Blog | Effective Church Communications

A sad situation—why Back to Church Sunday communications are no longer on this site

22 July, 2018 By Yvon Prehn 5 Comments

NO BtoC Templates anymore on this site. — Why you sadly won't find the sets of previously free templates for a certain Sunday on this site.

I've put off writing this for a long time because it was so upsetting to me, but you won't find any Back to Church Sunday communications on this site anymore and the ones I had in the past have all been removed because Outreach Marketing trademarked the term and demanded I remove any of my communications that had the term (even though they were given away for FREE) from my site.

I did not respond well to their email telling me this.

I asked if they were planning on trademarking Christmas and Easter next. I went on:

The Southern Baptists came up with the idea--not you. You decided to monetize it and that's fine, but to keep others from sharing is wrong. I don't charge anything for my resources--I know you have some resources for free, but what inspired me to create what I did is that I felt what you offered for free was poorly designed and did not appeal to a broad enough audience.

Strategy for summer communications, remember visitors, delete hidden jargon

1 July, 2018 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Summer Image — Your church will have visitors this summer, be sure your communications make sense to them.

This summer your church will get lots of visitors, many of whom are friends of church members who might not regularly go to church. This is a wonderful opportunity to reach out with the gospel and the love of Jesus and here are some tips to help your communications make the most of this opportunity.

Jargon watch

We know we shouldn’t use church jargon terms like justification and sanctification in our church bulletin, web, or social media when we are writing for people visiting our church, but so much of our church jargon we don’t even see. Using acronyms we don't explain, talking about events that we do year after year and assume everyone knows about, insider jokes, assuming people know times and locations—all these things are confusing and unkind to someone visiting. We don't want our language to keep someone with a free night in our city to miss out on an opportunity to learn about Jesus.

What should we do? Awareness is a good first step. Look at your bulletin, web, and social media and ask the Lord to help you see them as a visitor would. Take the time to explain what you know is confusing, even if it benefits only one person. To go further, show your communications to a friend who doesn't go to the church and ask them to tell you what you said. If they have trouble explaining exactly what you are referring to, how to get there, and why they should bother to come you may want to make some changes.

Not for summer only: the above tip is useful to do at least once a year in your church. It becomes impossible for us to see if our communications make sense to anyone outside the church. You have to get that feedback regularly to be sure you are communicating with the people you want to reach.

Ask yourself what would make you feel welcome if you were visiting?

What do your church communications say about the priorities of your church?

25 June, 2018 By Yvon Prehn 3 Comments

Summer communications — Because we have the opportunity to do different things in the summer, what we choose and communicate about reveals the true priorities of our church.

Jesus told us that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, (Luke 6:45)" and we know that's true. If we are angry with someone, it always comes out. Maybe in nasty, little snide comments, maybe in screaming. If we love someone, we can't help but smile when we are with them or thinking about them.

We may want to hide either emotion, but it seldom works. No matter what we say, "I'm not angry, just frustrated" or "No, he's really just a friend" our words and actions will always show what is in our hearts.

It's the same with your church. You can have the most biblical, Great Commission-centered mission statement ever. Your leadership board can decide that this year the focus will be on outreach and discipleship and the congregation can agree those are great goals.

But are these truly at the heart of your church? Do you honestly care about reaching unchurched people with the good news of Jesus and growing your current members into mature disciples? Do these convictions result in action?

It doesn't matter what you say in meetings, what does the voice of your church, your communications, say are your priorities?

This is very easy to evaluate. Look at the recent communications—your bulletin, newsletter, social media. What are they about? As I write this, it's the start of summer and I had the opportunity to compare two sets of church communications. The defining details are changed so as not to embarrass any member of the Body of Christ, but here is a summary of each one from an overview of their summer communications.Continue Reading

Chris Pratt, a Gospel presentation at MTV awards, and a challenge to us all

20 June, 2018 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Chris Pratt can preach! — We don't usually think of Chris Pratt as a preacher, but his MTV Awards speech has challenges for us all. Image by Gage Skidmore.

When the Bible tells us that when Jesus spoke, “people heard him gladly” and “the large crowd listened to him with delight,” various translations of Mark 12:37, I often wonder what that meant. This passage and others contrasts Jesus way of speaking with that of the religious leaders of the day.

Sadly, there are few Christian leaders or preachers today who people “listen to with delight.”

And then there is Chris Pratt. His job description as super star actor (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic Park, Parks and Recreation) doesn't automatically include preacher to the people—but last night at the MTV Awards he was just that.

He framed his words as his 9 Rules for Living. I’ll share them below, but I highly recommend you listen to them online, not only for the words, but more importantly for the audience reaction.

Here is what he said:

"I'm going to cut to the chase and I am going to speak to you, the next generation," Pratt said. "I accept the responsibility as your elder. So, listen up."

"Breathe. If you don't, you will suffocate."
"You have a soul. Be careful with it."
"Don't be a turd. If you are strong, be a protector. If you are smart, be a humble influencer. Strength and intelligence can be weapons, so do not wield them against the weak. That makes you a bully. Be bigger than that."
"When giving a dog medicine, put the medicine in a little piece of hamburger and they won't even know they're eating medicine."
"It doesn't matter what it is. Earn it. A good deed. Reach out to someone in pain. Be of service. It feels good and it's good for your soul."
"God is real. God loves you, God wants the best for you. Believe that, I do."
"If you have to poop at a party….(sorry I’m leaving this one off—it’s online, but this is my “G” rated blog).
"Learn to pray. It's easy, and it is so good for your soul."
"Nobody is perfect. People will tell you that you are perfect just the way that you are, you are not! You are imperfect. You always will be, but there is a powerful force that designed you that way, and if you are willing to accept that, you will have grace. And grace is a gift. Like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else's blood. Do not forget that. Don't take that for granted."

Again, listen to his speech, not only for his words, but for the audience reaction. They are clapping and cheering through it. Obviously they heard him with delight. It’s worth analyzing why. The truth statements (rules 2,5, 6 and 9 especially) are incredible distillations of biblical reality put into contemporary language—we are not perfect and we need grace, grace purchased with somebody else’s blood. When was the last time you heard a congregation clap at the mention of grace?

He does a masterful mix of humor and truth—very hard for most of us to manage, so I don’t recommend trying, but you can take his words and use them as discussion starters, especially with the younger people in your life: What did they think of it? What is grace? Why is it important to know you aren’t perfect?

#9 is an extraordinary contemporary translation of “for all have sinned” “by grace you are saved.” Discuss his challenge that we not take that for granted.

And for you and your church, can you lighten up a little bit while still being true to who you are and the respect due the gospel? How can we translate Biblical terms into the language of today so people will hear eternal truth? How can we bring joy back into sharing our faith?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but they are challenges worth discussing. And while doing that pray for the many who heard Chris Pratt’s message that they hunger to find out more about the God who loves them and paid for them with Jesus’s blood.

Pray you will learn to share the words of eternal life in way your audience will hear you gladly.