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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Listen now to Yvon Prehn's interview on BlogTalk Radio by Chris Walker, the Evangelism Coach

2 June, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 1 Comment

I had a great time on my hour-long interview with Chris Walker, aka, The Evangelism Coach, last Thursday.

If you weren't able to listen to it live, you can  listen to the interview by clicking on the link below and from there clicking on the BlogTalk Radio file.

http://www.evangelismcoach.org/2009/how-to-get-church-visitor-contact-information/

While you are there, take some time and look around Chris' website—he has quite a few great resources for evangelism.

He has also written a book on How to Welcome Church Visitors, that has lots of helpful tips in it.

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: church communicators devotion, Church Connection Cards, church marketing, church visitor cards, Communications, yvon prehn

What not to do in connection card ministry, part one

13 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

What not to do with Connection Cards, part 1
PLEASE don't do these things if you really want to connect with visitors!

note: this is an excerpt from the book: Connection Cards, connect with visitors, grow your church, pastor your people

I’ve been teaching church communications for over twenty years and have looked at many communication cards and discussed their use with many church communicators during that time. From my experience, and many years of personally using them in a variety of church settings, I’ve found the following activities and tools don’t contribute to maximum communication success in getting either initial contact or continuing ministry information from people.

I also realize that, though not the most successful, many of the following practices have been done by many churches for a long time and it is difficult to imagine doing things a different way. If that is your situation, please suspend defensiveness or judgment until you’ve finished this entire publication to see the recommendations that might replace these actions.

Change is always challenging and difficult and if your church does some of the things listed below, I appreciate your willingness to consider alternative ideas. After each suggestion of what not to do, I’ll briefly list the alternative action as “A better idea,” and after this section, the alternative actions will be discussed in more detail.

#1 Don’t use “Friendship Pads/Booklets”

In some churches, much more so in the past than today, the procedure for capturing contact information from visitors and members involves a booklet with lined pages inside that is passed down the pew for people to fill in and then passed back down the pew to be collected by ushers.  As it is passed back, the leader often recommends that people “Notice who is a visitor.”

This tends not to work very well for visitors today. There are a number of reasons why, one of the main ones being the current privacy concerns of people. To many, this is simply too public a way to give out personal information.

Perhaps I am more sensitive to this because I work with single adults, but to a ask a single woman who visits your church to write her name, address, phone number, email, and then pass it down a row of strangers, while adding that people make note of new people in the pew beside them—she probably won’t do it.  Most likely you don’t have people in your church who will stalk or take advantage of a single woman alone, but the trust level towards the church or strangers, for many people today, men and women, is quite low.

These “Friendship Pads” may have worked well years ago when the world at least seemed to be a safer and more friendly place, but our world has changed.  In addition to personal safety issues, privacy concerns and concerns about identity theft cause many visitors to pass them on without filling them out.

A better idea: a card that can be filled out, folded over, and personal information handed in without being made visible to others.

#2 Don’t use a tear-off piece

There are several reasons for this—consider them carefully  before discounting my comments, because this method is used in lots of churches and it seems like such a simple and easy way to do things.First of all, if you primarily use connection cards to find out about visitors, keep in mind that study after study shows that visitors do not like to stand out. Being the one person in your row tearing out a piece of paper in an otherwise quiet church service is a rather loud operation and one guaranteed to turn heads in the visitor’s direction. Few people want that to happen.

To avoid that situation, some churches have everyone “tear it off all together.” That seemed like a good solution to me (it’s what is done at the church we now attend) until we brought to church a dear woman who had recently become a believer in her late 60s. As everyone was tearing off their form in church, I was watching her out of the corner of my eye and noticed she was having a rather difficult time grasping the flimsy paper. The arthritis in her hands made it difficult and after several tries, obviously embarrassed, she glanced around and tried to unobtrusively put the bulletin down beside her. Her connection card did not get turned in; no follow-up came from the church, and though she wouldn’t really tell me why, she didn’t want to come there again.

My heart hurt watching her and I thought if it makes one little lady embarrassed, if she can’t communicate to the church her visit, her recent spiritual decision or perhaps a prayer request, perhaps there are better ways to use a connections piece. There are lots of little ladies in our world. People come to know Jesus and visit at church for the first time at many ages and with disabilities of varies types  and we don’t want our method of paper handling to get in the way of connecting with them.

A better idea: a separate connection card made of card stock that does not need to be torn out and that is easy to write on. Specifics on how to create the card are discussed later.

____________________________

Church Connection Cards

.......for more read the rest of the book:

This 8 1/2 x 11 book connection cards has 111 pages of instruction, samples and detailed how tos. It is FREE for ECC Members and can be bought for immediate download. CLICK HERE to go to it. To go to the Kindle and paperback versions, CLICK HERE.

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Filed Under: Church Connection Cards Tagged With: church connection, church leadership, church marketing, church visitor cards, church visitors, Communications, free communication tools, yvon prehn

What not to do in connection card ministry, part two

13 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

What not to do with Connection Cards, part two
Connection Cards don't work automatically--and here are some reasons why.

note: this is an excerpt from the book: Connection Cards, connect with visitors, grow your church, pastor your people

#3 Don’t tell people about connection cards without giving them time to fill them out.

This is probably the single biggest reason churches do not get connection cards turned in. In most churches, either the pastor or another church leader will mention the connection card very quickly in passing, often when people are still standing up after singing a song. Sometimes it will be mentioned when people are sitting down, but often then it is part of a long series of announcements and no time is given so people can actually fill it out. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Church Connection Cards Tagged With: church connection, church leadership, church visitor cards, Communications, Religion, seeker sensitive, yvon prehn

Non linear—a valid way to communicate

7 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Recently a Christian writer was critiquing the communication in current media and computer arenas. He stated that since much of the communication did not take the form of logical, linear thought, that truth could not be communicated. I disagree. Though the importance of truth cannot be denied, there are many ways to communicate it. Consider this passage:

Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Rev 4:6-8

Picture that image in your mind for a moment. If you’ve ever played or seen some of the images in the current computer games this one would fit right in. But though the imaginative, games form of the image would fit, its message is far different than most fantastic video games. It isn’t about blood and destruction, it’s about worshipping God.

Linear, logical arguments are one way to communicate—but look at the book of Revelation, as the passage above illustrates and many of the visions of the prophets in the Old Testament (Ezekiel, Daniel). They’d hardly qualify as linear, logical communication.  I don't think we could fault God for his communication style in them.

We share different teachings in different ways. The lists in Numbers are one form; extravagent, imaginative images fill prophetic passages. God did not limit his communication to us in one form and it doesn't make much sense to try to limit how we share the gospel message to one form.

As I reread some of the passages in preparing to write this article I found myself wondering—wouldn’t they be great illustrated on a computer screen? Sometimes I think we’d understand prophecy so much better if we could see it as the writers did.

If the Apostle John and the Prophet Ezekiel were around today, they would probably feel right at home with 3-D computer modeling and virtual reality to communicate their messages.

Instead of limiting the ways God can use us to communicate, let’s encourage those imaginative with computer tools today to use every means possible to reach our generation for Jesus. Linear, logical word-based communication is one valid and still useful method to communicate truth, but with the tools we have today, it is only one tool in the palette of ways we can share the eternal message of salvation.

adapted from Yvon Prehn’s, The Heart of Church Communication, available at www.lulu.com/yvonprehn

 

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Filed Under: Misc. Advice and Articles Tagged With: Bible commentary, church communicators devotion, church related images, Communications, images, yvon prehn

Answers to basic questions on how to design church communications

6 May, 2009 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

“How do I design my bulletin, newsletter, flyer, brochure, all the church communications both in print and online?” “What makes a good design in a church publication?” These are questions every church communicator asks and this article provides some foundational advice no matter what project or media you are designing for.

Understand what design is really all about

Before you can create a tangible design that will result in an effective church communication, it helps to have an accurate definition of design. Most people think designing publications means you have to create a decorative, colorful, highly artistic creation—a process far out of the reach of ordinary people doing communications work in the church.

Webster’s definition of design presents a different picture. The dictionary defines design as:

“To sketch an outline for, to plan, to contrive, to plan to do; intend, a plan; scheme, purpose, aim, a working plan, pattern, arrangement of parts, form, color, etc.,  artistic invention.”

Note that only the very last few words “artistic invention” of the definition have anything to do with the artistic aspect often associated with design. The rest of the definition emphasizes the heart of good design—it is a plan, an arrangement of parts chosen that will accomplish your purpose and clearly communicate your message.

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Clarify your message

“The purpose of graphic design is to make it as easy as possible for readers to understand your message. Because graphic design is a tool, not an end in itself, it should be unobstrusive, almost transparent.” Roger C. Parker

This quote by Roger Parker underlines the reality that design is the messenger, not the message. That is why it is so important to construct and refine your message before you begin designing. You first have to clearly decide what you are going to say before you can select a design for it.

Clarify your audience

Just as important, you need to clarify your audience. For example, a few years ago before the book that gave a false portrayal of the Christian faith, the DiVinci Code came out, many churches held classes to teach people the basics of the Christian faith so they would be able to answer questions about the falseness of the stories in the novel. That was the message.

Though the message would remain the same the design of the message would be different if your intended audience for the class would be your college group who would be doing the class in a coffee house setting or if your audience would be a senior citizen’s book club, who wanted to share the truth with their friends.

The design is the carrier of the message to an intended audience and just as you wouldn’t serve coffee out of an etched crystal decanter, some designs are inappropriate carriers for the ministry message you are trying to communicate.

Fom evaluating many ministry communication pieces I realize this match between message, audience and design doesn’t always happen. One of the biggest reasons many publications don’t accomplish their purpose is not because of “bad” design, but because the design isn’t appropriate to either the message or the audience.

How to find good designs for your audience

Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. That advice applies well to finding good graphic design ideas. Once you clarify your message and narrow your audience, a good place for research on how to communicate to that audience is a book store like Barnes and Noble that has a large selection of magazines.

Look for publications that are designed for your audience. Let’s take our example above of the two audiences: college-age and seniors. You can find a number of magazines for either group you are designing for. Pick out several you like, purchase them (don’t just look at them over a latte and put them back on the shelf), take them home and study them. The creators of those publications carefully studied their target audience and designed accordingly.

You’ll notice for each group certain typestyles, layouts, graphic treatments and colors used will be similar. Select some of the same elements for your publication. Evaluate the publication more closely: what techniques were used for various kinds of ads? If you find something similar to the event you are wanting to advertise, you might use a variation of that approach.

No matter what style you choose, keep it simple

Remember design is primarily about creating a plan with the purpose of deciding the best way to communicate a message to an intended audience.

If you look at popular and highly successful publications, you’ll see that often the most uncomplicated designs are the most effective. Some of most popular and well read publications—the Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY, for example, have really relatively simple designs and they are always the same in their layout. Why do they do that?

The creators of these newspapers don’t create exotic, wild designs that change all the time for a reason. Their clean, predictable design makes the information—the message—primary. Good design enables readers to always know where to find the information they want, in what order and in what section

Don’t forget to ask advice from the Master Designer

The Lord knows your audience and He knows exactly what they need to respond to your message. Don’t forget to take time praying for your people, your planning and your designs.

He is the great designer and can inspire you in ways you could never imagine on your own.

__________________________________

For more ideas and information on how to plan your church communications, check out the Course on Planning.

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Filed Under: Design, Planning and Managing Tagged With: church communication design, Communications, Design, yvon prehn

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