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EFFECTIVE CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS

The Effective Church Communication ministry from Yvon Prehn provides
inspiration, training, and resources to help your church create communications
that fully fulfill the Great Commission. It focuses on Bible-based and timeless
principles and strategies that work no matter what digital or print channel you
use to create your communications. The site has links to many free TEMPLATES and
other resources, plus links to free TRAINING VIDEOS, and a RESOURCE LIBRARY for
church communicators. 

THE EFFECTIVE CHURCH COMMUNICATION MINISTRY FROM YVON PREHN PROVIDES
INSPIRATION, TRAINING, AND RESOURCES TO HELP YOUR CHURCH CREATE COMMUNICATIONS
THAT FULLY FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION. IT FOCUSES ON BIBLE-BASED AND TIMELESS
PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES THAT WORK NO MATTER WHAT DIGITAL OR PRINT CHANNEL YOU
USE TO CREATE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS. THE SITE HAS LINKS TO MANY FREE TEMPLATES AND
OTHER RESOURCES, PLUS LINKS TO FREE TRAINING VIDEOS, AND A RESOURCE LIBRARY FOR
CHURCH COMMUNICATORS.

 * Home
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NOTES AVAILABLE FOR FIRST VIDEO ON DESKTOP PUBLISHING IN THE CHURCH, HOW TO USE
YOUR COMPUTER TO CREATE BETTER NEWSLETTERS, BULLETINS, AND MORE! BY YVON PREHN

9 February, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

The cover of my book on desktop publishing in the church. I found the printed
notes that go with the video series (done 27 years ago), scanned them and you
can download them. The video is available on YouTube. A link to it is in the
article.

Several months ago, I posted the first video I did on desktop publishing in the
church, How to Use Your Computer to Create Better Newsletters, Bulletins, and
More! 

I uploaded CDs of it that had been created from the original VHS tapes. The
quality is not what we expect today, but it was and is interesting to me how the
basic principles of good design and communication haven't changed in almost 30
years from when I first wrote the book. Nor have the needs of churches and the
still too frequent challenges they have in creating effective church
communications. This book was based on Tap the Power of Desktop Publishing which
was the first book out on desktop publishing for churches and as far as I know
on doing communications with the computer for churches.

The first version of the book was published by David C. Cook and the second
edition by Gospel Light. Though both books seemed to do OK, the second one did
well enough for the company to do this video series, both companies told me they
decided to not continue printing it because they didn't see a future for the
computer to be used to create communications in the church. In fact, Gospel
Light said they didn't see technology as a whole had any future use in the
church.

Well, that was a miscalculation.

But I wasn't deterred--I made photocopies of the book at Kinkos and they sold
well at the seminars I taught all over North America for many years.

It wasn't until recently I found the CDs of the seminar and put them on my
YouTube Channel .  The link will take you to the first video.

I was frustrated because I couldn't find the notes that went with the videos
though I thought I looked all over for them. However, recently, as often happens
in my messy office, I was looking for something entirely different and there
were the notes, misfiled.

I scanned them and made them into a PDF, which you can download HERE

The book it was based on is out of print, but I retained the rights to it and
scanned most of it, and turned it into an ebook. I left out the chapters on
computers and software as they were outdated and no longer useful. I renamed the
book, Back to Basics, essential foundational skills for church communicators.
It's part of the soon-to-be-released Effective Church Communications Library,
but I wanted to give you a free copy of it to go with the notes. Here is the
link to a download of it: https://payhip.com/b/RK9hW
[Read more...]


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Filed Under: Books for Church Communicators, Church Communications Training
Tagged With: archived video and notes on desktop publishing for churche,
Effective Church Communications training, free ebook on church communications,
how to be a better church communicator


SPAM IS SPAM IF IT IS GOOD FOR YOU OR NOT, YOU NEED TO TELL PEOPLE WHY A BIBLE
STUDY RESOURCE IS GOOD FOR THEM AND HOW TO USE IT, NOT JUST THAT IT IS AVAILABLE

2 February, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Spam is spam whether you think it is good for your congregation or not. You must
tell them WHY it is valuable and HOW to use any resource or it's simply spam.

How would you respond to messages like this:

> Here are lots of vegetables—free vegetables—eat all you want!
> 
> The vegetables are here for the picking, be sure to take as many as you can
> carry.
> 
> These are vegetables kids really like! Help yourself!

Most likely your response wouldn't be overwhelming. You know how to get
vegetables; maybe you even have a neighbor with a garden that gives you extras.

After a while, even the offer of free vegetables can be tiresome, and then it
becomes an irritation.


BIBLE STUDY RESOURCES ARE NO DIFFERENT

Most people know they should study the Bible or read it, but simply badgering
them about a free resource without telling them why they should use it or what
they will get out of it, may not produce the response you want.

I'm writing this blog because of some feedback I got from an Effective Church
Communication reader. Here is what she asked (and though I don't tell you
enough, if you have questions or experiences like this, you can contact me at
yvonprehn@gmail.com--I won't publish your name and I usually change some of the
details, to not embarrass the efforts we all make--most questions I get apply to
many of us, so I turn them into blogs like this and we all benefit). Here is the
situation:

> Yvon,
> I don't know what to do. My church signed up for a service (without asking the
> congregation if they wanted or needed it) that produces hundreds of free
> videos on various Bible topics. Then they notified us of it. I went to the
> site and had to give my information to just look around.
> 
> It looked OK, but much of what was appealing was already available on YouTube
> or the websites of the various ministries.
> 
> I thought that was the end of it, but oh no. Then the emails started,
> recommending this or that. Today I got a postcard from them.
> 
> All of them just tell me what is available--lists of names, titles of videos.
> No more information about them and no reasons why I should care, other than
> they are good for me.
> 
> I don't have kids, but apparently a lot of people on the list do because I've
> gotten lots of recommendations for videos for kids.
> 
> I'm getting really irritated and feel bad about it.  If I tell them to take me
> off the list, will they tell my church and think I don't care about the Bible?
> 
> What should I do?

[Read more...]


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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: don't send your members spam. how and why to
email church members., Spam from churches


FREE DOOR HANGERS FOR VALENTINE’S DAY OUTREACH, PLUS WHY THEY WORK SO WELL FOR
OUTREACH INCLUDING 5 REASONS YOU MAY NOT HAVE THOUGHT OF BEFORE!

31 January, 2022 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Door hangers are an effective and low-cost way to reach your community with a
reminder of God's love.

Door Hangers continue to prove themselves as a low-cost and effective way to
increase awareness of your church and invite your neighborhood. Below are
TEMPLATES for Valentine's Day that remind people that God loves them. The
Templates have room for you to personalize them for your church. In addition, on
the back of the door hanger you can include more information about your church
and/or invitations to specific events.

Following the images is a downloadable ZIP file that contains PDFs of the images
and editable MS Publisher files.

After the images are excerpts from the article "Five Secrets to Door Hanger
Marketing" that will give you added incentive to create this form of
communication for your community. It will give you some useful ideas on how to
use this inexpensive tool.


COMBINE DISTRIBUTING THE DOOR HANGERS WITH A PRAYER WALK FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Distribute them in teams of two and pray specifically for the people in the
homes, the neighborhoods, that God would touch hearts and make them open and
willing to connect with your church and hear the good news about Jesus. Door
hangers are a tangible way to advertise and walking the community to distribute
them and pray is a much more personal and involved way to do outreach than
impersonal Facebook or other digital advertising. I'm not saying local Facebook
or other digital advertising is bad, but our outreach needs to get out from
behind the computer periodically for maximum impact.


DOOR HANGERS TO PERSONALIZE FOR YOUR CHURCH FOR VALENTINE'S OUTREACH



To download the ZIP file of the door hangers, click the following link:  MS Pub
Valentines Door Hangers [Read more...]


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Filed Under: TEMPLATES, Valentines Day Tagged With: church outreach for
Valentine's Day, effective church outreach, inexpensive church outreach,
Valentine's Day Door Hangers


A FREE VALENTINES DAY POSTCARD, FLYER, OR BULLETIN INSERT TO REMIND PEOPLE OF
GOD’S LOVE, PLUS STRATEGY TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT

31 January, 2022 By Yvon Prehn 1 Comment

Many people today have restless hearts. This Valentine's Day, help them find
rest in Jesus.

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




[Read more...]




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Filed Under: Strategy #2: Make the most of seasonal events—grow your church in
numbers AND your people in discipleship, Valentines Day Tagged With: Free
Valentines Day bulletin insert, St. Augustine and Valentines Day, Valentines Day
for church outreach


COMMUNICATIONS FOR A GOOD CONTINUING RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR VOLUNTEERS—PLEASE
DON’T SUDDENLY BECOME MR. GRUMPY

30 January, 2022 By Yvon Prehn 2 Comments

Don't switch from Mr. Nice Guy to Mr. Grumpy to your volunteers or you won't
have many for long.

Update note: I'm reminding people of this article along with material on how to
recognize your church communicators around Valentines' Day because good
communication with volunteers is essential all year round. PLEASE especially
take note of the advice here to communicate with people according to THEIR
preferred communication channel. People are very picky about this today. Some
will only talk on the phone; some never answer the phone and you must send them
a text; some hate texting, but constantly check email. It is a huge challenge
(and a lot of work) for anyone trying to reach all their volunteers, but it is
essential work that needs to be done if we are to serve those we work with. 


BACK TO THE ARTICLE ON COMMUNICATING WITH VOLUNTEERS

Every church is desperate for volunteers. It's not only important to effectively
recruit them, but after they are recruited, it is equally important to work hard
to keep them. Unfortunately, the difference between how we treat volunteers when
we are recruiting them and after they volunteer is sometimes similar to the
difference with some couples between courtship and marriage.

Before the wedding the groom is all flowers and candy; after the wedding, he
becomes Mr. Grumpy.

Don’t become Mr. or Mrs. Grumpy to your volunteers. Be as kind, caring, and
thankful to them when they have been around for 6 months as you are the first
week. Not only is this the proper response for a disciple of Jesus, but
volunteers can easily quit if you make it difficult or unpleasant to serve. You
can express that thankfulness to them through a variety of church communication
projects such as:


REMINDERS OF MEETINGS OR VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES

You may be reluctant to do this thinking that you are unnecessarily bothering
people, but we need to remember that unlike many of us, the lives of most of our
volunteers do not revolve around the church. People may volunteer with the best
of intentions, but if they did not write down all the details after signing up
in the church lobby or online to do something, it's easy to forget all about it.

[Read more...]


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Filed Under: Volunteer Management Tagged With: be kind to volunteers, church
volunteer guidelines, church volunteers, don't be mean to church volunteers, how
to treat church volunteers

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RECENT POSTS

 * Notes available for first video on Desktop Publishing in the Church, How to
   Use Your Computer to Create Better Newsletters, Bulletins, and More! by Yvon
   Prehn
 * Spam is spam if it is good for you or not, you need to tell people WHY a
   Bible study resource is good for them and HOW to use it, not just that it is
   available
 * FREE Door Hangers for Valentine’s Day Outreach, plus why they work so well
   for outreach including 5 reasons you may not have thought of before!
 * A free Valentines Day postcard, flyer, or bulletin insert to remind people of
   God’s love, plus strategy to make the most of it
 * Communications for a good continuing relationship with your volunteers—please
   don’t suddenly become Mr. Grumpy

SEASONAL RESOURCES

MOST READ POSTS

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 * Valentine's Day Templates
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   printed today outside the Bible

SEASONAL TEMPLATES

 * OVERVIEW of TEMPLATES for Church Communicators, please read first
 * Valentine’s Day Templates
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 * Graduation Templates
 * Summer-related Templates
 * 4th of July, Canada Day, and GRACE for All Nations
 * See You At the Pole
 * Harvest Festival and Halloween Templates
 * Christmas Templates

MISC. CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS TEMPLATES

 * Church Connection Cards
 * Business/Invitation Card Templates
 * Back to Church for Kids in the Fall Templates
 * Church Bulletin Template
 * Volunteer and Encouragement Templates
 * 2-page Senior Adult Print Newsletter Template
 * Misc. Church Templates


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