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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The POWER of PRINT, with FREE POSTCARDS during this challenging time for people

15 March, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

encouraging postcards to send from churches during the virus
Postcards can reach people that streaming services can't. Please share with those who may be alone.

This morning our church held its first online service. We are a small church, not especially technically advanced, and we don't typically do this type of thing. But here in California, it is a state mandate for the services to cancel and as positively as possible, we complied.

It was delayed for some time because of who knows what difficulties and the final product was a little choppy. Only about a third of the music people had any lights on them at all. Yet I was amazed at how touched I was by the service and how effective it was. Because of the delay, everyone in chat was very talkative while we waited. We are an older congregation and I was surprised at the amount of interaction between all ages. The closeness of everyone was palpable and I felt the reality of the Body of Christ in my heart more than I've ever felt in a service together. All in all, a wonderful experience.

But I was also very aware of the people who were not part of the service.

There are numerous people in our congregation who I know do not have computers at home or smartphones (they have been in my Sunday School classes and I know them well).

In this time where the virus is incredibly isolating, we are able to do great things with technology and it's a fantastic time for churches to stretch themselves in this area. But not everyone has access to the technology to receive what we put out in new ways. Those who can't are some of the most vulnerable, fragile, and isolated people in the church. We must take care of them also.

So what to do for them?

Print is still possible!

The mail doesn't seem to have been affected by the virus and it's an opportunity to take a second look at one of my favorite forms of communication—The POSTCARD!!!!

I'll be doing a series of articles and sharing ideas and FREE TEMPLATES for you in the coming days on how to communicate during this challenging time, but to get you started, I created a set of FREE POSTCARDS for you. They are all simply non-editable PDFs I created using Canva Templates (you have to download them as a complete graphic, that's why you can't edit them). But I did a layout for you in MS Publisher so you can print them 4 to a page and print or write a message from your church on the back.

This set was created to encourage people—fear and uncertainty are pervasive, but it is also an incredible opportunity to encourage people in our great God. When I did the first draft of this post, I made it specifically for everyone who doesn't have access to online materials. However, I then realized that EVERYONE needs tangible encouragement--so make them up for everyone!

Below are pictures of them and below that a ZIP file for you to download, save, and print. Please freely share these with anyone who would find them helpful.

Much more will be coming. Pray for me for the strength and focus to do all that will be helpful for Church Communicators. I am praying for all of you that you step up and serve as never before to equip and encourage your people in our Great God!

CLICK the following link to download ready-to-print PDFs of the Postcards: PDF Quarter Page Encouraging Postcards

CLICK the following link to download IMAGES of the Postcards: Postcards to Encourage

The total file was too big to combine both, but you can use the single images however you might want.

 

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Filed Under: Church Postcards Tagged With: Bible verse postcards, church postcards to send out during Covid19, encouraging postcards, free postcards with Bible verses

Alone time, an opportunity for extended time in prayer

14 March, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Use alone time as Prayer time
If you are forced to be alone, spend some time in intentional prayer and listening to God.

How can we make the most of the enforced time alone? Or at least time away from our regular work and school? Here is an idea that might be useful.

I was involved with the Navigator ministry through college and one of the most valuable times in it was when our group would spend a half-day in prayer. This exercise might be useful during these challenging times. We can choose to make enforced time away from jobs or school times of spiritual growth and developing a closer walk with Jesus.

In the past, we wouldn't spend the entire time praying, but would also read and journal. Below is a link to a Navigator article on spending a half-day in prayer and a PDF you can download that gives you some guidance on how to do it.

In addition to their advice, I've found it useful to ask God questions in my journal as I start time like this. In relationships, in work, in many areas of life, we often feel we have to have all the answers figured out and then we come to God with what we concluded we want and need. Decisions made,  we then present the grocery list to Him to fulfill it.

It's much better to ask and then read His Word; be still and listen.

I've found that when I do that often answers bubble up (not sure how spiritually appropriate that term is, but that's the best way I can describe it) and I can pray more confidently when I feel that God has given me what to pray for. I think that is the real meaning of:

Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:4-5 New King James Version (NKJV)

Sometimes people quote this passage as if it promises that God will give us whatever we want. But it doesn't say that. It says HE will give us our desires. For Him to do that, we have to be quiet enough to listen.

Let's make the most of this time to do that.

How to Spend Extended Time in Prayer

Note: This article was inspired around the events of the Covid19 Pandemic. It may be useful to pass on to your congregation. As with all the materials on this site, feel free to copy and use it in any way you'd like, no attribution required.

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: a half day with God, Time in prayer, what to do when you are alone

Why inviting people to “Easter” at your church may not get a great response and what to do about it

11 March, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

A simple Easter card
Many of the church outreach pieces I've seen this year are similar to this. They might look nice, but what do they communicate?

A number of years ago, George Barna released one of the results of his studies where he found that over 46% of the random audience surveyed did not know the true meaning of the word "Easter."

I would imagine that statistic hasn't changed much if at all since then.

To most people, Easter is about bunnies, chocolates, and spring flowers. And though we enjoy those things, it's important to remember that Easter is about the pivotable event of cosmic history when the incarnate son of God rose bodily from the grave after giving his life as a payment for our sins.

I'm not writing this as a hand-wringing, oh isn't the world awful observation. For church communicators, it poses some serious challenges. Let's look at them along with some suggested changes.

We need to remember that our audience probably doesn't give the same meaning to religious terms we do

Let's get practical. In looking at many designs church communicators are sharing online, including the ones from some of the major marketing groups, it seems like the majority of them prominently feature the word "Easter" with a variety of designs often surrounded by flowers or colored designs. They all look good, but what do they communicate? [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Easter, Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: Easter advertising, Easter outreach, Easter postcards, how to communicate to unchurched people at Easter

Use freely—Seven selections of free verse about the real reason for Easter

11 March, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Thought provoking free verse about Easter
Use the materials here to challenge people about the real meaning of Easter.

As a former freelance newspaper reporter (back in the day when you did an interview, composed the story in your head so you dash to the office, type it up, and get it to your editor on-time) I knew well the advice "Don't bury the lead." Translated, it means don't put the most important part of the story at the end because chances are readers won't get to it.

Here is the most important part of my advice in a previous article on the need to explain the meaning of Easter—these short pieces that I hope are thought-provoking bits of free verse to create curiosity about Easter beyond the springtime celebration.

Use however you want in any way that might be useful. I wrote them all, so I can grant you rights to use them. No attribution is needed.

Seven selections follow

How is Easter about the cross and a bunny?

It makes much more sense than you might imagine.

In many cultures, bunnies symbolize life, rebirth, and the tradition of a spring
bunny bringing gifts to children.

The cross, though once a tool for a
tortured death, because of Jesus, has
become the symbol of eternal life,
possible because Jesus rose from the dead.

The Easter bunny tells a story of abundant life, giving,
joyful living, pictures of the reality that Jesus made
possible on the cross.

Join us for our Easter celebration—we’ve got bunnies and candy for the child in all of us, but we’ll also share about the creator of bunnies, and all things joyful and life-giving—Jesus. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles

Clarify the meaning of Easter in all your communications

9 March, 2020 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

It's not just about Bunnies!
It's not just about Bunnies! We need to be intentional to explain the true meaning of Easter to our communities.

It starts with candy. When shopping for Easter basket goodies, you may notice that you seldom see the chocolate crosses that were sold in the past—today, it's all bunnies and chickies and happy little candy eggs.

Even more than at Christmas time, we need to remind our communities that Jesus is the reason for the season. Easter is the pivotal point of our faith. It is the turning point of all history, when the God who became man in Jesus died on the cross and ROSE from the grave. That is what we celebrate, not a bunny dispensing chocolate eggs. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Easter, Seasonal communication strategies Tagged With: clarify the meaning of Easter, Easter and church technology, Easter and the church, Yvon Prehn Church Communications

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FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
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