Effective Church Communications

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators. 

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for church communicators.

Charging for Fall Festival outreach events, what’s wrong with that?

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Who in this group gets a meal and who doesn't at your alternative Halloween event? It should be ALL of them.

There may be legitimate reasons for charging for some events, for example, if you are bringing in a professional Christian comedian or speaker—someone has to pay for their time and expenses. However, in most instances, I believe strongly that it communicates an incorrect message if a church charges (or even asks for donations) at a ministry event.

Fall Festival mixed message

I recently looked at an advertisement for a Church Fall Festival. It was going to be an alternative Halloween event, which is always popular with the community. I was told that in years past this church put on the event as free community outreach, but this year things were different. The person showing me the invitation card was concerned and here's why:

The invitation said: "Fun, games, food, candy for all!" and in big letter, "No entry fee"

In much smaller letters it said, "There will be a small charge for a hot dog meal;  candy is free."

and

"There will be a charge for professional photos at the event."

What's wrong with that?

Times are still really hard for lots of folks and it was not only a very confusing message, but I think one unworthy of the gospel. Let's look at the food charge first and then the photography one. The text continues below the video.

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Follow the example of the Apostle Paul—make Halloween a great time for Evangelism and FREE materials to help you do that!

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Or how to use everything that is bad about Halloween as a tool to share the gospel—

If there is a holiday that causes controversy in the church, it is Halloween. Some churches welcome it as a great time to do community outreach with alternative Halloween events; others shake their fingers and condemn churches that even mention the term.

It’s always easier to curse the darkness than to flood it with light, but taking our cue from the Apostle Paul who used the pagan idols in Athens as his bridge to sharing the gospel, I'd like to challenge you to use this time of year to share the gospel.

Following is a brief video of the material that follows and after it the text of it and at the end of the blog, FREE Downloadable materials for you to use in your Halloween outreach. Please make the most of them and don't miss this opportunity!

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FREE HANDOUTS for Halloween evangelism and the true Christian view of life after death

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Ghosts aren't real but Jesus is --Resources for Fall and Halloween church outreach
Halloween can be a great time for evangelism and a small handout like this can make a lasting impact at your celebrations.

UPDATED intro: If you only do ONE thing to reach out to people at Halloween and at your alternative events with the Gospel Message—do THIS—make one of these communications to hand out in Goodie bags or as people leave. To make the most of our time and to share the true message of what happens after death, this is a way to do it.  First is a preview of the materials you can download, and for more motivation, check out the materials that follow it....

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Fall Festival and Halloween Resources, invitations, registration cards, encouragement flyers, lots more

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Resources for Fall and Halloween church outreach
This is a great time of year to reach out to your community and these will help you do it effectively.

Lots of good stuff here!

Some new, some a few years old, but all for you to use as you'd like.

Just click on the link below the title. Please pass on to other churches and friends.

A non-scary way to share your faith at Fall Festivals and Halloween
https://wp.me/pDky9-8h4

How to make the most of Halloween for evangelism and the true Christian view of life after death
https://wp.me/pDky9-9lu

Was Jesus a zombie—NO irreverence intended, but an honestly asked question and an answer
https://wp.me/pDky9-8gP

FREE TEMPLATES for Fall Registration Cards, Invitations, Halloween Evangelism
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/templates-harvest-festival-and-halloween/

Halloween, a great time for evangelism…..really!!
https://wp.me/pDky9-6xB [Read more...]

How Christians are like Pumpkins—a fun object lesson for adults and kids to grow as Christians together

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Pumpkin Carving and faith building project
Use this pumpkin carving lesson as a time to teach children about Jesus.

This is just the cutest, fun thing for Halloween!

But first the serious reasons behind it:

In the Old Testament, Jewish parents were commanded to teach their children about God's law during all of life.

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Deut. 6:7-9 MSG

In the New Testament, we are all commanded to do a similar thing—

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Col. 3;7, MSG

Though we are commanded to make God's Word and doing His will part of every area of life, that isn't an easy command to fulfill.

Holidays can help, even ones we wouldn't normally think would help us to grow in our Christian lives.

How pumpkins can help us understand the Christian life, what Jesus has done for us, and how we can live for Him.

We don't often think of Halloween as a time to learn about the Christian faith, but with a little imagination and creativity, it can be! Here is a pumpkin carving project that will help kids learn about Jesus.  Below is a short video that goes through the project and below the video is a link to a  ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project sheet, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version.

Please note: I saw many versions of this before I created my own and was never able to track down an original creator--if that's you or you know who it is, please let me know at yvonprehn@gmail.com.

Click on the following link to download a ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version: Pumpkin Project & Poem