Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission
This is the survey referred to in the article: Don’t only master church communication technology—measure results
A ZIP file containing a ready-to-print PDF, a PNG image, and an editable MS Publisher files is available for Effective Church Communication Members at the link below.
In spite of visitors coming to us every week and though we live in a time when we have the most extraordinary communication tools ever available to the church—the Internet and email for free, instant communications around the world, PowerPoint and video production in our services, and social networking connections, cell phones and texting, plus the ability to produce books, newsletters, and print items in the church office that required publishing companies and advertising agencies to produce in the past, still—the Christian faith is losing ground in many parts of the world. Many churches aren’t growing.
In a recent poll that asked people to give their religious affiliation, the largest number answered: “none.” Granted, there are many factors that account for this situation, but I wonder if one of them has to do with the reality that we may not be doing our best job communicating the truth of the gospel message and the importance and benefits of being part of a local church?
Multimedia, social media available on the web and through our mobile phones may make a church look cutting-edge and may wow with their technical wizardry, but they don’t seem to effectively stem the tide of church defections. They are useful, but they don't communicate well to a visitor who walks into the church and knows nothing about it.
But there is a communication piece that can touch lives, inform, call for decisions, and make connections. It is a piece so powerful that both seekers and regular attendees will read, at least part and often all of it, every week. It’s a communication piece they will reach for, post on their refrigerators, and keep for reference. That piece is the church bulletin.
This humble print publication, the church bulletin, has the potential to change lives for time and eternity, but to do that it has to have content in it that:
Making a bulletin that will have an eternal impact on the people in your community is spiritual warfare. That isn't an overstatement. In any war, one of the first targets destroyed is always the communication center. If an army can't communicate, it can't meet its goals. If there is one piece that ties together the vision and ministries of the church, that connects seekers with help and the hurting in the congregation with help, it is the church bulletin. If the enemy of human souls can make your church unconcerned, routine and ultimately ineffective with your church bulletin, many of the ministries in your church will not do all they could for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.
If your bulletin is not effective, visitors won't connect and come to know Jesus and members won't grow to discipleship maturity. If your church is not accomplishing your goals in growth in numbers and spiritual maturity in your members, before you do anything else (beyond of course, prayer and soul-searching) take an honest look at your church bulletin and see if you are using it in the many ways you could be.
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For an inspiring ebook and video that will help explain how useful a printed bulletin can be in growing your church in numbers and people in spiritual maturity, CLICK HERE.
Typography is one of the most important tools we have to make our church bulletins help people follow and understand what's going on during a church service. Some very small changes that are quick and easy to do can make a tremendous difference in how well people will follow what is going on in your service.
Take less than 5 minutes to watch this video for ideas on how to make your bulletin more effective.
Ed. note: This is the last week of a great series on How to be a Better Office Manager and this week she concludes with some excellent advice:
As an effective manager, you will:
• Learn all you can about the church, the denomination, office administration, management principles—every subject related to the work of the church office. Use online resources, study written materials, and attend seminars. Study communication and human relations skills.
• Communicate with others. Let your team know your standards for good work and periodically tell them how they are doing. Provide the information people need to do their jobs well. Touch base with them often; be available for questions and suggestions. Include them in decisions concerning issues affecting their work, but realize group decisions are seldom good decisions. Listen; then make the decision alone.
• Involve your team. Delegate. Trust your people with responsibilities. Effective managers do not try to do everything themselves. Turning loose of routine tasks allows you to focus your efforts on the parts of the job only you can do.
• Support your team. Show confidence in them; let them know they can have confidence in you. Pray with and for those you minister with as well as for those you minister to.
Encourage people in their efforts. As a manager you want your team to be willing to try new things. They need to know it is acceptable to make mistakes, or even to fail. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Develop mutual trust and respect. People usually live up to the expectations of others. Expect excellence, not perfection, and show appreciation for your team’s efforts. Go to bat for them for equitable pay and benefits. Be the kind of manager you would like to work with.
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For the first two parts of this series:
Being a Better Office Manager, part one
Being a Better Office Manager, part two
I LOVE THIS! We can preach and preach to encourage our people to invite people to church, but sometimes nothing beats a motivational video. One little note . . . . the impact wouldn't have been nearly so powerful had it not ended with one person sharing a piece of paper with an invitation on it!
Check out the video and below it is a link to a resource that will help you create invitations.
Effective Church Communications has created an ebook (FREE for ECC MEMBERS, cheap download for all) that will give you lots of ideas on how to create invitation cards so you can always be prepared to invite people to your church. CLICK HERE or on the image of the book cover to go to it.
ALSO, please check out the video at this link that will illustrate and train you in how to use invitation cards effectively:
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2010/04/church-invitation-cards/
