No doubt as investors or participants in an employer’s 401(k)or IRA retirement fund, many congregants are used to perusing financial statements that affect them. They may or may not understand the fine details, but many a financial advisor has remarked at how good people can be at getting to the bottom line.
Read More >One of the most significant stewardship responsibilities for a church is managing debt. Churches weigh the decision to incur debt very carefully, and are typically highly focused on the details of the loan.
Read More >I was graduated from college in the early 1960s and immediately got a job in community newspaper journalism, never thinking that maybe some larger cause might require my presence and passions. But I wasn’t an activist, not even for racial justice that was then still being played out in Southern cities at drug store counters and far worse situations.
Read More >Going multi-site is not for every church. It will not turn around a sick or dying church, but it can be an instrument to extend a healthy one. Multi-site is not a growth engine, but can be a vehicle for a growing church. Multi-site is not a fad to jump on, but it has become a proven strategy to reproduce healthy, fruitful, growing churches.
Read More >It’s not that pastors are stupid, says Geoff Surratt, on staff at Seacoast Church, Charleston, S.C., and author of Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing, (Zondervan, 2009) “The challenge is seldom intelligence; the problem is often perspective. Many times we are so close to the action that we can’t see our own mistakes and we end up making decisions that undermine the very outcome we desire.”
Read More >Under what circumstances should you attempt to stop a pastor, who is a former employee of your church, from preaching or operating his own church? Should you even try to stop another pastor from spreading the Gospel? That question is a growing concern that many church leaders are wrestling with these days.
Read More >How did you spend your Memorial Day weekend? With family and friends I trust, or cleaning the garage? I devoted a number of hours to making sense of my den that doubles as a library — 40 running feet of books, most of them church and management titles collected over 15 years.
Read More >On a recent Sunday morning at my church, I saw the future of content and publishing in the face of a woman named Laurie, one of the members of the adult Bible study I teach. At the end of our class time on this particular Sunday, Laurie approached me with her latest purchase, a sleek new Kindle 2, the popular electronic book reading device produced by Amazon.
Read More >There are opportunities, believe it or not, for churches and other faith-based nonprofits in an economic downturn. In order to survive, churches have no choice but to continue striking a balance in conducting ministry initiatives, relationship-building and business.
Read More >Most people attend church events and services to identify with God, not with their fingerprint. But as new technology progresses and the pace of the world quickens, many “pen and paper” check-in methods have become obsolete, tossed aside as cumbersome and inefficient. In fact, using old check-in systems could be costing you money and lowering the safety of those participating in your church programs.
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