Effective Church Communications

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

7 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

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

Halloween, a great time for evangelism…..really!!

4 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Halloween Evangelism card — Halloween is a fantastic time to get people to consider the one person who conquered death--Jesus.

I realize a lot of churches have problems with Halloween and I understand why, but along with the problems it is a fantastic opportunity for evangelism!

Here's why: people are thinking about death, dying, and the afterlife more than any other time of year. Yes, their views are totally wrong and distorted, but at least they are thinking about it. Following are some not very subtle suggestions that people may want to consider Jesus—the one person who conquered death.

These cards have the thought-provoking challenge on the front and then on the back you can either put websites for them to check out in more detail (as I did on one of the cards) or you can link them to other websites or sources at your church. Best of all, consider a time at your church holding some Bible Studies for people to consider the Christian faith.

If you hold a Trunk or Treat or other event, these are great to put into goodie bags. You can do that at home also.

Just like the Apostle Paul used the idols of Athens as a bridge to sharing the true God, we can take an admittedly horrible time of year and use it to tell people about Jesus.

Resources to help you share the gospel at Halloween

Below are both business cards and half-page size cards or bulletin inserts for your inspiration.

[Read more...]

Halloween Outreach Materials: postcards, invitation cards, bulletin inserts, sign-in and follow up cards

4 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Cover of Overview of the Editable MS Publisher Files — Click here to download the PDF. It is an overview of the editable MS Publisher files and how to use them for effective Halloween Outreach.

This publication is from several years ago, yet it has some materials that are also useful and the process is very useful also. You can change images or the media, but the strategy of what to do before, during and after a special event to get the most out of it remains the same.

The publications illustrated here cover every aspect of preparation for, what to use during and follow-up for effective Halloween outreach including:

***Motivational bulletin insert
***Invitation Cards
***Case-study, volunteer recruitment brochure
***Sign-in cards
***Cards to give out as people leave your event

Click on the PDF for a free overview of all the communications with ideas on how to use them. [Read more...]

A non-scary way to share your faith at Fall Festivals and Halloween

3 October, 2023 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Use Halloween to share your faith — Halloween and Fall Festivals are a great time to share your faith that isn't scary! Use these flyers to encourage your church to make the most of it.

Halloween is a fantastic time for outreach and many churches make the most of it with Trunk or Treat, a Fall Festival and similar outreach activities.

In addition to that, it can also be a great time to encourage your people to invite their friends to these events. To do that, I did up a flyer or bulletin insert that encourages your congregation to use this time of year and the events of your church as a great time to share their faith. Below are images of the flyer, a podcast that I did for it, and below that the text of the flyer you can use in whatever way you want.