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.

Social media advice from Proverbs

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Social boom book cover
This isn't a specifically "Christian" book, but church communications will find much useful advice in it on how to use social media.

QUOTE:

Those who work their land will have abundant food,
but those who chase fantasies have no sense.
Proverbs 12:11, NIV

COMMENTARY:

As I read this verse in my morning devotionals, I thought about my current ministry strategy in social media, especially in Facebook and Twitter. I've tried to be more consistent in these communication methods because I finally have a motivation for it that makes sense to me, here's how that came about:

In many ways I am a very private person and the public sharing about daily activities done by many in these communication channels, especially on Twitter (Facebook is more social and chatty, fine for personal family and friend interaction, that's understandable), did not appeal to me. I do not really care when a person that I follow for his or her ministry advice gets an ice cream cone or has problems with air travel. We all eat and move from place to place--not exactly news flash events. In addition, having to wade through them to find useful information is, it seems to me, a waste of time.

Facebook is more social and chatty, fine for personal family and friend interaction, that's understandable. On Facebook also, you can separate personal, family updates from ministry or professional ones.

I prefer Twitter and Facebook when I can read them as more of a news feed--a running commentary of  useful updates and information coming from a person, business, or ministry rather than as an online diary.

What changed how I now use social media

The above opinions were floating unfocused in my head until I read a little book, Social Boom by Jeffery Gitomer. It is not a Christian book, but a book on sales and marketing, but it totally changed and inspired me for how I use social media. [Read more...]

Social media, it’s just one more tool, not the savior

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I just bailed out of participating in a social media survey. I started out wanting to be helpful, but as page after page after page scrolled on, I not only got irritated with the length, redundancy and poor design of the survey, but also with the implied importance of social media in its content and how the material was going to be used.

I could envision the end results of the survey when it is presented at an upcoming event:

  • the oh-so-serious pronouncements of how social media is being used by churches and ministries
  • the insightful quotes and comments from the survey
  • the audience awe in the face of the implied power of statistics
  • the nagging guilt in the audience that their church or ministry isn't doing enough
  • conclusions profoundly offered by company who humbly will help your church or ministry be social media effective

We are all deceived by these performances and we shouldn't be.

[Read more...]