunteer recruitment for a Thanksgiving outreach, a useful example for any seasonal ministry

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Thanks Giving Volunteer Recruitment flyer
This is a copy of a flyer used to recruit volunteers for a Thanksgiving outreach. We need to communicate clearly all we've planned if we want people to help. You can download a PDF of this flyer at the link at the end of this article.

It is challenging to plan a ministry outreach for any holiday and even more so when we want to recruit volunteers to help with it. Because there are so many things to do for successful outreach and our minds are pre-occupied with the event, it is easy to short-change our congregations in how we communicate to them about what is going on and what we need them to do.

Here is a flyer we created to remedy that situation

As a very practical example, at our church, with the Adult Sunday School Class we are hosting a Thanksgiving outreach dinner. I've been working on it for some time and for it to be successful, we need many in the class to be involved. Though they have known we are doing this for some time--we just got the final approval of the location last week. I needed to let the class know and to let them know what we needed them to do.

My first idea was to simply do a PowerPoint Slide and announce it, but I knew that wasn't enough. I reminded myself of what I constantly try to teach that those of us who work and plan ministry events must always remember that the people we want to involve haven't been working on it as we have; they haven't been thinking and praying about it for as long as we have. They can't read our minds.

People need a tangible, paper, printed reminder of what we are doing and what we want them to do. Once the print piece is produced, we can put it on our information table for those who might have missed the first announcement and remind people about it in subsequent weeks.

We have to clearly share our vision and requests

We have a lot going on, we want people to do a number of things. Though in the coming weeks I will have specific task lists and sign-up sheets I wanted to give people a flyer that specifically told them:

  • what was going on
  • basic information
  • our goals
  • prayer requests
  • what we needed them to do

The flyer illustrated here is what I came up with. The information is what is most important here and it was well-received.

It seems like we never have the time to put together things like this, but they are vitally important for as many people as possible to be involved in ministry events and outreach.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD a PDF of the flyer.

 

Canvas Salvation Book, a tangible way to share the gospel

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Good News 1Note from Yvon:  This is one of the most wonderful and caring ideas I've ever seen on how to share the gospel. For those of you who remember the "Wordless Book," a little booklet that told the gospel story through colors as you explained it, this is an expanded version of it, done up in cloth and decorated with lace, buttons, jewels and decorations. Below are complete instructions as well as pictures of the entire book. There are so many ways this can be used in evangelism at nursing homes, hospitals, many other places.

In addition, making them could be a great project for Ladies Circles and other church groups. Changing production methods in churches make the groups that used to collate the bulletin no longer necessary in some churches, but getting together to work on projects that serve others is always a joy.

I cannot thank enough, Joyce Joseph, who sent these samples, the pictures and instructions. Her mother (age 85) does a lot of the sewing for her.  She told me to please pass on her information and to contact her with questions concerning construction of the booklet at jwjoseph320@yahoo.com.

Canvas Salvation Booklet

Taking a cue from the song “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”, this canvas booklet spells out the ABCs of salvation: admit, believe, commit. Follow the plan below to make your booklet today and start sharing the good news story.

Create A Canvas Booklet in 8 Steps

1. Copy and laminate story cards (found at womenonmission.com). If printing a large quantity, go to a copy center. Otherwise, use the church copier. Lamination can be done at a copy center or school supply shop.

2. Cut 20 14-inch canvas circles. Purchase a 14-inch circle shape, or use a plate or bowl. Duck Canvas is a good thickness and stiffness. Each page is separate and sewn to the page in back of it. Pages need to be made and decorated separately (this step hides stitching) and then sewn together by hand or machine. Again, sew the buttons, jewels, and decorations on BEFORE sewing the book together.

3. Cut two large red hearts.—One for the GOOD NEWS page and one for the HOW CAN I BECOME A CHRISTIAN.

4. Cut nine smaller hearts of the correct colors for the story cards. (See photos on womenonmission.com.)

5. Cut all letters from felt. Use 1-inch, 1-½-inch, and 2-inch letters. Use precut letters or trace on the felt with wood letter shapes or stencils.

6. Cut the correct color shapes on felt for the letters to be sewn on. The exact shape is not that important as long as the letters fit on it and the shape fits on the page. Use your creativity. Search craft shops (JoAnn’s, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Wal-Mart) for wood shapes that will fit.

7. Decorate the pages with sparkly sew-on jewels, buttons, sequins, etc. Glue-on felt and jewels will work, but they will not be as sturdy and permanent. Make the page attractive, bright, and attention grabbing.

8. Make this a joint effort and project—organizing, designing, cutting, and sewing. Women who do embroidery or appliqué work can really use their imagination.

—Instructions by Joyce Joseph, Tennessee. Contact her with questions concerning construction of the booklet at jwjoseph320@yahoo.com. The booklet has now been translated into Spanish and she will be glad to help you with story cards and photos for that translation.

Use Canvas Salvation Booklets for:

  • Overseas or stateside missions trips
  • Vacation Bible School
  • Children’s Sunday School classes
  • GA® and RA camp
  • Day camp
  • Migrant camp
  • Homeless shelters, women’s shelters
  • Nursing homes
  • Retirement centers/assisted living facilities

Here are pictures of the booklet.
Good News 1Good News 2-3
Good News 6-7Good News 8-9Good News 10-11Good News 12-13Good News 14-15Good News 16-17Good News 18-19Good News 20

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If you have ideas, project, communication tools of any sort that you would like to share with others to encourage and enable them to better communicate in the church please read about our Great Idea Swap (Click here to so to that section) and send materials via email to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.