Effective Church Communications

Free Christmas graphics inspired by Christmas Carols, formatted for Instagram and Postcards

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Free Christmas Card Social media images based on Christmas Carols
Christmas carols are inspirational for more than singing. They can also inspire our Christmas communications.

Christmas carols are not only wonderful to sing this time of year, but many of the lines in them are both inspiring and encouraging to our faith.

My pastor recently preached a sermon challenging up as to whether we had room in our lives for Jesus. In addition to finding it personally motivating, I also realized it would make a great theme for a Christmas graphic, Instagram image, and postcard.

As is usual with these things, one thing led to another, and I created an entire set of images that you can use for whatever you want, plus they are formatted for Instagram and postcards. In addition, I did a layout of the postcards in MS Publisher and created ready-to-print PDFs that you can print off and use.

Below are pictures of the images and below the images are links to download a ZIP file that has them in various formats.

If you would like to create your own Christmas communications using Christmas Carols

Little Christmas angel
This is another one of the images in the Christmas set below.

All of the wording for the images below came from Christmas carols that are now in the Public Domain and that you can quote freely. Following is the link to a website that has a useful list of Christmas carols, both those that are in the Public Domain and those that are still under copyright protection:

https://www.easysonglicensing.com/pages/help/articles/copyright-law/christmas-songs-in-the-public-domain.aspx

Note: if a song you want isn't on the list above, simply google it, as I had to do for one I wanted.

After you know which ones are free to use, it is then helpful to have the words printed out. Here is a site that has that for you:

http://ldsguy.tripod.com/Christmas.carols.html [Read more...]

For GIVING TUESDAY—my gift to YOU—dozens of FREE CHRISTMAS Templates!!!!! No strings attached…..really FREE

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Free Christmas template
This is just one of the dozens of Free Christmas Templates we have for you--links at the bottom of this article.

Note: I wrote this last year, but still feel strongly the same way and decided it was worth repeating

Giving Tuesday was created when two organizations, the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation came together in 2012, about a month before that year's Thanksgiving. Their intention was to set aside a day that was all about celebrating the generosity of giving, a great American tradition.

I do love the idea and the motivation behind it, but I must admit many of the ministry requests for giving to various organizations that I support that came in the midst of the crush of demands for Black Friday often felt like one more case of financial badgering. I know that isn't true. I'm glad many ministries I support double donations on Giving Tuesday.

I understand the need to raise funds whenever possible.  When I was senior editor at both Compassion International and Young Life, I wrote many of those fund-raising appeals myself.

I thought about doing a plea for support for the Effective Church Communications Ministry.

But I just couldn't. Then I realized......

This is an opportunity for me to GIVE to YOU!

It isn't anything new really, just a reminder of the many TEMPLATES and especially the Christmas ones I have for all of you for FREE!

Here are some of the ones I have (links to all is at the bottom of this article):

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

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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

Invite visitors to interact with you after Christmas

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After Christmas follow up materials
Either on social media or in the mail, do whatever you can to follow up with Christmas visitors and to help them connect with the church and learn more about Jesus.

If you want to get visitors to interact with your church after Christmas you need to invite them to do that.

Few people will take the initiative to reach out to your church with their questions about the meaning of Christmas, but they might be willing to do so with a gentle invitation from you. In the file below is the card illustrated here, plus more simple and generic ones that invite visitors for coffee and discussion.

The following are communications you can use in either postcard or social media format. Below the images is a ZIP file that contains them as jpg images and in ready-to-print PDF format, and editable MS Publisher format.

Below is the text from the card that you have permission to use in any way you want:

Christmas a bit much?

After all the food, festivities, ho, ho, ho, and perhaps a church service thrown in, do you ever wonder why all the bother?

It certainly doesn’t seem worth it for the commercial excesses all around us.

But what if it was really about God
becoming human?

What if the ancient prophecies that God would be with us to show us what God was like and how to live in a way that pleases him were true?

That would be worth celebrating.

We think that is what Christmas is really about and we’d love to discuss it with you. On the back of this card are ways we can connect.

CLICK following to download the ZIP FILES: Christmas Follow Up Cards

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

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#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.

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