Christmas

Don’t forget to say “Thank YOU!” to your Christmas volunteers—cards done for you to help you do that.

4 January, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

I'm sure all of your Christmas special programs were an incredible success—thanks in large measure to the hard work of your many volunteers. And I'm sure you want to take time to thank all of them, but have little energy to do it. Effective Church Communications can help in that we have a set of Christmas Thank-You cards. The main message is on the front and on the back all you have to do is write a short note in the half of the card across from the address.

Before the year starts in all it's demands (and Easter will be here sooner than we can imagine), take the time to do this. It's wonderful for your volunteers and pleasing to our Lord who commands us, "In everything to give thanks" (1 Thes. 5:18).

Below is a gallery of the cards.

CLICK following to download the ZIP FILES: christmas-thank-you-cards

Follow up for Christmas visitors: content for social media, flyers, bulletin insert, newsletter articles

27 December, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

#1MS Pub Editable Because He didn't stay a baby — Use this bulletin insert to connect holiday church visitors with your church and encourage them to explore the Christian faith. CLICK HERE to download this FREE PDF.

Many people will came to your church for Christmas Eve or other Christmas-related services because they want to make a family member happy, to keep peace in an extended family, or for many other reasons that have nothing to do with seeking God and who never come at any other time of year.

However, our Lord who stooped to become a baby still seeks them and a communication piece like this may help make a ongoing connection with your visitors and Jesus.

This piece is an extended version of the Christmas follow-up postcards mentioned earlier that reminded people that we don't only celebrate Christmas because of the Baby Jesus, but because of what he grew up to be—our Savior.

This extended piece can be used in many ways: as flyer or bulletin insert, as a print piece inside a visitor letter, as text or graphics or both for social media or your online or print newsletter, it is designed for people to get them to think about Jesus beyond an inspiring service.

On the back you can add some links to online resources to help them explore what it means to be a Christian. You could also add events from your church schedule, your website information about your church, a personal message, or contact information.

PLEASE take the time and effort to make up a communication like this!

Many churches are hesitant to preach challenging evangelistic sermons at Christmas services and while that is understandable, we don't want to miss the opportunity to share Jesus and to give people the resources to explore more about Him on their own. A communication like this isn't intrusive or pushy, but it gently challenges and gives people the resources to check into more about Jesus and the Christian faith. I've suggested some sources, but please add your own or any ways visitors can engage with your church or enter into a dialog or have their questions answered.

Additional designs and editable files

Below is the text of the insert and following that are added designs available in the ZIP file at the end of the article. The ZIP file has:

Ready-to-print PDFs of all the designs
Editable MS Publisher files
Hi-res images of each design
MS Word file of the text for the front of the flyer and recommended resources.

Reminder to send out a Christmas follow-up postcard—Because He didn’t stay a baby

27 December, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

#1MS Pub Editable Because He didn't stay a baby FOLLOW UP POSTCARD — Send out a postcard to the people who visited at Christmas to invite them back to find out more about Jesus.

Right after special Christmas or other holiday events is a prime time to invite people to come back to church to find out more about your church and Jesus.

Here is the message you can put on a card, flyer, social media content or however you want to use this message to get people to come back to church after Christmas. The headline says:

Because he didn't stay a baby. . . we want to tell you the rest of the story.

Hopefully, you collected Connection Cards at your event--now is the time to respond to them with an invitation to return. At the end of this intro is a ZIP FILE with not only the ready-to-print PDFs of all the designs, but editable MS Publisher files, hi-res images and the MS Word text file of the content.

The card here can be used in several ways:

You can send it out with reminders of the regular services offered at your church. If people attended a Christmas Eve event or special event for children, that doesn't mean they have any idea about what your church does regularly.
You can direct people to websites both at your church and other places that explain the Christian faith in more detail and answer their questions.
You can invite them to a seeker Bible study, latte with the pastor or any other event where they can interact and ask questions about the Christian faith.
It can also be left as a gospel tract at restaurants or anywhere else you leave tracts.
You can take the content or the entire image and share it on social media.

Text for the card:

During the holidays you heard that Jesus was the reason for the season. You heard stories, sang songs, and got Christmas cards—all about Him.

In the middle of all that, did you ever wonder, “What’s the big deal about Jesus?” What was there about this baby that split history in two and has the world celebrating his birth?

That’s a great question and we’d love to discuss it with you. On the back of this card are some opportunities to explore this question and we hope you'll check them out.