Effective Church Communications

A Prayer for Graduates, Free flyer, bulletin insert

5 May, 2022 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Christian prayer for graduates — This is part of set of flyers you can download for your graduates.

The most important thing we can give the graduates at our church is our prayers and I created a set of half-page flyers, bulletin inserts, or however you want to use them for your graduates.

I took the first letter of GRADUATE and used them as a prayer, along with verses. Below is a gallery of them and below that the ZIP file that contains PDFs and editable MS Publisher files.

Please know my love and prayers go with all of you as you use this prayer. May the Lord grant us a generation of graduates who will represent Him well and be a joy to their families, communities, and churches.

CLICK on the following link to download the ZIP File: Prayer for Graduates half page

Other Graduation resources: click on the link following the title

Free Challenging Instagram graphics for GRADUATION, download and use
https://wp.me/pDky9-7Xt

A challenge for Graduates—choose your North Star wisely
https://wp.me/pDky9-7XR

For Graduates: Celebrate but also challenge
https://wp.me/pDky9-7XV

PODCAST: Mother’s Day–Make the Most of the Untapped Potential for Evangelism and Outreach

17 April, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

When we think about Mother's Day we think about doing special things for the moms in our churches and that's wonderful, but we can do something for them that makes flowers and chocolate pale in comparison.

We can help their kids and spouses who may not know Jesus have an opportunity to hear about him and connect with the church to find out more. But to do that, we need to realize that Mother's Day has the big attendance it does (just behind Easter and Christmas) not because of all the moms who are there because they are there every week or because random moms show up for the goodies. The visitors on this day are unchurched children and spouses who show up to make mom happy and we need to tailor the message and what happens that morning with them in mind.

This PODCAST talks about how to do that and the FREE TEMPLATES at the following link will give you the tools you need: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/mothers-day-templates/

You can listen to the PODCAST below and you can sign up for it on iTunes or many other podcast sources.

Don’t forget the people left behind in the rush to make all things digital

14 April, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Yvon's note: I admit, I was a bit cranky when I wrote this. Well, not so much cranky as sad, but I know I can come across cranky at times when I want to cry but end up yelling (ask my husband). I wanted to acknowledge that and ask for your forgiveness if the following comes across too harshly. I seem to be over-reacting a lot these days or maybe it’s an appropriate reaction to the over-the-top stresses of these days. I’m not sure, but I trust the following gives us thoughtful pause as we work to adapt to changing challenges while serving “the least of these.”

It’s been a wild ride in church communications and it isn’t going to smooth out any time soon as we try to figure out what to keep, what to modify, what new things to try, and what old ways of doing things we can toss out. Much well-deserved emphasis and discussion have been on new ways to conduct worship online and that will continue as churches work to figure out how to juggle the challenges of meeting physically together (while properly social distancing apart) and continuing an online ministry for those who cannot meet together.

While these discussions are going on, I’d like some recent thoughts.

Imagine you are older; imagine your health is compromised in some way and staying home is a necessity. Most likely this has been an extremely fearful time.

If you weren’t entirely comfortable with technology, it might have been a challenge to figure out how to participate in an online Bible study or watch a Sunday service.

Imagine that despite your fears, you are just now starting to feel comfortable taking communion with crackers and juice at home and singing along with the worship team on the computer. But on Sunday you are told this will stop. Well, maybe not stop entirely, the church will try to “stream” the service as they meet back in the building, but they are letting people know ahead of time this might not be the same and they made stop doing the online service. [Read more...]

We are at the half-way point with Lent and here are 40 challenging images for you to use however you want

21 March, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Lenten Set of images from Effective Church Communications — This is the first of 40 images for you to download and use during Lent or anytime to help people grow in their walk with Jesus.

Lent isn't just for Lent. What I mean by that is Lent is a specific time when we can focus on denying ourselves so we can live more fully for God.

It is about so much more than giving up chocolate or social media or whatever other external thing we choose during this time. At its best, Lent is a time for quiet self-evaluation so we can grow more deeply to become who God wants us to be.

In that self-evaluation, it's time to add virtues, practices to our lives that will help us become more like Jesus.

What I have for you to inspire you during Lent

To guide you through Lent, I created a set of 40 inspirational images and I then wrote a brief challenge or thought-provoking idea to go with them.

I put the challenges into a free downloadable journal for you, plus they are on daily Instagrams, and in my favorite form, on a daily short YouTube video (less than a minute), where I read them to you along with a challenge and prayer. Please check that out--CLICK HERE to go to the channel. [Read more...]

Foundational lessons to grow your church in numbers and your people in spiritual maturity

11 March, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

The following lessons can radically change how your church communicates and the results of it. These also form the foundation for much of the teaching from Effective Church Communications which is based on the goal of helping your church create communications that will fully fulfill the Great Commission.

The videos are on the Effective Church Communications YouTube channel and I'll be posting more videos regularly.

Please subscribe and share the resource with other church communicators; they won't get training like this anywhere else.

The 5 Steps of Effective Church Communications and Marketing

This is a strategic and sequential plan that will take people from outside the church and grow them into mature disciples.

Most churches work hard on communications, but they are often done without direction towards the overall goals of the church. This training will change that and give you a vision and North Star for your communications to all work towards fully fulfilling the Great Commission.

Successful Seasonal Strategies

Churches put on great seasonal events and often get a great turnout.

However, though they expect people will come to the church the following Sunday, that often doesn't happen.

This will teach you how to change that and grow your church in numbers and at the same time grow your people in spiritual maturity.

How the 5 Steps and Successful Seasonal Strategies work together

Both of the strategies, the 5 Steps and Successful Seasonal Strategies work on their own and they work together even better—this lesson will show you how.

You don't have to be familiar with the two other lessons to benefit from this one, in fact, this can be a good overview and then you can watch the other two later.