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; Effective Church Communications can help.

What will you do when an iPad costs $40? and what that has to do with how your church communicates today

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Yesterday, a wise friend of mine, Bev M., asked me this question, "What will you do when an iPad costs $40?"

He went on to remind me that you can get a case of paper for about $40.Obviously today, for most churches it costs much less to print on paper. Everyone has access to paper and every church has a way to print and get it out there. But that could change.

What will we do in our church communication programs when an iPad or any other portable, digital communication tools becomes that cheap and widely available?

Think about it.

How you answer that questions not only has to do with the future of your communications, but how well you are communicating now.

No new technology should scare you

Our task as church communicators is to share the words of eternal life. Our message has not changed in thousands of years and it won't change throughout eternity. The tools we use to share it, however, have changed and will continue to change.

No matter what the technology we must use now or what we will use in the future shouldn't scare us because:

  • Our God is always and ultimately in control of all things.
  • Our God is not intimidated by technology (easy to forget that ).
  • Our God can help us learn whatever we need to learn to do the jobs we are called to do.
  • in addition. . . . . .

You should be communicating through a variety of channels now

If you have gotten into the habit of communicating through a variety of channels—print, digital, people—using all the tools available to you, not elevating one channel over others, but being open and excited about each new communication channel and challenge you'll approach every change with excitement.

If the above statement doesn't apply to you, Effective Church Communications has many resources available to help. Teaching you the importance of Multi-channel Communication is one of the most important tenets of this ministry.

Following is a listing of articles and resources on Multi-channel Communication, the first three are FREE, the second three are in-depth articles, resource listings and a webinar. Click on the title of each to go to the article. To find out more information on how to become a members of Effective Church Communications and have access to ALL the materials on this site, CLICK HERE.

Free articles:
You also communicate by what you don't do—the importance of the people channel
Never forget the people who don’t have access to the easily created communication channels

As you share your message in different channels, don’t change the content or look of your message

For ECC MEMBERS only, in-depth articles, resource listings and a webinar. To find out more information on how to become a members of Effective Church Communications and have access to ALL the materials on this site, CLICK HERE.

Is video the best way to market your church?
What’s the best channel to use to communicate the church’s message? Print? Multi-media? Web?

Webinar: Why your church needs to create Multi-channel Communications, or why you can’t just put your church bulletin on the web and be done with it

Never forget who you are and you'll never be afraid of technology

You are an eternal person because you are eternally loved and saved by Jesus.

When the heavens fade away and the earth is renewed, the $40 iPad or whatever technology may come that will challenge and sometimes intimidate us, will be a distant dream. Then we'll laugh at our former fears and wonder why we worried.

Keep that reality in mind as you face the challenges of technology today.

 

Social media, it’s just one more tool, not the savior

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I just bailed out of participating in a social media survey. I started out wanting to be helpful, but as page after page after page scrolled on, I not only got irritated with the length, redundancy and poor design of the survey, but also with the implied importance of social media in its content and how the material was going to be used.

I could envision the end results of the survey when it is presented at an upcoming event:

  • the oh-so-serious pronouncements of how social media is being used by churches and ministries
  • the insightful quotes and comments from the survey
  • the audience awe in the face of the implied power of statistics
  • the nagging guilt in the audience that their church or ministry isn't doing enough
  • conclusions profoundly offered by company who humbly will help your church or ministry be social media effective

We are all deceived by these performances and we shouldn't be.

[Read more...]

9 Reasons why MS Publisher is a great program for churches to use for print and graphic creation

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Why MS Publisher is recommended for Church Com teams
MS Publisher is a fantastic program to create not only publications, but graphics for print and web. At the end of this article, you can download this FREE PDF.

When I first encountered MS Publisher in the early days of creating communications with the computer, I would have never imaged I’d be recommending it as the program of choice for churches—and not only so you can create complex print layouts, but also graphics for print and the web.

At that time, if you wanted to create professional-looking publications, you chose Aldus Pagemaker.  Pagemaker gave you layout options and type-setting control, necessary for credible communications for churches, while Publisher’s main claim to fame was the ability to quickly create a moderately tacky-looking postcard quickly. [Read more...]

Reality of church communication—challenging spiritual warfare

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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  (Eph. 6:12-13)

Working for the Lord in church communications is hard.

The bottom-line reality is that we are in a war. And in any war, one of the first things the enemy tries to knock out the communications equipment of their opponent. You aren’t just  “doing the bulletin” or some other isolated project. You are the communication center for spiritual warfare for your church. When you got into communications work for your church or ministry you entered one of the most intense areas of spiritual warfare raging today. Satan wants to knock you out.

Troubles with hardware, software, and co-workers are to be expected. Especially people problems should be no surprise because Satan is “the accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:10) and one of the easiest ways to cripple you in the battle is to get you fighting with your fellow soldiers. Don’t let him win; don’t take on his job.

Remember also that you are in a war that has already been won. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished!” When he rose from the grave, he conquered sin and death.

Because of Jesus’ finished work, our battle resembles the fighting of the resistance fighters in France at the end of WW2. The allies landed on D-Day and basically the war was over, but until Paris was liberated, the war wasn’t over for the French Resistance. The resistance army still had to fight. If you study the history of the resistance, you find that one of their primary weapons was communications. “Freedom is coming—the war is over—hold on until the victors arrive!” That was their message and ours is the same.

We may be involved in spiritual warfare, but we don’t have to fight alone. We can expect help for the battle. Our help never comes ultimately from new equipment, or a more peaceful work situation, or more considerate workers. Our help comes from our Lord and from doing our work according to his Word.

Learn to encourage yourself from the Word of God. If you don’t train yourself to look at the battle you are in as spiritual warfare, if you don’t draw your strength from Jesus, your job will be much more difficult than it should be.

God did not put you in your work to simply survive. Do your work with joy and passion, with your eyes on heaven and know that though the daily battles might be difficult, the war is over, victory is assured, and your King is coming.

from:
The Heart of Church Communications, beyond tools and techniques,
a biblical basis for creating church communications
by Yvon Prehn, available from www.lulu.com/yvonprehn