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.

For Successful Fall & Winter Outreach Publications: Clarify and Coordinate for greater lasting impact

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welcoming people
If you are planning a fall or winter outreach event at your church, these tips will help you have lasting success from it.

Fall and winter are two prime times for churches to plan outreach events for their communities. Large amounts of time and money are spent on these events and often the church gets a great community response to the free Harvest Festival or Family Thanksgiving Dinner or Community Caroling and Hot Chocolate Party. But seldom do these activities generate the kind of continuing church involvement a church hopes for. I'd like to offer some suggestions on how to CLARIFY and COORDINATE your message for greater lasting impact.

If you don't want to waste your time and money the following tips are essential!

To help you understand how important this is and to give you a sense of how futile it is to hold events without good communication to clarify and coordinate your message, primarily for the ladies reading this, think about when you buy cosmetics at the department store or online and you are given some free samples. (The gentleman reading this may or may not have some sort of similar situation, regardless the example will make sense.)  The company that makes the cosmetics don't have the samples in the middle of the mall set up on a pretty display that says, "FREE FOR ALL." No, you go to the specific cosmetic counter and you know without a doubt who is giving them to you. [Read more...]

Fall Event Registration Cards to make sure people come back to church after your outreach event

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Fall Event Registration Card
A registration card like this for a door prize will help you get in touch with people after your Fall Outreach Event.

Fall outreach events typically get large turnouts from your community and here is a tool that will help bring them back to church after the event.

More than a connection card, which people have little reason to fill out at a fun, outreach event, this card is a REGISTRATION for a DOOR PRIZE.

For fall you might fill a big pumpkin with lots of candy and other goodies or a basket of local treats. Do something that is colorful and impressive and have it at a table as people come in, consider using eye-catching table runners, at CV Linens you can find table liners cheap products. Invite them to fill out the card for a drawing. Don't make them have to stay for it if you are doing the drawing at the end of the event and you'll get more cards filled out.

The content on the card is designed for unchurched people and here is what it says:

We are so glad you’re here! Please take a minute to fill out this card so you can be entered into our door-prize drawing and so that we have a record of your attendance and a way to contact you about future events for your family. Be assured this information will not be shared or used outside the church office and you can have your names removed from the list at any time by calling the church office.

It lets them know you will be contacting them again, assures them it is for church use only and lets them know they can have their name removed from your list at any time. At the same time you get all the information you need to follow up with social media or postcards.

Below are a set of designs FREE and are ready to download, print, and use.

The ZIP file below contains a ready-to-print PDFs, editable MS Publisher files and jpeg files of each design. If you aren't a Member of Effective Church Communications, you won't be able to see the download. CLICK HERE for Membership Information or to sign up.

CLICK the link following to download the ZIP FILE for Fall Registration Cards: Fall Event Registration Cards

Recruiting volunteers for the holidays–tell people what they don’t know

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Thanks Giving Volunteer Recruitment flyer
This is a copy of a flyer used to recruit volunteers for a Thanksgiving outreach. We need to communicate clearly all we've been planning if we want people to help. Just click on the flyer to download a PDF that is easier to read.

Yvon's note: this is an article from our archives that is worth repeating to encourage you to communicate how we need people to help with holiday events. Following are some practical ways we recruited for a successful sharing and service opportunity at our church.The article below was written when I was in the midst of recruiting and the results were fantastic. LOTS of people got involved, the event was extremely well attended, many helped, and many people were served.

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It is challenging to plan a ministry outreach for any holiday and even more so when we want to recruit volunteers to help with it. Because there are so many things to do for a successful outreach and our minds are preoccupied with the event. It is easy to short-change our congregations in how we communicate to them about what is going on and what we need them to do. People don't know what we need unless we ask specifically.

Here is a flyer we created to remedy that situation

As a very practical example of a way to ask in a specific way that will get the response you need, our Adult Sunday School Class is hosting a Thanksgiving outreach dinner. I've been working on it for some time and for it to be successful we need many in the class to be involved. Though they have known we are doing this for some time--we just got the final approval of the location last week. I needed to let the class know and to let them know what we needed  them to do.

My first idea was to simply do a PowerPoint Slide and announce it, but I knew that wasn't enough. I reminded myself of what I constantly try to teach that those of us who work and plan ministry events must always remember that the people we want to involve haven't been working on it as we have; they haven't been thinking and praying about it for as long as we have. They can't read our minds.

People need a tangible, paper, printed reminder of what we are doing and what we want them to do. Once the print piece is produced, we can put it on our information table for those who might have missed the first announcement and remind people about it in subsequent weeks. It can also be posted on the website and sent out in church emails.

We have to clearly share our vision and requests

We have a lot going on, we want people to do a number of things. Though in the coming weeks I will have specific task lists and sign-up sheets I wanted to give people a flyer that specifically told them:

  • what was going on
  • basic information
  • our goals
  • prayer requests
  • what we needed them to do

The flyer illustrated here is what I came up with. The information is what is most important here and it was well-received.

It seems like we never have the time to put together things like this, but they are vitally important for as many people as possible to be involved in ministry events and outreach.

For the longer article that discusses why we decided to do this kind of outreach, CLICK HERE.

 

 

Holiday time management

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Holiday Time Management
You might feel like you are living in a snow globe at this time of swirling demands, but here are some tips to help you take control.

The analogy of living in a snow globe hit home with several ministry assistants enjoying a fall luncheon. “During the holidays I feel like I’m trapped in a blizzard of to-do lists,” remarked a longtime office professional. Her tablemates nodded. Each one knew well the sensation of having scores of demands swirling around her.

Conversation turned to ways they might weather the storm better this year. All agreed trimming tasks would be a challenge, but could be done. Some said they had already made strides toward maintaining saner holiday schedules and were anxious to explore even more ideas.

“To me, attitude is the key,” offered a pastor’s assistant who shared her positive experiences over the past few years. “We need to get over the notion that holidays should be all hurry-scurry. The real blessings of the season are missed when every minute is packed with activities, even if they are good activities.”

Another reformed overachiever noted, “The best thing I did was to take control of my personal agenda. When I quite trying to bake every cookie, make every decoration, and start every family tradition that sounded good to me, I found the time and energy to actually focus on the true meaning of the season.”

  • Make two lists of goals, one for work and one for home. It may seem a paradox, but making these two important lists now prevents the need to make a dozen trivial lists later. Decide what you want to achieve during the vital weeks between your two major holidays (say Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day). About each task, ask yourself, “Is there an easier way to do this?” Be selective; list only those activities and achievements that are truly important to you. Fun is important; schedule some.
  • Trim your calendar. Ditch all but what really counts. Save optional jobs and appointments for another time. Avoid taking on projects and plans that steer you away from your stated holiday goals. Don’t waste any of this special time doing things that can be done later—or not at all.
  • Protect your personal time. All year round, and especially during the holidays, give yourself daily or at least weekly private time to relax and refresh. Do what you like: walk, exercise, read, take a class, enjoy a hobby. Or do nothing at all. But keep this appointment with yourself.
  • Give up on perfectionism. Nothing paralyzes accomplishment, saps joy from achievement, and undermines good intentions like the irrational drive to be perfect. It is vital to know when to say, “This is good. Time to move on.”
  • Be realistic in your expectations. Memories, not to mention a plethora of magazines and websites, can create an unreasonable scenario of how the holidays should play out. No time of the year has more to live up to than Christmas (perhaps especially in the United States). Stay grounded. Kids will still be kids. Some people will still be inconsiderate. Problems won’t magically solve themselves. You will still get weary. Some recipes will just not be good. Life is life. Nevertheless, expect blessings. They are there to be claimed!

Sample: Flyer for volunteer recruitment for a Thanksgiving outreach, a useful example for any seasonal ministry

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Thanks Giving Volunteer Recruitment flyer
This is a copy of a flyer used to recruit volunteers for a Thanksgiving outreach. We need to communicate clearly all we've planned if we want people to help. You can download a PDF of this flyer at the link at the end of this article.

It is challenging to plan a ministry outreach for any holiday and even more so when we want to recruit volunteers to help with it. Because there are so many things to do for successful outreach and our minds are pre-occupied with the event, it is easy to short-change our congregations in how we communicate to them about what is going on and what we need them to do.

Here is a flyer we created to remedy that situation

As a very practical example, at our church, with the Adult Sunday School Class we are hosting a Thanksgiving outreach dinner. I've been working on it for some time and for it to be successful, we need many in the class to be involved. Though they have known we are doing this for some time--we just got the final approval of the location last week. I needed to let the class know and to let them know what we needed them to do.

My first idea was to simply do a PowerPoint Slide and announce it, but I knew that wasn't enough. I reminded myself of what I constantly try to teach that those of us who work and plan ministry events must always remember that the people we want to involve haven't been working on it as we have; they haven't been thinking and praying about it for as long as we have. They can't read our minds.

People need a tangible, paper, printed reminder of what we are doing and what we want them to do. Once the print piece is produced, we can put it on our information table for those who might have missed the first announcement and remind people about it in subsequent weeks.

We have to clearly share our vision and requests

We have a lot going on, we want people to do a number of things. Though in the coming weeks I will have specific task lists and sign-up sheets I wanted to give people a flyer that specifically told them:

  • what was going on
  • basic information
  • our goals
  • prayer requests
  • what we needed them to do

The flyer illustrated here is what I came up with. The information is what is most important here and it was well-received.

It seems like we never have the time to put together things like this, but they are vitally important for as many people as possible to be involved in ministry events and outreach.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD a PDF of the flyer.