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.

Why the emphasis on evangelism and discipleship for Mother’s Day

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Mothers Day Resources
Celebrating Mothers is important on Mother's Day, but we can do more to reach out to unchurched families at this time.

The reasons for doing more on Mother's Day that focusing solely on celebrating Moms has to do with the overall approach of the Effective Church Communications ministry.

Bear with me for a few minutes while I explain (and if you are super busy, just go HERE for free Mother's Day Templates).

Brief background of the philosophy underlying Effective Church Communications

I never imagined when I was astounded with the technical ability of the IBM Self-Correcting typewriter that I'd be communicating today creating images in Canva, doing podcasts, and training videos for church communicators on the web that reach the world.I imagine those starting out with the technology we have today will look back, should they and this world last, and be amazed at what they will use in church communications five decades from now.

Tools are essential, but often a distraction

Though technology and the tools we use to communicate have continuously changed from the use of clay tablets to the Internet (though the pace has accelerated greatly), a human tendency continues to focus on the tools as THE most important ingredient to communication success. At one time it was radio that would reach the world, then television, then the Internet came along and gave birth to the myriad of technologies today.

A bulletin with color added was a big deal at one time; now churches worry that they aren't posting enough on all the latest social media channels.

Each time a new tool appears we loudly proclaim THIS IS IT! Conquer this or that tool and the world will be reached for Jesus. Or at least we'll have a new tool to try. [Read more...]

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.

Templates: Valentines for believers, remember how much Jesus loves you!

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Valentines Encouragement Cards
Sometimes we forget how much God loves us--these cards will help us remember.

Sometimes before we can share the love of Jesus with others, we need to be reminded of it ourselves. Below is a set of Valentines Cards to encourage believers in Jesus how much he loves us and how we should love others.

The set is free and is in a downloadable ZIP file after the images. The ZIP files contains both PDF images and the original editable MS Publisher file.

The message below can be printed on the back of the cards, or used in other ways for Valentine's Day Outreach:

Valentine’s Day is supposed to be all about love—but, truth be told—it is often about disappointment.

Disappointment comes from human love, which may be wonderful, but somehow
always seems to fall short of our expectations and dreams.

We may blame it on Hollywood and the media, on unrealistic images, unobtainable fantasies, on novels and dreams. But, though our expectations and dreams may have flawed foundations, maybe it isn’t bad to be disappointed in human love.

Maybe it is a realistic reminder that we can never expect human love to fill the place in the human heart only God can fill.

When we realize that God loves us unconditionally, totally, fully, when we rest and rejoice in that, an interesting thing happens. . . . . .

The human love we get from imperfect humans isn’t disappointing anymore. Because God loves us in our imperfections, stumbles, and short-comings, He can help us love others as they really are, not as fantasies, but as real people as flawed as we all are.

When we accept and give His love, it’s a Valentine better than chocolate—relationships not built on disappointing dreams, but on honest, satisfying, acceptance of each other.

Images of the Valentine's Day Cards:

To download the ZIP file of the images in PDF format and MS Publisher format, CLICK the following link: Valentine Cards quarter page Believer encouragements

 

Follow the example of the Apostle Paul—make Halloween a great time for Evangelism and FREE materials to help you do that!

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Or how to use everything that is bad about Halloween as a tool to share the gospel—

If there is a holiday that causes controversy in the church, it is Halloween. Some churches welcome it as a great time to do community outreach with alternative Halloween events; others shake their fingers and condemn churches that even mention the term.

It’s always easier to curse the darkness than to flood it with light, but taking our cue from the Apostle Paul who used the pagan idols in Athens as his bridge to sharing the gospel, I'd like to challenge you to use this time of year to share the gospel.

Following is a brief video of the material that follows and after it the text of it and at the end of the blog, FREE Downloadable materials for you to use in your Halloween outreach. Please make the most of them and don't miss this opportunity!

[Read more...]

FREE e-Book, Tetelestai, if the battle is over, why is life so hard?

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Tetelestai Book Cover
The answer is comforting and challenging, download the eBook for free to find it.

Tetelestai! "It is finished!"

Many sermons, this and every Easter are either based on or contain this great final cry of Jesus from the cross that affirms that the work of salvation is complete.

But is that what Jesus really said? (Spoiler alert....He didn't).

And if He did, why is life so hard, why are there so many battles to fight?

Don't be alarmed.....I'm not being heretical or doubting. In researching the answers to these questions I found answers far more challenging and reassuring than what I'd known in the past about not only the finished work of Jesus but what it means to us in our struggles.

I had great plans to publish an expanded version of this book on Amazon with a Kindle version, but as I shared in another post, life interfered and many projects are put off. As Easter neared I wanted to give you this book.

CLICK HERE to download it. You have my permission to share it.