A free Valentines Day postcard, flyer, or bulletin insert to remind people of God’s love, plus strategy to make the most of it

Today many people have restless hearts. Life may not be what we wanted, dreamed about, or even find tolerable. Our restless hearts may be in many areas of life, but Valentine's Day shines a laser focus on the restless disappointments in our hearts. This flyer or Bulletin Insert might help your church minister to those restless hearts.

A restless heart isn't anything new, nor is the answer on how to fill it, as this quote from almost eighteen hundred years ago from St. Augustine reminds us when he said, "Thou hast made us for thyself oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

You can use his quote and the message that goes with it to reach out to the restless hearts in your community.

There are plenty of them as this time of year we're reminded of every romantic disappointment and broken dream with every TV ad and the gauntlet of flowers, cards, and chocolates when we shop. We may be alone in that we don't have a special someone in our life or the special someone slot may be filled, but we still feel alone. The media tells us we shouldn't ever be satisfied until we do everything we can to find that rush of complete, overwhelming, all-consuming, and satisfying human love, to go along with our perfect bodies and leisurely lives. But few of us live in that media fantasy and even fewer have the energy to try to event try make it real.

What the media doesn't tell us is that no matter how perfect we are, how much money we have, or how single-mindedly we pursue a perfect human romantic partner that no human love, no matter how deep or true or quietly wonderful it might be, (and some are blessed with that) will ever totally fill the place in our heart only God is designed to fill.

Valentine's Day is a perfect time to share the reality of God's forever satisfying love with the people who come to your church and here is a ready-to-print communication to help you do it.

Use this postcard, Bulletin insert, flyer, or however you want to us it to share God's love

Click on the Link following to download your ZIP file: St. Augustine quote

Strategy for how to use the files

This communication piece, whether you print it up as a bulletin insert, a postcard, or any kind of event hand-out can be an ice-breaker to start conversations or connections with visitors. By adding resources and links, suggested below on the back, it can serve as a tool to start a spiritual search or connections via social media.

If your church doesn't use bulletin inserts, feel free to take the message, the text and ideas to create your own communications on-line or in print—the channel that you use isn't important—take the message, the words, the goal to help people find Jesus and grow to mature disciples, and get it out there any way you want.

On the insert is the great quote by St. Augustine "Thou hast made us for thyself oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you" and then this text:

If you are looking for love
this Valentine’s Day—
Real, satisfying, lasting love,
there is only one place
you can truly find it—
In Jesus.

The man who wrote the quote above tried
everything to find love he could rest in.
He was brilliant, talented, admired.
He had friends, lovers.
Unmarried, he had fathered a son.

His work made him famous.
Outwardly he had it all,
Inwardly he was churning restlessness.
Until he met Jesus.

In Jesus, Augustine found what his
heart was seeking—a love he
could eternally rest in.
A love big enough to still the
turmoil inside him.
This Valentine’s Day, stop settling for
inadequate love.
Consider Jesus
and let him give you
eternal love, rest, and peace your heart
was made for.

Please personalize the insert with challenges and ways to connect with your church

If you do up a bulletin insert like this and then on the back put in more material that is specific to your church or to another outreach, you can potentially make the holiday something more than a nice time of celebration, but a turning point for a life.

To make the message have continuing impact:

**Announce an upcoming sermon series about real love, relationships, how to find what your heart is seeking in Jesus

***Use in social media to start a discussion on where to find real love

**Provide some links to evangelistic websites

**Invite them to a seeker small group

***Ask them to join a Facebook group on Finding Real Love in Jesus or whatever topic you might think up

***Let them know you have people they can email or call if they have questions about the Christian faith.

***Use it as a time to launch or invite people to an upcoming Alpha course

***Launch or announce any other exciting, interesting or any other event your church is doing to introduce people to the Christian faith, your church and Jesus

Pick out several that you think might work, research your own, but give people a way to continue to explore a relationship with Jesus. Valentine’s Day is one holiday you know you can speak to the real needs of people, because everyone needs love.

Pray lots that your church might use it as a time to channel this God-given desire into a love for Jesus.

BONUS Handout, downloadable PDF

I found this additional version in my archives and it is one of my favorites. I don't have the original MS Publisher files of it and the artwork asked for attribution (to comply: it is by Billy Alexander from the older Stock XChange site), but I have the PDF and you can download it by clicking on the image.

(FYI--Currently, I only use totally free, no attribution required, commercial rights granted artwork in all my templates so you don't ever have to worry about any legalities when you use the TEMPLATES from Effective Church Communications. I either buy the materials and rights or get the artwork from the many incredible sources available today. )

In addition, next to the image, following is the shorter version of the text if you want to use it for any publication you create:

"Thou hast made us for thyself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you"

If you are looking for love this
Valentine’s Day—
real, satisfying,
lasting love, there is only
one place you can truly find it—in Jesus.
The man who wrote the quote above tried it all.
He was brilliant, and admired. He had friends. Unmarried, he
had fathered a son, but he was empty inside.

Empty until he met Jesus.
In Jesus, Augustine found what his heart was
seeking—a love he could eternally rest in.

This Valentine’s Day, stop looking for love in
unsatisfying places. Consider Jesus and let him
fill the empty place in your heart.