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.

Give visitors at events an information/invitation card so they will return

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Generic Come back to church card
People won't automatically come back to your church if you don't invite them!

Life is busy, people are stressed, and no matter how much we might want to attend an event, if we don't have the details of time, location, directions, about it, it's not likely we'll show up.

Keep your crazy schedule in mind to motivate you to create information, invitation cards to give to people who come to special events at your church. No matter how much they an event you put on, they won't automatically know that you have Sunday School for kids, what time your Sunday service starts, or that you want them to return.

If your outreach was for unchurched people, they might not even know that your church does a regular service on Sundays. True story here: a few years ago I talked to a woman who always attended the outreach events at a local church. When I asked her if she also attended on Sunday, she was very surprised. "You mean they do things on Sunday too?" she said. She did not grow up in a church and she honestly thought that the church just put on nice community events for the holidays.

Don't expect people to return—invite them back!

That's where a card like this is helpful. It gives basic information and warmly invites people to return.

Though it's great if you can create follow-up cards for the specific events you host (and there are lots of examples of them on this website), realistically you don't always have time to do them up for each event. This is where a generic one can be useful.

At our church, we are hosting the simulcast of the Harvest Crusade, next weekend. My husband and I are on the prayer team and whenChurch come back card Church come back card, front we met last Sunday for training, our pastor said they only had booklets to give out afterwards.

I went home thinking about how helpful an information/invitation card would be. We are new at the church (and love it) and I didn't want to be pushy—but I thought if I drafted one up, even if it didn't work for the church to use it, it would be a great training tool to share with all of you.

Everyone can look at the card for ideas—it has all the basic information on one side and a note from the Pastor on the second side. Give one to everyone you can at events and your members can also use them anytime as an invitation for the church. It's one more way to encourage people along the path of coming to know Jesus as Savior.

Below is a ZIP File that has the MS Publisher file you can use as a template to create your own.

CLICK HERE to download the ZIP file. Save it and then click to open and use.

Church Office Advice: What Color is Your Time?

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Giving time a color helps us use it better.
Giving time a color helps us use it more effectively in our work--try the advice in this article to manage this irreplaceable resource.

One of the most important lessons we can learn in life is to value our time. All our time. Once we grasp that time is the essential resource, every minute takes on new meaning. Unlike other resources—money, talent, things both tangible and intangible—time is a commodity everyone already owns in its entirety; no one has any more time than you do. The richest person in the world, the poorest, and all of us in between each have the same 24-hour day. In spite of wishes to save, buy, or stretch time, we can do none of those things. This resource is finite; it clicks off minute by minute for everyone and when the minutes are spent, there are no refunds.

• Since time is the stuff of which life is made, a sad fact in our society is that our education equips us to manage money far more than it equips us to manage time. So, many of us live half our lives or more before getting a handle on issues of time: what we want from it, how to evaluate its quality, our responsibility toward its use, ways to invest it well. How do you view time?

• One interesting concept is to begin to see your time in colors. The idea is simple enough for even children to learn and understand, but its implications are complex enough to challenge experienced time managers as well.

• In this technique, red time is time squandered, time not spent achieving goals or wants. Green time is time well spent, time that has redeeming value. Primary to using this method is understanding that green moments need not just be ones spent jogging or cleaning closets. No, there are green times of relaxation, recreation, and renewal.

• Likewise, the always busy person constantly focused on productivity may be living in red time if all that activity brings no satisfaction or sense of accomplishment. What matters most is not what your activities are, but how much those activities contribute to your quality of life, to what has value for you.

• The essential first step, then, is to identify your true goals—what you (not other people) want from your time. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Just be honest and let your wants take form on paper. Any activity that satisfies these goals is green time.

• The ideal, of course, is to live entirely in green time. The beauty of this concept is that it is possible.

• Generally, you will recognize your obviously green times; no changes necessary. Regarding the iffy green times, ask yourself, “Is this time being used to meet my goals or give me what I want from life?” If not, view those as red times regardless of how much it seems you are accomplishing.

• Ask the same question of times you see as red. You may find that what you first saw as red is really green. For instance, you may view an afternoon of crashing on your deck with a stack of magazines as time wasted, time you should have spent weeding a flower bed. But, in hindsight you may come to see this was really green time, time you needed to refresh and renew.

• Acknowledge that many routine tasks at home and at work are simply necessary; these maintenance items need not be accepted as unavoidably red. You have some choices. Can someone else do those necessary tasks for you? Or, can you introduce a green element to the job?  For example, you might delegate the filing OR you might listen to a training tape while you do the filing. You get the idea.

• One good way to enjoy more green time is to be prepared for contingencies. You can stew in red time while waiting in lines OR you can bask in green time by having a book or notepad with you to salvage those ticking minutes. You can see red while waiting for someone who has ignored a deadline OR you can move to another green project you have ready for your attention.

• Living in green takes effort. But the principle works if you will. You can use more of your time constructively.

Go for the green!

Church Office Advice: First Aid for Anger

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How to deal with anger in the church office
Anger may be a common human emotion, but how we dealing with it in a constructive way shows our obedience to Christ.

Ed. note: Christian communicators not only communicate the gospel in the materials they produce, but by their lives. As this extremely helpful article by Gayle Hilligoss shows, responding positively and constructively to anger in others and in yourself is an important communication skill to learn.

An assistant new to the church office was pondering if this was a job for her. “I’d rather face major surgery than deal with another angry member,” she wrote. “As a former school secretary I never thought I would feel so inadequate, nor did I anticipate the frustration I’d feel concerning how some people view who the ministry assistant is, what she should do, and how she should do it.”

Maybe you can relate. Perhaps you thought that, working in a church office, anger would never be part of the equation. But, then, there it was. Maybe a member’s, a staff person’s, or your own.

Even though the occasions when anger issues may be rare, every church office professional can benefit by knowing how to acknowledge anger and work through it.

Responding to ANOTHER’S anger—

Say someone comes into the office or calls. She is irate over some circumstance—something that was said or done or something that was not said or done. Now she’s unloading her anger on you.

  • Identify the problem.Listen without judging; focus on the main issue. Try to understand exactly the point of what is being said. Don’t interrupt. Allow the person to be totally heard. Stay objective; don’t allow yourself to get emotionally involved.
  • Evaluate. While you are listening is the time to decide if you are the one to hear this problem. If this is something that should properly be told to the pastor or to someone else, do interrupt and let the person know you are not the one who can best help. It is important for you not to become just a convenient person to whom disgruntled people can vent. You are not responsible for every irritant; you are responsible for yourself and your work.
  • Be responsive.Whether you can follow through or not, express empathy with an appropriate comment: “I can understand your concern.”
  • Restate.If you are continuing, briefly sum up the issue at hand, eliminating any extraneous details. Ask if you have understood correctly and hear any clarification necessary. Don’t allow this to become a rehashing of feelings. Stick to the issue.
  • Ask what you can do. The reason behind investing time and effort in listening is to try to set wrong things right. Often all people want is a show of concern, an apology, or simple assurance that they have been heard.
  • Follow through. Agree on what, if anything, will be done. Then show your professionalism by doing even more. A friendly phone call (probably not an email) a day after the discussion can ensure all parties the matter is truly resolved.

Handling YOUR OWN anger, hurt, frustration—

Perhaps the anger is not that of someone else, but yours. It can happen.

  • Toughen up your skin a little.There can be thoughtless, insensitive, immature people anywhere—even in church. Sometimes the ministry assistant becomes a target. Just remember, not every unfortunate incident deserves attention. In these situations somebody needs to be the adult. Take that role and don’t bother with the baby stuff. By the same token, be mature enough to confront when it is needful.
  • Calm down before you speak up. Confrontation cannot always be avoided, nor is it always bad. But, speaking in anger undermines credibility and diminishes your authority. Be in control of your thoughts and emotions. Prepare before airing a grievance. Know the right person to talk to and what point you want to make. Pray the matter through before involving others.
  • Stay on point.Once you meet, don’t let yourself get sidetracked by petty issues. Be clear and concise. Have a higher purpose than just to criticize, get an apology, or feel validated. State exactly what upset you and what you want to make the situation better. Conclude by asking, “How can we make this happen?” In many instances, praying together will heal whatever hurts.
  • Exhibit professionalism. Respectfully listen to the other person’s viewpoints, ideas, explanations. Be courteous, even if the courtesy is not returned. If for any reason the conversation turns disrespectful, ask if you can talk again at a later time and excuse yourself.
  • Conclude on a positive note.In the best case scenario whatever has brought about your angst will be understood and the situation resolved. At the very least you have made your views known and maintained your integrity. Say a sincere thank you. Feel good about the experience. Learn from it and move on.

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty...”   —Psalms 16:32

Invitation cards to invite people to come to church

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This invitation is free for everyone, just click to download a PDF of it.
This invitation is free for everyone, just click to download a PDF of it.

The creation of the cards below was inspired in part by these statistics:

  • "82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited" –Dr. Thom Rainer, The Unchurched Next Door

  • Yet only 2% of Christians EVER invite someone to church!

In addition to the challenge of the quotes above, we know we should all be about inviting people to church as a step on their journey to a relationship with Jesus.

Effective Church Communications has a set of FREE invitation cards in PDF format. You can print your specific church information on the back.

The resources in the ZIP file below are:

  • A PDF file of all the cards, ready-to-print
  • The original MS Publisher file (2007, you can open it in later, but I know a lot of people still have this) so you can modify anyway you want and add your church information on the front or on the back.
  • Hi resolution images of the cards
  • Low resolution images of the cards

A link to download this file is at the end of the article.

Below is a gallery of all the cards from Effective Church Communications:

Back to Church Invitation Cards Card 2 hi res Card 3 hi res Card 4 hi res Card 5 hi res Card 6 hi res Card 7 hi res

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To download the ZIP file that contains all these cards in PDF and original MS Publisher format, click on the link below, download the zip file to your desktop, then click on it and use the files.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ZIP FILE for Back to Church Invitation Cards.

Don’t judge, INVITE! a great video and challenge

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I LOVE THIS! We can preach and preach to encourage our people to invite people to church, but sometimes nothing beats a motivational video. One little note . . . . the impact wouldn't have been nearly so powerful had it not ended with one person sharing a piece of paper with an invitation on it!

Check out the video and below it is a link to a resource that will help you create invitations.

Invitation Cards are great tools to have for times like this

Check out the video at this link that will illustrate and train you in how to use invitation cards effectively:

https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2010/04/church-invitation-cards/