About the Book
There are hundreds of church leadership books, thousands of books on theology and doctrine, dozens upon dozens of books about how to grow your church, lead a staff, adjust your ministry, and even how to build small groups. This book is not about any of that. Most of the topics in this book are not about Sunday morning. It’s about what happens at the church Monday through Friday.
Church Business is simply about the administrative aspects of the local church and what you can do to make church business easier, simpler, and much less painful. This book seeks to help you reduce the stress that comes with church business, so you can focus on what is even more important and the primary reason why you got into ministry in the first place: sharing the Gospel of Christ with your community!
Below are chapters and section descriptions:
INTRODUCTION – The genesis of this book starts with a story about Sam, the senior pastor of a large church that knew nothing of how to manage the church outside of Sunday morning. Nathan shares what happened with Sam and how a single meeting became the catalyst for writing Church Business.
CHAPTER 1 – LEADERSHIP CHOICES – This chapter provides ideas about who should be in leadership roles on committees, elder boards, and staff. Nathan shares real life stories while providing examples and direction on how and where meetings should take place, how to write short but meaningful meeting minutes, and how to develop long-term ministry strategies.
CHAPTER 2 – STAFFING YOUR BEST – This chapter covers topics like how much should you pay low-wage employees (office staff), new trends in staffing positions, how to keep the best employees/pastors, deciding on employee business hours, and sabbaticals.
CHAPTER 3 – BUSINESS OFFICE PRACTICES – General administrative and best-practices across a wide variety of business aspects for church leaders to consider and implement. Topics include phone/email use and response time for staff, saving money while printing, insider language, and financial planning.
CHAPTER 4 – INSURANCE ASSURANCE – Dealing with insurance of various types is never fun, but it’s a necessary and important expense for churches. This chapter provides a simplified view of how to minimize costs and reduce liability, while increasing coverage and improving facility care.
CHAPTER 5 – GIVING, GIVERS, AND GIFTS – A big struggle for pastors is knowing how to increase financial donations without constantly preaching about money from the platform. This chapter provides several examples and methods for increasing giving and mastering “the ASK.”
CHAPTER 6 – ACCOUNTING FOR THE CHURCH – Understanding finances and accounting are many pastor’s biggest frustrations. This chapter seeks to simplify common fund-accounting principles typically used by churches as well as offers examples on budgeting for uncommon but necessary expenses, handling cash after the offering, audits, and non-cash donation rules.
CHAPTER 7 – BUILDING PROFICIENCIES– Church buildings seem to always lack maintenance and 92-year-old Margaret wants to help! This chapter shares stories and examples of where to focus on maintenance, how to empower custodians, why some facilities create bad first-impressions, how to maximize storage space, limiting building keys and access, the impact of handicapped parking stalls, and dealing with public officials.
CHAPTER 8 - COMMUNICATION TRANSFORMATION – This is a short chapter, but one that can make big impacts on church staff communications. It also has examples of how to truly know why people come (and stop coming) to your church. Also, how to maximize use of Sunday bulletins.
CHAPTER 9 – THE SOCIAL OF MEDIA – The last chapter shares ideas and examples of how best to utilize social media, church websites, and learning about community trends through social media.
CLOSING COMMENTS – AND NO STUPID QUESTIONS – Nathan concludes the book by sharing another personal story from his past that translates into next steps for you. Applying the contents of this book may seem daunting to some, but Nathan gives practical advice on how to move forward and make a greater impact for the Kingdom through church business.
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Click here to read a few excerpts of Church Business.
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