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.

FREE Templates and motivational articles: Read through the Bible in a year—Templates for handouts, booklets

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One of the most important things you can do for your congregation is to encourage them to read through the Bible in a year in chronological order. I've created a printed schedule, booklets, and motivational articles to help you do that. Now is a great time to be planning ahead to do this.

All of it FREE to everyone. Please pass on and share with others.

This post has:

  • A short summary of why it is important to read the Bible in chronological order this is beneficial, at the end of this post are two more articles. You can use these in any of your communications to encourage your people.
  • Handouts for the schedule in MS Word
  • A Booklet of the Schedule in MS Publisher
  •  A short video that shows you how to create the booklet
  • Two more motivational articles from my Bible blog, www.bible805.com

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Free images for Giving Tuesday

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GIVING TUESDAY LOGO, free to use
This is one of the logos that are free to use from Giving Tuesday.

I'm sorry this is so late in coming to you—I was waiting to confirm that you could indeed use the images they created and they just recently got back to me. I was asked by a church communicator if I knew of free images for Giving Tuesday.

I found their site and they had a great selection of what looked like free images BUT (and this is a lesson to all of us) NO WHERE did they tell you that they were free or terms of use or anything. As I'm very concerned to not use anything on the Effective Church Communications site or pass on anything that is not 100% copyright and attribution free, I emailed to ask if it was OK. They just got back to me.

Having said that I realize it is an incredibly lame excuse because I should have worked to contact them earlier so I could pass on the information to you in time for it to be useful. I apologize.

I just added a note to my Google calendar to remind me at the end of July next year to look at their website and start planning ahead. I'd encourage you to do the same because to make a significant difference on this day, we need time to coordinate resources and communications. I promise to remind you much sooner next year. It is a wonderful alternative to the excessive consumerism of Black Friday and as a reminder of the importance of giving. [Read more...]

If you’ve got your church communications totally under control this isn’t for you, if not—read on!

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Overwhelmed with Church Communications
Sometimes I feel like I can't ever catch up or measure up as a church communicator--but here is how I've decided to help us all accomplish what God called us to do

I like to keep up on what’s happening in church communications through online groups and email news, but sometimes it discourages me more than helps me.

I got a major dose of that today when I was reading raving reviews and recommendations about Affinity Software (So easy to use! Cheaper than Illustrator!). And then I read about how you had to start streaming your church service and install online giving in your church before Giving Tuesday.

Please do not misunderstand—if you are a designer who thinks Affinity Software is easy to use and want to create advanced designs—go for it! It didn’t look very easy for me to use when I checked it out, but that’s just me and I did have to smile as I remembered the original Serif software the company created years ago. They have certainly changed. I thought it was too simple years ago and now it seems overly complex for practical church communication tasks.

If you’ve got time to set up a streaming service (more ways to share the gospel, what’s not to love about that?) or install online giving (that’s the one thing I hope every church implements at some time—because giving does go up, again), go for it!

But if you are like me, you already feel overwhelmed by the holidays and don't have time for all that

[Read more...]

That was embarrassing—using copyrighted cartoons to illustrate a sermon about godly character

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How to not make copyright mistakes
We've all made mistakes concerning copyright in the past, but here are some ways to not make the same ones in the future.

We all make mistakes and I'm writing this not to accuse, but to remind us all about what is legal and what is illegal to use when it comes to illustrations for church bulletins, PowerPoint, and other ways we illustrate events and messages in church.

What prompted me to write this was a church bulletin whose entire front was filled with a number of panels of Calvin and Hobbs cartoons. The father in the cartoons repeatedly told Calvin that various things happened to him "to build his character." It was a funny and entertaining way to illustrate a sermon on godly character.

It was also highly illegal.

It is a violation of copyright law to copy and reprint a cartoon without paying for it and the creator of the Calvin and Hobbs cartoons is known for his refusal to allow his characters to be used in any licensing or reprinting of his images in anything other than what he himself created.

Many of us have done similar things without thinking—but here is how to not do it anymore

Most churches know they can't use music or lyrics any time and in any way they want. Most churches have licenses that give them permission to use the songs they use in a church service, but many people forget that you must also ask permission to use other content that you did not create.

Below are some excerpts to articles with clarifications and advice and below them an excellent free PDF resource, all to help you observe copyright laws correctly. Hopefully, these will help build our character correctly in how we use the creations of others.

A Friendly Reminder About Cartoon Copyrights
https://www.glasbergen.com/cartoon-copyrights/

People love to share cartoons on Facebook and Twitter, in newsletters, blogs, presentations at work, in classrooms, on bulletin boards, in business communications and e-mails. I LOVE it when people share my cartoons —- but there is a RIGHT (legal) way to share and a WRONG (illegal) way to share cartoons.

According to an article in Training Magazine, the best way to keep the copyright cops from knocking at your door is “Always assume that any pre-existing work you’d like to use is copyrighted work and that it requires permission from the copyright owner to use or copy.”

If you infringe on someone’s copyright, you may be liable for legal fees and fines up to $50,000 per violation. Stealing a cartoon off of the internet to use in a Powerpoint presentation, website or newsletter without permission is a punishable crime.

How to Make Money and Save Your Soul
https://opedcartoons.com/2012/07/17/copyright-cartoons/

Q & A on Fair Use
What about if I use it on Facebook? Link to it or Like it! It will still show up as a thumbnail on your Timeline. Otherwise, buy the cartoon. There’s no freebie for Facebook.
But I left the cartoonist’s signature in there! So what? How does that pay her bills that month? How does he know where it’s been used? If it’s showing up everywhere, she just lost a sale and do you really want the cartoonist to spend hours tracking you down and telling everyone what you did?
I got the cartoon from someone else. On Facebook. Don’t be a doobie. The other person is either ignorant or a thief, but you don’t have to be!
I found the cartoon on Google images. Other people must be using it. No, that just means the artist or cartoonist was generous enough to post it on his or her website for you to enjoy, and Google scanned it. Google doesn’t own any cartoons!!! Every cartoon belongs only to the cartoonist. No cartoon that you find on Google is free. Let me repeat that: NO CARTOON ON GOOGLE IS FREE.

On Bill Watterson’s Refusal To License Calvin And Hobbes
https://www.thelegalartist.com/blog/on-bill-wattersons-refusal-to-license-calvin-and-hobbes

 

To help you sort out what you can and can't use, here is a link to an excellent, free and free to share PDF booklet on church copyright: LR_Copyright_Guidelines_010711

For Successful Fall & Winter Outreach Publications: Clarify and Coordinate for greater lasting impact

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welcoming people
If you are planning a fall or winter outreach event at your church, these tips will help you have lasting success from it.

Fall and winter are two prime times for churches to plan outreach events for their communities. Large amounts of time and money are spent on these events and often the church gets a great community response to the free Harvest Festival or Family Thanksgiving Dinner or Community Caroling and Hot Chocolate Party. But seldom do these activities generate the kind of continuing church involvement a church hopes for. I'd like to offer some suggestions on how to CLARIFY and COORDINATE your message for greater lasting impact.

If you don't want to waste your time and money the following tips are essential!

To help you understand how important this is and to give you a sense of how futile it is to hold events without good communication to clarify and coordinate your message, primarily for the ladies reading this, think about when you buy cosmetics at the department store or online and you are given some free samples. (The gentleman reading this may or may not have some sort of similar situation, regardless the example will make sense.)  The company that makes the cosmetics don't have the samples in the middle of the mall set up on a pretty display that says, "FREE FOR ALL." No, you go to the specific cosmetic counter and you know without a doubt who is giving them to you. [Read more...]