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Great systems make vision happen
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityWe all want to reach more people with the Gospel and help them grow in their faith. Accomplishing that vision takes many forms, such as worship styles, outreach efforts, programs and more. However your church seeks to communicate the Gospel, vision and systems are certainly key factors.
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When your website says no, but you say go
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityI was driving down a city street in a school zone, and a police officer was directing traffic. He had eight lanes of traffic to work with, and his arms were swinging with various gestures in various directions. I thought he was telling the lane next to me to stop and for me to go. I was wrong. Fortunately, the police officer "allowed" me to proceed, and no one was hurt.
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4 tips for church customer service
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityWhen we think of customer service, we typically think about contacting a call center or a department at a store — not the church. However, customer service is really a matter of honoring and serving people with excellence. It's treating those who come into contact with your church (members, guests, vendors and more) with respect, compassion and the love of Christ.
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4 tips to make church greeters more effective
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityEvery week you have families arriving to go to church. They walk through the main doors of your building and follow their same path that they usually take to "their" seat. I regularly do church mystery visits in order to get an impartial feeling for a congregation. I attend each Sunday service, and I'm surprised about my compulsion to sit in the same seat for different service times. We love routine.
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5 superpowers of church business administrators
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityMaking every dollar stretch farther than anyone thought possible. Diving in to make last-minute changes to sermon slides (and still managing to not have any typos). Keeping church staff on-schedule and ready for the next service or event.
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3 church communication failures
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityNo one wants to fail at something. A company doesn't set out with a product and hope it fails. A politician doesn't want to lose. Yet many fail. The church, with its critical message of hope, grace and life, can't afford to fail. Nor does it try to fall flat in communications. But sadly, it does — especially in three areas. You don't try to fail; it just comes naturally (or so it seems).
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Mentoring new clergy in basic administration practices
Micah James Religious CommunityI recently hit a milestone, graduating from my new/young clergy cohort group. Though I was only in the group for 3.5 years, the group has spent 16 years trying to sustain clergy in their first years of ministry. It was formed in response to the great rate of burnout within the first five years of ministry service.
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3 hacks for getting out of fire-drill mode
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityHave you ever had one of those days where you're constantly running from one meeting to the next or where you're solving one issue after another? Yeah, you're definitely not alone on that one. Sometimes it's our own time management goofs that cause those days; other times we're frustrated by another department's lack of planning. Either way, those days aren't productive and can certainly create unnecessary stress for everyone involved.
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Is your church suffering from these 3 symptoms?
Deborah Ike Religious CommunityWhen was the last time you thought about your liver? How about your heart or lungs? It's been a while, right? Me, too. Well, I thought about my lungs when I had taken a too-long hiatus from cardio recently, but that's my point. We don't think about our internal organs until there's a problem. Our internal systems don't get any attention or recognition on a regular basis.
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Why every church needs a communications director
Mark MacDonald Religious CommunityWhen we started our church communications company 15 years ago, few churches had full-time communication directors. We talked mainly to pastors, worship leaders, secretaries and volunteers. Now, many churches have a full-time dedicated person who is committed to the communications of their local church. Finally! It's not just the large churches either. We see medium-sized and even small churches with directors of communication.
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