Note: the following is the introduction from the book, Devotions for Church Communicators by Yvon Prehn, Each week I’ll share the weekly devotion from the book on this site. Sign up for our email newsletter so you will receive automatic notification of them.
Introduction: What’s inside your heart will come out in your communications
Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matt 12:34, 35)
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I
might not sin against thee. (Ps. 119:10, 11)Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
Out of the abundance of the heart not only does the mouth speak, but our church communications are created.
The quality of what we produce in print and online never ultimately depends on circumstances outside ourselves. It’s easy to
blame tight deadlines, inadequate equipment, and the difficult, sometimes unappreciative people we work with for doing less than our best, but ultimately the quality and impact of our church communications reflects our hearts.
We always have choices within circumstances. Tight deadlines can challenge us to streamline our methods, to focus our work. Inadequate equipment can challenge our creativity to see just how much we can get out of outdated machines. Difficult people can drive us to prayer and force us to learn interpersonal skills.
It’s in our hearts that we decide whether or not we believe that “God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).”
If what is inside our heart is the key, how can we make it overflow with what is pleasing to our Lord?
Overflow comes from an abundance of what is already inside. Fill your heart with the things of God. Spend time in his Word; read your Bible daily; listen to Christian talks and music; be with other Christians in church and conversation. Think about God’s promises and challenges; write his encouragements and promises on cards to post by your computer.
If you consciously work to fill your mind with the things of God, if his Word and will are your priorities, your heart and work will naturally and joyfully reflect it.
Much easier said than done isn’t it?
I wrote the section above in the early 1980s when desktop publishing was still new to many churches and computers were often viewed with fear and loathing. I had already been teaching seminars on writing and church communications for about ten years, but when I began to teach people in churches how to create communications with the computer, many of my seminar attendees were having a very hard time making the transition.
Most of the problems were because of inadequate or nonexistent training. A frequent story I heard went something like this: a computer would arrive unannounced on a church secretary’s desk and she’d be told that by next week she was to be creating the bulletin with it. No training supplied. Somehow it got done, but seldom without tears and resentment.
It seemed to me that the lack of training, the change in publications or the arrival of new equipment wasn’t nearly as damaging as what happens inside people during transition times. For some it seemed the arrival of the computer justified any actions needed to get it functioning in the church office.
As we shifted to new ways of creating church communications, as unimaginable opportunities to produce communications that were impossible for churches to produce in the past now became possible, I felt it was important to remind people that though technology might be new, our calling as servants and representatives of Jesus Christ never changes. We are to care for one another with concern and compassion; we are to do our work with a sense of ministry and mission no matter what the tools.
As I saw the tools of technology creating as many people problems as they did beautiful publications, I wrote a little booklet: Devotions for Desktop Publishers to remind people that all our work, with the computer or not, is work for the Lord to be done in his way.
The little booklet immediately became popular with my seminar attendees and the Lord graciously used it to help and encourage many.
A ministry reminder
In the same vein, in my seminars I reminded people that what they were doing was first and always a ministry to the Lord and that prayer and a focus on God’s Word were essential tools in successful church communications. I was constantly surprised (and still am) at how many people would come up to me after the seminar and say something like, “I never looked at this work as a ministry before.”
I’m not sure why this has happened, but the computer tempted even some church workers to think that communications produced by high tech means aren’t as spiritual or godly as an old-fashioned, type-written bulletin might have been. The typewriter is gone and with it some seem to assume that digitally produced church publications and the office environment that produces them don’t fall under the same commands of scripture for holiness, grace, and peace that other church work does. I realized that though difficult challenges in technology will continue, in all of this, we must always walk worthy of our calling as disciples of Jesus in all we do in our church communications ministry.
It seemed time to revisit the little devotions booklet and to update it for church communications work today. That little booklet is the core of this book. The devotions have been revised and updated; additional ones have been added that previously appeared as editorials or commentary written for past newsletters I produced. Some are new.
Technology changes, our minds and hearts shouldn’t
Our technology-driven, secular culture, while it can be invigorating and exciting, will most likely not inspire you to think in a Christ-like way in your work. The characteristics of servanthood, sacrifice, humility, love, and relying on God to help us create communications of eternal value, do not come naturally.
The concept of “referent others” is useful here. This term means that we will tend to order our lives, often unconsciously, by a standard or group of people we have chosen as a standard. What is important in this context is that we must be intentional about filling our minds and hearts with God’s Word and doing our work with biblical standards, not the changing challenges of technology if we want to do work pleasing to the Lord. The Bible is the only life and work reference that is appropriate for those of us doing church communications.
In this book, I’ve tried to make this conviction practical. I take situations in church communications and suggest ways to bring your focus back to the Bible in how you should react to them. In looking back over the entries, written over the course of almost twenty years, I’ve found I repeat a number of themes. My three most important ones could be summarized as follows:
#1 We serve a holy and sovereign God. Our lives and our work should reflect who we belong to and our reverence of him.
#2 Ours is a job of unimaginable grace—the Creator of all things has honored us with the job to create communications for him to share the good news of salvation in Jesus and to help people grow in their Christian faith.
#3 Ours is a job of unimaginable future glory—the eternal destinies of people are changed and heaven will be different because of the work we are doing today in church communications.
These themes are approached using different situations and examples, with some repetition in ideas and examples, but always with the goal of bringing your heart to focus on the words of God before you attempt to communicate his message to your world.
There are 52 entries, one for each week of the year. You can read through them sequentially or jump around. You can use them in your devotional time; share them with a church communicator’s group, read through one when your work needs a spiritual boost. After most of them, there is space for you to journal your thoughts and prayers.
As I close this introduction, I can see your faces. I remember you from my seminars, from discussions at breaks, from emails and letters. I remember the samples you shared and the times I cried when I looked at a sample, though sometimes simple and unpretentious on the surface, that touched my heart because of the obvious love, care, and time put into it. I remember your questions and frustrations, your successes and stories.
As I remember, I’m praying for those of you church communicators I can see in my mind’s eye and for those of you I haven’t yet met, that the Lord will give you peace, joy, and strength today. I’m praying your heart would be pure, holy, and focused on Jesus and that out of a heart overflowing with love for Jesus and his church, you will create communications pleasing to him and that will change lives for eternity.
Blessings, joy, and peace to you as you serve our Lord in church communications today,
Yvon Prehn
Clarification: I am no longer traveling to teach seminars, but am home in Ventura, CA creating resources and teaching online webinars and training through my website, http://www.effectivechurchcom.com. Much of my writing was created while traveling and doing seminars and it would be awkward to change those references. At the same time I wanted to clarify that the majority of my teaching is online currently, hence this little note.
Note: the above introduction is from the book, Devotions for Church Communicators by Yvon Prehn, Each week I’ll share the weekly devotion from the book on this site. Sign up for our email newsletter so you will receive automatic notification of them.
For a listing of the articles in this category, CLICK HERE