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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My personal motivation for Backpack ministry—my memories and prayers about crayons and little kids in need

6 July, 2018 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Contribute to back to school ministries.
Few things were more exciting to me as a child than a new box of crayons--and we have opportunities to share that joy with needy kids.

Remember the smell when you opened a new box of crayons? Waxy and warm with a bit of paper mixed in.

Remember what it was like to see all those new crayons? Sometimes there were new colors. The metallic crayons seemed magical. I almost hated to use them, to turn the neat, sharp points into smushy stubs.  But there was always another year to look forward to, another start of school and a new box of crayons.

Crayons were just the start—pencils, notebooks with lines unfilled, sometimes a new lunch box.  Back-to-school was my favorite time of year. I hated summer. I didn't particularly like to play kid's games, especially outside. I wanted to be left alone to read.

We moved every year (my father was in the military and that's what they did then) and the first place I would try to find in any house was some quiet corner to read. My very favorite was at the end of a long closet where there was a window. In front of it were some packing boxes just big enough and at just the right height for an 11-year-old girl to with a book and read and look out the window. Clothes were in front of the boxes, effectively shielding me from the outside world. Still, my mother would find me and make me go out and play. I was obedient, but I didn't like it. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Back-to-School, Children's ministry, Skills Tagged With: backpack ministry, Children's ministry, church communication, Communications, yvon prehn

Use school supply sales to communicate your love for children for backpacks and Christmas Shoe boxes

27 July, 2015 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Shop the summer sales to get great supplies for Backpack ministries
Shop the summer sales to get great supplies for Backpack ministries and to save for Christmas Shoe Boxes--here are links to free Bulletin Inserts to encourage your church to be involved.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matt. 25:40

Loving and caring for those less fortunate is a way of showing love to Jesus and at this time of year, you can do that by shopping for school supplies at the greatly discounted prices on the pre-school sales and using them for Backpack Ministries and saving them ahead for Christmas Shoe boxes.

To encourage and inspire the people in your church to take part, Effective Church Communications has links at the end of this article to entries that have church bulletin inserts in a variety of illustration formats that you can use to remind and encourage your congregation to get involved.

Some of the bulletin inserts are  PDFs that you can personalize on the back. There are more designs available in editable MS Publisher format that you can download and modify.

In addition to printed bulletin inserts you can take the same material and use it on your website, postcards, and as email reminders.

The first two links are for Backpack Ministry Inserts, the third one encourages people to shop for your Christmas Shoe boxes when the fall sales are on, and finally a personal article on why this ministry is so important to me.

No matter what else you read, or what you do, take some time and a few extra dollars to love kids in Jesus name by buying supplies they might not have if you didn't care and share.

Click on any title to go to the articles:

Back-to-School Backpack Ministry--an opportunity to bring joy to needy kids

A new set of designs with templates for Effective Church Communications

My personal reasons why backpack ministry is so important to me

Bulletin Inserts: Shop for Your Christmas Child Boxes in August--Samaritan's Purse shopping Tips!

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Filed Under: Back-to-School, Children's ministry, Church Bulletin Inserts Tagged With: backpack ministry, Children's ministry, children's outreach, Christmas Shoe box

Bulletin Inserts: Back-to-School Backpack Ministry, ways to involve your congregation

4 August, 2011 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Backpack Image 1
Back-to-school, Backpack Ministries are a fantastic way to care for the children of your community. This article and the one linked to it provide ideas for church bulletin inserts that will communicate your message to the congregation.

Back to School was always a wonderful time of year for me, but for many kids, it can be a time of sadness if they don't have what they need. This is a simple, but powerful ministry your church can do. Below is the introduction to the church bulletins:

Back-to-School Backpack
Ministry
—an opportunity to bring joy to needy kids

School is about to start and it’s a time of excitement, fun, and discovery for many children. But for some children, it means showing up at school without crayons or pencils, notebooks or glue, without the supplies they need. Sadly today, many parents can’t pay for them and schools are unable to provide them.

But the body of Christ can. Our church has a ministry where we provide filled backpacks to little kids who need them.

We have four ways you can help:
......and the inserts go on to give specific advice

Last year's bulletin inserts are free CLICK HERE to go to them.

For a personal article on the meaning of this ministry to me, CLICK HERE.

This year, samples for inspiration and editable files

The samples on this page are new versions of the Bulletin Inserts. At the bottom of this page is a link to a ZIP FILE.

The ZIP FILE contains:

  • PDF ready-to-print files of the inserts
  • MS Publisher editable files
  • MS Word text file if you want to create your own
  • PNG low-res images if you want to promote them on your website
  • JPG hi-res images if you want to print them

Below is the Free ZIP FILE --simply click on it, save on your hard drive, click to open and use as you will!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE ZIP FILE

Last year's bulletin inserts are free CLICK HERE to go to them.

For a personal article on the meaning of this ministry to me, CLICK HERE.

For the bulletin inserts in the video on Sales Tips for Children's Shoe Box, CLICK HERE.

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Filed Under: Children's ministry, Church Bulletins, Missionary or support communications Tagged With: back to shool ministry, backpack ministry, Backpack outreach, Children's ministry, church bulletin inserts

Back-to-School Backpack Ministry, church communication resources to motivate your congregation

29 July, 2010 By Yvon Prehn 3 Comments

Back-to-School  is a time with great outreach potential. Backpack Ministry, where your church assembles and gives children backpacks filled with school supplies, now more than ever, is a greatly needed ministry. Children in homeless shelters, kids whose parents have lost their jobs, or whose jobs have been cut back, many of them face a sad and embarrassing time—to be forced to go to school without the required supplies their parents can't pay for and the schools don't provide.

To keep that from happening to any little child in your community, below are PDFs of bulletin inserts (two styles, same content) you can download and print up for your church with the specific details for your church on the backside. First are some links for websites that will give you additional ideas not only on Backpack Ministries for this time of year, but year-round for needy children.

Many families need help on a continuing basis. These backpacks aren’t filled with school supplies, but with food for children who may not eat on the weekend without help. Check out churches in your area who may do this and if none do, consider starting that ministry at your church.

May the Lord burn into our hearts the needs of children and make us motivated to meet those needs. May the Lord give you, the church communicator, the passion, power and prayers to create communications that will link needs with resources.

You may freely download, copy, share, use the following inserts in any way you want.

Backpack Ministry Bulletin Insert, click here to download PDF

 

 

For another set of designs, PLUS a downloadable ZIP FILE of editable MS Publisher files of the new designs, jpg, png and a text file of the content CLICK HERE

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Filed Under: Back-to-School, Children's ministry, Evangelism & Outreach Tagged With: back-to-school, backpack ministry, Children's ministry, church outreach, Communications, yvon prehn

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