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.

Successful Christmas Outreach Strategy

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Christmas tree
For Christmas outreach to be successful take lots of work and prayer.

For many churches, their idea of successful Christian outreach means finding and buying the best looking, professionally done postcard and then paying lots for mailing lists and a large mailing.

It doesn’t matter how great your outreach marketing piece looks, how flawless the printing, how inspired your slogan, no one piece can carry the weight of assuring a good turnout for a Christmas event. Even if you do get a good turnout, that doesn't mean that the response of the people who attend will be anything more than appreciation for a good time.

This is not to say that these things don’t matter, because they may be steps towards a connection with your church and Jesus, but the key thing to remember if you want your Christmas outreach to be ultimately successful, is that it takes many actions by every part of your church and here are some suggestions:

1. First for leaders and decision-makers in the church, spend time in prayer asking God to impress on your heart the seriousness and the privilege of our opportunities this time of year. Remember, this might be your one opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with visitors and relatives. The eternal destiny of people can be decided at your church this holiday season. [Read more...]

VIDEO: A GREAT way to publicize Holiday Events

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Print is still one of the most powerful ways to communicate because if you do up a print piece, such as a postcard and it is placed on the refrigerator--you can't help but see it many times!

The US Postal Service reminded us of that in a little video they did, and a clip of that is in the very short video that follows. At the end of the video is a link that will take you to the template page shown.

To see the video full-screen, click on the little square at the lower, right-hand corner. Enjoy!

“The refridgerator has never been hacked” and church outreach applications

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The US postal service has a recent ad that starts out with the statement: "the refrigerator has never been hacked." You can check out the video below.  Though the ad is obviously designed to encourage people and businesses to use the mail, it also has some great reminders for all of us as we as we work to reach out to our communities with invitations to seasonal and special events.

Below is the very short video and following it are some more applications for church communicators. At the end of the article are links to templates that you can modify to create invitations for your Christmas events.

Click on the image to go to video and then come back for some more advice.

Fridge hacked
Click on this image to go to the video. It is from a USPS ad reminds us that a message posted on the refrigerator is a great way to communicate.

 

What church communicators need to remember

Humor aside, the fridge is still communication central for every home that has one.

No matter how tech savvy you and your family members are, no matter how many people have mobile phones, ipads, or email accounts, everyone will see an image on the fridge many times. If you want your congregation to be reminded of a holiday event, the fridge is the place you want for your message.

Tips to make your message fridge friendly

  1. Make it a postcard
  2. Be sure the key connecting points of your message are on ONE side of the postcard.
  3. Far too many postcards work hard to create a catchy image on the front, but then expect people to turn it over for connection information.
  4. If the backside only has connection information--you may not know what the details are for.
  5. Think of your postcard as a mini-billboard--connection and details on one side.
  6. People will post it on the fridge and come to your event.
Christmas Invitation Color, snow man, with details
This is an example of the way you can modify our templates to create mini-billboards for Christmas outreach. CLICK HERE to go to the article that has the templates.

A set of Christmas invitations

CLICK HERE to go to an article with Christmas invitations.

There is a free one for everyone and a great set of editable templates for Effective Church Communication Members.

This is just  one of the many resources available for Effective Church Communication Members. Membership is only $9.99 a month and give you access to a huge amount of templates, ebooks, instructional videos year round. CLICK HERE for more information.

 

Performance-centered vs church interactive, serving celebrations, what it means to the spiritual growth of your congregation

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Keep your celebrations focused on Jesus
Celebrate, but be sure your holiday celebrations don't present an incorrect view of the Christian faith.

As many churches plan their seasonal outreach celebrations, they often focus on putting on a big program for the community. It could be a play, serious or humorous. It could be a concert consisting of anything from the choir presenting a formal choral arrangement to the music ministry doing a special seasonal musical to hosting a visiting Christian Rock group.

There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with these events and if you follow the advice of Effective Church Communications and are conscientious about connecting with people at your events, explaining what is going on at the church, explaining the Christian faith,  linking them to more resources, and inviting them back, these events can be effective ways to grow your church. But something else is going on that we need to consider if you want your event to have a positive impact on your congregation beyond the event itself because. . .

"What you win them with is what you win them to."

Seasonal events don't stand alone. How we celebrate them reflects both the core beliefs of the church and the effect of them on the spiritual growth of church members. [Read more...]