Category: Office
August 31, 2010ChurchSafety.com’s Top 10 Training Resources
What other church leaders are reading and using to keep their congregations safe.
ChurchSafety.com provides expert guidance and risk management information on a broad range of safety topics. We’ve compiled the Top 10 most-downloaded resources from ChurchSafety.com during the past year. Find out what other church leaders have read and used to train staff and volunteers and to develop a safe environment for ministry:
10. Confronting Gun Violence at Church
While the number of incidents involving guns at churches remains small, information and preparation are still vital. Begin by assessing the current security of your church. This download gives helpful advice on how to plan for the unexpected, whether or not your church should hire a security guard, and how to deal with the media in the aftermath of violence.
Children are often the most vulnerable members of our congregations, and their presence also presents some of the most serious liability risks. Most churches use minors to assist in various children's or youth programs. Screening these workers will help prevent youth-peer sexual harassment. Institutions can be found guilty of negligence in these cases for not providing security against such abuse. Learn practical steps to properly screen underage workers and access helpful templates for references and interviews.
8. Creating a Safety Team
When crisis arises, are you prepared? Don’t be taken by surprise next time. Learn to respond appropriately to situations ranging from common medical emergencies to crisis involving gunfire. Every church can benefit from forming a safety team that is trained to respond appropriately to various emergencies. This download will discuss the importance of having a team that can handle situations requiring security intervention, medical response, or evacuation.
Continue reading "ChurchSafety.com’s Top 10 Training Resources" »
The Your Church Blog's Top 10 Posts from Its First Year
The topics that most interested readers like you during the past year.
I love milestones. And I'm a sucker for top 10 lists (thank you very much, David Letterman). Since today is August 26, it means the TheYourChurchBlog.com turns 1. Naturally, I went back and looked at our 10 most popular posts for the first year.
But before I do, a few observations about our past year:
1. Subject popularity appears diverse: 3 of the Top 10 posts fall under the Law Category, with 2 each under Finance and Safety, and 1 each under Staff and Office (the other post was a general one and didn't fall under one specific category);
2. Our highest traffic day came on February 23, on the heels of our post "Oregon Case Provides a Powerful Reminder to Churches," which reviews the implications of an appeals court's ruling that allowed a pastor's victory in a defamation lawsuit against his former church to stand.
3. The post garnering the most comments was "Where You Work Best," which discusses the pros and cons of worshipping at the church where you also work.
Without further delay, here are TheYourChurchBlog.com's Top 10 posts during its first year:
10. Legally Host a Super Bowl Party: If your church is hosting a Super Bowl party this year, you will need to abide by three simple guidelines to avoid violating copyright law ... read more
9. The Top 7 Resources to Combat Church Embezzlement: Earlier this month, we looked at two recent cases of church embezzlement, and the "zero tolerance" stance judges are starting to take against these crimes. Unfortunately, yet another big headline has since emerged ... read more
8. 10 Questions to Ask About Your Church's Communication: As you approach 2010, consider these 10 questions to discuss your church’s communication efforts ... read more
7. What Will the New Health Care Bill Mean for Churches?: Now that President Obama has signed the health care reform bill into law, many churches are wondering what the impact will be on staffing costs. ... read more
Continue reading "The Your Church Blog's Top 10 Posts from Its First Year" »
Bothered by the Business of Church
I’ll admit that I like to pull a Scarlett O’Hara when it comes to the less attractive side of church leadership, like getting the parking lot paved or turning in a budget. “Fiddle dee dee!” I shrug. “I can’t think about that now! I’ll think about that tomorrow…”
I think the business of church can be excruciating. What do you get when you take a room full of over-committed volunteers, mix in some underpaid staff workers, and toss in hundreds (or thousands) of church-goer expectations? How about business leaders who are used to managing corporate dollars combined with under-resourced and over-ambitious “kingdom” plans? Welcome to church business.
Continue reading this post at GiftedForLeadership.com.
When a Staff Person Isn't Doing the Job
Steps to follow before taking drastic measures.
Our sister site BuildingChurchLeaders.com recently released a bundle of training resources titled "Essentials for Church Staffing." It includes the survival guide "Dealing with Staff." Below is an excerpt from one of the articles in that guide, suggesting what to do with an underperforming church employee before you get to the point of firing him or her.
From time to time, I suspect a staff member is malfunctioning. This hardly constitutes evidence for firing, although it may eventually lead to it. What are the steps to take before that drastic measure is called for?
* Quietly investigate. As soon as I suspect trouble, I put my ear to the ground. I ask questions of secretaries or other staff. I do so quietly and casually, asking, "What's going on with So-and-so? How are his groups doing? Anything new coming on line? What's happening in the department? How many people were in his last class?"
* Meet with staff. If two or three staff members suggest there are problems with the person in question, I call a meeting of the entire staff, not including the person in question. I ask how serious the problem is. Is it worth looking into, or should I just forget about it? That's usually when something comes out.
Continue reading "When a Staff Person Isn't Doing the Job" »
5 Ways to Develop Better Interns
How churches can commit better to the internships they use.
I’ve recently thought about the use of interns, which happens frequently today in many churches. I know why: it’s a win-win. The intern gets experience, churches get more hands and (let’s face it) cheap labor, and everybody benefits.
That is, except if we violate some of the most basic tenets of good people management.
In light of some things I’ve observed recently and over the years, here are five ways churches can commit to creating internships that work well for everybody:
1) Commit to mentoring them. When you accept an intern on your staff, don’t just use the person to accomplish a task. An intern is not a traditional employee. Your commitment must include mentoring and coaching. It’s a commitment to a process, not just a project. The goal is to shape this individual into a more effective, productive future employee, not just get something from him or her today. That happens through a relationship, which is what an internship is about.
2) Commit to a specific time period. Unless the intern is stealing, lying, or doing something else worthy of dismissal, stick with the person for the duration of the internship. Don’t let someone go halfway in because they’re not meeting your expectations. Coach the person toward your expectations. If it still doesn’t go well, chalk it up to experience. Refuse to offer a recommendation. But don’t cut the individual loose. That’s desertion, not good management.
Where You Work Best
The pros and cons to working and worshiping at the same church.
Can church employees work at one church and worship at another? Off the Agenda recently explored this question on our sister site, BuildingChurchLeaders.com with mixed feelings. Blogger Tim Avery asked these follow-up questions in response:
• If the church can't meet all of your spiritual and relational needs, do you expect it to meet the needs of others?
• Does your role impede your ability to relate to the community because you are placing too much weight on your responsibilities?
• Can you really fulfill your role well without being fully involved in that community?
• Is your perception of the church as employer something that needs to be fixed or fled from?
While Avery ultimately objects to the idea of having two church homes—one for work, one for growing—there are some church administrative assistants who would advocate for this situation.
Should Churches Increase 2011 Budgets?
What church leaders around the country plan to do next year.
Christianity Today, our sister publication, recently asked several financial advisers, researchers, and other observers to weigh in on whether churches should increase their operating budgets next year. Here are their responses:
"What we see is cautious optimism on the part of our church members. Donations seem to be trending upwards somewhat. Some of them are still down five to 10 percent compared to a year ago, but there is increasing optimism on the part of churches as we see some positive trends in the giving."
Dan Busby, president, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, and an Editorial Advisor for Your Church
"The years of prosperity concealed underlying internal issues that are the real reason giving is down at some churches. During the time the economy was good and offerings were increasing, statistics say the offerings were not increasing on a per-giver basis. … They were growing their operating budgets by growing numbers of people. When the lean resource environment sets in, scarcity begins to clarify everything. For some of these churches, it clarifies that they haven't been healthy for a while, and the abundance of money was just covering it up."
Jim Sheppard, CEO, Generis
"Our church will not. In October 2008 there was a tsunami that hit Wall Street, and almost overnight there was crisis. That did not happen to churches. Churches do not experience tsunamis, but they are experiencing rising floodwaters of financial challenges. It isn't like bam, they all got slammed; it's like people aren't giving as much. Some of our people are out of work. There's not any one cataclysmic event, but rising floodwaters of economic difficulties that are more and more affecting churches."
Brian Kluth, founder, Maximum Generosity, and a Contributing Editor to Your Church
Read responses from Crown Financial Ministries' Chuck Bentley, The Financial Seminary's Gary Moore, Barna Group's David Kinnaman, Leadership Network's Chris Willard, LifeWay Research's Scott McConnell, and Generosity Monk's Gary Hoag at the full article here, then tell us what your church anticipates for its 2011 budget.
Is Your Church Giving Raises This Year?
How different churches plan to approach pay increases in 2010.
An interesting post recently surfaced in the Church Admin discussion group hosted on Yahoo:
"Situation: Our church is currently very close to our income and expense budget for the current year (fiscal year end in December). Last year, the board chose NOT to give any pay increases, but this year, some of them want to do so in next year's budget.One board member feels that since some of our congregants are out of work, that we shouldn't give salary increases, even though according to our budget projections, there is no financial reason not to. He is very vocal that we shouldn't even consider raising anyone's pay.
Is anyone willing to share whether or not they are giving pay increases, and the rationale behind their decision? I'm especially interested in hearing from churches who are doing okay at meeting their budgets, and whether or not they are considering pay increases."
The administrator's question is an interesting one. If the economy is beginning to thaw—and there is still debate about whether that's actually the case—then should churches currently meeting their budgets consider pay raises for staff? Our 2010-2011 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, which surveyed nearly 5,000 churches across the country, showed a small decline in salaries in 2009 (after a slight gain in 2008). This means many church staff members haven't received a bump up in pay in quite some time.
Here's how other church leaders responded to the question:
Continue reading "Is Your Church Giving Raises This Year?" »
Designing Print for Big Impact (On a Tiny Church Budget)
Your efforts can help you save money and design an attractive piece.
If the word frugal conjures up images of your matronly aunt’s used tin foil collection, or the carefully washed plastic bags drying in her dish drainer you’re not mistaken, but being frugal is also simply being a good steward with the resources we are given.
When it comes to a church’s design budget, however, maybe we should be thriftier and less frugal. Though frugality is used with the best intentions, it has a negative connotation linking it with an effort to be simple, plain, and well, cheap. Simplicity in design can still be a great element in your creativity tool belt, but it is important to familiarize yourself with your cost-cutting options in order to stretch the limits of what’s available to you. Your design doesn’t have to suffer because of your lack of dollars.
Continue reading "Designing Print for Big Impact (On a Tiny Church Budget)" »
Part 4: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well
Forming the team responsible for the church’s vision.
Editor’s Note: Paul Clark, the Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Ohio and a Contributing Editor to Your Church, recently underwent a major staff reorganization. In a four-part series that started three weeks ago, he explained what Fairhaven sought to change, and the first step for making that change—the dissolution of the executive team. Two weeks ago, he addressed the establishment of new title structures. Last week, he explained how Fairhaven created a Management Team. In today’s concluding article, he explains how Fairhaven created a Lead Team.
Step Four: Creation of a Lead Team
The final step involves how Fairhaven sets the vision and direction for the church. The new Lead Team is comprised of a mixture of individuals who are invited to participate based on their experience, gifting, vision, and their strategic role in the broad scheme of ministry. It includes both men and women, ranging from Boomers to Gen X. It's an eclectic group, each representing a unique vantage point on Fairhaven and culture.
The Lead Team deals with four strategic questions:
Continue reading "Part 4: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well" »
Part 3: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well
Forming an effective team to implement vision.
Editor’s Note: Paul Clark, the Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Ohio and a Contributing Editor to Your Church, recently underwent a major staff reorganization. In a four-part series that started two weeks ago, he explained what Fairhaven sought to change, and the first step for making that change—the dissolution of the executive team. Last week, he addressed the establishment of new title structures. Today, he explains how Fairhaven created a management team.
Step Three: Creation of a Management Team
Steps three and four reshape how we plan and execute our ministries. They involve establishing two functionally driven teams for vision and implementation. We’re calling these two teams the Lead Team (vision) and the Management Team (implementation).
Both teams are comprised of individuals who are invited to participate, not because of title, but because of their responsibilities, their gifting, or their ability to contribute to the goals of the team. These teams will be fluid, in that they can change at any time, based on the dynamics of our staff. We can make changes to both teams and not have to tweak our organization chart or our titles. New members can be invited to sit in, perhaps based on a particular discussion that’s relevant to them or to which they bring some expertise or special interest.
Unlike the former Executive Team, this new structure provides the possibility for greater flexibility and nimbleness, with less formality. The key is to have the right people around the table at the right time.
Continue reading "Part 3: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well" »
Part 2: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well
Why churches should re-evaluate the staff titles they use.
Editor’s Note: Paul Clark, the Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Ohio and a Contributing Editor to Your Church, recently underwent a major staff reorganization. Last week, we published the first in a four-week series on what Fairhaven sought to change and how. Step One involved dissolving the executive team. Today, he writes about Step Two.
Step Two: Establishing a New Title Structure.
Titles can be extremely difficult to manage as a staff’s size increases and roles become more diverse and specialized. In order to reduce some of the problems mentioned in Step One, we decided to simplify and de-emphasize titles. Five general titles will remain, with clearly defined parameters. All staff will fit into these five employment categories:
Lead Pastor: This designation is reserved for the individual providing overall organizational leadership and reporting directly to the Governing Board.
Pastor: This designation is reserved for individuals who: 1) possess Bible college or seminary education; 2) are licensed (or are in the process of licensure by the District), making them eligible to perform sacerdotal functions; and/or 3) manage ministries and/or have other paid staff under their supervision.
Continue reading "Part 2: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well" »
Part 1: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well
One church's reorganization challenges staff titles and hierarchies.
Editor’s Note: Paul Clark, the Operations Pastor at Fairhaven Church in Ohio and a Contributing Editor to Your Church, recently underwent a major staff reorganization, and reflected on the changes through his blog, http://visionmeetsreality.org. Starting today, and continuing for the next three weeks, we’ll run a four-part series, “Doing Staff Reorganizations Well,” which details what Fairhaven learned and improved by evaluating its staff structure. Regardless of size, we think every church can learn from many, if not all, of Fairhaven's lessons.
At Fairhaven Church, we recently implemented a staff reorganization that we started working on last fall. The organizational structure we had when I came almost eight years ago was traditional, with the Lead Pastor overseeing about 10 direct reports. Leadership, mentoring, and oversight was limited to what he could do, given his own workload and time constraints. The joke was that it had been years since he had ventured into certain ministry areas of the church, even though those ministry leads reported directly to him.
When David Smith became the Lead Pastor, he reorganized, adding an Executive Team so that he could pour himself into four other guys, who would then provide leadership, mentoring, and oversight to the rest of the staff. It's a model that's worked well for us for most of the last five years.
Last fall, David and I stole away for a day and asked ourselves this question: "What organizational changes do we need to make in order to be an effective staff serving a church of 6,000?" Our current attendance is about 4,500. We filled an 8-foot whiteboard several times as we worked to answer that question. We took an honest look at what we do well, what we struggle with, and how well we are positioned to respond to the growth God is giving us. We worked through staffing and organizational issues down to a micro-level. It was an exciting day.
After a process of explanation and approval that involved the Personnel Committee and the current Executive Team, we presented our organizational restructuring to the staff. We noted that the church has grown quickly over the last few years and that many new staff have been added to respond to the growth in ministries. Although the staff continues to be healthy and the ministries are effective, we nevertheless identified some important organizational goals as we considered who we want to be in the future:
Continue reading "Part 1: Doing Staff Reorganizations Well" »
6 Questions to Ask in a Coaching Relationship
Dave Ferguson explains how "Coaching Conversations" help equip lay leaders.
At Community Christian Church, we value a culture that commissions each man, woman, and child for an outreach effort that they feel God has called them to fulfill. Part of that culture involves what I call “leading with a yes,” because as a pastor, I regularly get approached by people who ask whether their outreach idea is worth pursuing. By saying yes when they come to us with a worthy idea, we give them the affirmation they need to move forward.
But that doesn’t mean our “yes” guarantees them funding from the church, or the hands-on assistance of staff leadership. It’s just not always possible. When I’m asked how we train people to pursue their ideas, given these limitations, I tell people we error on the side of relationship, meaning we ask people to have relationships: an apprentice that they are developing and a coach that is developing them. If we can put someone into a coaching relationship, be it weekly or monthly, then that helps give needed support for various ministry efforts.
Community has developed a coaching model that guides both sides, whether it’s a staff member overseeing a lay leader, or a pastor overseeing a staff member. Part of that model involves the coach asking these six questions each time they meet with the leader they’re overseeing. We find these “Coaching Conversations” help develop these leaders, and they significantly enhance the experience for everyone involved:
Continue reading "6 Questions to Ask in a Coaching Relationship" »
Should Churches Buy Fair-Trade Coffee?
Responses to a Your Church article on fair trade
Last week, we published "Weighing Fair-Trade Coffee," on YourChurch.net, the home website for Your Church magazine. We became more interested in this topic several months ago, after Kevin Miller connected with Troy Jackson, pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. University Christian partners with a Guatemalan village called Santa Maria de Jesus in a direct-trade relationship. That relationship produces La Armonia Hermosa (The Beautiful Harmony), a coffee awaiting fair-trade certification, which the church sells.
In my days as a business reporter and editor, I often witnessed the volatile debates that occur from conversations pertaining to certification and food. In the early 2000s, there were hotly contested discussions among natural foods circles about "organic" certification (many of those discussions still remain). I knew the same held true for the "fair trade" label, as this Wikipedia entry will attest. I anticipated we'd receive a variety of responses after we published the fair-trade coffee article, even though the purpose of the Your Church piece wasn't to take a position on the topic. Rather, it was written to generally define the topic and give some basic parameters for church leaders to understand as they shop coffee options.
Nevertheless, the responses began to arrive. I've posted three of them below. In the meantime, what better place to continue the conversation than here? Should churches buy fair-trade coffee?
8 Resources for Peacefully Resolving Church Conflicts
The definitive collection to guide leaders before, during, and after turbulent times.
In our ongoing conversations with church leaders, as well as our collaboration with colleagues at Leadership Journal, OutofUr.com, and BuildingChurchLeaders.com, we know conflict remains one of the biggest detractors from a healthy church office environment. So we're keenly aware of this issue, and why it matters a great deal to church leaders like you and me.
I was reminded—again—of the significance of this issue last summer, when I attended the National Association of Church Business Administration's annual conference. Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries, offered a keynote address on the urgency with which church leaders should address conflict and resolve it peacefully. Otherwise, congregations face unnecessary heartache, and the testimony given to the communities surrounding them becomes stained.
One point that Ken offered during his speech remains firmly planted in my mind: "Reflect much on Jesus and his gospel, and you will reflect much of Jesus and his gospel."
Since then, we've offered two pieces on the subject of healthy conflict resolution, and in a recent phone interview I did with Ken, he offered additional resources to help church leaders. Here's a helpful look at all of them:
Continue reading "8 Resources for Peacefully Resolving Church Conflicts" »
Your Church Celebrates Four Awards
Our quarterly church management magazine receives four honors.
Many of you may not know this, but Your Church magazine, like many other publications at Christianity Today International, is a member of the Evangelical Press Association, "the world's largest professional organization for the evangelical periodical publishing industry," as its website reports.
Each year, the EPA honors the best work from the prior calendar year. On Thursday, we learned Your Church received four awards for work performed in 2009. In all, the EPA judged 734 entries representing 87 publications:
- Your Church magazine, along with two other publications, received Awards of Merit in the Christian Ministries publication category (Your Church's sister publication, Leadership journal, received an Award of Excellence, the top honor for the category);
In the EPA's "Higher Goals" categories:
- Marian Liautaud, fifth place, for her roundtable interview with church leaders, "Budget Bullseye";
- Lee Dean, fourth place, for his church communications article, "Bringing Joy to the World";
- David Harbaugh, fifth place, for his cartoon, "Church Collateral," which you can see here:
We're humbled by the recognition, and thankful, too. We pray this work honors the Lord and serves church leaders like you well.
Is Porn a Problem in Your Church Office?
The SEC's embarrassing news provides a sobering reminder.
An eye-opening national headline emerged last week, providing a timely sneak peek into our upcoming issue of Your Church magazine.
The inspector general for the Securities and Exchange Commission--the organization tasked with enforcing the laws and regulations that govern the country's stock and options exchanges--conducted 31 probes of employee internet use during the past 2 1/2 years. The overarching finding? Senior staff members of the SEC spent hours surfing pornographic websites on government-issued computers, according to a memo obtained first by ABC News.
Among the findings, according to an Associated Press story published Friday:
- One senior attorney spent up to 8 hours a day looking at porn. Upon running out of hard drive space, he burned files to CDs or DVDs;
- One accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a month by the SEC's internal filter, yet he still found ways around that filter using search engines;
- In all, the SEC discovered 2 cases in 2007, and 16 in 2008 (as many will recall, the country's financial woes began to emerge midway through 2007).
Unfortunately, this isn't the first government agency to share disturbing news like this. Last fall, the National Science Foundation's agency inspector revealed he had to shift time scheduled to combat grant fraud to instead crack down on porn use by staffers.
So, what's the connection to church leaders and staff members?
Continue reading "Is Porn a Problem in Your Church Office?" »
Blending Business Wisdom with Spiritual Wisdom
The corporate world says "get the right people on the bus"--but spiritual leadership requires something more.
"We need more structure in our decision making. Without that discipline, we'll never accomplish anything."
"We're a church, not a business. We need to rely on God. We can't operate like the corporate world."
Ever been on one side or the other of this argument? Or perhaps in the middle? The tensions are present in most churches in America today. As corporate "best practices" are applied to church life, church leaders struggle to make sense of it all.
Continue reading "Blending Business Wisdom with Spiritual Wisdom" »
Re-thinking The Ways We Hire Church Staff
What happens when we let gifts and relationships define our organizational structures?
The single most powerful organizational step your church can take—at least on a human level—is to be organized around the gifts of the Spirit. That means that a church is to be led by people with leadership gifts, taught by people with teaching gifts, shepherded by people with shepherding gifts—the whole nine yards. And that vision is about to change my life.
I'll tell you how in a minute.
I serve as a senior pastor. But I'm not one of those multi-mega-gift guys. I can do about one thing right—and that's on a good day. Whatever gifts I have are primarily centered around communication. So I have been looking and praying for a partner who has great leadership gifts to do ministry with. I love the era in which we get to work. I think it is a time of great innovation in the church. There is something God-like and energizing about creating.
Ron Johnson, the guy who started the Apple stores, says his favorite phrase is "In the beginning … " Part of that innovation involves the people leading in a church. When I was growing up, a group of people forming a church would hire the 'minister' who would do the 'ministry.' But no one would ask what his (it was always a 'him') actual gifts were. The pastor's job description was so big that only Jesus could fulfill it. And I'm not sure even he would want it.
Increasingly churches are recognizing that shepherding and teaching and leading and administrating rarely come in the same package. We have to break old models of church leadership—not to go to new models, but to go back to an even older model—organization around gifts.
Continue reading the full version of this article on our sister site LeadershipJournal.net, where it first appeared.
Learning from Lean Staffs during Lean Times
What churches might learn from those that spend less on staffing than the national averages.
With many congregations facing tighter budgets as they weather the worst economic recession in decades, a recent survey of U.S. church leaders shows that a small percentage of churches are able to continue doing ministry while keeping staffing costs—the single-biggest expense for nearly every church—well below national averages.
The “Lean Staffing” survey was conducted in January by Christianity Today International's Your Church magazine and Leadership journal, and Leadership Network. It was taken by 735 leaders of Protestant and evangelical churches.
The results show that 1 in 7 spends less than 35 percent of its annual budget on staffing costs. Historically, churches in recent years spend, on average, about 45 percent of their total budgets on staffing costs—and sometimes more.
The “Lean Staffing” study separated 539 respondents to generate the "lean staffing" comparison: 15 percent of that group spends less than 35 percent on staff, while the rest spend between 35 percent and 65 percent. The study used 35 percent or less as a benchmark since it represents a sizable decrease from national averages and it helps with statistical comparisons, said Warren Bird, director of research at Leadership Network.
Besides identifying churches that spend less on staffing, the study also found “lean-staffed” churches typically spend more on ministry efforts outside of their walls, Bird said.
“There are churches that seem to be healthy and outreach-minded that do, indeed, have a lower percentage of their budget going to staffing costs. It can be done,” Bird said. “That was very affirming.”
You can read the full article, which details the survey’s key findings, and you can read the full, 46-page report for free (note: free registration is required).
Also, you can listen to a 12-minute podcast between Warren Bird and me (note: free registration is required to download the podcast), and read Warren's blog post about the research (and the next steps to further research the topic).
Does Strategic Planning Contradict the Holy Spirit?
What the Bible teaches about how churches plan.
I am neck deep in strategic thinking. The school where I teach is engaged in an aggressive strategic planning initiative. We are working with an excellent consulting team and are asking hard but important questions about the present and the future. But all this has got me wondering about the apostles.
The execution of the apostolic mission seems to have been driven as much by Spirit directed intuition (Paul’s ministry in Phrygia and Galatia) and the apparent vagaries of circumstance (the scattering of persecution) as by planning. It is true that Paul planted churches along trade routes and in major cities. But was this a pre-meditated apostolic “strategy?” Or was it simply a consequence of the natural constraints of travel in his day?
Continue reading "Does Strategic Planning Contradict the Holy Spirit?" »
What Will the New Health Care Bill Mean for Churches?
Churches count the cost of coverage.
(Editor's Note: Since this post publishes, we've since released "Health Care Reform: How the new laws will affect your church.")
Now that President Obama has signed the health care reform bill into law, many churches are wondering what the impact will be on staffing costs.
“Does the church have to pay 100 percent of the employee’s premiums?” “Will we be required to cover our entire church daycare staff, which currently does not receive medical insurance as a benefit?” “Will we have to pay large fees and/or provide heathcare for our employees? Health insurance is very expensive and being forced to pay could mean we no longer can afford our small staff.”
These are the kinds of questions and concerns that are surfacing on discussion boards and through readers’ questions to us.
I can appreciate the trepidation many churches are feeling. We are in a very dynamic period, with several state attorneys general having filed legal challenges to the new law in recent days, and Senate Republicans engaging in parliamentary maneuvering. No one can say what the results of these efforts will be.
And, note two additional considerations: First, if the Republican Party regains control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections later this year, it will have the authority to defund implementation of many, if not most, of the provisions in the new law. Second, even if none of these roadblocks stop this legislation, many of the provisions in the law do not take effect immediately. Some do not take effect for several years.
The bottom line is that it is premature to say what all of the ramifications of this bill will be.
I am currently reviewing the impact of each provision in this 2,500-page bill on churches, while at the same time monitoring the potential obstacles to full implementation. I will be sharing the results of my analysis in upcoming articles for Church Law & Tax Report and Church Finance Today.
In the meantime, if you have questions on this new legislation, please feel free to submit them to: CLTReditor(at)christianitytoday.com.
Leading a Holistic Church Staff
Focusing on individual gifts may yield better results.
Charlie couldn’t lead the church staff. The harder he tried, the more he failed. With 3,000 people in worship each week, the church seemed healthy. The staff, however, seemed emotionally sick and suffered from high turnover. When people left the church staff, they invariably stepped out of full-time ministry. Former staff members expressed bitterness and unhappiness with how they were treated. Charlie knew his ministry was failing. He couldn’t lead and mentor the staff. Charlie couldn’t release the staff to each person’s potential, fully using their gifts for ministry in the church.
Stories like Charlie’s always get our attention, but they don’t provide much positive traction for growth.
I spent some time recently talking with some executive pastors of significant churches around the country to discover their best practices for leading staff. What I found surprised me—not the best practices themselves, but the fact that my independent interviews, without any prodding by me, all connected to one common thread: holistic staffs.
Let’s look at how these leaders develop and oversee holistic staffs, and the lessons we can learn from them for our own ministries:
Responding to Negative Coverage in the Media
Two church communications professionals offer tips.
Editor’s Note: On February 4, a local television station ran a story about Ed Young and Fellowship Church, the Grapevine, Texas, where he leads. The piece, citing anonymous former staff members, among others, suggests Young leads a lavish lifestyle. Young responded that same day through a post entitled “No Secrets,” on his blog, then addressed it from the pulpit on February 8.
Kevin Hendricks from ChurchMarketingSucks.com, the blog for the non-profit Center for Church Communication, took the opportunity to ask a bigger question—when a church faces negative coverage in the media, how should it respond? Below is an excerpt of the interview Hendricks did with Kem Meyer, the communications director at Granger Community Church in Indiana, and Kent Shaffer, the founder of Church Relevance (you can also read the full version):
If your church were attacked in the local media, how would you respond? We asked two Center for Church Communication board members, Kent Shaffer and Kem Meyer, to offer their perspective:
Continue reading "Responding to Negative Coverage in the Media" »
Church Finances Remain Pinched in Early 2010
Nearly a third say December giving fell short of expectations.
A “new normal” is emerging in the church world when it comes to giving, budgets, and generosity initiatives, according to an ongoing survey conducted by Maximum Generosity and Christianity Today International’s Church Finance Today and Leadership journal.
Nearly 800 churches have responded so far to the second annual “State of the Plate.”
Five major developments are emerging from the survey, which asks church leaders and pastors to report on how their giving efforts concluded in 2009 and began in 2010:
1) The poor economy is hurting a growing number of churches. While the headlines may say the economy is improving, its impact hasn’t shown up yet in the offering plate:
- The number of churches reporting a decline in giving this past year has increased to nearly 36 percent of churches surveyed, compared to 29 percent at the same time a year ago.
- Only 38 percent of churches saw giving increase this past year, compared to 47 percent a year ago.
2) Many churches say December year-end giving fell short. While Rick Warren’s December appeal to more than 100,000 e-mail recipients helped his church adequately close the gap on a year-end budget shortfall, many other churches weren’t so fortunate. In the “State of the Plate,” 30 percent of churches surveyed said that their December year-end giving “missed” their expectations. Only 24 percent of churches indicated that year-end giving surpassed their expectation. With nearly a third missing expectations at the end of 2009, many churches likely entered 2010 looking for ways to slow their church spending.
Continue reading "Church Finances Remain Pinched in Early 2010" »
Stetzer: Churches Struggle with Fostering Young Leaders
Research on how well churches are developing the next generation.
Recently, LifeWay Research surveyed pastors about the church's leadership development and mission. We asked them to rate their agreement in the following three areas:
1) Investing in leaders through the church
The survey asked pastors to respond to this statement: "I am intentionally investing in leaders who will emerge over the next ten years."
Pastors strongly believe they are doing just that—67 percent strongly agreed and 26 percent somewhat agreed. Wow! That's 93 percent who are convinced that they are investing in emerging leaders. They also affirmed that the church has a responsibility to develop future leaders.
But when asked to evaluate how well the church is accomplishing the task of leadership development, most agreed, but not nearly as enthusiastically. We posed this statement: "The church does a good job fostering and developing new leaders." This time 26 percent strongly agreed and 52 percent somewhat agreed, a drop in overall agreement of 15 percent. In addition, a significant amount of disagreement starts to appear—21 percent either somewhat or strongly disagreed with the statement.
While pastors believe that the church is a place where leaders need to be developed and they see themselves investing in this task, they generally recognize a real deficit in the church's effectiveness in accomplishing it. Although efforts are being made, pastors are not confident that the church is nurturing and growing new leaders adequately.
This article first appeared in our sister publication Leadership journal. Continue reading "Good News, Bad News in Raising Leaders," on LeadershipJournal.net, where the full version appears for free.
How One Question Can Make the Recession an Ally
A Harvard concept may help churches clarify, prioritize
During this season of economic turmoil and ambiguity, one question may have the power to bring clarity—and better priority-setting—for the churches where executive pastors, business administrators, and pastors serve.
That question: What exactly are we trying to accomplish?
David Fletcher, the executive pastor of The Chapel in Akron, Ohio, and a Your Church contributing editor, shared the question last week at his annual XPastor.org conference in Dallas, where about 125 people gathered.
The concept, dubbed “Question Zero,” comes from the Harvard Business School. Fletcher said the timing couldn’t be better for churches to use it. In good times, church leaders usually ask how to make a program or event bigger and better, or how to create the next big thing. But this often results in a focus on “the number of cups of coffee served, rather than the number of people who come back for a second cup,” he told participants.
“We get confused when we try to cater to people,” he said. “We lose track of our mission … How are lives being changed?”
Now, with the hardest economic environment to hit the United States since the Great Depression, church leaders have an opportunity to establish a better focus. “You want the recession to help your church,” Fletcher said.
Continue reading "How One Question Can Make the Recession an Ally" »
Top 10 Leadership Books from 2009
Useful titles for the inner and outer lives of church leaders.
Pastors and church leaders are bombarded by the myriad books published every year and don't have the time and resources required to sift through, purchase, and read all that are of interest. For this reason, Leadership journal (a sister publication of Your Church magazine at Christianity Today International) released the Golden Canon Awards. This is a collection of the top 10 books most valuable for church leaders from 2009.
The 2009 winners were selected by a diverse group of more than 100 pastors and leaders, including contributing editors to Leadership journal. The list divides into two different sections—the leader's inner life that focuses on communion with God, and the leader's outer life that points to church leadership's best practices.
The top inner life book for 2009: Knowing Christ Today: Why we can trust spiritual knowledge, by Dallas Willard (HarperOne).
The top outer life book for 2009: Deep Church: A third way beyond emerging and traditional, by Jim Belcher (IVP).
To view all of the Golden Canon Awards, pick up a free trial of Leadership Journal or see the entire list of winners on LeadershipJournal.net.
"There are countless books published for pastors each year, and we appreciate the chance to recognize and honor those most deserving of attention," says Marshall Shelley, Leadership journal's editor. "We feel these books provide clarity and wisdom in presenting the gospel and leading a church wisely and well."
Discerning Eyes for Church Law, Finance, and Administration
Known, respected leaders to help guide CTI resources.
Christianity Today International's church management division, which publishes Your Church magazine, the Church Law & Tax Report and Church Finance Today newsletters, plus resources, such as the annual Church & Clergy Tax Guide and ChurchSafety.com, recently formed two important boards for its publications and resources.
CTI invited well-known and well-respected members from church legal and financial circles to an Editorial Advisory Board to bring authoritative and qualified eyes to its work.
The 14 advisors will regularly contribute to the church management division’s publications, websites, and resources, and also will regularly provide ideas, thoughts, and feedback, shaping the articles, videos, books, blog posts, and other resources that guide church leaders on important legal, financial, safety, and administrative decisions.
Noted church and business leaders who will lend their expertise include:
Continue reading "Discerning Eyes for Church Law, Finance, and Administration" »
New Survey on Church Staffing
Understanding how lean personnel costs are--or aren't.
How lean is your church staff? How does it compare with other church staffs? If you've ever wondered about these questions, here's your chance to find out.
The editors of Christianity Today International's Your Church magazine and Leadership Journal are collaborating with Leadership Network to learn about healthy ways churches keep staff costs down. If you'll take a few minutes to tell us about your church, you'll receive a copy of the findings, showing you what other churches have said.
Your replies will be held in the strictest confidence. The final report, and any subsequent articles and presentations, only will give group totals.
Please complete the survey by January 25, 2010. If you have questions or comments, there is contact information provided on the first survey page.
Your Church's Top 10 Articles of 2009
Looking back at the articles you read most this past year.
Last week, we wrote about the Top 10 most-read posts on TheYourChurchBlog.com during 2009. This week, we're taking a look at the Top 10 most-read articles from YourChurch.net, the website for Your Church magazine.
For a year riddled with bad economic news, there are a few surprises in these results (hint: Our No. 1 ranked story has nothing to do with the economy, or finances for that matter). What can we conclude from this? Probably not much. Except the fact that church administrators, executive pastors, pastors, and lay leaders wrestle with a variety of challenging, and often complicated, questions on a wide array of topics.
As a not-for-profit ministry, Christianity Today International is thankful it's in a position to help you answer these questions through Your Church, YourChurch.net, and TheYourChurchBlog.com, as well as Church Law & Tax Report, Church Finance Today, ChurchSafety.com, BuildingForMinistry.com, and YourChurchResources.com.
It's our desire to help you keep your church safe, legal, and financially sound. Here's looking forward to 2010!
And now, the Top 10 most-read articles on YourChurch.net during 2009:
10. Why Church Secretaries Quit
The Top 10 Church Administration Posts for '09
A look at the hottest topics facing pastors and administrators.
As 2009 draws to a close, here's a fun look back at the year's 10 most-read posts on TheYourChurchBlog.com. Doing this kind of review often helps us understand the most pressing issues facing church administrators, executive pastors, pastors, and leaders.
And, it's a nice way to showcase topics that you may have missed the first time around.
Here's the Top 10:
10. How to Interview Your Next Church
9. Report: Giving Steady at Two-Thirds of Churches
7. Free Excerpt: The Essential Guide to Church Finances
6. 5 Leadership Books Worth Reading
Continue reading "The Top 10 Church Administration Posts for '09" »
Zero Tolerance for Church Embezzlement
Extended sentences put churches on notice.
A sad story emerged last week out of Indiana, where a 37-year-old woman accused of stealing more than $350,000 from a church while working there as an employee received the maximum sentence allowed by the state.
According to an article in the Greencastle Banner-Graphic, the local paper, the woman was convicted on six counts of Class C felony charges and six counts of Class D felony theft, resulting in 10 years in the state jail, followed by 5 years of probation.
The woman began stealing from the church shortly after getting hired in late 2004 as the church's financial and administrative secretary, according to the article. She forged signatures on 192 checks, doctored bank receipts to cover it up, and also made unauthorized charges on church credit cards, the paper said.
This case is similar to one covered by Richard Hammar in November's Church Finance Today in which a woman employed as a church office manager for seven years stole $450,000. She received a 15-year sentence, which included an upward adjustment "for misrepresenting that she was acting on behalf of her church," according to the article.
What's the takeaway for church leaders from these cases? Aside from the need to implement strong financial controls, if such controls aren't already in place, Richard explains three reasons why church leaders should learn from cases like these:
Resolving Conflict in the Church Office
5 ways to biblically approach a disagreement
The scenario that got both Sally and Jim both terminated from their company could have run like this:
Jim: All I said was that I needed the documents, completed and signed, by tomorrow night.
Sally: Don’t tell me that’s all you said. You demanded it!
Jim: I asked nicely.
Sally: Yes, but when my boss was here you kissed up to him really well and then asked me nicely. But your e-mail screamed at me.
Jim: Well, you made me do it because you didn’t write back to me.
Sally: I’m your boss and don’t have to get back to you. I tell you what to do.
And so it went, until the screaming attracted the attention of the entire office. Most office conflict doesn’t spiral out of control. But everyone has a conflict in the office from time to time. Even if you don’t have frequent conflict with others, you will be around people who do disagree with one another.
In office conflicts, there are “only” three major causes of conflict. If your office has any of the following, then you will have conflict:
• Money
• Power
• People
Humor aside, everybody is going to have conflict. The book of James gives another example of the source of conflict:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. —James 4:1–2 (NIV)
Conflict begins when someone shares their salary with a co-worker, who then becomes envious of the other. Or, one person gets a promotion, while the one who doesn’t takes out their angst on the new boss. It also can start when a subordinate continually makes insulting jokes and jabs, undermining morale.
What should we do when conflict happens? Here are some typical steps to consider when conflict happens in your office:
Continue reading "Resolving Conflict in the Church Office" »
5 Leadership Books Worth Reading
Among the crowded field of books on leadership, some stand out.
Recently I talked with a senior partner of TAG Consulting, Kurt Andre. Among his many talents, Kurt is a certified Executive Leadership Coach. So I asked him which books on leadership he finds the most helpful. Here are his top 5:
1. Leadership Without Easy Answers, by Ronald A. Heifetz
Seminary equipped me to do many things, but not to tackle the complex challenges in leading the church. Heifetz distinguishes between problems that can be solved through expertise (technical problems) and problems that require innovative approaches, including preserving a church’s unique identity or code and the consideration of the church’s values (adaptive problems). For the church, an adaptive problem could include engaging a community whose demographic no longer reflects the church, buildings whose structure no longer meet the needs of today’s ministry, or navigating the tension between discipleship and outreach. Heifetz identifies four major strategies of leadership: (1) approach problems as adaptive challenges, and diagnose the situation in light of the values involved; (2) regulate the "heat in the kitchen" caused by confronting issues that increase people’s anxiety, by pacing the congregation through change; (3) focus on what is important versus what others say is important to them, and (4) shift the ownership for problems from the leadership (the pastor or elders/deacons or council) to all those affected by the necessary change.
How to Interview Your Next Church
A seasoned executive pastor shares how he learned about his next job.
One day, I received an e-mail from a senior pastor I didn’t know who leads The Chapel, an 11,000-person church in Ohio. As the founder of XPastor.org, I get a good number of “can you help me?” e-mails. In this case, Paul was looking for a new executive pastor. As I always do, I replied with some ideas on how to find one.
Paul wrote back with more thoughts, and before long, we sensed God was doing something. We began to talk about me coming to partner with him as his executive pastor. This caused me to shift from being an impartial consultant to being personally involved!
Before I took off my XPastor.org hat, I planned how best to approach an interview process. My conclusion: Although this church’s leaders needed to interview me, it was vital that I interview them, too!
Todd Wagner, the lead pastor of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, once said, “The best place to get fired is in the interview.”
The place to determine “fit” is in the interview, not in the first six months of the new ministry. I had to interview The Chapel so that I could determine my fit.
10 Questions to Ask About Your Church’s Communications
Use these to help determine direction and strategy in the year ahead
Editor’s Note: Scott Vaughn, a church communications consultant, recently posed these questions in a discussion forum for church administrators. Vaughn, whose firm helps churches and faith organizations, is quoted extensively in “Bringing Joy to the World: A communications strategy to reach more people at Christmas—and beyond,” which appears in our current issue of Your Church magazine. We thought the questions serve as a helpful, quick assessment for church leaders and administrators; many of the themes addressed here also are covered in other articles of our current issue, including best practices for websites and using tech and nontech approaches for communicating with members and the community:
As you approach 2010, consider these 10 questions to discuss your church’s communication efforts:
1. How does our current communications methodology compare to what we were
doing five years ago? Are we changing with the way people in our church are
communicating?
2. Do we talk about a communications budget as an expense or an investment? Are
we strategic in using our communication to advance our mission to make
followers of Jesus? (Remember, a successful communications strategy leads to increases in participation and giving to the budget).
3. Are we talking with, and listening to, our members and attendees and making
adjustments in how they want to “receive” information from us?
4. Is more than 50 percent of our communications budget needlessly paying printing costs?
Continue reading "10 Questions to Ask About Your Church’s Communications" »
Top 5 Reasons Churches Wind Up in Court
Current legal trends that can help your church assess its vulnerabilities.
For many years, I've closely reviewed litigation involving churches to identify patterns that pastors and leaders can use to assess their own risks and potential vulnerabilities. In 2008, the following five types of cases brought churches to court more than any others:
1. Sexual Abuse of a Minor (15 percent of cases). Sadly, this type of case is typically the No. 1 or No. 2 reason churches wind up in court every year.
2. Property Disputes (13 percent of cases).
3. Zoning (10 percent of cases).
4. Personal Injury (9 percent of cases). This is a Top 4 issue every year.
5. Tax (7 percent of cases).
Based on this ongoing analysis, churches should note the following major risk categories they face and work to evaluate (and to minimize) their own risks:
Continue reading "Top 5 Reasons Churches Wind Up in Court" »
Simple Tips to Prepare for a Pandemic
Guidance for churches as the H1N1 virus spreads.
As a ministry leader, you may be wondering what you can do to keep your congregation healthy. Here are some important steps you can take to reduce the spread of the flu within your own faith community.
Read through the tips below, then take our free online assessment to see if your church is ready to communicate to staff and congregants during a pandemic.
From there, check out our electronic training resource, "Preparing Your Church for a Pandemic," on ChurchSafety.com.
Ways to Help the Unemployed at Your Church
Practical steps for churches to reach the unemployed--and the underemployed.
The ABC News affiliate serving the Rochester, Minnesota, area posted a piece earlier this week highlighting the efforts of some local churches to help the unemployed. The article makes an interesting point about the challenges presented by unemployment to an area, as well as underemployment--the number of workers who take part-time or low-paying jobs to help make ends meet as they seek permanent employment in their careers of choice.
I'm guessing the never-ending stream of daily and weekly media reports about unemployment probably have turned the issue into the equivalent of static in your eyes and ears, as it has for me. It's vital we not forget the need to administer outreach programs to people in our congregations and communities right now.
In the July/August 2009 issue of Your Church, we covered the multiple ways churches can serve as the unemployment rate reaches 10 percent (or more) around the country. You can find the article here, and an accompanying box listing the efforts of more than a dozen churches here.
Consider Adding Windows 7
Church offices should benefit from Microsoft’s new operating system.
Ministry Business Services Inc., the church consulting firm I started in the 1980s, began testing Microsoft Corporation’s Windows 7 Professional in January. On Tuesday, MBS announced it adopted Windows 7 Professional as its preferred operating system, and it recommends churches to do the same.
This may surprise some, since the challenges with Microsoft’s Windows Vista, the preceding operating system, have been many. Clarence White, the chief information officer for the Salvation Army’s western territory, even asked me on a recent podcast if MBS really believed in Windows 7 Professional. The answer is yes. I told him it’s almost like Vista was a beta for Windows 7, or that Windows 7 is the first service pack for Vista that really fixes it.
Corporate customers have embraced Windows 7’s release as well. The Gartner Group recently said the operating system is ready (Gartner also recommends a 12- to 18-month integration process, saying earlier this month that organizations should start now), and a recent Softchoice study with ComputerWorld found that 88 percent of corporate PCs are capable of running Windows 7. That means many churches and ministries likely are in a position to upgrade to it as well.
Get Organized!
Tips and tricks from an efficiency expert.
A number of years ago, my church needed an office manager. Aware of my experience as an executive assistant, the pastor offered me the job. I was looking for change, so this new position seemed like a win-win. After my first day, I wondered what I had gotten myself into!
I discovered an office devoid of any filing system or operational procedures for managing daily tasks. Disorder abounded! Feeling claustrophobic from the piles of decades-old church bulletins, and other useless “stuff,” I rolled up my sleeves and set to work on an extreme organizational make-over of our church office.
Today there are whole companies devoted to creating manageable office environments that promote efficiency. Ultimately, efficiency is the end product of organization. According to Monica Friel, CEO (that’s Chief Executive Organizer) of Chaos to Order, “employees lose an average of six weeks per year looking for documents.”
That’s six weeks per year per employee! The cost to companies (and church offices) is enormous, and in these hard economic times as we see more businesses metaphorically “clean house,” perhaps it also makes good, financial sense to reclaim the literal meaning and actually clean house.
Where Do We Begin?
Organizing for better efficiency may be divided into three parts: the physical environment, attitudes, and maintenance. Like any major undertaking that requires change, it’s also important to enlist support. Don’t set out to do an overhaul of your office systems without first meeting with the person in charge of your church office. As much as possible, keep this individual involved in the step-by-step changes taking place.
Is This Gossip?
9 questions to help you decide.
Vulnerability, our theme this week, is the degree of openness between oneself and others. Finding the right degree is a balancing act. A related challenge in ministry is confidentiality—that is, how open can you be about someone else? These nine questions can help you decide whether what you know should be shared.
1. Am I telling this to someone who can do something about the problem by helping the person or offering discipline or correction?
Continue reading at Off the Agenda for the other eight questions that can help you decide whether what you know should be shared.
Raising the Bar in Tough Times
How church administrators can prove—and increase—the worth of their roles.
In this uncertain economy, with so many churches scrambling to reduce expenses, the role of the church administrator inevitably will come under the bright light of scrutiny. Because of this uncertainty, church administrators need to spend time reflecting on ways to showcase—and increase—our value to the churches we serve.
Nearly half of the 1,168 churches surveyed by Your Church magazine earlier this year indicated giving at their churches was on the decline (click here for the full report). Personnel costs usually consume between 45 percent and 60 percent of a church’s budget, so that makes it fertile ground for reducing expenses. And as a senior pastor or key decision-maker looks across the staff, the cost of the church administrator might appear more tempting a fruit to pluck off the vine than other staff positions because the perception is that the administrator does not have the direct impact on ministry that other church positions offer.
The administrator usually doesn’t preach, doesn’t counsel, doesn’t meet with new families, doesn’t lead programs, or possess nearly as public of a face as other staff members. It could be suggested, albeit incorrectly in my opinion, that a church could release a church administrator and not see a direct impact to the ongoing ministries of the church. That kind of reasoning is wholly short-sighted, but perhaps understandable in tough economic times like these.
That’s why we must demonstrate our value and find ways to further expand that value, not just to lessen the likelihood we’ll lose our jobs, but also for the far more noble desire to increase our impact in Christ’s Kingdom. We want to become more valuable because we can and, because in so doing, we’ll gain the fulfillment that comes from knowing we have made a difference in our world through the Gospel.
The role of church administrator is one of efficiency and productivity. It allows the church organization to function smoothly and effectively. It involves processes and systems that indirectly, yet significantly, impact the people we serve in our churches. The church administrator often works behind the scenes to ensure resources are wisely and efficiently used. The church administrator also creates and implements policies and systems that promote harmony, decrease ambiguity and confusion, and allow for greater productivity and impact toward the church’s mission.
Here’s how to showcase these very important qualities and raise the bar even higher:
Responding to Drop-In Visitors
Most church office staff interact with a large number of drop-in visitors. These are often congregational members who come to the church for a specific reason, but then end up in the church office. These conversations can be helpful in building relationships, but sometimes they can prevent the staff from getting work done. This case study examines that concern. Read the following case study and respond in the "comments" section on this blog.
Stacy is working on a mailing for the Sunday School staff. During the last 35 minutes, at least 3 congregational members have dropped in the office, and one elderly member of the congregation phoned. In each case, the members chatted for a few minutes about this and that, nothing really important. The elderly person calls on a regular basis, and just likes to visit.
Stacy wants to be sensitive to congregational members, but is unsure how to minimize visits when she has other work that needs to be done. What would you suggest?
Using Routines to Organize Your Work
Every so often, we should examine the relationship between how we organize our work and how effective we are at getting our work done in an efficient and effective manner. Clearly, many ways exist to organize work, but they are not all equal. Some ways may actually add to our stress and make our work more difficult. Read the following case study and respond in the comments section on this blog.
Stacy arrives at the church office each morning around 8:30 A.M. She usually follows a routine of turning on the copy machine, making some coffee, checking her e-mail and reviewing her to-do list for the day. Often, though, she feels disorganized. It's not long before people are starting to drop by, the phone is ringing, and she finds herself continuously getting up and down
to get this or that.
What can Stacy do to better organize her time, her work, and herself? What routines do you follow that help you get your work done better? Do you have a morning routine, an afternoon routine, a daily, weekly, or monthly routine?
Pinched Paychecks
Survey: Pastors, church staff nationwide see slight pay declines.
About half the nation’s full-time pastors report they received no salary increase in the past year, continuing a downturn in salaries among top leaders in churches, according to a new survey published by Christianity Today International. In fact, the extensive survey, publishing this fall in the 2010-2011 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, shows a slight decline or stall in pay levels for the majority of every church employee surveyed this year.
The Compensation Handbook was developed to provide church leaders and employees with a current and reliable picture of compensation practices across a broad spectrum of American churches. It presents survey data from nearly 5,000 churches representing more than 10,000 staff members in 13 ministry positions, both full-time and part-time, ranging from pastors to childcare positions. The survey was conducted in February and March from subscribers of various Christianity Today International magazines, e-newsletters, and web channels, including Church Law & Tax Report, Church Finance Today, and Leadership, a journal for pastors and church leaders.
Among the findings:
• After a slight bump up in salaries in 2008, the new survey finds a small decline reported in 2009.
What Computers and Phones Do Church Staff Need?
Answers to common questions about computers and phones.
Editor’s Note: The author’s consulting firm doesn’t sell or distribute any hardware or software, or receive any compensation for referrals. The firm’s work for many years with hundreds of churches led to the recommendations outlined here.
Many people make one of two mistakes about church technology needs. Either they underestimate the need and look for the cheapest possible solution (which often costs more because it’s the wrong solution), or they overspend on technology and overcomplicate the system.
We’ll look at some common questions regarding two office technology tools—desktop and notebook computers and mobile devices (such as smart phones)—with the hope that church leaders can avoid these mistakes on two essential categories of purchases.
Outside of megachurches, churches rarely have the budget for Information Technology staff. Some larger churches can add part-time staff to help support the technology needs of pastors and office personnel, but outside of that, most churches are best served by simple system and hardware strategies that increase reliability, which means less need for support.
When hardware purchases are strategized, they can drastically reduce the need for support and improve team productivity. And that’s especially important given our missions to share the Gospel and disciple believers.
The answers to these questions can help with those strategies for buying hardware:
Continue reading "What Computers and Phones Do Church Staff Need?" »
