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; Effective Church Communications can help.

Resurrection Cookies, a Free recipe that will teach children and parents about Easter, and it’s something you can do at home now

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Res Cookie Bunny Verstion
Resurrection Cookies are a wonderful way to remind both children and parents of the real meaning of Easter--the Resurrection of Jesus. Plus it's a fun and yummy project!

For a great strategy to teach children about Easter, involve parents, and provide an outreach tool, NOTHING beats Resurrection Cookies.

When you make the cookies, you visually illustrate Jesus suffering, burial, death and resurrection. Because you are doing it with cookies, it is much less intimidating for people who don't go to church to be involved with it.

In other years you can do this with friends and neighbors. This year with everyone staying home it is a wonderful activity for a family.

Below are pictures of a variety of designs for the Recipe. To see larger images of the pages, click on the first image and a larger slide show will come up. The file below them has both PDFs and MS Publisher files for you to download.

Various designs for Resurrection Cookies:

To download the Resurrection Cookie File, click the following link: Church Bunny Resurrection Cookie Files

Later in this article is the text for the handouts, including the introduction, recipe, and Bible verses if you choose to create your own verses of the handouts or if you want to put the material on your website or in a church newsletter. You have my permission to use it freely. The text is the same for all of them—choose a style that suits you best or use the text below to create your own version. [Read more...]

Motivational materials to encourage your congregation to invite their friends to Easter services, and why it matters

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invitation
People inviting people is the best way to increase your Easter attendance. Here is some motivation for your congregation

Sometimes we all need a little help to do the right thing and the materials here will help you encourage your congregation to invite their friends to your Easter services.

The communication has 2 forms, a 1/2 page flyer and a 1/4 size that prints well on card stock. On the one side is a motivational piece that lists 4 Reasons to invite friends and on the back a place for names of people they will be praying for.

Here is what the front of the card says:

Invite your friends to church this Easter season!

....or 4 REASONS why I should bother to pray, ask, and remind people to come when I’d rather just relax and sit around munching the ears off chocolate bunnies.

  1. Life is scary

The economy, terrorism, tornadoes, crazy weather—there is a lot to be afraid of in our world today. But those who have met the One who calms storms, know that though the journey might be challenging, we are ultimately promised a safe harbor. Invite your friends to meet Jesus, the only reliable guide through scary times.

  1. People are lonely

Lies, abandonment, abuse, disappointment—no matter how wonderful the person or relationship, there are times when the best of human companionship will disappoint. That’s because, as St. Augustine said, we all have a God-shaped place inside that only Jesus can fill. Invite your friends to meet Jesus, the only person whose love will never fail through all of life, through death, and into eternity.

  1. Everyone needs a purpose

As a former Watergate conspirator said, many folks live their lives climbing the ladder of success only to realize it was leaning against the wrong wall. Jesus’ resurrection provides us with the power to live lives of significant purpose and to discern between true and false success. Invite your friends to discover Jesus, the only compass to guide you to a life of genuine, meaningful purpose.

  1. We’re all going to live forever

Most folks today believe that and the Bible agrees. The question is, if you are going to live forever, what neighborhood will you live in? Jesus promises that for those who believe in Him they will live in an eternal neighborhood of light, joy, purpose, and companionship. But Jesus won’t force anyone to live in His neighborhood. Problem is, any place outside His source of light, joy, purpose, and companionship is an eternal place of darkness, pain, regret, and isolation—not a neighborhood we want anyone to live in. Invite your friends to meet Jesus, so they can live forever in His neighborhood.

Then on the back is a place for a prayer list of people to invite

Pray and List Family, Friends, Neighbors and Coworkers to invite:

________________________________                                                              ________________________________

________________________________                                                              ________________________________

________________________________                                                              ________________________________

If you need more motivation

I wrote the following if you or your congregation need additional motivation to invite people to your Easter services. It is a bit heavy and serious, but a good reminder to all of us of the importance of the work we are doing. We aren't simply getting communications ready for Easter. We are potentially changing the eternal destiny of people.

It doesn't matter much if you merely think of Easter as a time for chocolate and brunch. It isn't really important if your Easter service is primarily about fun things for kids and a musical extravaganza as uplifting as that might be.

But it does matter tremendously if you believe the message of Easter that Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human died on the cross to pay for the penalty of sin and that He rose bodily from the grave and is our living Savior and coming Lord.

It does matter tremendously if you believe that those who do not trust him as Savior will miss far more than a petting zoo and free candy if they don't attend your church on Easter. The Bible says those who die without Jesus will spend eternity in darkness, pain and conscious regret. Your Easter message can change all that.

We don't like to think about these things in a day when so much of the media message of the Christian faith is on what makes for your "best life now" and how to entertain people and make them feel good and prosperous. But closing our eyes to eternal realities doesn't make them any less true.

Boldly proclaim the truth of the gospel this Easter and equip your people to invite their friends to hear you.

Here are pictures of the images and a file to download

The motivational materials are illustrated below and are in 1/2  and 1/4 sheet of paper sizes. You can download a ZIP file that has ready-to-print PDFs and editable MS Publisher files of the images below. It also has a MS Word file of the text only if you want to create your own publications or use it on the web or in email newsletters or other materials. The link is below the images.

CLICK on the following link to download the ZIP file that has the PDF, MS Publisher, and MS Word files: Easter Why Invite Friends Motivational Materials

You don't need to spend lots of money for purchased church outreach this Easter season. YOU CAN equip and inspire your people to be inviters with materials you create in the church! Have them pray for their friends, bring them to church and be part of introducing them to God's forever family. In other posts and upcoming articles, we'll have lots more ideas and communications to help your congregation invite their friends.

To get you started, CLICK HERE for a set of Easter Invitations.

A thoughtful challenge for Valentine’s Day from St. Augustine – a cure for empty hearts

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This is one of 8 flyers you can use to remind people that God can fill empty hearts and lives.

Valentine's Day can be fun and fluffy, a time for flowers and candy and silly, sappy cards.

But it can also be seriously sad. If you have someone in your life or not, your heart can feel empty.

As those who know Jesus, we can use this time not only to remind ourselves of how much Jesus does love us, but we can also use it as a time to reach out to people who don't know Him and let them know that there is One who can fill their empty, restless heart.

To help you do that, I created the following handouts ( 2 sets of 4) that you can freely download and give out as mailers, postcards, bulletin inserts or on social media. In addition, below the handouts is a word file of the free verse I wrote that you can put into anything you want to remind people that "our hearts are restless til they rest in him."

Click on the links below the images to download the Zip Files that have ready-to-print PDF images and editable MS Publisher files.

SPECIAL NOTE: if you'd like to know more of the story of St. Augustine, the author of the quote, see the note at the end of the article.

Click the following link to download the ZIP file that contains the files above: MS Pub St. Augustine quote, set #2

Click the following link to download the ZIP file that contains the files above: St. Augustine quote

Written out message

[Read more...]

Follow up for Christmas visitors: content for social media, flyers, bulletin insert, newsletter articles

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#1MS Pub Editable Because He didn't stay a baby
Use this bulletin insert to connect holiday church visitors with your church and encourage them to explore the Christian faith. CLICK HERE to download this FREE PDF.

Many people will came to your church for Christmas Eve or other Christmas-related services because they want to make a family member happy, to keep peace in an extended family, or for many other reasons that have nothing to do with seeking God and who never come at any other time of year.

However, our Lord who stooped to become a baby still seeks them and a communication piece like this may help make a ongoing connection with your visitors and Jesus.

This piece is an extended version of the Christmas follow-up postcards mentioned earlier that reminded people that we don't only celebrate Christmas because of the Baby Jesus, but because of what he grew up to be—our Savior.

This extended piece can be used in many ways: as flyer or bulletin insert, as a print piece inside a visitor letter, as text or graphics or both for social media or your online or print newsletter, it is designed for people to get them to think about Jesus beyond an inspiring service.

On the back you can add some links to online resources to help them explore what it means to be a Christian. You could also add events from your church schedule, your website information about your church, a personal message, or contact information.

PLEASE take the time and effort to make up a communication like this!

Many churches are hesitant to preach challenging evangelistic sermons at Christmas services and while that is understandable, we don't want to miss the opportunity to share Jesus and to give people the resources to explore more about Him on their own. A communication like this isn't intrusive or pushy, but it gently challenges and gives people the resources to check into more about Jesus and the Christian faith. I've suggested some sources, but please add your own or any ways visitors can engage with your church or enter into a dialog or have their questions answered.

Additional designs and editable files

Below is the text of the insert and following that are added designs available in the ZIP file at the end of the article. The ZIP file has:

  • Ready-to-print PDFs of all the designs
  • Editable MS Publisher files
  • Hi-res images of each design
  • MS Word file of the text for the front of the flyer and recommended resources.

[Read more...]