4 Resolutions for Church Managers
It’s the time of year for lofty goals that we only can hope to accomplish in the next 364 days. Instead of setting goals that you might not even remember once February rolls around you should consider looking at the resolutions below. Not only are they easy to get done, but they’ll help your church run more smoothly.
1. Review/Develop a Social Media policy
Every church has a number of different policies for any number of things from the basic employee policy to building usage. One area often over looked is social media. If you have staff active in the social sphere look into setting up a simple and short policy around what they can share, and how things get shared through the Churches social channels (like your facebook page).
Free Resources:
2. Make the Office Paperless
With the rise of tablets and portable laptops it is becoming easier than ever for your staff to go paperless. I’m not talking about doing away with the bulletin (not yet anyway), but moving your regular notes and communications into digital formats. Talk about how meetings would run if everyone brought their laptop or tablet instead of notebooks. When are they turned on, who takes the minutes, and where is everything saved? There are great resources like Drop Box, Google Docs, and Evernote to store and share documents online.
Not everyone has a laptop/tablet? If you choose to use Google Docs then you can get great, light, and portable laptops for as little as $199.
3. Implement a new part of your Church Software
The software that many churches use to manage their communities often goes drastically under-utilized. If it seems like you log in to use a glorified Rolodex then there are going to be many ways to get more value out of what you already pay for. The software likely will do email campaigns (goodbye to Mail Chimp or Constant Contact), calendars, events, children’s check in, and a host of other things.
To accomplish this you will need to set aside an afternoon to teach yourself (or get training from your provider) on something new, and then setup a second time to train the appropriate staff/volunteers on it as well.
4. Commit and Enforce healthy office Boundaries
I saved the best for last, and that is to kick everyone out at the end of the workday. Your church has just come out of one of the busiest times of year and it wouldn’t surprise me if many were sticking around longer then they should. With the holiday season over it is time to give them back the extra time they gave over the last 6-8 weeks. Walk around 15 minutes before the end of the day telling everyone you are closing the building in 15 minutes.
Chances are you will be met with some resistance the first few days, but the relief that comes from being home on time will more than make this worth it. Working in ministry can take its toll, so one of the best remedies is to have time to relax and enjoy the company of friends and loved ones.
Well that is our short list – Do you have any work related resolutions you’re going to adapt this year?
Photo by: williamcho
Paul is passionate about the church, theology, and technology. He is the founder and president of Fresh Vine – an online church management database built for the church. He has his Masters of Divinity from Bethel Theological Seminary. He as been running web companies since 1999, helped launch the fastest growing church in Minnesota (Substance Church), and has spent a year in Europe doing missions.
