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.

One Mother’s Prayer, free sample and for ECC Members the text and download link

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One Mother's Prayer
This piece has challenged and changed lives--CLICK on the image to download your copy.

This short piece, One Mother's Prayer, has probably been impacted more people than anything else I've written. It is the simple, but true story of a young man whose life was going very wrong, whose Mother prayed and his life changed.

It was first published in Today's Christian Woman magazine. It was repeated in their Best of Ten Years of writings, it has been reprinted and republished all over the world, and it continues to bring tears to the eyes of any group I read it to. You are free to use it any way you want and share it however you want.

It is useful for Mother's Day, for Moms in Touch and other prayer ministries and to give out in Children's ministries.

This sample PDF if free to download.You can click here or on the image to download it.

ECC Members will get the all of the additional PDF formats: 2 more 8 1/2 by 11 plus 4 other versions on half sheet size plus the jpgs of the larger files and an MS Word text file if you want to create your own publication. The text file and the link to all the other downloads is after the images below. [Read more...]

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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Easter links for Effective Church Communications

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There are many Easter materials on this site--the links here will take you to them. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you get information on resources as they are posted.

Welcome to the Effective Church Communications Site!

We are in the process of putting up and revising LOTS of material and resources for Easter on this site. Revised articles, a training video on how to get people to come back after Easter, and many other materials will be up soon. To get notification of all of it, please sign up for our newsletter.

Just click on the following link to do that: https://forms.aweber.com/form/60/1580351860.htm

For articles of all kinds about Easter, CLICK HERE: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/category/seasonal/easter/

For TEMPLATES of a variety of Easter Communications, CLICK HERE: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/easter-templates/

Bulletin insert example: compassionate, timely fund-raising for current spring disasters

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WECLA Severe spring storms Bulletin inserthen disaster happens, some of the first responders are always the churches. Their work doesn't often make the evening news, but I know it brings joy to our Lord.

How we respond is also a powerful witness to our world, not only in our work, but our works. A blog linked to the ECLA disaster site (http://blogs.elca.org/disasterresponse/) quoted one pastor who challenges us during this Lenten season before Easter: “There is resurrection even in this life. You can live again in houses that looked like tombs." That is a message we all need to hear and share with our world.

Disaster assistance is costly and raising money for it always a challenge. I've long been a fan of the power of church bulletin inserts and I just received one as I was finishing up my newsletter to church communicators that I wanted to pass on to you. There are few other tools that can be quickly and easily created plus providing immediate impact to and a plan for action for your congregation.

This example is from the ECLA church. The example is to the left and if you click on the image you can download a copy of it.

It is an excellent example of this type of publication because:

  • It states the need clearly and concisely
  • It asks for help
  • It tells you what will happen to your donation

I'm passing this along to you,  not only as a great example of what can be done to tell your congregation about needs and to ask for donations, but if your church does not have an outreach program like this, I'm sure ECLA wouldn't mind at all if you used theirs.

Take a minute to pray

In the midst of your busy day, take a minute to pray for all the people going through these very hard times.

  • Pray  for victims and first responders.
  • Pray for those who clean up and rebuild.
  • Pray for strength, peace, and healing of communities.
  • Pray for comfort for those who have lost loved ones and healing for the injured.
  • Pray that the church of Jesus Christ will bear a strong witness to the world that no matter what the storms of life (literally and figuratively) that we have Savior who is with us in the storm and who will see us safely home.