There are currently more than 380,000 churches across America. These are the perfect place for people to come together in celebration or in times of need.
However, this also means that running a church is a huge responsibility. Your church management can have a huge impact on everything from church upkeep to congregation engagement.
Fortunately, there are plenty of great things you can do to sort out your church management system. Want to know more? Then you’re in the right place!
Read on to find out everything you need to know about how to manage a church.
Putting People First
For 47% of Americans, religion is still a massive part of daily life, however, this figure is steadily falling. This means that caring for your congregation is more important than ever.
You might want to think about ways that you can:
- Invite regular visitors to become church members
- Communicate regularly and invite feedback from your existing members
- Support church members when they are unwell or in need to help
- Make your services accessible to all of your church members’ needs
- Address local and global current affairs
- Create and run an online presence for your church using a website or social media
Involving your members in the church itself will always benefit it.
Supporting Your Pastor
You also have to look after everyone who works at your church. This includes any volunteers you have.
Identify different tasks and delegate these to appropriate people. This will help to spread the workload around. This means that everyone, including your pastor, can focus on delivering their roles to the best of their abilities.
When it comes to your pastor, in particular, this will massively benefit your congregation as well.
Looking After Your Finances
Running a church is inevitably going to cost money and most of yours will come from charitable donations. Managing how this is looked after and when it is used is extremely important.
This not only helps to manage your church within your budget but also creates transparency with your spending.
Church management software can help you to stay on top of your church’s finances. This will record any donations and you can use it to create budgets or saving pots.
You can also use church software to set up online or mobile donation options. This makes it much easier for people to donate, which is always going to be a bonus for your church!
Keeping Your Paperwork in Order
Staying on top of your paperwork is an absolute must for any church manager! And you will deal with a lot of paperwork, such as:
- Job applications
- Prayer request forms
- Church membership forms
- Applications for special services, such as christenings, weddings, and funerals
- Choir sign up forms
- Donation forms
- Applications for financial aid
- Insurance forms
- Staff contracts
It is extremely important that you figure out a way to sort, manage, and store each of these. On top of this, you also need to keep the church diary in order. The last thing you want is a clash between a wedding and a funeral.
Getting yourself organized with a system that works as soon as possible will make things much easier in the long run.
Managing Your Facilities
Your facilities are the face of your church so looking after them is extremely important.
If you are setting up a new church, you might want to think outside the box. Your church could meet in a privately owned building, in a rented space, or in someone’s home.
Wherever you meet, it is important to present this space well to anyone who visits it. This involves cleaning it every day and maintaining any facilities to a high standard.
Not only does this present your church well, but it is also a matter for public health and safety. The last thing you want is someone having an accident in your church due to poor maintenance.
If you have the budget for this, you might consider hiring a facilities manager to take care of your church maintenance. Or you might bring in a cleaning team to help. Volunteers can also be very helpful when it comes to church facility maintenance so don’t be afraid to ask for their help.
Protecting the Vulnerable
Your church has a responsibility to protect everyone, especially society’s most vulnerable members. This includes the young, the old, and the sick.
Because of this, it is important that you have proper safeguarding measures in place. This should include:
- Screening any volunteers working in your church
- Providing regular safeguarding training for staff and volunteers
- Creating a list of contacts (such as the CPS) to reach out to if necessary
- Keeping useful support resources up to date
- Creating a child protection plan and ensuring this is distributed to staff and volunteers
- Putting together an allegation response plan
- Suspending and thoroughly investigating anyone after an allegation of abuse or negligent behavior
This ensures that anyone who needs your church will always be safe reaching out. It also means that anyone working in your church will know what to do if a problem does arise.
Get Help With Church Management Today
As you can see, when it comes to church management there are a lot of things you need to consider. However, staying on top of these will ensure that your church can be a place to comfort, celebration, and refuge for those who need it.
For more brilliant management solutions and inspiration, keep scrolling now.