Effective Church Communications

Better than roses—an essential communication piece for Mother’s Day

7 May, 2017 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Bulletin insert for Mother's Day — Help a mom say what she wishes she could say to her child about Jesus with this bulletin excerpt.

As we've talked about before, the biggest reason Mother's Day has such a large turn-out isn't because of the Moms. They are always there. It is because of the unchurched children and spouses that show up that day to make Mom happy. To make the most of it, the church needs to say to that audience what Mom can't—that the most important gift you can give her is a relationship with Jesus.

Here is a publications that will help you do that.

Mother's Day Bulletin insert

This insert doesn't pull any punches, but makes it clear that more important than anything else to a Mother is her child's relationship to Jesus. A bulletin insert can challenge, but also gently guide to websites and sources (please add your own from your church) so that a piece of paper, quietly put into a pocket, may be looked at in a quiet moment and an eternity changed.

Here are images of the insert. Click on one for a larger view.

Below is the text as a free gift to everyone to use however you want: a link for more is at the bottom of the page and you can download a large file that has lots of inserts you can personalize.

Above all PRAY for open hearts for the children and spouses who attend Mother's Day services that they will be convicted of the need to draw close to Jesus. [Read more...]

How to use Mother’s Day to grow your church

27 April, 2015 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Mother's Day can be a great time to grow your church! — Though it may be a new thought to many, Mother's Day can be a great time to grow your church.

Most church leaders don't think of Mother's Day as a time for potentially great church growth—but you should. This is because Mother’s Day Sunday is the third highest day for attendance(because of added unchurched people) in North America, running slightly behind Christmas and Easter. Though most churches know this and work hard to make it a special Sunday, many miss significant church growth opportunities for that day— because of the day’s exclusive focus on mothers. Following are some ideas on how to change that in positive ways.

Don't ignore Mothers, but expand your vision

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying churches shouldn’t honor mothers on Mother’s Day. They should; it is an important time to praise mothers and to thank God for them. What I’m recommending is that churches not make mothers their exclusive focus, but that they take advantage of the extra church growth opportunities made possible that day because of mothers.

The growth opportunities come from the visitors. It is easy to forget who these visitors are and why they are there. The reason that churches are so full on Mother’s Day is not because it is the only time of year mothers come to church. Most of the mothers at the church are regular attendees. The reason so many people come to church on Mother’s Day is the unchurched people in the lives of many mothers (spouses and children) rarely, if ever, come to church, but they will come on this day to make mom happy.

This is a great evangelism and church growth opportunity for your church!

Following are some ideas on how to make the most of it:

· Assemble a prayer team to pray, or add to your prayer list, requests specifically for the unsaved, unchurched, and straying family members who will come to church with mom on this Sunday. Pray for sensitivity to their needs. Create attractive invitations for your members to give family members.

· On Mother's Day as a church leader or pastor, acknowledge the visitors who come on Mother’s Day to please an earthly parent and affirm it was a commendable thing to do. Follow that commendation with a lesson/sermon about how they have a heavenly parent who is longing for them come home in faith even more than their mom wanted them to come to church.

· In your sermon, say for the mother what she would want to say to her child. Be honest that an eternity without Jesus means eternal separation from those we love. Acknowledge this is not easy to say and it is not at all comfortable to talk about on this happy day, but to not say things that can make an eternal difference is not expressing love. Love is honest about the consequences of a life lived apart from God.

Do more than preach—additional actions and events can provide great impact and encourage visitors to return

· Be sure to use connection cards so that you have follow-up information to invite visiting family members back to church next week. At the end of this article are links to some cards that can help you, plus bulletin inserts with the theme of "Want to make Mom really happy? Come back to church next Sunday!"

· Schedule a very upbeat, outreach-oriented Ministry Fair for that day so visitors can experience and explore what your church does on a regular basis. For example, many single adults (the unchurched adult children who come to church only on Mother’s Day) often don’t have any idea that many churches have fantastic single adult ministry programs. A table with literature, food, and fun people might be just the thing to get them to attend on a regular basis.

·For the unchurched husbands to see the men of your church around a literature table that talks about upcoming construction projects, work days, golf outings or sports events and that is staffed by men who reach out, welcome and engage visiting spouses in conversation is an incredible gift to give to the mom who comes every Sunday on her own.

· Challenge visiting adult children and spouses to make this Mother’s Day the most memorable one ever for their mom by giving her the gift of faith in Jesus—the one Mother’s Day gift that will give her joy forever.

In addition, in your bulletin have a link to information on your website for those who would like to explore the Christian faith in more detail and have the contact name, number and email of people for unchurched and children of people they can contact confidentially if they have questions or would like to discuss your church, the Christian faith, or what a relationship with Jesus is all about.

So much better than a rose

It may be nice to give the Mother's in your church a rose or other toke gift of appreciation, but for you to pray for and actively pursue the Mother's family members who don't know Jesus and to invite them back to church and the Christian faith is far more meaningful. Many of the unchurched family members will come back if you plan, pray for, inform them intelligently and gracefully about the faith, and connect with them for invitations to come back.

Doing those things is much more work than handing out roses, but instead of flowers that fade, you'll not only make the Mothers happy, but you will grow your church.

____________________________________

For links to a short video that discusses the outreach opportunities around Mother's Day, a FREE ebook about this and additional links to connection cards, bulletin inserts, recipe cards, invitations and other publications related to Mother's Day, click on this link: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/2012/04/mothers-day-resource-list/

6 ways to make the most of Mother’s Day as a Great Outreach Opportunity

3 May, 2012 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

#1: Understand the real reason why Mother’s Day has the 3^rd highest church attendance of the year

The reason that churches are so full on Mother’s Day is not because it is the only time of year mothers come to church. Most of the Moms are always there. It’s the husbands and kids who rarely come who show up with Mom that one day to make her happy. The reason so many people come to church on Mother’s Day is the unchurched people in the lives of many mothers rarely, if ever, come to church, but they will come on this day to make mom happy. This is a great evangelistic opportunity for your church!

#2: Focus your planning on reaching the unchurched spouses and kids

Flowers are nice, but far better than a rose for Mom would be a Sunday designed to speak to those she loves, but who do not know Jesus. Prepare your people by encouraging them to pray specifically for the unsaved, unchurched, and straying family members who will come to church with mom on this Sunday. Pray for sensitivity to their needs. Create attractive invitations for your members to give family members.

#3 On Mother’s Day acknowledge the visitors who come on Mother’s Day to please their Mother and affirm it is a kind thing to do, and do honestly and without guilt

It isn’t funny or spiritually helpful for someone from the pulpit or a church member to say something like “Great to see some of you here who haven’t darkened the door of the church since last Mother’s Day.” Or, “You don’t need to be such a stranger around here.”

A bit of coaching the week before Mother’s Day to your staff, ushers, and congregation to be genuinely welcoming—and to leave it at that—is helpful.

#4 At the same time, use your sermon to say to the visiting family members what Mom can’t say

Be honest with your audience on Mothers Day that one of the greatest pains in a mother’s heart is that her child does not know Jesus. To be apart in life is hard, even as a child grows up, but to contemplate an eternity without those you love, is a pain impossible to express.

Acknowledge this is not easy to say (which is why you are saying it for Mom) and it is not at all comfortable to talk about on this happy day, but to not say things that can make an eternal difference is not expressing love. Love is honest about the consequences of a life lived apart from God.

#5 Have available information about the Christian faith they can look at later

Whatever system works best for you, either a bulletin insert, URL, QR code, have a place where visitors can check out websites that explain the Christian faith. An invitation to latte with the pastor next week at the local coffee shop for open-ended Q&A about the Christian faith is another option.

Let them know they are welcome to come back anytime—but again, do it with a light touch.

#6 Do more than preach— additional events can provide great impact and encourage visitors to return

Consider a very upbeat, outreach oriented mini-Ministry Fair for that day so visitors can experience and explore what your church does on a regular basis. For example, many single adults (the unchurched adult children who come to church only on Mother’s Day) often don’t have any idea that many churches have fantastic single adult ministry programs. A table with literature, food, and fun people, welcoming visiting guests and inviting them to return might be just the thing to get them to attend on a regular basis.

For the unchurched husbands to see the men of your church around a literature table that talks about upcoming construction projects, help-the-poor work days, golf outings or sports events and that is staffed by men who reach out, welcome, and engage visiting spouses in conversation is an incredible gift to give to the mom who comes every Sunday on her own. Some men who don’t regularly attend church have never talked to a man who goes to church and does construction work or have any idea that men at church do more than pray or read their Bibles.

Whatever you do, honor Mothers in the best way possible—by helping those they love come to know Jesus.

Need more inspiration?

Check out this video:

If you want more information on and to download the communications illustrated in the video, go to: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com on the home page are links to a variety of Mother's Day Communications.

Member’s Downloads of Apple Pie with options Recipe Cards

15 April, 2009 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Mother's Day is a great time to invite moms to come to ministry events that occur outside Sunday. The recipe cards here are a fun way to do that. Everyone loves recipe cards--you can give them out on Mother's Day and on the back invite moms back to other ministry opportunities. The recipe cards here have both a clip art version and a version with a photo illustration.

This recipe is for how to make a frozen pie crust taste homemade."Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu st laborum."

This is a delicious Apple Pie with Variations.ollit anim id est laborum."lamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qu

CLICK HERE to download a ZIP file that contains:

* Both Mother's Day Pie recipes, 2 versions
* MS Publisher Original files (you must have MS Publisher to use this file)

* PDF Files
*Resizable jpg files
**I also included the files for the BOOKMARK for Mother's Day in this zip file

After you download the file, SAVE it to your computer, then click on it to "unzip" it and the files are ready for you to use.

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Mother's Day Bulletin insert

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Don't ignore Mothers, but expand your vision

Following are some ideas on how to make the most of it:

Do more than preach—additional actions and events can provide great impact and encourage visitors to return

So much better than a rose

Share this:

#1: Understand the real reason why Mother’s Day has the 3rd highest church attendance of the year

#2: Focus your planning on reaching the unchurched spouses and kids

#3 On Mother’s Day acknowledge the visitors who come on Mother’s Day to please their Mother and affirm it is a kind thing to do, and do honestly and without guilt

#4 At the same time, use your sermon to say to the visiting family members what Mom can’t say

#5 Have available information about the Christian faith they can look at later

#6 Do more than preach— additional events can provide great impact and encourage visitors to return

Need more inspiration?

Share this:

Share this:

#1: Understand the real reason why Mother’s Day has the 3^rd highest church attendance of the year