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.

Christian Post interviews Yvon Prehn about How to get people to come back to church after Christmas and Easter

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How to get people back to church
Lots of people attend church for holiday events--here is advice to get them to come back on a continuing basis.

How to get the people who come to church on Christmas and Easter to return and to begin to attend on a regular basis is one of the biggest challenges for churches. The holidays offer great opportunities for people visit the church, but attending church twice a year seldom results in any significant spiritual decision or life-change.

For ideas on how to change that with suggestions from Ed Setzer of LifeWay and Yvon Prehn of Effective Church Communications, check out this article:

How to Keep the 'Chreasters' Coming: Experts Say Preparedness and Follow-Up Are Key

Read the full article at http://www.christianpost.com/news/how-to-keep-the-chreasters-coming-experts-say-preparedness-and-follow-up-are-key-92773/#y7QhYTt0IoGqsdbA.99

A reminder that God always meets us when and where we need Him, a poem for comfort and evangelism

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Yvon's note: As I'm going through this website updating links, I came across this poem. It is long past 9/11, but life is still hard. We many not be part of a national tragedy, but we all carry pain, hurts, burdens, and fears. We many never know why in this life—but if we know Jesus, we know He is there. Somehow, always, He is enough. I needed the encouragement of this poem today and I'm sharing it again because some of you may need it also.

If you have not read this poem "Meet me in the Stairwell" (it has been all over the web) it is one of the most powerful reminders of God's presence on 9/11 and in all the difficult times in our lives. In addition to being a reminder of God's comfort, this could also be used as a powerful evangelism or outreach piece. It's a reminder that our Lord seeks the lost. We can reach to Him, but first, last, and always He is reaching down to us.

I've included the text of the poem below with credit to the author, Stacey Randal. [Read more...]

When you need some help for Church Communications: a FREE e-book–Divide your communication team into 2 production levels

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There is never enough time to get all the work done that needs to be done in church communications. One way to solve this problem is to have volunteers do some of the work. However, many church office administrators and church leaders aren't comfortable doing this because they are concerned about the level of quality that volunteers product. Or they worry that they won't really be able to control what volunteers do.

Click on image to download this free ebook.
Click on image to download this free e-book.

This e-book has a solution to this challenge: Divide your communication team into 2 production levels.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

When you do this, you can have one level that you have strict control over and one that you can flex with a little more, but that still helps relieve the huge burden of communications that need to be produced. CLICK HERE or on the image to the left to download a FREE e-book that will detail this process. It is free for everyone and please pass on the link to others.

Tips for a productive New Year in the church office, part two

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Gayle Hilligoss Picture
Article by Gayle Hilligoss

The start of a new year is an appropriate time to evaluate performance, to identify personal practices hindering professionalism, and to replace old habits with new and better ways to work. As Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, “Now is the day, and now is the hour.” Here are three more good habits to acquire in 2011. (to see the first three, click here)

 • Excellence

Excellence is not perfection. Anything worth doing at all is worth doing well. Realistically, few things are worth a shot at perfection. The wisdom of spending an hour looking for the “perfect” clipart or typeface for a bulletin insert is questionable. Very likely your responsibilities demand more productive uses of your time. While aiming for perfection is impractical, never settle for mediocre. Excellence is rewarding and attainable.

 • Organization

Physical clutter slows everyone down. Time and effort are wasted locating what is needed. Tempers may flare. Mental disorganization perpetuates a cycle of working hard while accomplishing little. Planning where things should be kept, how jobs should be accomplished—timeline, methods, and available resources—encourages effectiveness, efficiency, and smiles.

 • Decisiveness

The inability or unwillingness to make a decision about what to do or how to do it absolutely hinders productivity. Often any decision is better than no decision. Fretting over possibilities is a decision in itself, one that creates a backlog of work and frustrates coworkers.

Start the decision-making process by identifying precisely what you want to achieve. Gather and evaluate relevant information. Finally, choose your course of action. Taking days to consider options may reveal a perfectly clear choice, but very likely it will not. When stalled, ask yourself what you will know in a day or two that you don't know now. If the answer is “not much,” trust your instinct, make your decision, and act.

Tips for a productive New Year in the church office, part one

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Gayle Hilligoss Picture
Article by Gayle Hilligoss

The start of a new year is a good time both to reflect and to project—a time to look back and consider what you’ve experienced and learned, a time to look ahead to where you will go next. One sure sign of personal progress is the realization that you not only know smart things, but that you do those smart things. You will know, feel, when it happens. The difference is beyond measure.

• Put first things first.

Sometimes we stay so busy doing the good that we neglect the best. Pray for wisdom to know what is truly important to you. Then give your time, energy, and love to those things first. Unless you make a deliberate effort to set priorities and to stick with them, your days will be filled 
with other people’s priorities and not your own.

• Respect time.

Understand that time is the most precious resource you have; without it you have nothing. Spend your hours and your minutes wisely. Plan your days rather than just letting them happen.• Stay calm.

Know what matters—and be passionate about those things. Know what doesn’t matter—and don’t let those things get you down. You know you are becoming more mature when you control your emotions instead of allowing them to control you.

• Take care of yourself.

Your body is a gift from God; being as fit as you can be is a testimony in itself. Eat wisely, exercise, get suffcient rest, schedule regular checkups. Don’t allow lesser activities to keep you from a daily walk. Commit to some healthy extras: swimming, biking, whatever you like. Few of us do all we could or should. But we can!

• Nourish your mind.

God’s world is a wondrous place. Learn something new every single day. Today, look at a flower and be amazed. Tonight, go outside and gaze at the stars. Tomorrow, visit the library and check out books on a subject you know nothing about. Or use the Internet to travel a new part of the world. Talk with someone—and not on a cell phone. Think new thoughts. Grow wise.

Now you know smart things. And you can do them!

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To read the three more tips, click here.