The quick answers are: (1) People give to causes that reflect their values and passions, and (2) Yes, it would, but you’ll have to earn it. 

And you’ll have about five years to get it established before the next recession comes along (eleven recessions between 1945-2001).

TIP #1 – You Can’t Eat the Apples If You Don’t Plant a Tree

Picking up on a line from my last blog post (maybe it’s worth repeating), we have to be reminded from time to time that things don’t just happen, that many of the best things don’t happen without hard work and long-term investment. That’s the way it is with trees. You don’t get a large expanse of shade at your house unless a tree is planted (or is at least allowed to grow). It will do even better if it is tended and nurtured. And if you pick the right kind of tree to plant and nurture, you might even have fruit to share in the long run.

If you are thinking about supporting a ministry for the long haul, then you have to get started, and it would be great to start when the times are not so lean. Some folks think that you have to start with a big tree, i.e. big money. But I like what my garden center owning parishioner told me. He said, “Some folks like to buy a $100 eight-foot tree. I like to buy the smaller $20 tree and put $100 worth of ‘good stuff’ (root starter, good soil, etc.) in the hole. You come out much better that way.”

So if you want support for your ministry, put the good stuff in the hole – get clarity on your mission, know the impact that your ministry is having, and be prepared to invite others to gather around and nurture your tree.
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TIP #2 – Long-term Support Comes from Long-term Relationships

In the best case scenario, you are receiving support for your ministry – financial, voluntary, and advocacy – because people have found that their values and goals align with the values and goals of your ministry. Because they believe in the work and its impact, and because your ministry has done a good job of inviting people to come alongside your ministry as an expression of philanthropic endeavor.

I remember a seminary class discussion about marital counseling in which my professor remarked, “Money is one of the two things that couples most often fight about. But it is not the cause of conflict; it is a symptom.” In other words, arguments about money often become the expression or symptom of poor communication, struggles for control, and other problems in the marital relationship. I suppose that’s a pretty negative look.

But when a ministry can establish and maintain strong relationships over a long period of time with like-minded people, these people often become inclined to offer their support as an expression of their belief in a ministry or cause. It becomes paramount for that ministry to stay in touch and to share the ministry’s story, to do all of those things that we do to maintain friendships – to care for people, to seek to address their needs, and to help them see how they can change their world through a ministry of generosity.

TIP #3 – Starting an Endowment Is Often the Trailer That Gets Pulled By a Larger Vehicle

If an endowment is what you seek, a good way to get it established is by attaching it to a larger component. One example might be by “tithing” to an endowment the proceeds of a larger capital campaign. If you are planning to build a new $1 million building, why not raise $1.1 million and set aside 10% to establish an endowment for ministry or for capital maintenance. The building is the larger vehicle; the endowment is the trailer.

Or through action of the church’s governing board, you might start an endowment as a portion of ongoing fund-raising efforts, perhaps 5-10% of every dollar raised over a certain period of time.

Either larger vehicle could help to establish an endowment, and then a well-conceived, intentional program of philanthropic donor development could perpetuate it.

TIP #4 – There Are Some Good Questions to Be Asked About Endowments That Can Make People Nervous

The answer to either of these questions could be ‘yes,’ but it doesn’t have to be.

Will endowments drain from critical ongoing operational funding? Studies show that offering more avenues for giving increases the total given to all causes within an organization. What is vitally important is the proper structuring of a financial plan that takes into account short-, medium-, and long-term avenues of funding.

Will the church lose interest in a ministry funded by an endowment? This will not be true in an organization with a healthy system of donor care. In fact, it should be the telling of the ministry story that enlivens interest in the ministry.

Remember, fund development is an expression of relationships – the values that people share, the impact of ministry upon their lives, and the opportunity to extend their reach together.

TIP #5 – Endowment Purposes and Processes Must Be Clear

1. The first lesson to learn in establishing an endowment is the importance of legal advice. There are legal requirements which may vary from state to state. An attorney will be able to guide you through what can be a fairly simple process and assist you in drafting proper documents, if necessary, depending upon the restrictive nature of the fund.
2. Endowment (or trust) documents must be clear in identifying the purposes for which long-term funds may be used. These will thus establish the values by which the fund operates and by which potential donors will make their decisions about giving.
3. Fund documents should identify what portion of funds are available and when. Most endowments or trusts disburse their funds in such a way as to be self-perpetuating.
4. Fund documents will identify who is in charge of decisions regarding the fund. Most funds are usually governed by persons skilled or interested in either ministry or financial management or both.
5. For the worst-case scenario, most fund documents would determine what would happen to the funds if the church were to be dissolved.

Conclusion – If Employed Well, An Endowment Can Be the Springboard to Even More Effective Ministry

Establishing an endowment can cause a ministry to take a good hard look at itself and at how it treats the people with whom it is in relationship.
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As part of a fully structured giving plan, an endowment can be the foundation piece that turns loose other funding for other purposes.

If you want to explore more about funding your ministry through a multi-layered approach, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about planting trees and reaping the fruit!

The post Five Tips for Funding Your Ministry Over the Long Haul appeared first on Ministry Architects.

These Days We Live By the Calendar

Our lives (and work) are full of calendars – family calendars, school calendars, special event calendars, staff calendars, shared calendars, holiday calendars, ad infinitum. There are companies who specialize in calendars, apps that help to manage calendars, and free calendars from fund-raisers. With all of these calendars in our lives, why would we want another one? You want this one, a Preventative Maintenance Calendar, because it will make your life easier!

Face it – in youth ministry we often get focused on special events. And special events can command a lot of our time. They often have lots of energy and demand a lot of energy. Young people get excited about them, many times only living for the next trip and new people to meet. So WE get wrapped up in special events too, and before we know it, we’ve forgotten to submit that curriculum order or we’ve failed to get our recruiting for next year underway or we’ve missed setting participation goals for the next year or… well, you get it. We’ve all been there.

So What Does a Preventative Maintenance Calendar Do?

A Preventative Maintenance Calendar is where you keep track of all those very important but less flashy things that are a part of youth ministry, all of those more tedious, boring tasks that need to be done to grease the wheels of…
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Let me give you a personal example. A “Note” that I keep on my phone is my “House & Yard Calendar.” In that calendar I keep all of those reminders of things that I need to do every year, all of those boring maintenance things that would be easy to skip over but pay real dividends if I make sure that I check them off one by one.

If I do that, I get those deep blue hydrangea blooms that my wife loves, thick green grass in the spring, plenty of firewood for those cold winter nights, and an air handling system that is less likely to break down.

Back in the days when I kept a paper calendar, I used to receive an annual denominational program calendar. It worked well for me – all the important dates of the Christian year were there, preaching texts of the common lectionary were on each Sunday, as well as space to write in all of the events and meetings, etc. But after awhile I began to notice notes up at the top of the page for each month, valuable notes that would guide me to work ahead on things that come around every year, things like preparations for a stewardship campaign, a reminder to start Sunday school teacher recruiting, and a nudge to schedule special offerings. They were helpful reminders to get it in gear, and they were an introduction to better advance planning, especially for the more mundane, routine annual tasks of ministry.

So Take Out Your Calendar and Add In the Maintenance

Pull out your calendar and jot down some important reminders. There will be some monthly routine things, maybe some quarterly things, and of course some annual things. Here are a few things that might fit onto your list:

MONTHLY

• Monthly communication pieces are sent to parents, volunteers, or youth about what’s coming up in events, curriculum, or groups.
• Get major event notebooks to upcoming coordinators.
• Assess what young people are on the fringe of activity, maybe needing a phone call.
• Review the financial picture, assuring that the ministry is being accountable to its budget.

QUARTERLY

• Check that proper curriculum (digital or print) is on hand for the next three months.
• Do a quarterly check-in with parents for input, discussion, and feedback.
• The 18-month ministry calendar gets advanced by three months.

ANNUALLY

• Do an assessment of how well your ministry is accountable to its mission, values, and goals, restating benchmarks for the coming year.
• Submit your budget request on time.
• Evaluate the staffing for your ministry, both paid and volunteer, with an eye toward the future.
• Evaluate the suitability of facilities. Do they really “facilitate” the work of the ministry?
• Recruiting of volunteers for the coming program year is completed three months before it starts.
• Current year volunteers receive a sound “thank you.” And next year’s volunteers receive excellent training.
• The database of youth, parents, and adult leaders gets an update.
• Plans are made for a great program year kickoff.

If you want a sample, go to https://ministryarchitects.com/free-tools-and-resources-category/ where you will find an array of helpful resources to assist you in your ministry.

Conclusion – You Can’t Eat the Apples If You Don’t Plant the Tree

A Preventative Maintenance Calendar is where you keep track of all those very important but less flashy things that are a part of youth ministry, all of those more tedious, boring tasks that need to be done to grease the wheels of…
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If you want to explore more about this kind of ministry maintenance (or home garden maintenance – ha), email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about planting trees and eating apples!

The post Preventative Maintenance Calendar? WHAT?! appeared first on Ministry Architects.

Many years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to walk where Jesus walked as I visited what is often called “the Holy Land.” The trip was everything that a young pastor would want, and my heart and spirit were touched many times by so many things. For the sake of brevity, and to avoid launching into what might turn into boring detail, I won’t list the full itinerary – you’re welcome – but I do want to share one moment in which I caught a quick look at something historically fascinating.

It was a Monday, which is a BIG day at the Western or “Wailing” Wall at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Why? Because Monday is bar mitzvah day at that very holy place. And adolescent Jewish boys come from all over the world with family and friends to read from ancient Torah scrolls for the very first time. What a celebration it was! Fathers and uncles carried their sons and nephews on their shoulders as together they danced and sang the songs of Zion.

But there, over in the corner hidden from view, beyond the crowds of chanting men, near where the Torah scrolls were kept, I noticed two or three men looking down a three-foot rectangular hole. Captured by my curiosity, I made my way to the side of the hole, looked into its depths, and asked the others, who fortunately for me spoke English, exactly what it was at which I was looking. One drew close, pointing into the depths, “There, down at the bottom, those are the foundation stones laid in the days of King David.” For a moment I lost my breath, then I was drawn in yet even deeper. Peering into the darkness and faint light below, I saw them, maybe twenty feet down, the huge stones upon which the original Temple had been built and each later holy place that would follow. Those foundation stones seemed so strong, so unshakeable, so unmovable.

I prayed that the foundation stones of my life and ministry would be so strong.

What are foundation stones?

Foundation stones are the big things, of course, the things that drive life and ministry forward. Purpose and values are foundation stones. Calling and depth are foundation stones. So are the quality of relationships and the quality of one’s walk with God. Those types of things are what make the biggest of differences. They change or at least alter who you are and what you do in ministry.

Strong foundation stones will change your church and what it does, how it looks at itself and how it looks at the world.
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Choosing scripture as a foundation is pretty common for both individual Christians and for churches. A statement of mission or purpose can be a foundational piece. In youth ministry an emphasis on the development of spiritual leadership in young people can be foundational. It’s the really big things and ideas!

So why do we get so distracted by smaller, more shallow things?

Why do we get stuck on choosing paint colors and wallpaper?

Why do we get caught up in and distracted by things of lesser value? Why is it that we get so involved in smaller ideas that are surface level, akin to choosing paint colors (or “wallpaper” as Mark DeVries likes to say)?

Unfortunately, we’re human. We want to look good, and we want our ministries to look good. We want to be the coolest, the most “relevant,” the sharpest sounding, the biggest, the flashiest looking.

But…

…sometimes even the biggest and flashiest looking ministries are crumbling from underneath because the foundation may be shallow or poorly formed.
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At Ministry Architects we see that from time to time, and working on the foundation stones is one of the things that we do first.

And…

…sometimes it is the smallest or seemingly poorest ministries that are having the mightiest impact, because they are built on the mightiest of foundations.
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So what can you do, especially if you question your foundation?

If it’s for you personally, start with the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, worship, and prayer. Then seek fellowship with people of depth in faith, share your doubts and your weakness if you really want to grow, if you really want to have a strong foundation.

If you believe that God is calling your church or ministry to do a foundation check, it’s time to bring together a group that can take a good strong look at what is underneath, below the paint and wallpaper, the soul of who you are and who you are becoming.

Conclusion

So look way down deep. Peer into the darkness down at the faint light below to see what is undergirding your ministry. If you want to talk it through, email me at David.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I would love to spend some time helping you to do that foundation check.

The post Are You Laying Foundation Stones or Choosing Paint Colors? appeared first on Ministry Architects.

… because someone, an individual or a group, has identified a need, or they’ve identified a problem in the community. And they either think or say, “Somebody ought to do something about this.” And then the wheels begin to turn. An individual has a need, a community has a problem, and somebody is able to see it as an opportunity to build something.

Sometimes that somebody realizes or decides that the Church can help.

Partnering Is Something That Churches Are Highly Equipped to Do

Congregations often get involved when a church member or church leader sees a need or has a really fine idea. Take, for example, the following:

• The church that adopts a school in response to the uniform or supply needs of local students.
• The church whose volunteers address housing needs in the community by renovating or building homes.
• The church that sends a family across the world to offer support to a struggling missionary family in Indonesia.
• The church that provides bus pick-up for kids at a nearby trailer park who otherwise would have no church access or interest.

And the Church has been partnering for a long time. Seeing uneducated children roaming the streets, it was Roberts Raikes who with the help of Methodists in Gloucester, England, started the first Sunday School in 1780. Not to mention, many of our world’s greatest educational institutions and hospital/health systems are the result of great partnerships in or with the Church.

Let the Church Set the Table

One of the great things about the Church as a partner is that it brings so much to the table. The highly motivated church brings volunteers, money, ideas, various forms of expertise, leadership, organization, a desire to serve,…
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Sometimes a community agency does great work and offers significant expertise, but needs additional financial or volunteer resources that the church can provide. Why not give the church a chance? 

A Few Tips If You Have the Idea or See the Need

• Start with your pastor. If you can get the congregation’s leader involved, he or she may be able to point other people and resources your way.
• Be ready to roll up your own sleeves. If you’re not convinced enough to get involved yourself, don’t expect others to just do it for you.
• Be ready to state the case. Develop a stump speech which will quickly and succinctly communicate why the need is so urgent or worthy of the congregation’s involvement. And know it by heart.

Don’t be afraid to dream big! Big ideas often bring whole groups of churches and people together, even denominations and nations. But remember that the biggest of things all started with the smallest of thoughts.
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• But the smallest of challenges is worthy of your effort. A cup of cold water for a thirsty stranger makes Jesus smile.

A Few Tips If You Want Your Church to Partner with Worthy Causes

• Work to see that your congregation has a worthy vision for itself, that recognizes its calling to address the needs of the world around it. Unless a church has a strong vision, it can lack the motivation for creative partnerships.
• Become the champion for partnering through your congregation. Become the eyes and ears of the congregation in the community, looking and listening to identify the needs of people around you.
• Encourage an entrepreneurial ministry mindset that encourages investment in causes and partnerships.
• If your church decides to become a partner in ministry, make sure to develop a relationship agreement that states the purpose of the partnership, as well as what the church and others involved are offering and expecting. Relationship agreements are not contractual, i.e. they may be entered into or withdrawn from at any time. They simply reflect an agreed understanding.

A Few Tips If Your Agency Outside the Church Needs Help That the Church Can Bring

• Ask your board of directors, staff, or volunteers if they are in churches that may be prepared to help, and ask them to go with you as you visit the pastor.
• Be prepared to show how your agency will be significantly helped, how church members will be involved in meaningful work, and even how you will be able to relate what they are doing to the faith journey that they are walking.
• If your agency decides to partner with a church, make sure to develop a relationship agreement (see above) so that roles and expectations are clear.

Conclusion

Sometimes the Church lights the fire; sometimes it adds more fuel, sometimes it tends the fire that runs the engine. But a congregation can be a GREAT partner in addressing the needs of people.
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If you want to explore more about engaging the Church as a ministry partner, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about bringing people and churches together for the good of all God’s children.

The post Congregations Make Great Building Partners appeared first on Ministry Architects.

And from time to time, ministries come to recognize that one of these major events has become the way that they are known. One of these events has become the way that they are defined. And in the best case scenario, this type of event expresses precisely what the ministry is all about.

That’s what we call a signature event.

But it starts at the beginning…

Every Great Ministry Has a Great Purpose

It’s hard to have a signature event if you don’t know what you’re about in the first place. Every really good ministry has a statement of its mission, an idea of what it is trying to accomplish. And it has an idea of how it wants to operate – how people will treat each other, what values are held dear, and what characterizes the spirit of the ministry. Really good ministries have destinations in mind, places they feel God is leading them and pathways to get them there.

Really good ministries realize that a mission statement is not something that sits on a shelf in a three-ring binder. They realize that these kinds of foundational documents are the expressions of words and spirit that guide the work…
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Expressed in modern parlance, we might say, “Nothing is worth doing if it doesn’t have a worthy ‘why.’”

Every Great Purpose Deserves a Great Plan

Ministries that are built upon great foundations, great ideas, great “whys,” tend to find great “hows,” great plans, great strategies, great ways to accomplish their purpose. Take a look at these examples of ministries that have done great things:

• A small group discipleship ministry in Colombia with an emphasis on experiential student leadership in which a 16-year-old girl supervises 400 student-led discipleship groups.
• A downtown youth ministry committed to community service which sponsors an annual mission event, which has spun off twelve similar events to other communities.
• A suburban church with an emphasis on family ministry where its annual Vacation Bible School has become a major entry point for newcomers into the community.
• A camp ministry with an emphasis on ministry calling which has nurtured 100 ministry candidates over the last two decades.
• A local church with an emphasis on worship which sponsors an annual worship conference drawing thousands.

In the examples above you can see that some of the great visionary ideas become expressed in strategies and plans that are more long-term. That young woman in Colombia didn’t do her ministry at a weekend retreat. It developed over years. And 100 ministry candidates over twenty years obviously didn’t happen overnight.

But sometimes the plan becomes a signature event – often by choice, but sometimes even by accident – and we discover that what we are doing is not just what we do but it is an expression of who we are.
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During my young adult years, I came across a story about a father teaching his son to take pride in his work. “Whatever you do, son, do it in such a way that you would be proud to put your signature on it. Do it so that someone could come along and say, ‘Wow! This guy does great work.’ No matter whether you are fixing a car, writing a sermon, building a house, or painting a portrait, do it in such a way that others will admire your work.”

Like a piece of art signed by the artist, the signature event is something we should be proud to “sign” as a best expression of our work in ministry and something that would be pleasing to God.
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A True Signature Event Calls for the Commitment of the Whole Church

A signature event is a defining event in the life of a church, and the whole church will be called upon to come, give, and lead. Even if the signature event is a children’s event or a youth event, a young adult event or an older adult event, the whole church will have a role to play. Every department makes a commitment and a contribution.

Because of the high level of commitment that is called for, a church may only be able to handle one or two or three signature events in a calendar year, depending upon the perceived available bandwidth in a congregation. Signature events are not to be entered into lightly but with the realization that they are demanding in nature and can leave a congregation physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. But at the same time they can generate a propelling spiritual energy that drives a church forward into next steps and levels of ministry effectiveness.

A Few Tips for Your Signature Event 

• Put a Major Event Coordinator (MEC) in charge. While a staff person may resource the MEC’s work, a signature event is too big for one person. Recruit your MEC more than six months in advance, and give them the tools they will need.
• Develop a timeline for all aspects of the event. The timeline should include target dates for everything from publicity and promotion to volunteer recruitment to the procurement of supplies.
• Use a Major Event Notebook. Ask your MEC to document everything! Their notes will not only help to keep him or her organized, but will also be of great help to the next year’s coordinator. Collect the notebook from your MEC a month after the event and ready it for next year.
• Make sure that you support the major events of other areas in your church. That’s only fair, and it encourages the work and support of others.

Conclusion

Every great ministry does not necessarily have to have a signature event, but many of them do. And many of them are making an impact in their communities, an impact that flows from the heart of their mission and purpose.

If you want to explore more about the whys and hows of major events, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about putting together a major event worthy of your signature.

The post Do You Have a Signature Event? appeared first on Ministry Architects.

1. I would remember to say ‘no,’ and feel good about it.
2. I would only be involved in things that I was passionate about.
3. I would play golf at least once a week.
4. I would visit a different church every week. After all, I had listened to myself preach for 35 years. It was time to hear everybody else.

One of the churches I visited recently presented an interesting experience – I had the address, and my GPS could direct me to the location, but once I arrived, the entrance drive was obscure, and there was no signage to direct me to any part of the building.

Had I been a standard, first-time, Sunday morning visitor, this church would probably have lost me within the first ten seconds.

Clear signage and ease of access are key components of a church’s hospitality. It is amazing how quickly that visitors evaluate the hospitality of a church which they visit.

There is much to be said about social media as a portal into the church, but then how easily a visitor can find and access the location and building spaces becomes the first tangible physical way that the visitor experiences the…
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Churches should be aware of how the major GPS providers are directing visitors to their location. If you have multiple entry drives, there may be one particular one to which you would like to direct your visitors. Suggested edits and feedback to providers may help you fine tune your media presence in how a provider like Google is directing people into your location.

Traffic flow and entry points to church parking should be clearly marked. This is one of those places where it is important to look through the eye of the visitor. People who are familiar with the church know where to enter, know where to park in order to get easiest access, know how to get to classes or worship. Visitors don’t, and signage must be developed from their perspective. It’s just so important – why not a sign that simply says, “Enter.”

Exterior signage should direct visitors to major entry points. Those unfamiliar with the building are typically looking for worship spaces. Identify these first, then also related spaces such as nurseries. For weekdays, many visitors will look for the church office or childcare entry.

Parking personnel should be available to manage areas of congestion or confusion. There will always be spots that require a little extra attention:

• Is it okay to park on the main thoroughfare at a church with limited parking?
• Is there a traffic jam in spots as one service turns out and another begins?
• Are shuttles needed for moving people over long distances after they park?
• Is someone needed outside the building to answer questions for visitors as they arrive?

Friendly people can allay the fears of visiting a new and confusing place and can interpret the most complex of facilities with a smile.
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Interior signage should pick up where exterior signage leaves off, directing visitors to the places that visitors go – worship spaces, age-level classes, and nurseries – again focusing on the main places of interest to visitors.

We had an interesting insight offered at a church where I served on staff at one time. We wanted to know how we were doing with our signage, so we asked an architectural firm to evaluate it. After a thorough tour of the building and many notes taken, the architect returned saying, “Well, now I know what business you’re in – you’re in the bathroom business!” One look around with new perspective proved him to be true – every corner displayed direction to the nearest bathroom, even more often than to the main worship space. Our signage did not truly reflect who we were and what we were about.

If you truly want to offer hospitality, put on your “visitor glasses” and see what your visitor sees, then take the time to assist that visitor in his/her journey into your location and building through clear, adequate signage. If you want to explore more about how to seamlessly lead visitors into your building, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about developing a depth of hospitality that will draw visitors to your door.

The post Signage: Win or Lose a Visitor in Ten Seconds appeared first on Ministry Architects.

You have just heard in casual conversation amongst youth workers in your congregation that the very fine college freshman young man who started working with your youth in the spring semester is now the unofficial “very fine prom date for senior girls.” He has three prom dates lined up already, one of which is past. How could this happen?!

And then you realize that it happened because you never told him that he shouldn’t, that operating as an adult amongst teenagers would be very different than simply being Mr. Wonderful Prom Date for teenage girls.

Many long-serving, well-trained volunteers know the rules of the road when it comes to serving with children and youth. But even the best equipped ministry volunteers need to be reminded, at least on an annual basis, what the expectations and ground rules are for serving in your ministry, not to mention Mr. Wonderful, who means well and will do a good job once he gets the lay of the land.

Your ministry needs a full statement of youth ministry personnel guidelines for staff and volunteers.
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Start with a sound child protection policy.

Since their introduction circa 1990, child protection policies (like “Safe Sanctuaries”) have become standard practice for churches who want to express a full commitment to the protection of the young people in their care from abusive situations and relationships. Instituted by Tennessee teacher Frank O’Neal, the resulting guidelines for churches and other organizations have addressed issues that have long hampered the credibility and effectiveness of faith-based ministries and, even worse, grossly impacted the lives of innocent children and youth.

Click HERE to explore information about “Safe Sanctuaries.”

But there are a number of other areas with which church volunteers should be familiar.

VISION – Spiritual, Scriptural, and Philosophical Underpinnings

Your volunteers need to know why you do what you do.
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They need to know the scriptures that inform that vision and the mission statement that expresses it. They need to know how the ministry operates and the spirit by which it does so. They need to know the goals you are trying to accomplish and how you will know when you’ve arrived.

If you don’t have a Mission Statement, set of Core Values, and Three-year Goals for your ministry, now is a good time to get those visionary ideas on paper.

ACCOUNTABILITY – To Whom You Answer – So when a problem arises or an incident occurs, to whom are your volunteers expected to turn? They need to know the lines of accountability – who’s the “boss” and who can help when they’re stuck.

SAFE SANCTUARIES – Being Familiar and Signing Off – Volunteers should receive training in child protection policies, they should become familiar with those policies, and they should affirm in writing that they have that knowledge.

REQUIREMENTS OF LAW – Abuse, Self-harm – Consult your state law. – Most, if not all, states have laws requiring reporting to authorities when persons in authority, including your ministry volunteers, have knowledge about things such as child abuse or likely self-harm, even disclosed in confidence. You should consult the laws in your state about what those circumstances are, and communicate these to your volunteers.

SPIRITUAL MATURITY – Sharing Your Faith – If yours is like most churches, you will have volunteers at a variety of spiritual maturity levels. Some could replace the best of your staff. Others are hanging by their spiritual fingernails just trying to figure it out week to week, looking to you for guidance. So set your expectations high, and many will live to reach them.

MORAL INTEGRITY – Setting an Example – You will want your volunteers to set a high moral example from which your teenagers can learn. And may the Lord save you from the one who falls from grace on a regular basis.

SOME SPECIFIC AREAS OF CONCERN

What are your expectations when volunteers drive their vehicles?

Do you have certain expectations if volunteers accompany a group of your teenagers to movies?

Do you want to address anything about when youth ministry personnel date others in the same role?

What specifics might you share about fraternization with youth?

How would you address a volunteer or staff person who shares about their personal issues with young people? In public? In private?

Won’t you want to address the implications of the use of social media?

… and there’s always more …

If you don’t tell them, they might not know, even Mr. Wonderful Prom Date and the mothers who suggested him to their daughters for this year’s prom.

If you want to see a sample of youth personnel guidelines, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about equipping your volunteers to be the best that they can be.

The post Equipping Your Volunteers appeared first on Ministry Architects.

One of the true greats in youth ministry, Mike Yaconelli, wrote a book in 2002 that presented a difficult challenge to the modern Church. In Messy Spirituality Yaconelli challenged the Church, which was filled at the time with me-generation Baby Boomers and young, upwardly-mobile professionals (Yuppies) of the 90s, to lay aside its pretense and live authentically.

“Messy spirituality unveils the myth of flawlessness and calls Christians everywhere to come out of hiding and stop pretending. Messy spirituality has the audacity to suggest that messiness is the workshop of authentic spirituality, the greenhouse of faith, the place where the real Jesus meets the real us.”

In his clarion call to authenticity Mike proposed a new way of operating, a new way of relating in the Church, a new way of going deeper, even though he knew that kind of honesty could be rather messy at times.

What Mike was offering was a new core value for the Church.

Core Values Are a Key Component in Your Congregation’s Foundation

Ministry Architects finds that, after a clear Mission Statement, a list of eight to ten Core Values is essential to establishing climate and culture in a congregation.

While a mission statement may give the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a congregation, core values give the ‘how’ or the ‘in what spirit’ description of a congregation.
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And while some core values of a congregation might be applicable most anywhere, other values may more specifically reflect influences of locale, tradition, or contemporary context.

For example, many churches might have core values like “Christ-centered” or “scripturally-focused,” but a metropolitan church working to reach out to a nearby homeless population might value “Engaged in Community.” Or a suburban church surrounded by young families might view “Children Are a Blessing” as a core value. Perhaps, like Mike Yaconelli, a congregation might want to state its value of “Authenticity,” calling its congregants to live openly and honestly as their share life together.

Most core values are stated by a word or short phrase followed by a descriptive sentence. Taking Mike Yaconelli’s example, it might look like this: “Authenticity – We value openness and honesty as we seek God together, knowing that only as our real selves can we meet the real Jesus.”

Why not take a few moments to jot down your own list of eight to ten words or phrases, values that express the spirit by which you would hope your congregation would operate. Share your list with others and challenge them to come up with their own lists. You may find that a pattern begins to emerge.

Core Values Establish the Culture of a Congregation

It is through core values that a congregation finds and expresses its personality, how a congregation discovers its culture, its ethos. It is how a congregation decides and proclaims how and in what spirit it will operate.
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It is through a list of core values that a congregation takes away the guesswork and puts in front of its people (and its visitors) a statement of “This is who we are, and this is how we go about what we do.”

A Few Thoughts About Core Values

The Denominational Effect – While knowing the denominational background of a congregation is always helpful, that knowledge does not necessarily give the full picture of the culture within a congregation. Churches vary widely, even within the same denomination, and a list of core values goes a long way toward revealing what sets one church apart from another.

Communicating Regularly and Thoroughly – Core values must be kept before a congregation on a consistent basis through all of the church’s media – bulletins, website, from the pulpit, etc. – and should be reflected in the ongoing goals of the congregation. “In the top drawer of the church office file cabinet” is not the right place for your list of core values. It must be seen and reinforced on a regular basis.

The Leadership Effect – It is through core values that leadership has its greatest chance to establish or change culture within the congregation – from the outset in the establishment of a first list to modifications of stated core values along the way.

The Hard Conversation – The best lists of core values result from long, hard conversations. These conversations can take place across coffeeshop tables or in leadership retreat settings. But these best lists emerge when lots of people have input, and they have the chance to state and defend what they value within the life of the congregation.

Conclusion

Core values give us one of the best chances to share who we are and how we go about our God-given work. And people want to know what we’re about. So get your pad or your iPad out and see what begins to show up in YOUR list. If you want to explore more about how to shape or re-shape the culture and ministry of your congregation, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time talking with you about how core values reflect and determine what your congregation is and does.

The post Creating Culture in Your Congregation appeared first on Ministry Architects.

A great way to prepare for the new program year is to compile all of the information that you will use to get your team, both staff and volunteers, on the same page.
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At Ministry Architects we recommend that you finish your recruiting for your fall staffing needs around May 1st with some training scheduled shortly thereafter. There are some key components of what you will want to share with your team every year.

What YOUR Team Needs to Know

Vision – First, you’ll want to make sure that your team knows your overall purpose, what it is that they as a team are working to accomplish. A clear mission statement, core values by which you operate, goals for the ministry, and the organizational structure should all be reviewed and shared with the team.

Calendar – Your 12-month calendar for August, 2019 – July, 2020 should be front and center. That calendar will guide everyone’s work and enable your team to get all the important dates on their personal calendars. You’ll also have it ready to share with youth and parents as the year kicks off.

Curriculum Review – Your team will want to know about the content for the coming year. A strong team will need to have its materials well in advance in order to achieve maximum impact. And seeing the overall picture will help your team to see how it all fits together.

Volunteer Needs – Your calendar will enable you to identify all of the very important volunteer duties that must be filled for the year – everything from group leaders to food preparers to bus drivers to major event coordinators, etc. And you’ll be able to recruit all the pieces, before you get to the fall, that are not in place already.

Policies and Expectations – Your team needs to know what the rules and expectations are as they serve in your ministry. Preparing these for your training experience will ensure that your team will be in tip top shape.

Job Descriptions – Many ministry team members serve in volunteer capacities in which everyone assumes what the duties of the role are. Make sure that all the members of your team know what they are supposed to be doing through clear, results-based job descriptions. (Need some help? Click HERE to access helpful resources on the Ministry Architects website.)

Participation Goals – Every event and setting should have a participation goal, the number of participants toward which you are shooting and planning to achieve.

Game Plans – Game plans become a part of what you do so that you can accomplish your goals, e.g. a game plan that enables you to reach your participation goal for a certain event. Game plans enable you to go beyond just hoping that you get there. (Hope, while it is a wonderful thing, is not a plan!)

Major Event Notebooks – Major event notebooks enable you to pass on valuable information from one year to the next, especially as you repeat certain events. Having those notebooks in hand also make recruiting next year’s leaders MUCH easier.

Financial Plan – You may not try to lay out all of the details of your fiscal plan to every member of your team, but there will probably be important aspects of it that would be helpful to certain team members.

Conclusion

If you get all of these pieces in place, you will be well on your way toward a successful fall season, carrying you into a fantastic year.

If you want to explore more about how to get your team in shape for a great season or year, OR if you would like sample team job descriptions, email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time helping you to prepare your team.

The post Getting Your Team on the Same Page appeared first on Ministry Architects.

Well, wasn’t that Easter Egg Hunt that your youth sponsored for the children’s ministry just a blast! I hope you had plenty of “Extra Eggs for Empty Baskets.”

I heard of a neighborhood that had an Easter Egg Hunt that was a lot of fun, too – kids running everywhere, prize-filled plastic eggs hidden in all sorts of auspicious and inauspicious places, even older “children” hunting high and low, shouts of glee upon the discovery of hidden egg treasures, the fun of “cascarones” (confetti-filled egg shells that children crack on each others’ heads). What a fun way to celebrate Easter and to highlight this very special day and season …

… and then it was over …

… and there were candy wrappers and confetti and brightly colored eggshells everywhere. And the morning dew combined with egg dyes to stain stone and concrete. Made me think of Mike Yaconelli’s infamous episode of staining the “Jones Memorial Carpet” in the church ladies’ parlor.

But that is the way that good ministry often is – many times it can leave a mess. The cost of cleaning up is the price we pay for having the opportunity to do ministry in the first place.
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The end of the program year is a good time for some important cleanup.

Ten Places to Pay Attention at the End of the Year

Evaluate – It’s time to climb up in the balcony for a bird’s eye view of what took place in the last year – all seen through the lens of your stated mission. You should ask questions like, “Did this event really reflect what we were hoping would happen in the lives of our youth?” or “Did Sunday night youth group reflect the values that we had in mind?” You’ll be tempted to look forward, but don’t look ahead until you’ve looked back to evaluate.

Review Policies and Game Plans – Many of these won’t change much, but some will out of necessity, e.g. your communication plan will likely change to reflect new modes of youth communication.

Assess Yourself – What are some of the gaps in your knowledge base or professional skills that need some attention? You should be able to address some of those needs through continuing education plans in the coming year.

Evaluate Your Team of Staff and Volunteers – They might need some spiffing up too in the way of training or simply in team building activity.

Financial Accountability – Take a look at how your ministry performed on the bottom line and how accountable you were to the budget under which you were operating. Too many youth ministries make a fiscal mess that calls for a “cleanup on Aisle 7.”

Tighten Up the Rolls – The end of the year gives you a chance to clean up the youth directory and to make contact with MIA youth before they get away for the summer or, worse yet, for good.

Collect Major Event Notebooks – If you’ve done a good job of providing planning information for major event coordinators, it’s time to make sure that all that good information (with new notes included) gets back to the youth office. You can then prepare that valuable information for next year’s coordinator.

Say “Thank You” – Too often we roll right through the year and make a mess of saying, “Thank you.” The end of the program year presents a good opportunity to stop, gather your folks, and give your volunteers a big bear hug by honoring them with a dinner or worship recognition moment.

Redeem relationships – Sometimes the mess is our own, and we’ve left a broken relationship in the wake of a busy year. It’s time to do what you can to bring healing where there is brokenness and to offer a heartfelt “I’m sorry.”

THEN it’s time to look ahead …

Conclusion

When the Easter Egg Hunt, or whatever it is, has absolutely worn you out,

cleaning up is just about the last thing that you want to do. But it’s part of the price we pay, a price that we pay willingly, because paying the price just might give us the chance to do it all again.
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If you want to explore more about what to do when you’ve “stained the Jones Memorial Carpet,” email me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to spend some time helping you to clean up the mess, because I want you to have another opportunity to bless the lives of young people.

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