Effective Church Communications

Do more than celebrate! A Free eBook: Strategy for Father’s Day and preview of all resources

1 May, 2024 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Fathers Day Strategy ebook On Father's Day, we naturally want to celebrate Dads and we should!

But we can also use this holiday to do more. In Ephesians it tells us to "make the most of our time," and on Father's Day, we also use it as a time to encourage the men in our church to grow spiritually and to connect with resources that will help them become the Father and the disciple Jesus wants them to be.

This eBook is an overview of the strategies and resources that can help you do this. It is available as a free download at this link: https://payhip.com/b/N4M9n

And here is a quick overview video of it:

This link will take you to the Effective Church Communications Library, a FREE (or Pay-What-You-Want) resource that has an ever-growing library of eBooks and training videos that will help you become a more effective church communicator. This free eBook is an example of some of the materials that are and will be on the site.

What I am doing with eBooks like this is taking a topic, in this instance, Father's Day, and pulling together both new and past materials on it, plus the resources I have for you in one easy-to-access downloadable resource.

Already on the site are class materials from the Effective Church Communications ministry such as the eBooks, The Five Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing, Successful Seasonal Celebrations, and Challenges for Church Communicators (formerly Devotions for Church Communicators). [Read more...]

Free Easter Social Media Images, Postcards, and however you want to use images and messages

27 February, 2024 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

One of a collection of Easter related images and messages you can modify for your use in Canva. — This is one of a collection of Easter-related images and messages you can modify for your use in Canva.

This collection of images and messages can be used in many ways including in all sorts of social media, plus you can download and put them into printed postcards or copy the message for online newsletters or Easter-related posts.

Below the images are direct links to the Canva files where you can download them as is or modify them in Canva for your church.

Click on the first image and it will make it larger so you can see the text.

This is a great set of images and messages that you can use in many ways for Easter.

Here is a short video of them, then a gallery of the images and below them links to the Canva files for the various formats:

Facebook images: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdnClDdNk/ZYxVEIoYYx9AnCN5Y0EqFg/edit?utm_content=DAFdnClDdNk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Instagram images: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdnZhymEU/jdwYs9LAojhSp9JNu0FZeg/edit?utm_content=DAFdnZhymEU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

1/4 page postcards: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdnJHkgXQ/aGyabTWOS6lI8NJ3aHJhdA/edit?utm_content=DAFdnJHkgXQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

1/2 page postcards: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdbN5yOUE/nDNz2cf7Yb2zj0I0TmQc-Q/edit?utm_content=DAFdbN5yOUE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Linkedin Images: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdnJHkgXQ/aGyabTWOS6lI8NJ3aHJhdA/edit?utm_content=DAFdnJHkgXQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Lent is for everyone, Templates, text, and a variety of ways to communicate it

31 January, 2024 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Observing Lent isn’t about a denomination, or whether your church is liturgical or not. Lent helps us to put the Christian life into a biblical perspective. It’s a time to practice saying “no” to ourselves in little things so we can say a bigger “yes” to God in the bigger decisions of life.

We know the value of discipline to achieve our goals in every other area of life and this time of year reminds us of the importance of discipline in the Christian life.

The PDFs pictured below are appropriate for any church. You can use them as bulletin inserts with perhaps some additional verses on the back side or invitations or reminders about your Easter schedule. You can post them in newsletters or online, whatever works best for you to encourage your people.

These can be used at the start of Lent or anytime during the Lenten season as a devotion or challenge.

Not only are there already finished templates for you in these sets, but at the end of this post is the text content so you can make your own, or copy and paste that into any church publication you want.

CLICK on the first image in the sets below and you'll see a larger one that you can read.

[Read more...]

A free Valentines Day postcard, flyer, or bulletin insert to remind people of God’s love, plus strategy to make the most of it

12 January, 2024 By Yvon Prehn 1 Comment

St. Augustine quote — Many people today have restless hearts. This Valentine's Day, help them find rest in Jesus.

Today many people have restless hearts. Life may not be what we wanted, dreamed about, or even find tolerable. Our restless hearts may be in many areas of life, but Valentine's Day shines a laser focus on the restless disappointments in our hearts. This flyer or Bulletin Insert might help your church minister to those restless hearts.

A restless heart isn't anything new, nor is the answer on how to fill it, as this quote from almost eighteen hundred years ago from St. Augustine reminds us when he said, "Thou hast made us for thyself oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

You can use his quote and the message that goes with it to reach out to the restless hearts in your community.

There are plenty of them as this time of year we're reminded of every romantic disappointment and broken dream with every TV ad and the gauntlet of flowers, cards, and chocolates when we shop. We may be alone in that we don't have a special someone in our life or the special someone slot may be filled, but we still feel alone. The media tells us we shouldn't ever be satisfied until we do everything we can to find that rush of complete, overwhelming, all-consuming, and satisfying human love, to go along with our perfect bodies and leisurely lives. But few of us live in that media fantasy and even fewer have the energy to try to event try make it real.

What the media doesn't tell us is that no matter how perfect we are, how much money we have, or how single-mindedly we pursue a perfect human romantic partner that no human love, no matter how deep or true or quietly wonderful it might be, (and some are blessed with that) will ever totally fill the place in our heart only God is designed to fill.

Valentine's Day is a perfect time to share the reality of God's forever satisfying love with the people who come to your church and here is a ready-to-print communication to help you do it.