Challenges, commentary, and free templates to help churches create communications that help people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples.

In other words, to fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Effective Church Communications

Timeless training from Yvon Prehn to help churches create communications that will enable them to fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Make STRATEGIC use of Father’s Day to grow your church–by targeting YOUNGER Dads

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Reach out to young dads at Father's Day
Fathers Day is a great time to reach out to young dads at your church.

Many churches today have an ideal church member they want to recruit—the younger male, the dad with a young family, and Father's Day is a great time to do a focused outreach to them.

Make sure men are visible at your church

Men need to be greeters, the ones who do announcements, are in the children's ministry when kids are dropped off, and other visual actions at the church. This isn't being sexist--men need to see that men are doing things at the church.

Most likely they are involved in all these areas, but you need to make sure they are front and center on this day.

Invite men back for a service project

Many studies show that younger men are part of a generation that believes in volunteering, in giving back. Asking this group to be part of service projects is a great way to involve them with the men of the church. Here are some ideas:Continue Reading

Father’s Day Resources, list and links to help you celebrate the men of your church and involve them in ministries

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Men's Ministry Resources
Father's Day is a great time to celebrate the men of your church and help them grow spiritually. Here are resources to help do that.

Father's Day is a fantastic opportunity to connect with the men of your church, celebrate them, and help them get involved in ministries. Below is a summary listing of the articles and resources that will help you do that! The list has more than links to graphics you can download and personalize, but articles and strategy that will help you make the most of the communication pieces.

If you'd like to see a preview of all the sets and download links of all these publications for Father's Day, they are at the TEMPLATES page for Father's Day. CLICK HERE to go to the Templates page.

Below are samples of the various publications included, but each entry has a variety of the various kinds of publications. ALL the work is done for you—images and type selected, layout done—you can personalize if you want, or print a finished PDF.

Gallery of samples of Father's Day Publications

Below these samples are links to the full articles of each type with many more options.

Each of the articles below of publications also have galleries of the publications and download links. Be sure to check out the first ones of the slides and video—they are great ways to welcome father's on this special day.

Father's Day Power Point Slides and Videos of inspiring quotes and verses: https://wp.me/pDky9-7ly

Welcome slides for Father's Day: https://wp.me/pDky9-7mc

Father's Day Invitations: http://wp.me/pDky9-7fM

Father's Day Bulletin Inserts: http://wp.me/pDky9-7gG

Father's Day Men's Ministry Connection Cards: http://wp.me/pDky9-7gX

Father's Day Men's Ministry Business Cards: http://wp.me/pDky9-7ho

Father's Day Men's Be A Better Man Challenge: http://wp.me/pDky9-7hk

Father's Day Solutions to Porn Card, FREE to all: http://wp.me/pDky9-7hr

Father's Day Social Media Images, FREE to all: http://wp.me/pDky9-7gh

Dos and Don'ts to a successful launch of a men's ministry: http://wp.me/pDky9-7hQ

Make STRATEGIC use of Father's Day to grow your church--by targeting YOUNGER Dads: https://wp.me/pDky9-6ec

Evaluate the effectiveness of your Easter response—never easy to do, but essential

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Evaluate your Easter events
Even though you are no doubt tired, take time to evaluate the effectiveness of your Easter outreach to continuously make these events more effective.

Easter is over and Mother's Day came so quickly this year, but before you put the Easter totally out of mind, take some time to evaluate the communications you created, the response you had, and how you can be more effective in future church celebrations and seasonal events to help your church grow.

Post-event evaluation is essential for us to learn how we can best serve our people. It’s never about us, but about doing our best for our Lord and our effectiveness as we communicate the words of eternal life.

Beyond the numbers, what was the spiritual response?

You probably had a large turn-out for Easter—most churches do. However, though numbers are important, in our analysis of the effectiveness of our church communications and marketing, the most important evaluations go beyond numbers to looking at how people responded spiritually.

In the Great Commission, Jesus did not tell us to go into all the world and hold successful church events. He commanded we make disciples. No event we hold, action we take, or ministry we launch is ultimately successful unless it contributes in some way (however tiny the step) to the goal of introducing people to Jesus and helping them grow to mature disciples.Continue Reading

Follow-up after a church holiday outreach event: speed dating or relationship building?

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Church visitors, speed dating or relationship building?
How do we treat our visitors? Like speed dating or do we work to build a relationship? This article will help you see the difference. Image from Flicker, Gangplank HQ

What kind of relationship do you have with someone, if you meet them, have a great time, and then walk away, never to call, talk, or see the person again? Not much of one is it?

In contrast, what about a relationship where two people meet briefly but then keep in touch through letters, emails, phone calls, and other get-togethers? What if they take time to interact and get to know each other? We’d label that a meaningful relationship.

If we want any kind of relationship, friendship, or romance to progress, we know we’ve got to expend some effort to grow the relationship.

As a church, we begin relationships with the people in our communities when we host outreach or holiday events. Sometimes they develop into a meaningful, long-term relationship with visitors, but in the majority of cases, they don't. Take time to consider some of the following thoughts and evaluate how your interactions with visitors.

Make your church outreach events more than Speed Dating

Unfortunately, instead of taking time to develop relationships with the guests who visit, many church outreach events are similar to the Speed Dating popular today. If you are unfamiliar with Speed Dating, this is where single people spend a few minutes with a potential romantic interest over coffee, dessert, or some shared activity (one recent speed dating event for farmers had folks weeding a field together) and then they move on to the next person, spend a few minutes with that person, and on to the next one.

Though lasting a bit longer, some churches offer a sort of speed dating experience to unchurched members of their communities. With fall events as an example, the church invites the community to a Community Thanksgiving Service and Christmas Caroling and Hot Chocolate. The visitors are hustled through the event and then leave, hopefully with a nice feeling about the church. The church staff breathes a big sigh of relief to have that activity over for the year.Continue Reading

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