Digital Ministry

Creating custom-looking church graphics for upcoming sermon series, bible studies, children's ministry and youth ministry is no simple task. If you ever tried to open up Photoshop without any training (or downloaded GIMP, a free no-frills version of Photoshop), you know that graphic designers are worth their weight in gold. If your position at church (either as a staff person or volunteer) requires you to be responsible for church graphics and church communication, this article offers four options for how to go about creating or outsourcing for the graphics you need to effectively communicate with you church attenders.

A common calculation in the business world is return on investment, or ROI. Finding the ROI of your social media marketing, however, can be difficult. The normal factors may not be as obvious as in other ROI calculations. For churches, looking at social media ROI can be trickier. Ministry isn't always trackable in the same way sales are.

The nonprofit and secular industries are no stranger to project management software, but until now, church project management software hasn't been on anyone's radar. Churches simply muddled through with systems in place either cobbling together church management software alongside emails, spreadsheets, and perhaps a Google Group or some other free software that allowed them to coordinate large projects involving staff and volunteers. That is until RocoCPM was developed. Get ready for a new acronym, Church Project Management, or "CPM."

Beep … beep … beep … beep… When you’re being treated in a hospital, that’s a good sound to hear. It means your heart is beating and the electronic monitor is working properly. Your pulse is only one of many numbers (metrics) that doctors, nurses, and technicians consider when gauging your health. Do you remember the last time you had lab work done, and how many different factors were measured and reported? It’s mind-boggling. But here’s the thing: All of these medical metrics are only indirect measures of your health.

After celebrating two years in our church plant, we finally have seven teenagers in our youth group. Our church was started by 30 millennials who wanted to create a new faith community in our town for folks like them—people who didn’t feel safe in a traditional church setting but who desperately wanted to connect with a body of believers on a weekly basis.

A new small group can be an intimidating experience for many people. They may be unsure of what to expect, worried about saying or doing the wrong thing, or simply uncomfortable sharing faith experiences with others. If you are a group leader, you have an opportunity to resolve these feelings quickly so the group can be a comfortable and productive experience. Here are five icebreakers that can help your new small group to get off on the right foot.

My church. For too long you have wandered the desert looking for Me. Good that you reflect upon My Word, but ill that you do not believe. You reduce My Word to simple platitudes; slogans for billboards and Internet memes. You prop yourselves up by them in your times of distress instead of remaining in grace through faith.

Millennials are making up an increasing number of church attendees, and this generation doesn't carry cash or check. Even older folks are choosing debit cards and online payments over paper payments. Churches, however, struggle to find ways to process online donations, gifts, and offerings that do not eat into their bottom line.