|
Increase the Donation Appeal of Your Church
Donors are trimming back their spending and choosing more carefully what they use their hard earned dollars for. This cutback trickles down to churches, requiring them to focus more on the donor than normal. When the going gets tough, churches need to be thinking about how their donors think. Following these simple steps will have a big impact on your ...(More)
1/5/2009
5 Ways to Make Guests Feel Welcome
Some churches are great at welcoming guests and others struggle. Part of the problem is the inevitable awkwardness that ensues when reaching out to visitors. You want to be friendly, but you also don’t want to be pushy or over-eager. Often, that leads to unintentionally cold or forced greetings. Church consultant Gary McIntosh identified five best practices in welcoming visitors, ...(More)
1/2/2009
Budgeting Through the Recession
2009 is here, and the recession is ... still here. Many churches are tying themselves in knots trying to budget for the coming year with giving down and other needs piling up.Paul Clark from Fairhaven Church in Centerville, Ohio, uses his blog to give some advice for church budgeters. First, he suggests sorting out facts by looking at your church’s ...(More)
1/2/2009
Suburban Chicago Churches Report Steady Giving
Though so many churches have reported the recession has caused their donations to shrivel, some congregations aren’t struggling as much. A newspaper covering the western suburbs of Chicago spoke to many churches that are reporting a steady stream of giving, even among the bad economy.Though regular, general-fund giving is holding steady at some churches, even these churches are reporting a ...(More)
12/31/2008
Pastors Make Optimism a New Year’s Resolution
With the economy still in shambles as 2008 closes, it would be easy to be in the dumps about the prospects of 2009. But pastors, consulting an authority much higher than Wall Street, have resolved to be optimistic headed into 2009.Other popular resolutions among church leaders are to spend more time with family and to reach out more to the ...(More)
12/31/2008
Some Say ‘Green Bible’ Misleads
The recently released Green Bible, which highlights sections that refer to humans’ responsibilities to protect the environment, has drawn criticism from many who say that the version’s purpose is merely to further the environmental agenda.Some clergy, particularly evangelical, are concerned that the book contains secular commentary and was edited by people who do not take the Bible literally, therefore created ...(More)
12/30/2008
Will Obama Be Good for Christian Colleges?
Officials in Christian higher education are optimistic that the Obama administration will scale back the federal accreditation standards enacted by the Bush administration, as well as provide additional funding.The Bush administration created a regional accreditation process in his second term that created many more hoops for Christian colleges and universities to jump through. Many officials say that this period of ...(More)
12/29/2008
Balancing Ambition with Contentment
Am I the only one who struggles with severe discontentment? For me, discontentment is a daily gnawing list of questions that pulses through me like a second heartbeat: How will I make an impact in this world? Why am I not further ahead in my career? When will I suddenly discover my niche in society? Will I ever achieve significance? ...(More)
12/29/2008
Church Foreclosures Are a Reality
Church’s nightmares about being foreclosed on are unfortunately a reality, writes Suzanne Sataline of The Wall Street Journal. Some lenders estimate that churches have fallen behind on building payments or defaulted more this year in any year since the Depression. The recession, combined with a 15 percent nationwide downturn in church giving, has resulted in some churches filing for bankruptcy.Sataline ...(More)
12/24/2008
Big Churches Avoid Taking Risks
Big Church, Boring Church?
When Elevation Church was very small, taking risks was relatively easy.What did we have to lose? There was no payroll to consider, no public image to manage. Rowdy faith was required to make the dream materialize. We had limited momentum and miniscule resources. Risk was not a virtue for us; it was more like a survival instinct. (Every church planter ...(More)
12/24/2008
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Next
| 