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.

Instagram Images for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give

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FREE Backpack Ministry Instagram images
It is tremendous fun getting supplies for kids--and even greater fun for the kids who receive them!

There are few projects in the church as much fun as getting supplies for kids when they are heading back to school. To me it's a little like the fun of putting together the Christmas Shoe Boxes—and remember you can buy lots of supplies for them at this time.

To help your congregation remember to do this, or to start to motivate them to think about it, I created a set of FREE Instagram images for you. Below is a gallery of them and below that is the ZIP file you can download to use them. There is also a set of PowerPoint Slides that go with them here: https://wp.me/pDky9-88N

Fun aside, this is such an important ministry to children--please pass on any and all the resources linked to it so that no child in your area or in any mission you are involved with will do without.

Click the following link to download the ZIP file that goes with them: Backpack Ministry Instagram Images

Additional materials on Backpack Ministry:

PowerPoint Slides for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give: https://wp.me/pDky9-88N

Bulletin inserts and Flyers for Fall Back-Pack ministries: https://wp.me/pDky9-7rX

My personal motivation for Backpack ministry—my memories and prayers about crayons and little kids in need: https://wp.me/pDky9-pL

 

Bulletin inserts and Flyers for Fall Backpack ministries

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Back pack supplies ministry
Getting supplies for children who can't afford them is a wonderful ministry. Help your church do that!

One of the best ministries at this time of year is for churches to assemble backpacks for kids that need them.

Following is an assortment of designs from past years that you can freely reproduce. You can use them as is or modify them to fit your church or community.

At the end of the article are two NEW sets of PowerPoint and Instagram images you can use to remind people and promote your backpack ministry.

You can click on the link below the images to download the ZIP file that has:

  1. PDFs of all the designs
  2. Editable MS Publisher files
  3. The design above in MS Word file
  4. Text for the flyers

****One more important note:

At the same time you recommend that your congregation buy supplies for backpacks, remind them that this is a great time to stock up on great buys on school supplies for Christmas shoe box ministries!

Gallery of the flyers/bulletin inserts

To download the ZIP file containing all the materials above, click the following link: https://www.effectivechurchcom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Backpack-Ministry-Bulletin-Inserts.zip

For additional materials to promote Backpack Ministries:

PowerPoint Slides for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give: https://wp.me/pDky9-88N

Instagram Images for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give: https://wp.me/pDky9-898

The job of church communicators–to incarnate ministry vision, illustrated with Backpack Ministry video

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Backpack Ministry Video
We can make a ministry come alive with our communications.
List of materials for backpack ministry.
An image of the list of supplies needed for the backpacks.

The communication project started out as an email plea for help. Our mission committee was working with two orphanages in Mexico and they wanted to provide backpacks for the children there. I got a frantic email for help--the committee knew they needed a way tell the congregation about it, but they didn't know where to start.
They gave me lists like the one here and a jump drive of photos.

Below is the video I created for them. I also did up other materials, (detailed brochure, posters, website materials), but the point of what I wanted to share here is that, as I thought about it, I realized this project illustrated one of the most important things we do as church communicators--we incarnate ministry vision.

To incarnate literally means to put into bodily form, to put on flesh and bones. Jesus did that when he came to earth. Peter worshipped an invisible, holy God as a child. When Jesus became incarnate, Peter could go fishing with him. He could hug him, laugh with him, go to a party with him. God became real to Peter in the incarnate Jesus.

So many of the ministry dreams and visions of the leadership in our church are wonderful, godly visions of what God can do. But until we put them into tangible form in our communications, they remain the intangible stuff of vision. When we create a video like the project--people see the children; they see the need; they know what to do. Lord willing, we touch hearts and motivate minds to action. We incarnate. We put flesh on the vision of the ministry to our people.

Often when we do this, not only do we help our congregation get involved with the ministry, but it touches us also. I became very involved in this project and became a back-pack making maniac for a few weeks. Since then I've been involved in other Backpack projects and below the video are some flyers/bulletin inserts and social media you can use to advertise back-pack ministries at your church.

Resources to help your church share backpack ministries

Note: I used animoto.com to create the video above. It is very easy to add pictures and text to the program and then a video comes out! Really, it is that easy.

Other materials for Backpack Ministries:

PowerPoint Slides for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give: https://wp.me/pDky9-88N

Instagram Images for Backpack Ministry to remind and motivate your congregation to give: https://wp.me/pDky9-898

Bulletin inserts and Flyers for Fall Back-Pack ministries: https://wp.me/pDky9-7rX

My personal motivation for Backpack ministry—my memories and prayers about crayons and little kids in need: https://wp.me/pDky9-pL

My personal motivation for Backpack ministry—my memories and prayers about crayons and little kids in need

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Contribute to back to school ministries.
Few things were more exciting to me as a child than a new box of crayons--and we have opportunities to share that joy with needy kids.

Remember the smell when you opened a new box of crayons? Waxy and warm with a bit of paper mixed in.

Remember what it was like to see all those new crayons? Sometimes there were new colors. The metallic crayons seemed magical. I almost hated to use them, to turn the neat, sharp points into smushy stubs.  But there was always another year to look forward to, another start of school and a new box of crayons.

Crayons were just the start—pencils, notebooks with lines unfilled, sometimes a new lunch box.  Back-to-school was my favorite time of year. I hated summer. I didn't particularly like to play kid's games, especially outside. I wanted to be left alone to read.

We moved every year (my father was in the military and that's what they did then) and the first place I would try to find in any house was some quiet corner to read. My very favorite was at the end of a long closet where there was a window. In front of it were some packing boxes just big enough and at just the right height for an 11-year-old girl to with a book and read and look out the window. Clothes were in front of the boxes, effectively shielding me from the outside world. Still, my mother would find me and make me go out and play. I was obedient, but I didn't like it. [Read more...]

Summer Recipe Card, a great way to connect with visitors and invite them back to church

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This is a wonderful summer recipe you can print up and give you to church guests. Put information on the back as a reminder of and invitation to your church.

Everybody loves recipes, especially if they are good ones! This one is fantastic! It is for a BBQ Beef Brisket that will literally melt in your mouth.

It comes from a wonderful Texas cook I knew in the past who has now gone home to be with the Lord. But before she left she passed on a number of incredible recipes.

You can print up this card as a gift to connect with visitors at who summer events at your church. On the back of it you can add church information, time, programs etc. and invite people back to visit you anytime.

You never know when someone might decide to come back to a church and if they have a yummy recipe card to remind them, food for the tummy may become food for the soul.

CLICK on the link here to download the PDF and print out the cards: PDF BBQ recipe card

For more on how to connect with visitors

Please check out the link to this article about successful summer outreach: Why it isn't enough to be a community-friendly, free event-providing church