A few months ago, when the COVID-19 crisis first hit my region, I was always  on social media to stay up-to-date on the latest information. I don’t know about you, but I only open social media now when I have to. I think a lot of people are getting burned out from information.   So, what should your church’s social media strategy be when people are tuning out? Do we just shut it off and wait until everything settles back down?   I don’t think that’s the solution. What we likely need is yet...

This feels like a dangerous time, and not just because of COVID-19. I’m talking about division and how we treat each other.   There are a lot of tensions right now: racial, reopening our churches and economy, political tensions as we head towards another presidential election, etc.   Here’s what I know about my church: We are made up of Republicans and Democrats. We have people who diligently wear masks in public, and people who purposely don’t even own a mask. We have people whose businesses...

We're excited to announce reopen.church – a free tool we built to help churches reopen safely. Reopen.church is a simple-to-use registration form churches can email or text to members to pre-register for the service time and/or room they plan to attend. The purpose is to help make it easy to distribute your people across multiple services and rooms in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines. With reopen.church you can: Create multiple service times and rooms Set capacity limits Generate...

Like many of you, I’m part of a small group. We’ve been meeting together for over four years. Before COVID we met weekly for breakfast and these days we meet digitally over Zoom. This week, during our small group time, everyone was sharing how exhausted they were. One after another the theme was, “I’m exhausted and I need a break.” As I was listening, I was thinking to myself, “Wow.  Everyone is hitting the wall.”   Then, the next day, exhaustion hit me like a freight train. The weight of...

One of the essential roles of a leader is to provide clarity around vision and mission. This is important at all levels. Your people are looking to you whether you’re the senior pastor, children’s director, or a hospitality coordinator. We are leaders and we set the tone.   So, how do we provide clear vision with so much uncertainty? Most of us don’t even know when we will be allowed to gather in our church buildings again.   Kevin, a senior pastor I’m connected with, recently shared how he is...

Many churches are engaging in the same conversation right now. What does it look like to reopen our church building? This has been the main topic with our church leadership team this week. We see this as our “Chapter 2” response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 1 was broadcasting our church services exclusively online, preaching from our living rooms, and figuring out how to lead communion virtually. Chapter 2 is…well, we’re not 100% sure what it’s going to look like yet. We’re still working...

When shelter-at-home orders are lifted, we will probably not immediately go back to holding church in our buildings. Restrictions to gather will likely be loosened in stages. First, I expect we’ll be allowed to leave our homes and gather in small groups, and that will probably last for a few weeks or more. Then, it will be increased to 50 people, and so on. Depending on your church size, it may be a while before your church is back to meeting in your building.  So, what’s the plan when our...

On top of everything else your church is experiencing due to COVID-19, you may be feeling like the church or ministry you lead is drifting apart and the culture you have been building is slipping away. These are real concerns when we’re not able to meet in person. So, how can we shape culture in our churches during this season of only meeting online? I have four strategies to share with you that we are currently pursuing in our church.   Focus on Core Values When your church was able to meet in...

Does anyone else feel like the pastoral playbook has been thrown out the window? So much of what we usually do as church leaders has changed because of the coronavirus...physical church meetings, small groups in homes, in-person devotionals, shaking hands at the door, etc. So, how do we lead our church when most of our usual methods of leadership are not an option? While I’m not an expert in this area, as none of us are experts in leading a church amidst a global pandemic, I’d love to share...

  Highlights include: 1. New Online Giving Reporting, 2. Simplified Refund Reporting, and 3. Free Text Message Increase. New Online Giving Reporting We’ve launched a newer, faster, and easier version of reporting for online giving! This video will provide you a brief overview of the new system. We hope this new interface allows you to more efficiently manage your church's finances as you care for the people connected to your church. You can learn more in our Online Giving Reporting article. ...