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.

The different preaching styles of Peter and Paul and why it matters for Easter follow-up

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CLICK on the image to download the FREE ZIP file that give you a PDF and an editable MS Publisher file of this handout to help people explore the Christian faith after Easter.

UPDATE NOTE: This was written in the days of church services where everyone met together and this was designed to be printed as a bulletin insert or handout. However, with the challenges of Covid19 many Easter services are done in a variety of ways, you can use this same free Template to create a postcard to send to people or as an email or social media piece to send out to people who attended your virtual service. Our service format may vary but the questions of people who aren't familiar with the good news of Jesus hasn't. Here is a way to reach out to them.

When people come to your church at Easter for some of them it may be the first time they hear that Jesus died on the cross so they could be forgiven of their sins and be at peace with God. This is not an easy message to understand if you have not grown up in the church. That's why using these bulletin inserts (now postcards or social media) that encourage them to continue an exploration of the Christian faith is so important.

The Apostle Paul preached to an audience with much in common with many of the people who will come to your church this Easter. They were part of a world that held many religious beliefs; they may have even heard of Jesus. But again and again you find the same pattern in the book of Acts—Paul would preach a sermon, but then he followed it with extensive discussions as Acts 18: 4 tells us: "every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks." He didn't just preach and leave, he reasoned, he taught, he got into arguments and debates. [Read more...]

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...]

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...]

All will be well—because Jesus came and is coming

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Jesus died on the cross for us
Jesus came humbly the first time and died on the cross for us. He is coming back a second time in victory. And then truly "all will be well."

The world has gotten pretty crazy over the last year and it probably won't improve much next year. But as Christ-followers our hope isn't in dreams and prayers for a better life that may not happen, but in the Savior, whose resurrection we recently celebrated.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered a quote from Julian of Norwich:

All will be well,

All will be well,

All manner of things

Will be well.

It is more than a comforting saying. For those who have trusted Jesus as Savior it is true—in the midst of the crazy world we live in and no matter how insane it gets, now and forever.

We forget the true meaning of "saved"

We forget how incredible our salvation is because sadly being "saved" in much of Christendom today is synonymous with the idea of goodies from God. And those goodies are supposed to include health and wealth or at least a comfortable life.

That's not how the Bible looks at it. Here are two verses we don't often think about:

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! Romans 5:9

You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. 1 Thes. 1:9-10

There is, of course, a sense that we are saved here and now in that we are reconciled to God and at peace with him. We are saved from our selfish selves and able to live for God. But as wonderful as these things are, more wonderful yet is that we are saved from final condemnation and judgment.

One day this present reality with all its pains and fears will be transformed into a new heaven and new earth. There will be a final judgment for those who do not know Jesus and we work hard in all we do to share his message of salvation.  But those who know Jesus are saved from condemnation and judgment. For them, there will be no more crying or tears and all the sadness will be gone forever.

Never forget that your work as a church communicator has eternal consequences. Keeping up with trends and technology may be useful, but far more important in your work is that you consistently make clear the message of salvation.

The first advent was humble; the second will be triumphant

Jesus came the first time as a little baby to poor parents who could only find shelter in a barn. He died on a cross with common criminals.

His second advent will be triumphant and glories.

Now we can only trust and believe that "all will be well." But Jesus is coming a second time and then truly and without end, "all manner of things will be well."

Postscript:

I did up a set of cards with the saying "All will be well" on them. CLICK the link following to go to the FREE PDFs to download and share: https://wp.me/pDky9-8T4

 

One person can change the direction of your church communications

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Nehemiah has lessons for church communicators
Nehemiah has lessons for church communicators in terms of vision, hard work, and how to trust God.

Out of the 66 books of the Bible, 39 of them are the names of people.

Ordinary people no different from you or me with one difference—they allowed an extraordinary God to use them for his purposes. As you consider the communications needs of your church, you might be tempted to think there is little you can do, but God can use you in the same way he used the people of the Bible to change the course of your church, your church communications, and your community in extraordinary ways.

As an inspiration, let's look at Nehemiah. He was an official in the palace in Babylon, with no doubt a comfortable life. That changed when he heard about the situation of his fellow Jews back at Jerusalem, when the word came that they were, "in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire (Neh. 1:3)."

Most likely a lot of people heard that report. Many in Babylon and the thousands living in Jerusalem knew there was a huge problem. But one man let it break his heart and he took that heartbreak to God and did something about it. [Read more...]