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; Effective Church Communications can help.

Past email about my husband’s sudden death

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From a ministry newsletter I sent out in August 2024, just changed date so as not to be on top of readings:

The delight of my eyes taken, my husband's sudden death--ministry plans and trusting God

not what I hoped to be writing now, but hopefully the pruning will end and more ministry content coming

UPDATE 1-4-2025--My life has been filled with hard times, challenges, and tragedies, but I could never have imagined the searing, physical and emotional depth of pain of the last few months. My entire life has been upended--loss of husband, attempting to redo home (it was totally torn apart, no functional anything, bathrooms or kitchen, all our life in boxes), loss of partner in work that supported ministry and having to attempt to finish it on my own (I'm still in the midst of overwhelming work on that), loss of ministry partner. I am still floundering in many ways and the pain overwhelms in waves. I'm living with my sister who is wonderful and I have resources to finish the house. I am thankful.

God somehow helps me press on and I am attempting to get back to working on my online ministry again. That's all I can say for now--I must get back to work.

Last minute gifts or inspiration at any time TOTALLY FREE HUGE collection of verses and inspirational sayings

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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

We all need encouragement and joy and that is where something as simple as a message on the wall or our desk or an encouragement sent through social media can inspire us and give us hope.

Inspirational sayings also make fantastic Christmas gifts. And because the ones I'm sharing below (and many more)  are FREE (which I greatly encourage you to take them as) or PWYW, (pay what you want) you can download and print them up in bulk for meaningful gifts for a church class, small group, or volunteers. I've done that many times with the church groups and individuals in my life.

I created the Bible805 Images shop so that you can do the same. In it I'm giving you Bible-inspired images (verses and sayings) I created that you can download and share directly on social media or print out, put into inexpensive frames, and share at every imaginable size and resolution, from 5×7 to standard 8.5×1/A4 sizes, to large posters, 24×36 or 30×30.

Below is a sample of some of them (there are MANY more), and below that some of the Christmas images.

Please do tell people about Bible805Images.com. It truly is free and will stay that way--this isn't a marketing trick to make you buy some expensive ongoing subscription or service.

These short verses and sayings might be just enough to encourage someone who needs it or to cause someone to about Jesus in a way they haven't before.

Charging for Fall Festival outreach events, what’s wrong with that?

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Who in this group gets a meal and who doesn't at your alternative Halloween event? It should be ALL of them.

There may be legitimate reasons for charging for some events, for example, if you are bringing in a professional Christian comedian or speaker—someone has to pay for their time and expenses. However, in most instances, I believe strongly that it communicates an incorrect message if a church charges (or even asks for donations) at a ministry event.

Fall Festival mixed message

I recently looked at an advertisement for a Church Fall Festival. It was going to be an alternative Halloween event, which is always popular with the community. I was told that in years past this church put on the event as free community outreach, but this year things were different. The person showing me the invitation card was concerned and here's why:

The invitation said: "Fun, games, food, candy for all!" and in big letter, "No entry fee"

In much smaller letters it said, "There will be a small charge for a hot dog meal;  candy is free."

and

"There will be a charge for professional photos at the event."

What's wrong with that?

Times are still really hard for lots of folks and it was not only a very confusing message, but I think one unworthy of the gospel. Let's look at the food charge first and then the photography one. The text continues below the video.

[Read more...]

Fall Festival and Halloween Resources, invitations, registration cards, encouragement flyers, lots more

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Resources for Fall and Halloween church outreach
This is a great time of year to reach out to your community and these will help you do it effectively.

Lots of good stuff here!

Some new, some a few years old, but all for you to use as you'd like.

Just click on the link below the title. Please pass on to other churches and friends.

A non-scary way to share your faith at Fall Festivals and Halloween
https://wp.me/pDky9-8h4

How to make the most of Halloween for evangelism and the true Christian view of life after death
https://wp.me/pDky9-9lu

Was Jesus a zombie—NO irreverence intended, but an honestly asked question and an answer
https://wp.me/pDky9-8gP

FREE TEMPLATES for Fall Registration Cards, Invitations, Halloween Evangelism
https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/templates-harvest-festival-and-halloween/

Halloween, a great time for evangelism…..really!!
https://wp.me/pDky9-6xB [Read more...]

How Christians are like Pumpkins—a fun object lesson for adults and kids to grow as Christians together

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Pumpkin Carving and faith building project
Use this pumpkin carving lesson as a time to teach children about Jesus.

This is just the cutest, fun thing for Halloween!

But first the serious reasons behind it:

In the Old Testament, Jewish parents were commanded to teach their children about God's law during all of life.

Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. Deut. 6:7-9 MSG

In the New Testament, we are all commanded to do a similar thing—

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Col. 3;7, MSG

Though we are commanded to make God's Word and doing His will part of every area of life, that isn't an easy command to fulfill.

Holidays can help, even ones we wouldn't normally think would help us to grow in our Christian lives.

How pumpkins can help us understand the Christian life, what Jesus has done for us, and how we can live for Him.

We don't often think of Halloween as a time to learn about the Christian faith, but with a little imagination and creativity, it can be! Here is a pumpkin carving project that will help kids learn about Jesus.  Below is a short video that goes through the project and below the video is a link to a  ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project sheet, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version.

Please note: I saw many versions of this before I created my own and was never able to track down an original creator--if that's you or you know who it is, please let me know at yvonprehn@gmail.com.

Click on the following link to download a ZIP file that contains a ready-to-print Pumpkin Project, editable MS Publisher files, jpg images, and an MS Word file of the text if you want to create your own version: Pumpkin Project & Poem