Resources

It’s tempting to waive the white flag, to throw your hands up in surrender, to the summer slump. Many churches simply resign their efforts and re-appropriate them in the fall. First on the chopping block of suspended ministries are groups. It’s almost expected that groups will take a break during the summer months. But, doing so can have costly consequences if you aren’t prepared. Much of the work that was put into groups, building relationships, and developing community is lost during the break.

Many years ago, I recall when people would ask me how it was that I could easily remember specific scriptures. For many people, reading the Bible is enjoyable, but trying to get to that point where you can remember specific verses which talk about specific subjects is not something that happens quickly. Because it was a little easier for me, it took a long time before I realized that there were certain learning methods, or just ways that I was reading and studying the scripture that made it possible for me to have such an active recall. Now that we are firmly into the mobile wage, scripture recall has become another subject where people are looking for ways of improving on old methods. Here are some mobile – friendly methods for scripture memorization that I have come across.

Bob Goff founded a law firm, wrote a New York Times best-selling book and serves as the honorary consul for the Republic of Uganda. The guy gets things done. But every Thursday he quits something. We could learn something from Bob. Maybe your church needs to quit: Quit that social media account with three followers. Quit locking up your Wi-Fi with a password. Quit pretending email isn’t important. Whatever your church is struggling with, give yourself permission to quit.

According to SmartInsights, 85% of people prefer mobile apps to websites. That’s 85% of your congregation that would much rather engage with you and your collective vision through an app. But first, you’ll need a feature rich church app. Church apps are known to grow your weekly giving, engagement and unity, but what are the best ways to accomplish that growth? I’ve compiled the top 5 Growth Strategies we give our church clients after their app is finished as a way of helping you determine what exactly is needed in a quality church app:

Leadership styles can vary greatly from person to person, depending on the organization and its structure. Churches are not exempt from the leadership styles of the senior pastor and leadership team. The best organizations smoothly guide their church staff and volunteers; the worst organizations have disgruntled pastors and leaders who aren't so happy about the leadership under which they work. Here are five leadership styles along with an insightful infographic to help educate you about leadership styles that exist:

We all know that volunteers are the lifeblood of any church. If churches had to pay each of their children's ministry teachers, small group leaders, women's and men's ministry leaders, and vacation bible school teachers, they'd be up a creek, fast. Some churches keep their staff incredibly lean and rely predominantly on volunteers while other churches have more robust staff members and fewer volunteers; either way, volunteers need to be screened, training, and thanked. Below are five resources aimed at helping your church lean in to the volunteer management process.

While each Christian denomination has slightly different needs, Catholic churches have unique needs that are unique to their faith and require their own specific church software to adequately handle and 'speak' the language of Catholicism well. Over the years, several Catholic-focused church software solutions have emerged to serve this branch of Christianity specifically.

Does the form of Scripture affect the way that we read Scripture? While pixels (the digital Bible) are useful, print has surprising value. Years ago Marshall McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message.” He proposed that the message in our words is shaped powerfully by the means we use to share those words. Bumper stickers might have truth, but who takes them seriously? The medium is never neutral. Here are four reasons I encourage print.