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.
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Non linear—a valid way to communicate

7 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Recently a Christian writer was critiquing the communication in current media and computer arenas. He stated that since much of the communication did not take the form of logical, linear thought, that truth could not be communicated. I disagree. Though the importance of truth cannot be denied, there are many ways to communicate it. Consider this passage:

Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Rev 4:6-8

Picture that image in your mind for a moment. If you’ve ever played or seen some of the images in the current computer games this one would fit right in. But though the imaginative, games form of the image would fit, its message is far different than most fantastic video games. It isn’t about blood and destruction, it’s about worshipping God.

Linear, logical arguments are one way to communicate—but look at the book of Revelation, as the passage above illustrates and many of the visions of the prophets in the Old Testament (Ezekiel, Daniel). They’d hardly qualify as linear, logical communication.  I don't think we could fault God for his communication style in them.

We share different teachings in different ways. The lists in Numbers are one form; extravagent, imaginative images fill prophetic passages. God did not limit his communication to us in one form and it doesn't make much sense to try to limit how we share the gospel message to one form.

As I reread some of the passages in preparing to write this article I found myself wondering—wouldn’t they be great illustrated on a computer screen? Sometimes I think we’d understand prophecy so much better if we could see it as the writers did.

If the Apostle John and the Prophet Ezekiel were around today, they would probably feel right at home with 3-D computer modeling and virtual reality to communicate their messages.

Instead of limiting the ways God can use us to communicate, let’s encourage those imaginative with computer tools today to use every means possible to reach our generation for Jesus. Linear, logical word-based communication is one valid and still useful method to communicate truth, but with the tools we have today, it is only one tool in the palette of ways we can share the eternal message of salvation.

adapted from Yvon Prehn’s, The Heart of Church Communication, available at www.lulu.com/yvonprehn

 

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: Bible commentary, church communicators devotion, church related images, Communications, images, yvon prehn

Answers to basic questions on how to design church communications

6 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

“How do I design my bulletin, newsletter, flyer, brochure, all the church communications both in print and online?” “What makes a good design in a church publication?” These are questions every church communicator asks and this article provides some foundational advice no matter what project or media you are designing for.

Understand what design is really all about

Before you can create a tangible design that will result in an effective church communication, it helps to have an accurate definition of design. Most people think designing publications means you have to create a decorative, colorful, highly artistic creation—a process far out of the reach of ordinary people doing communications work in the church.

Webster’s definition of design presents a different picture. The dictionary defines design as:

“To sketch an outline for, to plan, to contrive, to plan to do; intend, a plan; scheme, purpose, aim, a working plan, pattern, arrangement of parts, form, color, etc.,  artistic invention.”

Note that only the very last few words “artistic invention” of the definition have anything to do with the artistic aspect often associated with design. The rest of the definition emphasizes the heart of good design—it is a plan, an arrangement of parts chosen that will accomplish your purpose and clearly communicate your message.

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Clarify your message

“The purpose of graphic design is to make it as easy as possible for readers to understand your message. Because graphic design is a tool, not an end in itself, it should be unobstrusive, almost transparent.” Roger C. Parker

This quote by Roger Parker underlines the reality that design is the messenger, not the message. That is why it is so important to construct and refine your message before you begin designing. You first have to clearly decide what you are going to say before you can select a design for it.

Clarify your audience

Just as important, you need to clarify your audience. For example, a few years ago before the book that gave a false portrayal of the Christian faith, the DiVinci Code came out, many churches held classes to teach people the basics of the Christian faith so they would be able to answer questions about the falseness of the stories in the novel. That was the message.

Though the message would remain the same the design of the message would be different if your intended audience for the class would be your college group who would be doing the class in a coffee house setting or if your audience would be a senior citizen’s book club, who wanted to share the truth with their friends.

The design is the carrier of the message to an intended audience and just as you wouldn’t serve coffee out of an etched crystal decanter, some designs are inappropriate carriers for the ministry message you are trying to communicate.

Fom evaluating many ministry communication pieces I realize this match between message, audience and design doesn’t always happen. One of the biggest reasons many publications don’t accomplish their purpose is not because of “bad” design, but because the design isn’t appropriate to either the message or the audience.

How to find good designs for your audience

Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. That advice applies well to finding good graphic design ideas. Once you clarify your message and narrow your audience, a good place for research on how to communicate to that audience is a book store like Barnes and Noble that has a large selection of magazines.

Look for publications that are designed for your audience. Let’s take our example above of the two audiences: college-age and seniors. You can find a number of magazines for either group you are designing for. Pick out several you like, purchase them (don’t just look at them over a latte and put them back on the shelf), take them home and study them. The creators of those publications carefully studied their target audience and designed accordingly.

You’ll notice for each group certain typestyles, layouts, graphic treatments and colors used will be similar. Select some of the same elements for your publication. Evaluate the publication more closely: what techniques were used for various kinds of ads? If you find something similar to the event you are wanting to advertise, you might use a variation of that approach.

No matter what style you choose, keep it simple

Remember design is primarily about creating a plan with the purpose of deciding the best way to communicate a message to an intended audience.

If you look at popular and highly successful publications, you’ll see that often the most uncomplicated designs are the most effective. Some of most popular and well read publications—the Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY, for example, have really relatively simple designs and they are always the same in their layout. Why do they do that?

The creators of these newspapers don’t create exotic, wild designs that change all the time for a reason. Their clean, predictable design makes the information—the message—primary. Good design enables readers to always know where to find the information they want, in what order and in what section

Don’t forget to ask advice from the Master Designer

The Lord knows your audience and He knows exactly what they need to respond to your message. Don’t forget to take time praying for your people, your planning and your designs.

He is the great designer and can inspire you in ways you could never imagine on your own.

__________________________________

For more ideas and information on how to plan your church communications, check out the Course on Planning.

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Filed Under: Design, Planning and Managing Tagged With: church communication design, Communications, Design, yvon prehn

Member’s Downloads of Apple Pie with options Recipe Cards

15 April, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Mother's Day is a great time to invite moms to come to ministry events that occur outside Sunday. The recipe cards here are a fun way to do that. Everyone loves recipe cards--you can give them out on Mother's Day and on the back invite moms back to other ministry opportunities. The recipe cards here have both a clip art version and a version with a photo illustration.

Homemade Pie Crust, clipart IMAGE

Homemade Pie Crust, photo background IMAGEThis recipe is for how to make a frozen pie crust taste homemade."Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu st laborum."

Yummy Apple Pie with options, clipart IMAGE

This is a deliciYummy Apple Pie with options, photo IMAGEous Apple Pie with Variations.ollit anim id est laborum."lamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qu

CLICK HERE to download a ZIP file that contains:

* Both Mother's Day Pie recipes, 2 versions
* MS Publisher Original files (you must have MS Publisher to use this file)

* PDF Files
*Resizable jpg files
**I also included the files for the BOOKMARK for Mother's Day in this zip file

After you download the file, SAVE it to your computer, then click on it to "unzip" it and the files are ready for you to use.

 

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Filed Under: Mother's Day Tagged With: apple pie, Mother's Day, Mother's Day outreach, Mothers Day Recipes, yvon prehn

Mother’s Day church bulletin inserts or jpgs for evangelism follow-up

14 April, 2009 By Yvon Prehn

When unchurched family members come to your church you don't want them to leave without something that directs them to further research of the gospel and what it means to have a relationship with Jesus.

This bulletin insert was created to give them something to take home and using the websites on it, it gives people an opportunity to explore on their own.

PLEASE NOTE: this free sample is NOT a PDF like the other free samples publications  in this series of communications for Mother's Day. It is a jpg file--a graphic file that you can use as is or resize to fit into another publication. Click on the image to download it, when it opens in the other window you can either save it or copy and paste it into a publication like MS Publisher.

If you would like to see  an example of how a church communicator used an image like this in her church bulletin for Easter, click here.

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This Mothers day bulletin insert Version #2is the second bulletin insert.

The Download section has both images, plus the MS Publisher files and PDFs of both that are ready to print and use. It has:

  • All four Mother's Day Bulletin inserts (there are actually two versions of each one)
  • MS Publisher Original files (you must have MS Publisher to use this file)
  • PDF Files
  • Resizable jpg files

CLICK HERE to download the  ZIP file all the materials above

After you download the file, SAVE it to your computer, then click on it to "unzip" it and the files are ready for you to use.

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Filed Under: Mother's Day Tagged With: church bulletin inserts, church bulletins, church communication basics, Mother's Day, Mother's Day Bulletin Inserts, yvon prehn

Mother’s Day Invitations to church, a free sample and link to member downloads

12 April, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 1 Comment

Mothers Day Invitation #1 IMAGE Mother's Day is a wonderful time not only to celebrate mom's but to reach out to unchurched family members. But you can't do that if they aren't there.

This is a sample PDF invitation for you to download and use as an invitation.

Click on the image to download the PDF or click here.

In the section following, you will find ZIP File download that not only has this invitation, but also has the following two invitations.The images below do not link to download PDFs.

In addition to all three invitations, you also get the original MS Publisher files, plus a jpg file of each invitation.

In addition to all three invitations, members also get the original MS Publisher files, plus a jpg file of each invitation.

Mothers Day Invitation #2 IMAGEMothers Day Invitation #3 IMAGE

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In additio

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In addit

n to all three invitations, members also get th

Click on the im

CLICK HERE to download a ZIP file that contains:

  • All three Mother's Day Invitations
  • MS Publisher Original files (you must have MS Publisher to use this file)
  • PDF Files
  • Resizable jpg files

After you download the file, SAVE it to your computer, then click on it to "unzip" it and the files are ready for you to use.

plus 

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Filed Under: Mother's Day Tagged With: Church Invitation Cards, church outreach, Communications, Evangelism resources, Mother's Day Church, Mother's Day church invitations, Mother's Day outreach, yvon prehn

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