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.

Why we need to share the gospel at Halloween and the tools to help you do that

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In church communications, we do what we do because we believe that the eternal destinies of people depends on how they respond to Jesus. We know that--but in the midst of long days and overwhelming demands it is easy to forget.

As we approach Halloween, I know this isn't a holiday most people think of as being particularly spiritually challenging, but it really is. At this time of year, everyone is thinking about and talking about the supernatural and that makes it one of the easiest times to bring up the topic of the one person who conquered death--Jesus.

Erasing hell, a great motivational book for Halloween outreach
This book provides great motivation for Halloween outreach because it is a reminder of the eternal consequences of our decisions about Jesus.

Francis Chan's and Preston Sprinkle's book, Erasing Hell. In addition to being a very well-researched and well-written book, I greatly appreciated the tone of the book, which is one of gracious, gentle conviction.

Though the tone is gentle, the topic is about one of the hard issues of our faith--the eternal destiny of people who die without Jesus as Savior. Universalism, the idea that eventually everybody goes to heaven, is the popular answer today (one of the great promoters of this being Rob Bell's book, Love Wins), but popular as the idea might be, as this book shows through careful historical facts and careful biblical exegesis, universalism is simply wrong.

As much as we might wish it were otherwise, the eternal destiny of every person--literally heaven or hell depends on what we do with Jesus. Your job is to make that clear and that is why your work in church communication is of extraordinary importance. We can do that with our church communications and below is a list of communication resources for Halloween.

The purpose of this website is to help you create communications that enable your church to fully fulfill the Great Commission. That is why we do all we do.

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Church Bulletin Tips and Resources from current Church Bulletin Sample Books

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Church Bulletin Sample Books
Along with collecting great Samples of Church Bulletins, contributors also sent tips and resources for creating effective church bulletins. CLICK on this image to go to the Sample Books.

As part of gathering samples for our current selection of Church Bulletin Sample Books, we asked contributors for resource and production tips. The best ideas and resources come from all of you. Please add your tips and resources in the comments section. A brief video that illustrates some of the best resources and websites listed is available if you CLICK HERE.

Below are tips and resources for creating church bulletins:

**We tried various formats before we developed the one we are currently using. One of the problems we had was getting people to sign up for various opportunities and how best to do it. We decided the Connect Card would solve the problem. It is a tear off section of the bulletin. We use the information to record attendance, receive prayer requests, requests for information, and finally on the back side sign ups for opportunities being offered. We print it on 11 x 17 paper and it is a tri-fold. The only complaint I have is that it is labor intensive in that I hand perforate all the copies and it can get time-consuming. I do call for help when I’m really rushed with several things at one time. Susan

**Keep announcements (PowerPoint) open while working on slides for worship, so changes can be immediately made on both. Learn how to use tabs!Keep learning more about the computer programs you use. April

**Perhaps less is more, or don't be afraid of white space. I think there is a tendency to overload bulletins with information instead of using inserts.Crystal

Lots more tips:

**Following are some great resource links, CLICK HERE if you want to see a video that previews them for you. Some of my favorite websites:

 

**When I create something that has to be printed outside, I always do 2-color to save money. We have a top-of-the-line color printer in house that handles most of our regular volume. My bulletin is printed free of cost by an outside company that sells adds for the back cover. Eulene

**I have found actionenvelopes.com to be the cheapest source for printed envelopes. But not the fastest. I use nextdayflyers.com for all of my really urgent printing. If I have the files uploaded by 6pm they will have the printing done overnight. They will do quantities as low as 100 and they are not much more expensive. I use gotprint.com for most of my regular printing of over 1000 pcs. Both next day and got print are local in southern california, so I can print multiple jobs and pick them up with no shipping costs. Nextdayflyers, and gotprint have done good jobs for me, but when you are doing very color specific work, or using pantone colors, you do need to talk to them. They will fix things that are wrong, but that doesn't help with urgent printing. I don't worry about it with my printing. For my flyers and the things you looked at anything is close enough. I use San Diego Web Offset for newsprint. I have printed magazines, and a newsletter in Newspaper size and format with them, they are fast and reasonable plus easy to work with. Graphics for an old web press like they have is different, but our newspaper was one of the most enjoyable things I have printed. One more, for big printing I use BPgraphics.com in Phoenix, AZ. They are cheap cheap and they do printing of almost umlimited size. They do billboards mostly. That is printed on reinforced vinyl like banners, the rolls are like 200feet long and i believe 16 feet wide. Plus they can be welded together to make unlimited size. One warning, when banners are made for use indoors, the full color printed ones, are best when they are uncoated matte finish, they don't reflect stage lights and stuff. But many banner printing places BPgraphics included UV coat their banners by default. And their uncoated banners are still extremely glossy. So they don't work that well for use under stage lights. Paul

**I use Churchart.com for cover graphics and have OT & NT lectionary grahic art when it fits with pastor's selection of 3 out of 4 pericopes. Tom **Here at Immanuel Lutheran Church ELCA in Forest City we have 2 services on Sunday at 8:00 inside the Sanctuary and at 10:00 outside under the umbrella of trees on the Waldorf College campus by their pond (weather permitting). Our 2 bulletins are done as a Word document. The early service is usually a tradition service mostly from the ELW hymnal. The second service, since it is outside, songs are all printed or music inserted since we don’t use a screen outside. Jaci

**We print a different bulletin for each service. The parts that change are the liturgy, the servants and the front page date and time. The bulletin is a bi-fold printed on white paper; the ‘blue sheet’ is printed on blue and cut in thirds then inserted into each bulletin. Pat

**Previously our two worship services had a different order so the inside left column was the order for first worship and the right column was the order for second worship. We put the words to the songs that are not available in the hymnbook in case someone is unable to see the screen because of where they are sitting or limited eyesight. We print our own picture on the front of the bulletin. Usually it is a sketch of the church but we use other pictures that will go along with a specific sermon series the minister is doing. Teri

**This is a preprinted bulletin shell that I do all the inside in B&W but for the website I scanned in the front and insert it and I change all the graphics to color when I upload it to our website. Also normally we have sermon notes on the back but for the Lord’s Supper he does not have notes. Hope you can use it! Thanks for all you do for us!! Jeri

**I have found it helpful to have a monday meeting with the pastor, to review what will go in the bulletin this week, and what inserts might be needed. Always good to touch base before things go to press on Thursday.We are a small church, so our pieces are very simple and printed in house. Jennifer

**Attached is our bulletin for last weekend and one from a week or so before. To be honest we have had a few bulletin makeovers in the 6 years I have been at the church, and we still are not really happy with what we have. To explain the threads “theme” (logo at the top of three pages) – we believe a balanced believer will have all three threads woven into their lives– worship, grow, and serve.

**Tips: · If something is going into the bulletin it has to fit in either worship, grow, or serve. · We have one contact person per ministry who submits the bulletin request. · Wednesday by 5 pm deadline. · We eliminated pictures/clipart due to space and it being too busy looking. Kelly

**For the weekly bulletin I open up the previous week’s bulletin and then save it with this week’s date before editing. The items you see along the edges include calendar info for meetings that are recurring, (e.g. weekly, and monthly). This eliminates retyping or opening a previous bulletin to cut and paste. Our ushers for the 11:00 service do a particular week each month (1st, 2nd, etc.) so I have the groups set up in a file named “Usher” which is inside my main “Bulletin” folder. Each week’s group of ushers is set up so I can just cut and paste them into the bulletin. Unfortunately the others aren’t consistent enough. My pastor doesn’t give me hymn and sermon info until Wed. so on Monday or Tuesday I go ahead and do the calendar and lists of worship assistants on the back as well as delete old announcements. That way I am ready for his info and can get it back to him to proofread quickly.

**We print and fold our bulletins inhouse so I now have volunteers on Friday morning that cut the inserts and stuff the bulletins. It took me several years before I realized what a help this could be. It always seemed more inconvenient to call people and ask whenever I needed someone. We now have a “Taking Faith Home” insert each week so I know I can use someone every week and can ask several weeks out. Gordon

**In the Episcopal church we use a prayer book and hymnal. To make it more user friendly (rather than fumbling between books) we develop, each week, a booklet that includes all the liturgy and music. We have a wonderful copier that copies, folds, and staples…couldn’t live without it! Here is a sample. Sara

Keep track of your ideas and share them with us!

In the coming months we'll be asking for lots more ideas to put into our Great Ideas and Sample Swap books--you all have the greatest ideas! As we tackle various types of communications, share with us! ***In addition to helping others out, all the contributors to each of the Great Ideas & Samples Swap collections get a FREE copy of all the samples submitted. This is an extraordinary deal! Be sure to sign up for our newletter--on the home page so you will know when we are collecting samples.

Church Bulletin Sample Book 2
This is one of the books in the new set of 4 Sample books on church bulletins. These are a fantastic resource for your church. CLICK HERE to go to them!

Check out the current GREAT IDEAS & SAMPLES books--to see the bulletins created by the people who shared the tips above. CLICK HERE to go to them!

People will come to church for holidays, even if they won’t come any other time–a strategy to reach them successfully

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note: it's never too early to start planning for Christmas and though this article is specifically related to Christmas, the overall strategy is useful for all holidays and lots are ahead!

As we were discussing promotion for the Christmas Eve service at our church, our worship pastor said, “Yeah, even I came to church on Christmas Eve before I was a Christian.” His words are a reminder of the incredible opportunities we have to connect people with Jesus through the events we host during the holidays. Read on for ways to make your holiday outreach communications successful.

It has to be a comprehensive, team effort

You cannot create any one holiday outreach communication that  will be effective in involving people in your holiday activities.

It doesn’t matter how great your outreach marketing piece looks, how flawless the printing, how inspired your slogan, no one piece can carry the weight of assuring a good turnout for a Christmas event. This is not to say that these things don’t matter, because they do, but the key thing to remember is that no one printed or emailed piece will do it.

It takes a team of efforts both in publications and in preaching. One message from a variety of sources, repeated a number of times in a number of ways is what results in effective turnout. Here are some procedural tips on how to go about achieving success in your holiday outreach marketing efforts.

1. Spend time in prayer first of all asking God to impress on your heart the seriousness and the privilege of our opportunities this time of year. Remember, this might be your one opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with visitors and relatives. The eternal destiny of people can be decided at your church this holiday season.

Challenge yourself to go beyond a nice little devotional thought to make your congregation feel good at Christmas—pray for fire in your soul as you prepare and motivate your people. Jesus is the reason for the season, not because we needed a reason to buy stuff, but because at Christmas we celebrate Him as God who became flesh to save us from our sins. What prophets and people anticipated for millenia, as they looked forward to the Messiah, we must be careful not to trivialize.

2. Based on your time with the Lord, as a ministry team, decide what you want your Christmas message to be. Come up with one overall theme and a slogan that summarizes it. This is key because you want all of your advertising, publications, and preaching to reflect that one theme. You will change the medium that you use, but your core message must stay the same for maximum retention and response.

3. Select graphics, colors, images to portray that theme and use them consistently throughout all your advertisements. People often say to me, “If I keep saying things the same way, my audience will get bored.” Wrong. Audiences don’t get bored, audiences get confused. Great advertising campaigns always keep a core message the same for a lengthy period of time for it to have impact. Think about the “Got Milk?” or "Just do it!" or any other marketing campaign that is successful for illustrations of this.

4. Decide on a variety of ways to communicate your message; use and repeat as many as you can. We live in a time of multi-channel communication where we need to use different ways to reach different age and interest groups. Communicate your message through postcards, bulletin announcements and inserts, invitations, web page entries, email blasts, verbal reminders, phone calls, social media, Facebook, Twitter, whatever you can.

5. You’ve got the team tools, now recruit the rest of your team: your people. For any holiday outreach to be really successful, every person in the congregation has to be convinced that THEY need to be the ones inviting their friends, praying for them and working hard to get them there. Remember it isn’t your job to get folks there, your job is to equip the saints so they can do the work of the ministry.

Not only is the best way to get a large group of people to your events this way, but even more important, your people will grow in their understanding of outreach and commitment to it.

It has to be a timed effort

1. Space out the message in your preaching and comments. Starting as soon as possible, I am recommending to our music pastor, based on his comment, that he start saying things like, “As I look ahead to Christmas, I remember what it was like before I knew the Lord,” and then follow up with comments on how important it is to think about the people in their circle of friends who are in a similar situation.

2. Continue to encourage and challenge your people to invite their friends. Remind them to pray for their friends and remind them to attend. Give them the tools you’ve prepared, postcards, invitations, door-hangers, digital invitations and suggestions and have them get them out there.

3. Be sure to prepare materials that you give out at the Christmas events themselves that explain everything that is going on at your church. It will have a very negative effect on the gospel message if guests can’t find the bathrooms, coffee, or are confused as to where to take their kids for child care.

4. Don’t forget that this is a fantastic opportunity to let guests know about what else will be going on at your church following the holidays. In addition, ALWAYS include a gospel presentation, either one written by the pastoral staff at your church or one of the tasteful tracts by the American Tract Society, from your denomination, or written by your pastor. If you need ideas, CLICK HERE for a number of articles with examples of Gospel presentations.

To illustrate the importance of these pieces, let me share a story. Some church leaders were asking me how they could get more of a follow up response from people who attended their huge Christmas outreach. They did a fantastic job and yearly put on an almost Broadway quality Christmas play—but seldom had much follow up response from people, in terms of coming back to the church, nor did they know what effect the play actually had on people coming to know Jesus.

When I asked to see what they gave to people at the event to both explain the gospel message in printed form, how they got information to follow up, what they gave out to let people know what their church did on a regular basis and to invite people to events the coming week, all I got was a blank stare.

“Uh….we don’t give them anything,” was the reply.

“What?” I said, rather incredulous, while wondering if they lived in a community where perhaps mind-reading chemicals were distributed in the water, because if you don’t tell people these things in print, digitally and verbally, there is no way other than mind-reading for them to find out.

“We don’t give them anything because we don’t want to be pushy at a festive event.”

I wanted to ask if they would rather be pushy or allow people to spend eternity separated from God, but I thought once I got started, I knew I might not be able to quit yelling or crying and I knew neither wouldn't teach anyone anything.

“Oh, my,” was my reply and we then went on to discuss more effective communication methods. Here is the reality of the situation.

It isn’t being pushy to share with people the greatest gift of all, salvation in Jesus

And it isn’t pushy to let them know the valuable events hosted by your church that will help them grow in their Christian faith and live a meaningful life. Many guests who come to holiday events do not know what churches do on a regular basis. A simple insert or invitation that says something like: “We hope you enjoyed our Christmas program and we would love to have you come back for……” and then list your regular services and programs. People are looking for ways to find friends and meaning in life—but they won’t know about what your church offers if you don’t tell them.

The holidays are a demanding time, but a great time to welcome people into the kingdom of God. Be sure to spend time daily praying for strength to everything the Lord wants you to do as we celebrate His birth.

All the Great Idea Swap Newsletters submitted in 2011

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THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who submitted newsletters in our GREAT IDEA & SAMPLE Swap. As promised, below are the PDFs of ALL the newsletters submitted.

Only YOU, the ones who submitted your wonderful work, these gets these all. It will be some time before these come out to the church communication world and they won't be in the set like this.

There are almost 400 pages total in these samples, so I broke them into two collections. Just click on the images below to download the PDF.

There is a lot of material here

Download the files, keep them on your hard drive and take your time to read through the newsletters. There is so much, it will take lots of time to absorb all of it (and that's what will take me quite some time also to get through all of them).

The content is very important and you'll get lots of  ministry ideas from the newsletters in addition to graphic design ideas. You have permission to share these with any staff member that it would be helpful to.

Again, thank you and may the Lord bless you and give you joy as you serve Him in church communications!

Click on each image below to download the PDF--they are big files so do be patient.

Newsletter one imageNewsletter two image

“More Than 1 in 5 American Children Live at Risk of Hunger” statistics and fact sites to help us communicate about hunger

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Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:7

Communicating information on hunger and challenging people to alter their lives and give sacrificially or to even give at all is often not one of the most fun communication projects. But caring for the poor is very important to our Lord.

In addition, it has to break our hearts that one in five children is hungry in our land of abundance.

We can't do everything to solve all hunger problems, but we can do something. One of the most important things we can do is to tell the truth and to constantly keep the reality of hunger before our people.

We need true facts to create communications to teach our people.

These three sources give statistics and information on hunger that can help you prepare teaching, PowerPoints or fact-sheets.

Three great resources sites follow

Feeding America
http://feedingamerica.org/press-room/press-releases/fa-children-at-risk-of-hunger.aspx

This site has a Press Release archive with statistics and press releases you can use. Below is one of most recent and serious.

From the Global Policy Forum
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217/46138.html

12 Myths about Hunger
An excellent article that does a great job of showing why these myths are false. It can be reused for research and educational purposes and is an excellent resource for teaching a class on hunger.

Myth 1: Not Enough Food to Go Around
Myth 2: Nature is to Blame for Famine
Myth 3: Too Many People
Myth 4: The Environment vs. More Food?
Myth 5: The Green Revolution is the Answer
Myth 6: We Need Large Farms
Myth 7: The Free Market Can End Hunger
Myth 8: Free Trade is the Answer
Myth 9: Too Hungry to Fight for Their Rights
Myth 10: More U.S. Aid Will Help the Hungry
Myth 11: We Benefit From Their Poverty
Myth 12: Curtail Freedom to End Hunger?

From the Food For All Website
http://www.foodforall.org/hungerstats.html

Below is one of their lists of very useful facts that you can use on teaching and communicating about hunger. This is an interesting site that does a lot of work with grocery stores and other places like that for manufacturing agreements and special events that raise money for hunger. Might be good to check it out for ideas.

Hunger Statistics

Data gathered from the USDA's "Food Security in the United States", 2008 Study

  • In 2008, 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, which includes 16.7 million children
  • Overall, households with children had nearly twice the rate of food insecurity (21%) as those without children (11.3%)
  • 5.7% of households (6.7 million households) experienced very low food security, an increase from 4.1% in 2007
  • In 2008, 8.1% of households with seniors (2.3 million households) were food insecure
  • In 2008, 4.1 % of all U.S. households (4.8 million households) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times
  • Groups with rates of food insecurity much higher than the national average (14.6 %) were:
    • Households with incomes below the official poverty line—$21,834 for a family of four in 2008—(42.2 %)
    •  Households with children, headed by a single woman (37.2%)
    •  Black households (25.7 %)
    • Hispanic households (26.9 %)
  • Food insecurity rate was highest in the South (15.9%), intermediate in the West(14.5%) and Midwest (14%), and lowest in the Northeast (12.8%)
  • According to the US Census Bureau in 2008, 39.8 million people (13.2% of the US population) were in poverty

More coming, send me your samples

I'm going to continue to provide resources and, when possible, samples. The Micah 6:8 Section is where the updates will be.  Please send me samples of anything that you create to communicate to your church about hunger and other poverty and compassion issues. Send original files and PDFs with permission for ECC to use them to: yvon@effectivechurchcom.com