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.

What ONE THING do you need to do? a challenge for church communicators as you start the New Year

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Do the most important thing
We all juggle many things, but we need to listen to the Lord to decide what is most important and do it.

This past year the father of one of my friends died. My friend shared with me that in the time they spent together as death approached, he asked his father, “Is there anything you need to do?”

What a kind and wise question to ask a loved parent in the twilight of life—to be there to help him do whatever needs to be done to rest in peace. We all want to know our lives mattered and that we finished up the tasks, the calling, and, if possible, all we were created to do before we leave this earth. We may not be able to finish those things alone and the offer to help seemed incredibly insightful and caring.

As I thought about it in the days that followed, I realized that it’s an important question for all of us to ask ourselves and those we love. As the New Year is about to start, it’s an especially good time to do that. As many of us make resolutions at this time, we ought to take time to make worthwhile ones. [Read more...]

A Christmas brochure that explains the gospel–Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but why?

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Picture of Color artwork, side one
This brochure can be used as a give-away to share the good news about Jesus at any Christmas event.

Christmas events should always have a clear presentation of the good news of salvation in Jesus. Jesus is the "reason for the Season," but also your Christmas events are a time when people will be visiting your church who often don't come.

No matter how fantastic your music or program, no matter how delicious the food, you don't want anyone leaving without knowing about Jesus.

This piece, "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, but why?" has been one of our most popular and frequently printed Christmas communications. In the past we've given you this piece either in MS Word format or in PDFs on one page.

Below is the MS Word text and to see this communication in various formats on one page, you can CLICK HERE.

For this year, a NEW tri-fold brochure in MS Word

This piece can be used not only to give out at church events, but it also works to give to your people to put into Christmas letters, to share in their neighborhoods, to give out at work, to friends or however you can think of to use it. The text below is for everyone to copy and use. On the brochures in addition to this basic text is also a back panel with additional websites for people to check out the Christian faith in more detail and a place for you to personalize the brochure for your church. Below it is a ZIP file that contains: an MS Word Editable files of all the versions below, ready-to-print PDFs of each version and images of each one.

MS Word File of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but why?"

 Hark! the Herald Angels Sing! but why? At Christmas—did you ever wonder what that joyous singing was about? It certainly couldn't have been for Jesus. Leaving the glory of heaven to inhabit a body that would get tired and hurt from a hard day working in the carpenter shop wasn't reason for joy. Then to preach the message he'd been sent to communicate not only to have the majority of folks not believe him, but to crucify him for it—no, the singing wasn't for Jesus.

It probably wasn't for the angels themselves. It would give them no joy to watch for the next 33 years the incredible wonder of the Creator of the universe playing with little kids, speaking to the storm and quieting it like a child, watching him restore sight and wholeness to the hurting and life itself to a friend who had died, and to have all that love rejected. No, the angels weren't singing for themselves.

I think the angels were singing for us. The celebration was because they knew Jesus was the true connection between people and God. They knew Jesus could quiet that empty place in each heart that God created and only He can fill. They knew Jesus came to earth to bridge the gap between God and man by his death on the cross. That's why we have Christmas and the angels sang.

Their song is for you if you know Jesus. If not, if the place is your heart is still empty and without Jesus, this year consider filling it with him. But think carefully first. Though salvation in Jesus is a free gift, it isn't one without cost. You get it free, but Jesus died to give it to you. Also, if you accept Jesus' gift of salvation, know He takes it very seriously and you won't ever be the same. A new life will start in you, the very life of God. If you want God's gift in all His fullness, chances are that He might ask for some changes your life to make room for new things He'll want to bring in. Don't be afraid; you won't be losing out. You'll be gaining a whole way of life that will be more satisfying than you can imagine. You'll want to read the Bible; you'll want to talk to God in prayer; you'll want to go to a church and meet other members of your new family of God. You'll want to grow spiritually and become all your Creator meant for you to be. It can be scary. You'll be under new management, but whatever you might be tightly clutching now will seem no more important to you than it does to a child who gladly sets aside a toy tricycle when he realizes his parents have a real bicycle for him.

The first Christmas began with a glorious song from angels, but the song isn't over. Did you know the angels want to sing for you?The Bible tells us that the angels today sing for joy whenever someone accepts the greatest gift of all—Jesus. If you want that gift, wherever you are, out-loud or in your heart, say something like this to him:

Dear Jesus,

I want the gift you want to give me. I want to be connected with my God this Christmas. I know that I'm not. I know there are things in my life, my sin, my pride, even some of my good deeds that I thought could take me to God, but I know on my own I won't make it. I realize Jesus came to earth that first Christmas to do what I could not do—to die for me, so I can live with you. I don't understand it all, but I want to ask you anyway to come into my life, to be my Savior, to be with me now and forever. Help me to learn what I need to learn and to grow and live a life that will be pleasing to you. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, listen quietly. The angels are singing—you may not hear them with your ears, but a song of joy that will never end has begun in your heart.  

This next section can be on the back or a third panel of the brochure If you are considering becoming a Christian, please consider. . . . . This is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is not a quick fix, fire-insurance, one more thing to try to make you feel better. It is an eternal commitment to Jesus Christ as Forgiver and Leader of your life. Please take time to explore these sites:

Who is Jesus? http://www.whoisjesus-really.com/english/menu.htm Lots of questions answered here about Jesus.

Christian Research Institute: http://www.equip.org/ This is the website of the Christian Research Institute and Hank Hanegraff, the Bible AnswA Christmas brochure that explains the gospel--Hark the Herald Angels Sing, but why?

Ten Reasons to Believe: http://www.rbc.org/rtb/ An excellent site to explore the Christian faith in detail. Contains a number of lists including: Ten reasons to believe in life after death; Ten reasons to believe in Christ rather than religion; Ten reasons to believe in the Bible; and other lists.

One of the best ways to find out more about the Christian life is to become part of a church. Please find one you are comfortable in, that preaches the Bible and that will answer your questions.

(Here is where you can put in specific information about your church).

Pictures of the various formats of the 3-column format of the brochure, below the images is the link to the ZIP File.

Picture of Color artwork, side one
Side One of the Brochure, color images
Picture of Color artwork, side two
Side Two of the Brochure, color images
If you have a digital duplicator where you can print in an accent color, you can use this file for your master for one color.

 

 

Picture of Blue artwork
This file for the brochure can be used either in color for the blue images or it is also a good one to print in black and white.

 

Picture of Text Only
If you have a digital duplicator where you can print in an accent color, you can use this file for your master for your second color or black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ZIP FILE containing all formats in MS WORD, PDF, and images.

 

 

CLICK HERE to download the ZIP File

 

FREE Church Publicity Workshop: How to promote your church events to local media

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Publicity Cover page
This is the first page of presentation notes for this extremely helpful Publicity Workshop for churches. At the end of this article you can download the notes and PowerPoint presentation.

At this holiday time of year, we work so hard to put on Christmas events and we want as many people as possible to attend.In addition to all you do at the church, if you can get free media advertising, this can be a way to reach people who are unfamiliar with your church.

To help you do that, reach your community, and get them to your events, ECC Member, Sandra Coulson, a newspaper reporter and copy editor has shared a Publicity Workshop presentation that she presented to her church. The advice in it is clear, simple, easy-to-follow and tremendously useful.

The ZIP FILE at the end of the article has her PowerPoint presentation and PowerPoint notes. Below is her cover email that explains what she did.

I can't thank her enough for sending it. If you have training materials like this that you would like to freely pass on, please email me with them at yvon@effectivechurchcom.com.

Sandra's email and cover letter for the Publicity Workshop Presentation

Hi Yvon,

We recently tried a publicity workshop for leaders of groups at my church and it seemed to help many of them with an area in which they were struggling.

Some background: I’ve worked as a newspaper reporter and copy editor for 30 years. Although I sit on the other side of the fence, I understand the general approach that publicists use to attract attention to their cause. I also noticed that some of the posters, flyers and public service announcements that groups at my church were putting out were missing the mark. (At my church, each group often does their own publicity.) So I volunteered to put together a short, simple presentation on the basic of publicizing events.

I sent out invitations (mainly by e-mail) to all group leaders. Since I work nights at the newspaper, the easiest time to organize it was right after church on Sunday morning. The alternative was a session on Saturday, but I figured most of us would be there on Sunday, so I chose that day. I made up a PowerPoint presentation and an A-V Team member kindly stayed after church to run it for me. I prepared a handout with the PowerPoint slides and a list of all the media outlets I could think of in our city where events could be promoted: dailies, weeklies, magazines, newsletters, radio stations, TV stations, neighbourhood bulletin boards (the old-fashioned, non-electronic kind), websites, Twitter hashtags. (I didn’t provide all the details on how to contact each outlet because that seems to change quite often, but at least having a name gets them started.)

I think every group was represented either by the leader or a substitute the leader sent along, so I must have touched a need. Another church across the city heard about the presentation and asked for the material to use there. My presentation took only 20 minutes and there was a bit of discussion afterward, mainly with group leaders sharing with each other additional media outlets that I hadn’t thought of or whether some seemed more effective than others. Since then, some of them have continued to e-mail me with new ones they come across (mainly websites) and I have forwarded those to others who attended the workshop, so our list continues to grow with options for them to choose from.

I’ve attached the PowerPoint presentation. I thought it might be of some use to Effective Church Communications.

Sandra Coulson
Church of the Ascension
London, Ontario

I'm making this file free for everyone for the next few weeks and then it will be available for ECC Members only.

CLICK HERE to download the ZIP file that contains the PowerPoint Presentation and Notes page PDF.

Once you download the ZIP file, save it to your computer and then click to open.

Successful Christmas Outreach Strategy

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Christmas tree
For Christmas outreach to be successful take lots of work and prayer.

For many churches, their idea of successful Christian outreach means finding and buying the best looking, professionally done postcard and then paying lots for mailing lists and a large mailing.

It doesn’t matter how great your outreach marketing piece looks, how flawless the printing, how inspired your slogan, no one piece can carry the weight of assuring a good turnout for a Christmas event. Even if you do get a good turnout, that doesn't mean that the response of the people who attend will be anything more than appreciation for a good time.

This is not to say that these things don’t matter, because they may be steps towards a connection with your church and Jesus, but the key thing to remember if you want your Christmas outreach to be ultimately successful, is that it takes many actions by every part of your church and here are some suggestions:

1. First for leaders and decision-makers in the church, spend time in prayer asking God to impress on your heart the seriousness and the privilege of our opportunities this time of year. Remember, this might be your one opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with visitors and relatives. The eternal destiny of people can be decided at your church this holiday season. [Read more...]

Ready-to-Print Sept. 11 (and other times): Postcard Prayers for Police, Firefighters, Soldiers

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Thank you card for those who serve
Any time of the year it is appropriate to say thank-you and pray for those who serve: the police, fire-fighters, soldiers.  The cards here can help you do that.

Though this collection of Postcard Prayers was created initially for Sept. 11 commemoration in the U.S., this set of materials also has generic cards that can be used in any location, at any time, to honor Police, Firefighters, and Soldiers from any country, anywhere.

The cards could be used for the holiday season along with homemade goodies or healthy snacks. The holidays throughout the year are often either times of loneliness or extra work for those who serve the public. We can serve them with our thanks and prayers. [Read more...]