As a founding pastor of a church plant in North Carolina during the 1990s — managing more than 200 volunteers every week — a key component of success was tracking their interests, skills and spiritual gifts. Then, I needed to be able to apply that information to finding volunteer opportunities for all of them… all while managing schedules and avoiding volunteer burnout.
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If your church is like many others, it probably has a limited budget. Plus, the staff is likely busy with ministry activities, and it is difficult to take on additional responsibilities. This can be an issue when it comes to risk management — improving safety for congregants and enhancing your facility’s security.
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From the earliest of times, we know that Phoenicians were the first to make objects of glass. As a seafaring people, they spent time on beaches where lighting strikes turned sand and ashes from cooking fires into glass.
Human beings have long been fascinated by glass — its beauty and challenge of its manufacture.
Read More >As unemployment has declined and consumer confidence has grown, it appears that the post-meltdown reluctance to solicit donors for capital pledges for religious institution expansion is abating.
This is giving way to pent-up demand for worship space.
Read More >A record number of new churches are launching across North America. Most will initially choose to meet in a rented facility — often a school, movie theater or community center.
Read More >Background screening employees and volunteers is the most effective tool for keeping congregations safe. Yet, most ministries make major mistakes when implementing background check procedures.
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States require us to purchase auto insurance. Banks make certain we have mortgage insurance. Parents with children buy life insurance to protect their families in case of an unexpected death.
Yet, despite the fact that research shows we are much more likely to become disabled for more than three months than die in any given year, many of us do not have disability insurance.
Read More >Imagine a church experience where the pastor stands before the congregation, casting a vision. There’s a family in need. A building needs repairs. A project requires a bit more funding. All the things that your church loves to get behind because it makes a huge difference in the community.
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Debi Nixon wears many hats at Church of the Resurrection, a United Methodist congregation of nearly 20,000 members. Her title is broad in scope; but to put it succinctly, she’s a connective leader, helping the church implement its vision and move forward in the right direction.
Read More >A few months ago, I was having a dialogue with Rich Birch of Liquid Church (and unSeminary) about one of his blogs: Is “Multisite Church” the Last Good Idea?
Rich asked me to add some commentary to his post, as we have shared in collaborating on other subject matter related to multisite church, including Birch’s contribution to Church Locality. The premise of the blog was whether or not multisite was the last good idea for church growth and multiplication, which spawned a lot of good conversations.
My comment to the blog supported multisite as a great tool for church multiplication, but I had a slightly different take. Here was my response.
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