By Johanna Gruber Shared meals are one of the most effective ways to bring people together. They support volunteers before a busy Sunday, help welcome newcomers, fuel children’s programming, and create connection across a congregation. But for churches with multiple campuses, managing the food behind those moments can become a financial and administrative headache. Orders […]
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Before any design takes shape, you need a clear funding strategy and a comprehensive accounting of project costs. An experienced church construction adviser explains what to plan for — and what happens when budgets fall short. Q: You say hard costs are “what people picture when they picture construction,” but soft costs are […]
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By Jeff Harvey By the time most church leaders notice a problem, it’s already a few months old. Giving comes in under budget for the third straight month. A midweek class that used to fill the room has shrunk to a handful of regulars. A family that served every Sunday hasn’t been seen since spring. […]
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Growth doesn’t cost a church depth. It costs visibility — and someone has to close the distance. By Luke Denton When the world shut down in 2020, my staff and I did something that felt almost old-fashioned: we split up our entire church database and started calling people. Not just the pastors. My IT guys […]
Read More > By Jonathan Smith I was asked a question recently that got me thinking: “If there were only two things you could convince church leaders to do, what would they be?” As I thought about it and looked back over the past several decades I’ve spent working in church IT, two things quickly rose to the […]
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By RaeAnn Slaybaugh At Chase Oaks Church, partnering with Learning Care to bring Pathways Learning Academy to campus has helped meet a community need, create new ministry connections and put underused facilities to work — without asking church staff to become childcare specialists. For many churches, full-service childcare offers compelling possibilities: meeting a community need, […]
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By Jon Barron When most organizations prepare for renewal, they gather the required information, complete the application, and trust the process. But what if the most important parts of your risk story never make it into that conversation? Applications, schedules, payroll, vehicles, losses, locations, and program descriptions all matter. But they mostly capture known, structured […]
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By Matthew Mattingly, ARM Most churches review their insurance policy once a year, sign the renewal, and move on to the hundred other things competing for an administrator’s attention. That’s understandable — risk management isn’t why anyone got into ministry. But in 20 years of working with religious institutions, the churches that get hurt aren’t […]
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By Johanna Gruber For most churches, the weekend is the most important — and most operationally demanding — part of the week. Before the first service begins, staff and volunteers are already setting up, troubleshooting, welcoming early arrivals, and preparing for what comes next. That schedule is part of ministry. But it does not have […]
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By Denise Craig, CAE, CCA The greatest challenge facing church executives might not be artificial intelligence. It might be whether enough leaders are prepared for what comes next. While much of the conversation focuses on technology, a quieter transformation is already underway. Church administration is expanding beyond managing operations into strategic leadership, risk oversight, talent […]
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