(above) Trinity Western University in Canada By Bill Strom, PhD, Seven weeks after the World Health Organization’s announcement that COVID-19 was a pandemic, I was fortunate to gather information from 781 people living in varying degrees of social isolation, in an effort to discover who is most at risk as the pandemic continues, and how […]
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Defining each one can help your church make a greater impact By Matt VanGent I learned to drive before smartphones with GPS were commonplace. If I wanted to go somewhere new, I needed to do a little homework first. Do you remember the routine? Find the address, look it up on a map (or later, […]
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One large Texas church proves the best church building outcomes are all of the above By RaeAnn Slaybaugh Having undergone a few previous building projects, Senior Pastor Dr. Jimmy Pritchard and his team knew exactly what (and who) they were looking for: the right partners. From the architect, to the A/V/L systems integrator, to the […]
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3 experts discuss lessons (already) learned during the coronavirus pandemic, and where we’re likely headed from here What were some key tenets of the church giving landscape prior to the coronavirus pandemic? How has it shifted since then? Aaron Dolton: Prior to the pandemic, churches already knew that online and mobile giving was vital to […]
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Many church leaders are facing a unique challenge in this new decade: how do you maintain giving when a global pandemic has church attendance at an all-time low? Because we live in the digital age, however, church members have access to more giving options than ever before. Technology — like automated clearing house [ACH] payments […]
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By Rodney C. James If you’ve ever lived and led through a renovation, expansion or building project in your church, you know how painful the process can be. But what if we viewed every project as a mission field opportunity? We all know building projects are noisy and inconvenient. There are piles of supplies everywhere […]
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By Kip Meadows Most churches are set up well to handle the day-to-day business aspects of their operations. Otherwise, the doors could not open and welcome the congregants. It is the rare individual congregation, however, who’s well-equipped to handle long-term funds, either endowment gifts or retirement accounts, for personnel or other longer-term capital accounts. Even […]
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Earlier this month, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. By a 5-4 vote, it ruled that the Montana Supreme Court had violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment when it struck down a Montana scholarship program because that program would have allowed scholarship aid for […]
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By RaeAnn Slaybaugh Senior Pastor Mark Allen’s path to starting a church in Athens, Texas, began in 2005 — though it certainly wasn’t his plan. “Athens doesn’t need another church,” he laughs. “It’s an exaggeration, but I’ve heard people say there are about 12,000 people who live here and, like, 1,500 churches.” But, God had […]
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Tips, tools & expert advice Given the coronavirus and its effect on church operations, are you seeing an increased interest in sustained giving tools and strategies? Baker: Before COVID-19, digital giving was an important part of a church’s stewardship ministries. Now it’s the main focus of financing the work of the Lord. Every church has […]
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