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.
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Free resources for last minute Halloween Outreach

1 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Halloween, use it for Outreach!
Halloween can be a great time for outreach--here are free resources that can help.

Though there are many things we may not like about Halloween as Christians, people are thinking about death at this time and it is a great opportunity to take the interest already created in the topic to share with them, or at least to get them to think about the only person who conquered death--Jesus.

The first link below will take to a FREE card you can print and share to challenge people to think about Jesus. Sometimes we hesitate to share our faith--but the reality of someone who doesn't come to know Jesus is far worst than the most terrifying Halloween horror. Make the most of every opportunity to help people spend forever with Jesus with these resources:

FREE Outreach Card for Halloween, a challenge to think about life after death

Click on the link below to go to a FREE PDF of a card you can slip into any Halloween treat or use for outreach.
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/free-outreach-card-for-halloween-a-challenge-to-think-about-life-after-death/

Halloween Outreach Videos and how to use them to reach unchurched people for Jesus

Here are two very powerful videos, under two minutes each that challenge people at Halloween to think about Jesus. For Effective Church Communication Members, you can download the HD versions of the videos. Everyone can link to or embed the YouTube versions on your websites for Halloween Outreach.

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/halloween-outreach-videos-and-how-to-use-them-to-reach-unchurched-people-for-jesus/

Video review of PicMonkey, A very FREE, FUN, EASY, and Creative tool for Halloween graphics

This program is quick, easy-to-use and the intro version is FREE! Lots of fun to modify some pictures for Halloween.

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/a-very-free-fun-easy-and-creative-tool-for-halloween-graphics/

LINKS to motivation and tools to help you share the good news about Jesus at Halloween

The Effective Church Communications site has lots more material to help you make the most of Halloween as an outreach time. Here is the link to a list of links:

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/links-to-motivation-and-tools-to-help-you-share-the-good-news-about-jesus-at-halloween/

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Fall Festival and Halloween Tagged With: death and Halloween, Halloween and church, Halloween church outreach

Church Halloween Celebrations: why simply having fun and not sinning is not the point of why we do what we do

1 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn 4 Comments

Halloween is about more than fun, it's an opportunity to share the gospel
If the reason for your Halloween outreach is only about kids having fun and getting lots of candy, you've missed a great opportunity to share the gospel.

Is having fun what defines a Christian? Is FUN what makes a church even worthwhile? Is fun why we do what we do (whatever it is) in the Christian life?

When you look at many church communications, you'd assume the answer was "yes." A recent scanning of material on the web as I was researching alternative Halloween events overwhelmingly advertised events or promoted activities where the FUN promised is promoted as the primary reason people should attend. Though the focus of this article is on the combination of Halloween communications and the emphasis of FUN (intentional shouting with the all capital letters), the same concerns and cautions apply to our communication of many church outreach events.

How fun becomes the primary motivation for Halloween alternative events

Much of the thinking process behind many of these "Christian" alternatives to Halloween on the web seems to go something like this:

  1. Halloween is evil.
  2. To take part in a traditional secular celebration of Halloween is evil and sinful.
  3. Christians shouldn't do evil and sin.
  4. Instead Christians should have good, clean fun.
  5. Therefore our church will do a fun event for Halloween.
  6. People will see we are Christians by our fun.

I don't have a problem with the list up to #3—much of traditional Halloween celebrations are evil. Maybe not as evil as some timid folks fear, but probably not activities that would fall into the class of edifying Christian activities. Dressing up as demons and witches and glorifying magic is not what Christians ought to be doing. Sending your kids out alone to beg for candy in most areas today isn't safe. But the alternative to fighting evil or working to fulfill the Great Commission is not to simply have safe fun. [Read more...]

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Evangelism & Outreach, Fall Festival and Halloween Tagged With: Alternative Halloween, Church Halloween, Is Halloween evil?, Trunk or Treat

Halloween responses to keep in mind–a flyer reminder to be kind when we might want to be grumpy

6 August, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

This was shared on Facebook and is very worth passing on as a reminder of what can be a fun, but also a sometimes stressful time. Below it is another challenging thought from Facebook.

What is below is especially important if you are giving out a gospel tract or other information related to your church or Jesus at Halloween.

Below it is one more challenging example from Facebook about Halloween.

When we get it right at Halloween

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Fall Festival and Halloween, Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: Fall Festival, Fall Festival and Halloween, reminders for Halloween

The Teal Pumpkin Project is a great service to kids and families with allergies

6 October, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

The Teal Pumpkin Project is a great service to kids and families with allergies.

One in 13 kids have a food allergy and for many of them and their parents, what is a fun candy fest for most kids becomes a nightmare of fears about sometimes life-threatening allergic reactions.

In response to this situation and because her son had severe allergies, one mom decided to do something about it. Here's her story from USA TODAY:

Back in 2012, a Tennessee mom named Becky Basalone had an idea: What if Halloween could be made a little less tricky for kids with food allergies?

Her idea became what is now the Teal Pumpkin Project, a nationwide effort to encourage families — whether their own kids have food restrictions or not —  to offer up some non-food treats on Oct. 31. Participation is simple: You just put a teal-colored pumpkin or sign outside your door and offer trick-or-treaters glow sticks, spider rings, Halloween stickers or other non-food goodies, along with or instead of the traditional candies.

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), a non-profit advocacy group, first promoted the idea nationwide in 2014, with the help of a viral Facebook post, says Nancy Gregory, senior director of communications. In 2015, about 1 million people visited the group’s website to get information, and about 10,000 of them — probably a fraction of participants —  put their homes on an interactive map showing teal pumpkin sites, she says.

This year, the group is thinking bigger, Gregory says: “Our goal is to have a home on every block in America with a teal pumpkin. We hope that it becomes a new Halloween tradition.”

from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/10/23/teal-pumpkin-halloween-food-allergy/92285680/

For more of Becky's story: https://allergicliving.com/2014/10/23/the-origin-of-the-teal-pumpkin-project-interview-with-becky-basalone-facet/

How to participate

[Read more...]

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Fall Festival and Halloween, Social Concerns Communications Tagged With: church and Halloween, Kids will allergies, Teal Pumpkin project for Trunk or Treat, Teal Pumpkin suggestions for churches

You asked for more on how to use Canva and I’ve got some exciting news for you! Announcing CANVA templates and videos on how to use them

3 October, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

You asked for more on how to use Canva and I've got some exciting news for you—CANVA templates and videos on how to use them!

I don't know about you but I really dislike how-to videos about a program I really want to learn, but that has little to no relationship to any real-world product.

I'm talking about the kind that simply demonstrates "features" and you are left wondering how those actions could ever apply to your projects.

What I decided to do was to DEMONSTRATE the various ways you can use Canva by actually showing you HOW to do things with real Templates, and real projects you do. Not only does this make the learning more practical, but I discovered it is incredibly easy to link you directly to Canva where you can modify the templates I create for you.

Here is the first video I created for how to sign up for Canva and then modify Fall Templates.

CLICK on the Titles below that go to previews of the two initial projects I did for this: Fall Invitation Postcards and Fall Business Card-size Invitations.

Free Fall postcards

Free Fall Business Invitation Cards

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: CANVA TEMPLATES, CANVA TRAINING, Fall Festival and Halloween Tagged With: Canva and Effective Church Communications, Fall Outreach, FREE templates in Canva, How to use Canva to modify templates

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 8
  • Next Page »
Link to Easter Templates of all sorts

Seasonal Templates

  • OVERVIEW of TEMPLATES for Church Communicators, please read first
  • Valentine’s Day Templates
  • Lenten Templates
  • Easter Templates
  • Mother’s Day Templates
  • Father’s Day and Men’s Ministry Templates
  • Graduation Templates
  • Summer-related Templates
  • 4th of July, Canada Day, and GRACE for All Nations
  • See You At the Pole
  • Harvest Festival and Halloween Templates
  • Christmas Templates

Recent Posts

  • Social media images for Easter with challenging messages
  • From our vault: Everything you need for Easter: Templates, strategy, inspiration and encouragement for all your Easter communications
  • Why just “Come to Easter at Our Church” isn’t enough–FREE invitations with short, but powerful messages
  • ESSENTIAL Christmas Communication advice and free tools to implement it
  • A Free Template of the Christmas Story and short gospel presentation based on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”

Most read posts

  • Bulletin inserts or social media content for Father's Day; poetry, challenges, encouragements
  • A Prayer for Graduates, Free flyer, bulletin insert
  • An important reminder for Father’s Day that not all the men in your church are married Dads or Dads at all
  • Father's Day and Men's Ministry Templates
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES
  • Six Steps to Simple filing
  • Summer-related Templates

Misc. Church Communications Templates

  • Church Connection Cards
  • Business/Invitation Card Templates
  • Back to Church for Kids in the Fall Templates
  • Church Bulletin Template
  • Volunteer and Encouragement Templates
  • 2-page Senior Adult Print Newsletter Template
  • Misc. Church Templates
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Copyright © 2025 · Enterprise Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in