Fresh Ideas for Administration & Finance

by Dean Merrill; Marshall Shelley

Publishers:

Christianity Today; Word

, 1984

Overview

What’s the fairest way to set a pastoral salary? Volunteer secretaries: how do you maximize their willingness? What’s the key to shorter board meetings? Does growth always mean another building program? (No!) How does a church keep benevolences from becoming another welfare system? What are the best ways to use video? Computers? How many committees does a church really need?

Here are hundreds of innovative solutions from churches all across the United States and Canada, gathered and arranged by the editors of Leadership and Leadership 100 into eight major sections:

• The Office and Staff
• Boards and Committees
• Facilities
• Materials and Equipment
• Finances
• Scheduling
• Communication
• The Minister’s Personal Life

Contents

Top Highlights

“I have covenanted with the church that absolutely everything will be reported. We have a business meeting every month, after a Wednesday evening service. Members get a 15–20 page report that tells them what we’ve been up to, and anything they don’t approve of can be stopped in short order. Nothing is slipped by in the shadows; everything is out in the open.” (Pages 28–29)

“Most reports have two sections: (1) an analysis of the need, problem, or fact, and (2) a recommendation for action” (Page 33)

“Once the group assembles, it doesn’t have to spend time informing and describing—it can get right to deciding.” (Page 34)

“Educational qualifications (ministerial staff only)” (Page 105)

“When a committee gathers by itself at the church, the members sometimes feel they’re carrying the whole church on their shoulders. But when our leaders see 50 other decision makers, they know they’re sharing the load.’” (Page 30)

Product Details

• Title: Fresh Ideas for Administration & Finance
• Editors: Marshall Shelley and Dean Merrill
• Publisher: Word Books
• Publication Date: 1984
• Pages: 168