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How Documenting Policies & Procedures Supports Ministry

When it comes to ministry, most people don’t think of employee handbooks, meeting agendas, or policy and procedure documentation. That makes sense – after all, we gather as congregations to grow in our faith and to share it with others. However, since we do have staff and resources to steward, we need to pay careful attention to how we do things. That’s how documenting policies and procedures becomes useful for supporting the ministry of a church. If you’re wondering why you should spend time developing and documenting policies and procedures, here are a few benefits of going through that effort: #1 – Provide clarity These questions and many more should be addressed within the church’s policies and procedures. Instead of having to answer these scenarios as they come up (and potentially having different people provide different answers), documented policies and procedures answer those questions in advance. #2 – Offer Protection Childcare, background checks, and financial approvals are a few processes that can create a great deal of harm to individuals. If handled incorrectly, these can also cause legal trouble for the church. By agreeing on how to handle these situations ahead of time, documenting the procedure, and training those who’re responsible for carrying out these policies, you’re protecting your church and those who attend it. #3 – Saves time While the initial time spent creating these documents is significant, this effort will save you time in the long run. Instead of answering many of the same questions with each new employee, they can read the employee handbook first. From there, you can offer to answer their questions as needed. The person who fields questions can refer to documentation when answering requests for weddings, counseling, benevolence, and more. If you don’t have these documents in place (or if they could use an update), here’s how to get started: While documenting policies and procedures doesn’t feel like ministry, this effort truly does support the ministry of your church.

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7 Church Metrics You Need to Review Regularly

Jake Douglas

Have you ever noticed a warning indicator light up on your car dashboard? Whether it’s the indicator for tire pressure or to check the engine, you know that means it’s time to give your vehicle some attention. Those warning indicators are metrics to tell us when something isn’t quite right with our vehicles. It may not be urgent, but there’s still a good reason to have it checked out. Similarly, metrics are indicators for your church. As you review various church metrics, you’ll see trends (whether positive or negative); signs that something is working, or an area that needs some extra attention. If we have a solid set of metrics with reliable data, we can use that information to help us make better decisions, correct course if needed, and see how we’re progressing. Here are seven standard church metrics that can help you gauge the health of your church: Church Metric #1: Financials No, it’s not all about the money. However, it takes money to pay the mortgage, hire (and keep) staff, pay the electric bill, and much more. You need to know the church’s financial health on at least a monthly (if not weekly) basis. This report should include an Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Budget vs. Actuals, and trend analysis for tithes and expenses (how are we doing this month vs. the same month last year)? Church Metric #2: People in Service This will fluctuate from week to week and during certain times of the year. However, it’s still helpful to see if the number of people in each service is increasing and which service people are gravitating towards. Also, don’t just keep track of the number of adults in the main service. You’ll also want to know how many children and teens are in their respective services. That data will also help you determine if you need to start recruiting more volunteers for the nursery or other children’s areas. Church Metric #3: People in Small Groups If your church has small groups, then you’ll want some data points on this as well. Church Metric #4: Event Participation If your church hosts various events throughout the year, keep track of key data points from those events. Track how many people signed up for and attended each event. If this is an event you host each year, compare the current numbers to prior years to see if there’s a trend up or down. Also, if you send out post-event surveys, use the information gleaned from the responses as you plan upcoming events. Church Metric #5: Conversions We all want to see more people come to Christ and begin their journey as His followers. When people make that commitment at your church, you’ll want to help them grow in their faith. Part of that effort involves documenting their decision and guiding them into discipleship classes, a small group, or another growth opportunity. Find out if your church is attracting non-believers and whether they are deciding to follow Christ by keeping track of these numbers. You may also want to include how many baptisms occur each year. Church Metric #6: Membership Who attends your church? How many people are in each age range? How many men, women, singles, married couples, couples with children, single parents, etc.? Part of communicating effectively involves knowing your audience. We aren’t defined by our demographics, but we are certainly impacted by what season of life we’re in and what we’ve experienced. Knowing the demographics of your attendees could help you decide which events to host, what sermon series to do next, etc. Church Metric #7: Volunteers Volunteers are a vital aspect of any church, so you’ll want to monitor the health of your volunteer program. How many volunteers do you have in each area (greeters, ushers, parking lot, coffee bar, bookstore, nursery)? What percentage of your membership serves? How many volunteers are added each month vs. how many “quit” or leave each month. This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of potential church metrics, but I hope it gets you thinking about what “indicator lights” you may need to add or enhance. As you gather this information and review the story the data reveals, I’m confident you’ll be able to make even better decisions and avoid potential issues down the road. What metrics do you use? How have those helped your leadership team?

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5 Church Administration Time-Saving Tools

Jake Douglas

Time. It’s the most precious commodity yet the one we have the least of. That’s why saving time is a constant goal for church leaders with busy schedules. One way to save time is by streamlining church administration tasks. When you work behind-the-scenes in the church office, you’ve got plenty of plates spinning. Coordinating events, fixing a website issue, plus a ton of other tasks are all in a day’s work. While I can’t trim your to-do list, I can recommend the following tools to make your job a bit easier. #1 – Project Management Software Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Monday, ClickUp, are a few of the excellent project management tools available. Most have a free or trial version you can use to see which one works best for you and your team. Complete the form below to receive a free Project Management Tools Overview guide (including information on the top software vendors): #2 – Expense Tracking App Keeping track of receipts for an expense report can be a pain. Instead of shuffling through your purse or wallet for that last receipt, use an app on your phone. Quickly snap a picture of a receipt immediately after making a purchase. Assign the appropriate expense code(s) and have a collection of electronic receipts ready for your next expense report. Staff members who forget receipts and finance team members responsible for collecting accurate data will all appreciate the convenience of an app. Two of the top contenders in this category are Divvy and Zoho Expense. #3 – Church Management System (ChMS) As a church grows, you need an easy way to maintain up-to-date records regarding church members and visitors. Contact information, family relationships, baptism dates, and more are a few examples of data you can use to minister to your congregation. A robust church management system enables your team to maintain accurate information, create follow-up workflows, keep tithe records, and more. There are many options available when it comes to ChMS tools. A few examples include Planning Center, Rock RMS, Fellowship One, Breeze, ACS, Elexio, ShelbyNext, Faith Teams, and TouchPoint. #4 – Facility Management Software From facility maintenance requests to tracking who reserved a room, facility management software can help your team stay on top of things. Smart Church Solutions has an excellent tool called eSPACE. Within this software, you can manage inventory, manage work orders, reserve facility rooms and resources, schedule preventative maintenance, and more. #5 – The Church Operations Toolkit At the risk of sounding self-promotional, the Church Operations Toolkit can save your church time and money. Within the Toolkit are templates, how-to guides, expert interviews, and resources to make church administration and operations tasks easier. Instead of spending hours searching online for a template, simply log into the Church Operations Toolkit and download one in minutes. There’s no magic formula to knocking out your to-do list (if only!). However, these are a few tools to make being productive a bit easier. Oh, and if you’re like me and consider coffee a productivity tool…Can I get an amen? 🙂

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