Givers who know how the church’s mission is funded are passionate about how their gifts advance the Kingdom. Building a broad, thriving stewardship culture amongst your congregation begins with education and transparency.

In this article, learn how to provide givers the tools they need to understand how their gifts fuel the church’s mission.  Meet the needs of new members (and those new to the faith) with basics tailored just for them. 

Grow and sustain a healthy and celebratory culture of giving through this stewardship model grounded in donor education.

One of the most important questions your church can ask about its community is, “Do we reflect the people we’re trying to reach?”

Sometimes your church is trying to engage a group of people no one else is reaching, so you don’t look anything like those you want to reach. But most of the time, it’s easier to reach people with whom you share common traits.

No matter what size your church is, it’s tough to see for yourself how closely you match the community. Our new free guide Comparing Your Church Congregation to Your Community provides step-by-step instructions on how to compare your congregation to your community and see how you stack up.

In this new guide, you’ll learn:

• How to define the boundaries of your community in a way that makes sense for your specific situation.
• A simple approach to plotting your congregation on a map so you can clearly see where your church family lives.
• How to create a report that shows you how your church compares to the community in key demographic metrics.

Discovering how your church compares to the community is an important step to healthy growth.

Download this free guide to find out how you can begin this process immediately.

Don’t launch a capital campaign without thinking through the sustaining elements: your campaign’s infrastructure.

This article provides the key tools you’ll need to plan for your campaign’s leadership, volunteer structure, communications and events.

The last quarter of the year is when most ministry organizations see a big upswing in donations. Many donors consider making significant contributions in the last weeks of the calendar year. These decisions can be driven by their passions and interests and by the realities of tax benefits.

In this article, you’ll learn four steps that will help your church make the most of year-end giving – and beyond.

Think about the last time you went to purchase something, go to a new restaurant, find a new service, or learn how to do something. What is the one common thread?

You searched online.

Your appearance and engagement in the digital space is critically important to your ministry’s future. The term “online” can include many things—a church’s or company’s website, social media, email campaigns, text campaigns, video communication—and much more.

Yet many churches—especially in the small church space—either overlook this vital part of ministry or relegate it to the back burner. Outdated websites, inconsistent social media, and low engagement actually repel the very people you hope to reach.

That’s why we created The Small Church Guide to Doing Digital Ministry Well.

In this interactive guide, you’ll discover:

• Why digital ministry is critical to your church’s growth… and how to get serious about your strategy.
• Why the message you are sharing now may not be reaching the right people… and how to discover the right words to use.
• Why your digital presence is your new “front lobby” … and can either draw people in or push them away.
• Why a plan to engage and interact with people can make them immediately feel welcome… and spark a curiosity to learn more about you.
• The one thing all digital ministry needs to be effective… and how to make it second nature in all you do.

Digital ministry is more than just live streaming.

It’s more than an occasional social media post.

It’s more than a neglected website.

It should be an important strategic part of your church’s plan for reaching your community, now and in the future.

Grab a copy of The Small Church Guide to Doing Digital Ministry Well today and you’ll discover that digital ministry is ministry enhanced. And church beyond the building might become your new favorite way to “do” church.

You’ve launched your campaign and the pledges of support are flowing in. The congregation is excited. So what do you do when your campaign hits a major snag?

This article outlines strategies for overcoming campaign hurdles and pain points – the most common issues we see impact a launched campaign. What happens if your pastor resigns? If you lose a major donor or financing? If your project costs are spiraling? Learn the steps to take to keep your campaign on track when a crisis hits.

Today we have six generations living in our midst—from the centenarian World War II generation to today’s Gen Z children and teenagers. Each brings a different perspective on the world and their
spiritual lives based upon their own unique experiences of history.

To reach these six generations, your church needs to understand their different perspectives. To help you do that, we’ve created a new free guide, Understanding The 6 Different Generations In The Church Today.

With this new free guide, you can:

• Learn what Millennials are looking for in a church so you can more effectively reach them.
• Get a better understanding of your church’s future through a deep dive into today’s
  youngest generation, Gen Z.
• Discover how midlife Gen Xers’ commitment to family is opening up new ministry
  opportunities for your church.

It can feel like record-high inflation and stock market volatility are good reasons to keep kicking the can of a campaign launch down the road. And it’s true: Many churches and organizations have delayed their capital campaign plans due to the pandemic and now with the challenges of the economy.

But don’t give up yet. These concrete steps will help you assess how to best prepare for and  launch a capital campaign for a much-needed project despite the current economic uncertainties.

One of the most critical – but most overlooked – part of planning a campaign is your communications plan. Launching a campaign without a strategy in place for communications can create confusion at best and often leads to poor results.

This article outlines key steps to developing your campaign case for support, your campaign branding and theme and provides a pre-launch campaign communications checklist for churches. Don’t kick off a campaign without this roadmap.

Don’t Let the Unreached Near You Slip Through the Cracks

Studies show that more and more people around us are not being reached by local churches. In 2019, nearly 3 of 10 people in the United States were not affiliated with any religious group. 

That means your church’s mission field is all around you. Yet it still can be hard to discern how to reach those unreached people in your community.

Our new free guide, Top Ideas to Reach the Unreached in Your Community can help. This new resource provides key insights that can show you how to leverage digital tools like MissionInsite to:

• Define the community you’re trying to reach.
• Learn some of the demographic details of your neighbors.
• Understand the needs and program interests of nearby people.

You can’t love the unreached until you know the unreached. This new guide will show you exactly how to leverage high-quality data about your community to develop an effective outreach strategy.