Article Resources

                 

Want To Be More Effective?

Given the nature of the scope and depth of responsibilities the typical church business administrator shoulders, I will bet somewhere around the first of the New Year you resolved to “improve or do ___ in 2017.”

How Is Your Church Leveraging Its Compensation Dollars? 

What do scissors, crowbars, and the human arm have in common? (Stay with me—this is not the opening of a terrible joke.) Each of these tools, and even your favorite seesaw on the playground growing up, all fall into the category of tools in science we call “levers.” The mechanics behind levers make our everyday lives so much...

Stop Worrying about Worship Attendance — Thrive Instead

For a long time, clergy have taken credit when attendance rose and felt guilty when it fell. Most people assume that the best measure of a congregation’s spiritual vitality is the headcount at weekly worship, but some congregations have begun to think beyond that metric and focus more broadly about how their...

Church, It Is Time to Reconnect with Your Community

Knowing that 4000 American churches close every year, and a very small percentage of evangelical churches are growing, we realize we have a problem. People around us are not connecting with us because they are not aware of what we have for them. We have a connection problem. Historically, communities...

MANAGEMENT & MOTIVATION PRINCIPLES….

Dr. Peter Drucker, extraordinary professor, author, and consultant to top leaders, published Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices in 1973. Although Dr. Drucker authored over sixteen other books and scores of articles that appeared in all the notable business magazines, Management was his giant — all 803 pages. 

17 Ways to Boost Church Stewardship

The New Year has begun and we are into the second season of the year . Whatever challenges you lamented or victories you celebrated in 2016, you have begun again. And that is exciting!A new year also ushers in a new ministry budget that must be funded. Depending on where you landed in 2016,

What Churches Need to Know

In August of 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued the first of a few major revisions to financial reporting for not-for-profit entities – including churches. Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2016-14, Not-for-Profit Entities...

When the Walls Come Tumbling Down

Trust in our institutions—and in institutional leaders—is crumbling. Put simply, our society and our world are changing much too rapidly for our institutions to keep pace. As a result, many view our great institutions of the 20th century as incompetent at best and corrupt at worst. Religious institutions are no exception.

Guest Follow-Up: Why It Matters and Why It’s Not Happening

I went for a job interview. I remembered to smile, sit up straight, and not give canned answers. After the interview they said I’d definitely hear from them soon. They never contacted me. I had a nice evening out with a friend of a friend. I gave my phone number, but never received a call. My family attended a new church and loved it!

Nothing Is New under the Sun – Even after the Election

On November 8, 2016, a lot changed for the faith-based community and a lot stayed the same. The election of President Donald Trump caused federal enforcement priorities abruptly to shift. The GOP picked up five state House chambers and two state Senates. Republicans increased their majority of governorships to 33 from 31.