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.

A Christmas bait and switch, sad but true

By Leave a Comment

Jesus freely gave to us at Christmas, and we should follow his example in our Christmas outreach.
Jesus freely gave to us at Christmas, and we should follow his example in our Christmas outreach.

True story here. A big advertisement on a church website (full color, fancy splashy boxed ad) read: Welcome the Christmas Season with the Messiah. A Christmas Concert and a Christmas Sing-a-long.

A believer who lost a long-term job, who had scrounged enough part-time work to barely pay basic bills and buy minimum food for his family, was wondering how to get through the Christmas season without allowing sadness to overwhelm him. He loved music, loved to sing, though had no time with work demands to sing in a choir. He saw the advertisement about the Messiah and a bit of joy bubbled up as he thought, "This is something I can take my wife and kids to."  In his heart, he blessed the church for providing this opportunity. He clicked on the link to find out more.

The link led to the information page where he found the church was charging $10 a person for tickets. His children were too old for the free ones. In addition, if you did not have your own song sheet for the sing-a-long, the advertisement informed you that you would need to buy a score sheet of the music and that would be an extra $10.

A very quick calculation told him that the total cost of that evening would be more than his family had budgeted for groceries for the week. He closed the computer, thankful that he hadn't shared his initial excitement with his wife or family

His situation is not unique

There are  many brothers and sisters in Jesus who are out every week looking for work and being turned away. There are families who don't know what they will do to feed their families decently in the coming week, let alone how to provide any sort of Christmas celebration. The church could have chosen to give a free concert for anyone in the community. It is a very rich church, one of the largest in the community. But far worse than the selfishness of charging  is what they did in the bait and switch of their advertising.

The church may not have thought of their advertising as bait and switch, but it was

[Read more...]

2016 Connection Cards for your Christmas events!

By Leave a Comment

FREE Christmas Connection Card
Connection and Feedback Cards are one of the most important publications you can create for the Christmas season because it gives you a way to reach out to people who visit at that time. CLICK on this image to download your free card.

One of the most important things to do at your Christmas events if you want them to be a lasting success is to connect with the people who attend and have a way to reach them in the future. One of the best ways to do this is through Connection Cards and we have a NEW set of them for you.

You can also call your cards "Feedback Cards" as this might be a more contemporary term if you are reaching out to unchurched people.

There is a free PDF of one for everyone (the image to the left) and then below we have a set of them if you'd like more options. CLICK HERE or on the image to download the FREE card.

In addition to the PDF version of all the ones illustrated below you will also get the editable MS Publisher file and jpeg images of them.

Here are the designs included:

To download your copies

 

Click on the link that follows to download the 2016 Connection Cards ZIP file: 2016-connection-cards

 

Flash! Christmas is December 25 this year

By Leave a Comment

Christmas suggestions
Christmas is coming and here is some great advice to help you celebrate with less stress and more joy!

Okay, so this is not new information. But the reality is that year after year many of us act like the date is a surprise. If we had only known when the holiday season was going to happen we would have been on top of it—cards with notes, thoughtful gifts, gracious acts, expressions of good will, family traditions, pageants, cozy evenings, handcrafted decorations, gingerbread houses—the works! Ha. Or should that be ho, ho, ho?

Sadly, the Christmas season can get so busy its real meaning gets lost in the shuffle—even in the church. That need not be the case. Whatever your holiday expectations, here are some ideas to help you manage your tasks. Not all are for everyone, but perhaps you will find one or two to bring your Christmas closer to what you want it to be.

•  Examine the regulars

Make a quick list of all the things you usually include in your holiday schedule. Scrutinize each activity for its current relevance. Sometimes we become slaves to rituals and traditions that no longer have any real meaning to us or to our families. Forcing participation defeats the purpose of the activity.

•  Consider new options

Make another list of things you’d really like to do but seldom find time for. Don’t be put off by thinking your schedule is already full. You have the option of revising your Usual list. That’s next. [Read more...]

GIS: Christmas communication ideas from America, Australia, and Canada

By Leave a Comment

Door-Hanger for Christmas
Door-hangers are a great way to invite people to your Christmas events at church.

When you are planning your invitations for Christmas, don't forget to create door-hangers. As this great idea from Gayle Hilligoss (yes, the same wonderful lady who writes articles for ECC, she also does communication work at her church), shows, door-hangers are a wonderful way to invite your community to your church for Christmas services.

No postage is needed and you can give them out to church members to share around their neighborhoods.

In addition I've included other some Christmas samples from many places:

  • A beautiful Christmas Women's Ministry Invitation from Texas (the big red one in the samples below). Note the well-done combination of fonts used in this postcard—lots there, but appropriate and each one functions well to communicate the overall message.
  • One of my favorite Christmas bulletins from Abbotsford Pentecostal Church in Canada. This is so beautiful, it's more like a well-designed poster than a bulletin and a real inspiration on what you can do in bulletin layout.
  • And then a 36-page newsletter from Australia. Initially it will make many people in North America smile because (though we forget this) Christmas takes place in summer and so their Nativity Scene is one at the beach. In addition to that, please take time to look through this newsletter as a challenge and inspiration. This church has a number of ministries that I hope will challenge you to begin similar ones. I particularly like their ministries to the homeless, which is one of the most wonderful ways at all to celebrate Christmas.

[Read more...]

29% of people attend church once a week, BUT 65% celebrate Christmas by going to a church service!

By Leave a Comment

Below are some great ways to make the most of the statistic in the headline and use the Christmas holidays to grow your church! At the end of the infographic are links to all the publications illustrated and how you can download, modify, and make them your own!

How Christmas Communications can Grow your ChurchTo go to links for all the communications in the infographic above, CLICK HERE.