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.

We could all use good news now and here is the best news—all about salvation in Jesus

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Good news is found in Jesus
When so much of the world is filled with bad news, there is good news to be found in Jesus. Check it out and be encouraged!

Pandemic, crazy weather, racial injustice, and political turmoil—wherever we turn, bad news fills our world. There is one place the news is good—in the good news about Jesus. Many call this the gospel.

There are two reasons why it’s essential to explore the gospel now. First, for those of us familiar with the gospel, we do well to remember what great news that is, no matter what else is going on. And for those who aren’t familiar with it, this news has implications for you far beyond the hysterical headlines that currently fill your news feeds. The gospel is good news, the best news ever.

Why the gospel is GOOD NEWS

Good news. That is the dictionary definition of the term gospel. The question to answer next is, of course, “What is the good news?” or “Good news about what?”

The best answer to that question is in the Bible, where John 3:16 tells us that: “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

The good news is that God didn’t sit up in heaven, watching humanity make a mess of their lives and their world. He did something about it with extraordinarily important implications for people both now and eternity. To explore the good news in more detail, let’s look at our situation and what God did for us.

Without God, making a mess of our lives is pretty much what we do.

It doesn’t take unique insight to know our world is a mess right now. But now, let’s look away from the world. [Read more...]

Website links to help visitors explore the Christian faith

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Search for answers about Christianity
The Christian faith is worth exploring and here are some resources that will help you do it.

This page has links to explain the Christian faith, the person of Jesus, and that help seekers explore what it's all about. In our post-Christian world, we want to make sure that when we challenge people to make a decision to trust Jesus as Savior that they know what it means.

There are many other sites that are very useful in clarifying the Christian faith—check out recommendations from friends and your denominations. PLEASE add any you have found useful in the comments section below.

But whatever resources you use, please use links like this on your website, your bulletins, newsletters and on your outreach communications.

Even if they only make a brief connection with your church at a special event, give seekers opportunities to explore the Christian faith, Links like this could change their eternal destiny.

Websites for exploring the Christian faith: [Read more...]

4 short Easter challenges for the web, email, social media, print

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The short messages below were written for Easter but as people have taken and used them in a variety of settings I thought it might be helpful to make them available in text format.

Please use them in any way you want to share the message of eternal life in Jesus this Easter. Some ideas:

  • As short bulletin challenges
  • Facebook entries with links to longer articles
  • Twitter intros with links to your church website
  • Other social media links to YouTube videos
  • Text with music or images as part of a video
  • Postcards, bulletin inserts with links to more material
  • Invitations to seeker Bible studies about the Christian faith

If you use them in a different way and have time to send me your creation to yvon@effectivechurchcom.com,  I'd love it, but it isn't needed. You've got lots to do this Easter season and I understand.

To use these no attribution or link or anything is necessary—other than your prayers that however you use these words that they will bring people to Jesus.

The Bunny and the Cross—why both at Easter?

It makes much more sense than you might imagine.

In many cultures bunnies symbolize life, rebirth, and the tradition of a spring bunny bringing gifts to children.

The cross, though once a tool for a tortured death, because of Jesus, has become the symbol of eternal life, possible because Jesus rose from the dead.

The Easter bunny tells a story of abundant life, giving, joyful living, pictures of the reality that Jesus made possible on the cross.

Join us for our Easter celebration—we’ve got bunnies and candy for the child in all of us, but we’ll also tell the story of the creator of bunnies,  and all things joyful and life-giving—Jesus.

darkness to life

how dark is your life?

have you lost your

job, security?

money, status?

friends, family?

health, happiness?

hope?

when jesus died, the disciples lost

their leader, healer, friend, future

they hid in fear, without hope

but the dawn came on the third day

and everything changed.

it can change for you—join us this Easter and let us share how

 

A serious Easter Invitation

Music is inspiring and candy is delicious, but we’d like to invite you to a serious presentation and opportunity for discussion about the true meaning of Easter.

No gimmicks, fluff, or marketing an empty message.

We believe that Jesus lived, died, and bodily rose from death. We have historical, legal, philosophical, and scientific reasons why we believe this and we would like to share them with you.

Not to win an argument, but because we believe the eternal destiny of every person depends on how you respond.

Join us on Easter or check out the websites below:

http://www.leestrobel.com/

http://www.whoisjesus-really.com/

Easter is about so much more than you can image

What do you think your life would be like if you believed in the Jesus?

Boring? Constricted? An endless series of don’t do this or that?  Intellectual suicide?

We don't think so because. . . . .

Christians claim that Jesus conquered death.

If that’s true imagine what it would mean to become a friend and follower of Jesus, someone, totally and eternally ALIVE?

Someone who spoke and the worlds, galaxies, stars and starfish, came into being?

Someone who, when he walked the earth, played with children, was a great party guest, healed sick people, loved enough to die for all of us.

Challenging, exciting, never-ending and never alone—more than you can ever imagine is the life you can discover this Easter, in Jesus.

Sample Gospel Presentions

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Sample Gospel Presentations
Sample Gospel Presentations

It does not take much space to include a  gospel presentation (how to become a Christian, what it means to be a Christian) in your church bulletin or special event handout.

This PDF contains a few examples.

Feel free to modify them in a way that would suit your church.

Though these are a good, brief summary, I strongly recommend that you also add a link to your website where you explain what it means to be a Christian in much more detail. Include links to questions about the Christian faith so people can carefully explore the Christian faith before they make the most important decision of their lives.

To download the PDF, click here or on the image.

note: this PDF is from Yvon Prehn's archives and is the only format of this article available presently. Not the greatest quality to be sure, but shared with the belief that the content is useful.

Have you closed with Jesus? Perhaps a new way to communicate how to become a Christian

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Like any other transaction, when we close with Jesus it is intentional and something of value--our life for his salvation--is transferred.
Like any other transaction, when we close with Jesus it is intentional and something of value--our life for his salvation--is transferred.

What does it mean to be a Christian? It’s important to understand that for any of the work you do in church communications to make sense. Below are some verses about how the Bible defines it and then I’d like to share what might be a new way that you may not have heard to explain it.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life (1 John 5:11, 12 NLT).

Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as 'Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, "Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name." But I will reply, "I never knew you. Go away" (Matthew 7:21-23 NLT).

If you've read a number of entries on this website and if you have done church communications work for any time at all, you may have one of two responses. Either the words here have been an encouragement and a challenge to you in your work as a church communicator or perhaps they seem empty and your job remains a frustration.

If your job seems a constant frustration, beyond any solutions in technology or work setting, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you to take a few minutes to look at your personal relationship with Jesus.

Church communications is ultimately and at its core communication about Jesus. Unlike other kinds of communication work, you will have a hard time doing church communications work if you don't know Jesus. Knowing him, listening to our shepherd's voice, is essential if our work is to pass the test of eternal value and to be bearable as we do it day-by-day. But how can we be sure if we have this kind of relationship with Jesus?

Please now, take a few minutes by yourself, without distractions, to read this section and think about it.

One way to look at your relationship with Jesus

Evangelists in the past used a term that we don't often hear today when they would ask, "Have you closed with Christ?" Their use of the term "closed" was taken from real estate back then and they used it just as we do today. You can look at a house, walk through it, admire it, want it, even invest time in getting a loan on it, but until you "close" on it, the house is not yours.

What happens when you close? On closing, only then does the house then becomes truly, legally yours. For that closing to take place, you have to give up something, usually a considerable amount of money, and you have to make a commitment to keep investing in the house for it to one day be yours completely.

No analogy is ever perfect, but this is a pretty good one to explain what it means to know Jesus personally. You can look at Jesus from far away, you can even get up close, perhaps visiting or regularly attending a church to look at his teachings. You might even work at a church and do communications work in his name. But unless a personal transaction takes place, unless you know Jesus personally and he knows you, you haven't "closed" with him.

That act of closing with Jesus is a serious commitment. That closing takes place between you and God, in prayer where you admit your sins have kept you from God and you recognize that Jesus death on the cross paid a penalty for those sins that you could not, and you ask that Jesus become the forgiver and leader of your life.

The cost of the transaction

If you do that you have closed with Jesus and you move into an eternal relationship with him. Though there is no monetary cost to this transaction meaning there is nothing you can do to earn or deserve a relationship with Jesus, at the same time before making that closing transaction, the Bible does urge you to count to the life cost. The Bible is clear that the cost involved in closing with Jesus is that you now turn over the control of your life to Him: your priorities, your time, your focus, your decisions are now all to be under the leadership of Jesus. You aren't asked to make monthly payments (though giving regularly to your church and those in need is an expectation of all Christians), but you are required to give up your time regularly in the study of God's Word, in prayer, and in service to your world in the name of Jesus. In return the Christian receives much more than an earthly house that will deteriorate. The Christian is promised an eternal home in heaven and on earth peace, strength, and joy for whatever life God gives.

I'm bringing this up because, because as I've said earlier, doing Christian communication work is one of the hardest jobs imaginable and to last in it, you need every resource available in Jesus. You have to have a personal relationship with Jesus for his strength to flow through you to do this work; you must be on good terms with him to do it happily. Our relationship with our God is personal-more than a theology or belief system or set of rules-one with much more, but no less than the personal qualities of a relationship with an earthly friend.

If you have not closed with Jesus, count the cost of following him and if you are ready to commit your life to him, close with Jesus by praying the prayer that follows.

A prayer of "closing" with Jesus

Dear Jesus,

I admit that though I've known about you for a long time, I've kept you at arm's distance. I don't want to do that anymore. I admit that I need forgiveness for things I have done. I realize that in coming to you I acknowledging that you died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins and I want you to come into my life and be my forgiver and leader. I realize that in doing this I turn over the control of my life and eternity to you and I pray you'd help me to live a life that is worthy of you. Thank you for your salvation and for being willing to have a personal relationship with me for all eternity. Amen.

If you sincerely prayed that prayer, welcome to the family of God! More than ever before you will have Jesus beside you as you do your work for him. Be sure to read your Bible every day and go to a church that preaches the Bible and you will grow and experience the reality of a friendship that will never end.

Evaluate your ongoing relationship with Jesus

If you are in a relationship with him, how is it? We take time to test our human relationships and it is very important to give time and attention to our relationship with Jesus. Is it the happy, peaceful time you want it to be? Is a bit of resentment festering? Talk about it to Jesus. Is there sadness inside you that you don't feel will ever end? Share it. Have you forgotten to be thankful for the blessings of food and shelter that so many of our brothers and sisters around the world are without? Catch up on your thanks. Do you forget he wants to help you in every detail of your life? Invite him to share this moment.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," the apostle Paul said (Phil 4:13, KJV). Now that your relationship is right with Jesus, charge into your day, doing your work in church communication in his strength.

_________

Altered slightly, this is taken from Devotions for Church Communicators,The Heart of Church Communication by Yvon Prehn, available as an ebook for Kindle and as a paperback book from amazon.com.