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 Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission.

FREE Instagram Images & Inspiration for Random Acts of Kindness Day

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Set of kindness images for instagram
Kindness is a characteristic of our God and one He expects us to develop in our lives. Use these images to encourage kindness in your congregation.

Feburary 17, is Random Acts of Kindness Day and in celebration of it, I've created a set of free Instagram images for you. Click on the link below them to download and use the set however you'd like, not only to celebrate today but anytime you need encouragement for kindness.

Unless some of the random "day of" whatever holidays, this one has an unusually serious organization behind it--please check out the information below the images for more information on Kindness.org.

Click the following link to download the images:  KINDNESS Images for Instagram

An organization, research, and resources dedicated to kindness

Kindness.org is their website and though it contains some things you would expect--suggested acts of kindness, stories of people doing kind acts, etc., there is an unexpected (at least it was to me) depth to it.

The site was started by Oliver Scott Curry, a PhD who teaches cognitive and evolutionary anthropology at the University of Oxford. He is part of a group called the Kind Lab that conducts research and creates programs on kindness.

This joint endeavor is a partnership between Oxford and Harvard University and joined by what they describe as a "multidisciplinary team of scientific advisors and have a community of over 400 Citizen Scientists in 45 countries.

Take time to go through their studies and programs for practical ideas on ways we can obey the Biblical commands on kindness. [Read more...]

Now, more than ever, resolve to use your words with kindness

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be kind to others
Kindness should characterize our words and actions as representatives of Jesus.

Words are powerful. As God's Word reminds us:

The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit. Prov. 18:21

As church communicators, words are the tools we use to fully fulfill the Great Commission, to introduce people to Jesus and to grow them into mature disciples.

Though most church communicators would agree with these goals, there are many ways we can accomplish them. We can shame people, mock, and malign to reveal what we consider error. We can be caustic cynics of what we don't like in politics or people. We can yell or express righteous anger because we consider it our right to do so. But though we can choose how we use our words, we can't always choose the effect they will have, this verse reminds us.

The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Prov. 12:18

Though I first referenced this article seven years ago, we need it more than ever today. And though there is true evil that we need to confront in word and deed, even there the following advice is helpful. It comes from a longer article by Rev. James Martin, S.J. and after I copied it as an inspiration for actions, I realized what a useful challenge it is for all of us who communicate: [Read more...]

Do not confuse irreverence for relevancy

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We serve a holy God
We serve a holy God and our words as church communicators must always reflect HIS character, not our bad attitudes cloaked as religious indignation.

From a book on Strategy, but advice that should always characterize us as church communicators:

We serve a holy God.

There is a tendency today for some in church communications circles to use shocking, profane, flippant language or advertising with the rationale of making the church appeal to the unchurched, or to make their communications appear edgy, professional, and contemporary.

This is wrong. Categorically, totally, completely, wrong.

As Jesus' ambassadors and representatives our words and lives are not to reflect the tone and words of our world, but to reflect his character and holiness.

The Bible is clear in what should characterize our communications:

"Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. . . .  Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. . . . . Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malic"(Eph. 4:1; 25-31).

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Col. 4: 6).

Graceful, worthy words, no corrupt communication, are just a few of the many, many worthwhile terms that should characterize our communications. As obvious as these passages seem, their message of holy, worthy words is not universally accepted in all circles of church communications today.

Some believe that it is OK, in the interests of sharing the messages of the church, to use language that shocks, offends, or frustrates. In addition to language that would have caused my mother to wash my mouth out with soap, some of this persuasion believe sexually suggestive images on billboards and sermon topics will get people to church—where of course then a proper biblical message will be preached.

This is an unbiblical and unworthy approach. [Read more...]

How to change the colors of artwork in Canva

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Canva is an incredible program and though I've used it for years, I continuously discover new things about it. In this short video, I'll share how to change not only big blocks of color (which is obvious and easy) but how to change even small parts of images in the program. Lots of great options for your designs—check it out!

Canva’s remove background tool–absolutely WONDERFUL!

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This is the greatest tool ever to help in creating church communications! If you have ever tried to remove background around an image, you know how difficult it can be.

With Canva it is almost magically easy and then you can export the image to use in any program you want.

I had heard about the tool, but I didn't get around to using it until one Sunday morning my pastor (now sort of retired, but still preaching at times) HAD to have a flyer for a service he was doing later that afternoon. The video below shows how Canva came to the rescue to help me create what I needed.