We recently relocated to southwest Florida and, as we continue our quest to find a permanent home, we are visiting churches.  My goal is to find a church for my husband and I and then we hope to purchase a home close to our church.

I worked on staff at a large church for ten years and now help churches develop plans to improve the way they manage their people, time and money, so I have an interesting perspective when I visit a church.

My background is in quality management so I pay attention to small details, systems and processes that affect the church experience.  There are many things that impact a member’s experience and each is important.

The church we visited Sunday did a great job and I thought it might help you if I shared my experience.

6 Things This Church Did Well

1.  Internet Friendly

I did what most people do today when looking for a church, I went to the Google bar and typed in “churches in Naples”.  This sent me a list of churches which allowed me to visit the church website to find out what they believe, their service times, and driving directions. This church had the domain napleschurch.com - brilliant!

To rank well in Google requires a bit of work behind the scenes but is very doable with a little search engine optimization (SEO) knowledge.  If you want to learn about SEO there are a lot of resources out there.  Blogging Your Passion. is a great website that teaches the basics for creating a blog and has video tutorials that can help you learn the basics about starting a website.  The 201 course specifically teaches you how to get traffic to your website and how to use social media to promote your site.

2.  Great Website

Websites are often the first impression that someone has with an organization so having a well organized and current website communicates a lot about a church.  This church had an impressive website that was well designed and easy to navigate.  This ease communicated to me that they invest resources to maintaining their window to the world. If you don’t have a website, or just want to improve your site, there is a good, quick read book, How to Build a Church Website for Under $100 on Kindle.  This is for churches with limited resources to commit to their website.

3.  First Impression

As we drove on to the campus, we saw great way-finding signage explaining where to park if visiting.  This helped us know where to go.  As we approached the building there were many friendly people welcoming us and as we entered the lobby, there was lots of activity.  The coffee bar was buzzing with people sipping their java and mingling before church.  The vibe was upbeat and inviting. There was lots for clear signage helping us figure out which door to enter to get a seat. The ushers were in uniform – a white button down shirt and dark pants – making them easy to identify.  The auditorium had stadium seating with very comfortable chairs.  I was really impressed as we sat and waited for the service to begin.

4.  Intelligent Use of Technology

A few minutes before service started a video came on the screen welcoming members and visitors and instructed people to take their seats.  The video also prepared visitors for the service by explaining what to expect when the service began.  No surprises.  Once the service began the music was upbeat and facilitated a great worship experience.  The video announcements were engaging and did a great job recruiting volunteers and explaining upcoming events.

5.  Efficient with Time

The service had a clearly defined order of service and it was evident that keeping with the time constraints was a priority.  The service we attended was the second of three services and I’m sure this may have had something to do with it but the service was ended deliberately and on time.  The message was relevant and provided some great takeaways. Each part of the service was executed efficiently and effectively.

6.  Intentional

Probably the biggest thing I noticed was how intentional everything was.  I don’t know how old the facility is, I’m thinking not very, but it was intelligently designed and laid out.  The lobby was open and had a great bookstore, coffee bar, welcome center and plenty of room to mingle with friends.  It was evident that someone thought through the entire experience process of a member or visitor and designed a space and a service around that.

I have visited a fair number of churches and I have to say this one does things about as good as any I have seen.  In case you are wondering the name of the church is Living Word Family Church.  If this is your church please tell your volunteers, employees and leadership team good job!

Do you know of any other churches in southwest Florida I can check out?

photo by:  John Greengo Photography

Many churches are a little behind the curve with establishing an internet presence. The world today seeks out information about churches online and ministries that either don’t have an online presence, or a stagnant website should consider taking steps to improve their online presence and should be part of a public relations strategy.

One of the reasons churches don’t have a good website is because of the expense associated with hiring a professional to design and build a church website.

As many of you know my son Bob is the founder of Christian Personal Finance.  In his role he has been building websites for more than five years and has a passion for finding cheaper and better ways of doing things.  He also has a heart for seeing churches grow and advance which resulted in his release of a new book called How To Build A Church Website For Under $100.  This Kindle book is a great resource for church plants, ministries or churches that are resource challenged.

The book covers every aspect of building a church website for the DIY and explains things like:

Domain:  How to find and secure the best domain name for your church.

Web-hosting: How to find affordable web-hosting with great customer service.

Software:  How to install a free software to use as a platform to build your website.

Theme: Choosing and designing theme to create a specific look and feel for your website.

Content: Determining what kinds of content pages you’ll need to begin building your website.

Social Media: It provides step-by-step instructions for adding social media to your site.

This is a great quick read and well work the  price of $.99 and comes with a money back guarantee if you don’t like it.  If you are starting out and have limited resources, I highly recommend this Kindle book.

Most churches deal with requests for benevolence assistance at one time or another and creating a policy and procedure for church benevolence assistance helps to ensure consistency in practice.

It is important to have church benevolence guidelines in place so everyone understands the steps to take when a request comes in.  

A church benevolence policy should provide specific steps for the process and incorporate criteria for benevolence, approval process and a benevolence assistance application.  

Keep in mind that issues of benevolent help are of a confidential nature and applicant information should only be shared only with those who have a legitimate need to know.

Church Benevolence Policy Example:

ABC Community Church will make benevolence determinations based on the following criteria, application and approval process.  ABC Community Church will make payment directly to the vendor of benevolent request or provide member with gift card as determined by approval committee.  At no time will recipient receive cash or personal check payment directly from ABC Community Church.

Criteria for Benevolence:

• Must be a church member in good standing.
• Complete benevolence application form.
• Does not have the means to provide basic food or shelter.
• Has experienced disaster (fire, tornado, flood, etc.).
• Is experiencing a severe family crisis.
• Is a victim of crime.
• Member or family is experiencing a catastrophic medical issue. 

 Process for Benevolence:

• Elder or pastor receives request for benevolence.
• Elder asks member to complete benevolence form and informs them of the approval process and timeline for approval.
• Member completes benevolence request form and gives to elder or pastor.
• Benevolence review committee (two elders and pastor) reviews the request and approves or denies request by signing benevolence application.
• If application is denied, elder contacts member and informs them of decision.
• If application is approved, elder shares application with treasurer and acquires funds for benevolence.
• Elder purchases gift card or instructs treasurer to pay benevolent bill (no funds are to paid directly to applicant).  Funds should be disbursed by gift card or check written directly to vendor.
• Elder follows up and provides applicant with benevolent disbursement.
• Benevolent approvals and amounts of disbursed funds should  be entered into the church database for future reference.  
• Treasurer prepares monthly benevolence report for church board.

Benevolence Committee

• Benevolence Committee should be comprised of two elders and senior pastor.
• Committee should be available to meet Sundays or Wednesdays after church services to review benevolence applications and make recommendations.
• Church treasurer should be available Sunday and Wednesdays after church to make benevolent disbursement and record in church database. 

Example Benevolence Assistance Application Form

This is an example policy, and every church is different, so use this as a guide to develop guidelines that are appropriate for your members and church culture.

You can click here for a modifiable template of this benevolence application.

How does your church handle benevolence requests?

People go to church to have their spiritual and social needs met.  Finding the right church can be difficult for people because they may not always know how to find a church that is culturally and doctrinally compatible with their demographic and beliefs.  

Some people will church shop until they find a church that is the right fit for them but what about those people out there who might be open to joining a church but don’t know how to?  

Most churches welcome new members but don’t do anything proactively to recruit them.  If people show up they welcome them but they don’t necessarily do anything to get them there.  This creates a gap between opportunity and met needs.

5 Ideas for Recruiting New Church Members

1. Community Involvement

As the church, we are called to reach our community.  Community outreach may be a great way to expose people to your church.  For example, get involved with blood drives, disaster recovery or volunteer for community events.  Use these occassions to meet people and to share information about your church and all it has to offer.

2.  Host Community Events

Reach out into your neighborhood by hosting events that help the community.  Use your volunteer labor to support initiatives that can better the community.  For example, find a local park or neighborhood and take a day to clean it up or freshen up the landscape.

3.  Member Recruitment

Take a few Sundays a year and ask members to invite family or friends.  People tend to do this for Christmas and Easter but taking a different Sunday and creating a special message geared toward visitors, can help them better understand the church’s mission and vision and what you are trying to achieve.

4.  Create Diversity Friendly Services

People with hearing impairments or language barriers are always looking for a place to worship that caters to their needs.  Target the diverse population in your area and create a church service that not only speaks their language but one that honors their culture.  Advertise a hearing impaired service and have someone available to sign for the service and watch how many people you attract!

5.  Interest Based Groups

Saddleback church sets the standard for creating interest based groups that cater to about any kind of interest and passion.  Create groups around interests and have members invite their family and friends with like interests to participate.  This is all part of relationship building.  This will obviously need some structure and oversight but use a volunteer to help coordinate and train volunteer leaders.

Use a team of volunteers and brainstorm other ways to recruit new members to your church and pay attention to those things that a church visitor will evaluate as they enter your doors.  We are the church and reaching out to our community to join us is a basic requirement of our Christian walk.

What ways do you recruit new people to your church?

Churches are beginning to embrace service quality and church quality assurance  in how they manage their operations and resources.

Quality is one of those terms that can be very vague, depending on our own frame of reference, so let’s look at a couple of formal definitions.

Dictionary.com defines quality as “Character with respect to fineness; high grade, superiority, excellence; degree or standard of excellence”.  This definition focuses on doing things excellently.

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) defines the term as:  “The characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated, or implied needs, and a product or service free of deficiencies.”   This definition focuses more on creating products and services that are free of defects.

When we think about product quality, we think about products that we purchase, things like a car, a refrigerator, or maybe a lawnmower.  We all like to use products that perform in the way we expected it to when we bought it.  For example, when we buy a car, we expect that car to operate without problems for at least the warranty period and would hope that it operates without issues for years after that, assuming we do our part by maintaining it.

In the service sector, quality is viewed very differently because it is more experientially based.  In other words, people judge service quality based on their perception of the experience.  For example, when we go to the hospital, we judge the care we receive based on things like how we are communicated with, how efficient the registration process is or how polite and caring the staff are.

It is the experience that we judge more than the clinical care because (unless we have a clinical background) we don’t know if someone is taking our blood pressure correctly or our temperature the correct way, we just know how they treated us during the encounter.

For churches, our customers are our visitors, members, employees and volunteers and they judge us based on how we interact with them and how efficient and effective our operations are.

History of Quality

Quality practices can be traced as far back as the 13th century when craftsman began organizing in to unions called guilds to maintain standards of quality.  This practice continued, and by the mid 1750’s factory systems of product inspections started in Great Britain which expanded and grew into what we now know as the Industrial Revolution.  

Then early in the 20th century, manufacturers began incorporating quality practices  into their manufacturing processes.

During WWII, the US military inspected products made for the war to ensure safety of its troops and in an effort to save time and money they began using sampling techniques (inspecting a small sample size of product units rather than an entire batch,), specification standards (using agreed to work instructions based on best practices) and training on statistical process control techniques (using data to monitor and control product quality).

After WWII the quality revolution began in Japan and with the help of two Americans, Joseph Juran and W. Edwards Deming  there was a slight shift in how quality was done.  Rather than focusing on inspection, there was an emphasis on improving organizational processes through the people who used them, instead of product inspections.

By the 1970s the US automobile and electronic industries were broadsided by Japan’s high quality competition and responded by emphasizing not only on statistical control methods but also on approaches that embraced the entire organization.  This ultimately birthed (TQM) or total quality management as a business practice.

Healthcare jumped on the bandwagon and began using quality approaches to the healthcare process in the early 1990’s.  And since the turn of the century, quality has moved beyond manufacturing and healthcare and into the service, education and government sectors.

Nonprofit and church organizations are the newest group  to embrace quality practices in how they manage their operations and resources.  This is because their customers (visitors, members, employees and volunteers) have become accustomed to high standards of excellence in other industries and are expecting the same of the church.  

Everyone likes organization, efficiency and excellence and who more than the church should be operating out of a passion for excellence?  It’s our calling!

How is the service quality in your church?

History of Quality source:  ASQ

Salespeople are trained to make connections and look for sales opportunities everywhere they go.  This includes targeting people they go to church with because of the easy access to prospects.

This can create a challenge for church leaders because the question that inevitably comes up is whether the church is willing to provide a member business directory for church members.

This can seem like a good idea for business people in the church because they have a passion for their product and want to share it with others, but creating a business directory has the potential to create problems for church members and ultimately church leadership. It is important to know how to handle this kind of request and create a policy and procedure for your church.

Some Things To Think About

Confidentiality

Business transactions typically require gathering some sort of personal information.  It may be financial, demographic or family information.  Regardless, ensuring that personal information is kept confidential should always be the priority and sometimes there is information that should not be shared with other church members.

Pressure Sales

Salespeople are trained to achieve sales goals and sometimes those well trained, die hard salespeople can be relentless in their pursuit of a sale.  This can create an awkward moment and annoying situation for people who interact with them.  No one wants to be a badgered by a persistent sales person, particularly when they are at church.

Church Endorsement

The church needs to be cautious about sending the message of endorsing a person or business.  This misperception can lead to all kinds of problems so it is important to have clear communication about the church not endorsing any member run businesses.

Keeping Information Current

Member directories can be complex and an administrative nightmare with regards to collecting information and ensuring information is accurate and up to date. Additionally, this may not be the best use of a church’s limited resources.

As church leaders we want to assist our church members when we can so it is important to think through solutions that can be a benefit to all parties.

Possible Solutions

Create a Business Page On Church Website

Add a church member business page to your website where members can create an account and a business profile page. There should be a disclaimer and an agreement with all members using this page that if someone creates an account and completes a profile, they are basically giving permission for other members to view their business profile.  This means that if they choose to create an account, they are giving permission to be solicited from others.  If they don’t want to be solicited, they should not list their business. This would limit the solicitation to people within this group. It is also important to make it very clear on the business page what its intent is and that the page is solely for the purpose of business people to network with each other and make connections.

Create a Business Members Group

Another option would be to create a group for business people and allow them to meet monthly or quarterly to exchange business cards, share information and network, You can also use this group to develop and train others on business skills.  Try to make sure that the group understands the expectation to keep to themselves and not impose sales on church members outside of this group. 

As church leaders we don’t want to stand in the way of relationship building but no one wants to feel like they need to hide in church from that annoying salesman. Finding the balance can prove to be a win-win for both parties.

How does your church handle these kinds of requests?

Church employees and volunteers are often exposed to a great deal of confidential information.  This assumes a significant amount of responsibility and code of ethics for those who have access to this sensitive material.

According to dictionary.com, confidentiality is defined as “having another’s trust or confidence; entrusted with secrets or private affairs.”

It is the responsibility of church leadership to protect and safeguard confidential and sensitive information.

Members and volunteers provide the church with information about their demographics, their finances and often their personal lives and trust that those who have access to this sensitive information will maintain a high level confidentiality.

The church also maintains human resource information on their employees which needs to be safeguarded also.  This includes personal demographic data as well as social security numbers and medical information.

Without a focus on confidentiality, sensitive information may be inadvertently shared with individuals who should not have access to this information.

5 Tips for Church Confidentiality

1. Confidentiality Policy

The first step is to write a policy for confidentiality.  This should include expectations for those people who are exposed to sensitive information and guidelines for dealing with inappropriate inquiries.  For example, it is common for people to call the church office and ask for the phone number or address of a church member. This policy should include how to handle such inquiries.

2.  Confidentiality Agreement

Employees and volunteers who have access to sensitive information should be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement indicating that they understand the importance of safeguarding sensitive information. The goal of the agreement is to merely assert the organization’s commitment to maintaining and respecting personal and private information and should be kept in the employee or volunteer file.

3.  Confidentiality Training

Once you have a well thought out policy in place, it is essential to train employees, as well as volunteers, about the importance of maintaining confidentiality. This type of training can be incorporated into the employee and volunteer orientation process. Simply making people mindful of the expectations helps to heighten their awareness and compliance.

4.  Need-to-Know Approach

Sometimes there are issues with members or volunteers that are of a pastoral matter and need to kept at that level. Sharing this information with other employees and volunteers is inappropriate with the exception of a need-to-know situation.  For example, if the volunteer office receives a background check and discovers that a volunteer has been convicted of a child sexual predator act, a pastor will need to be informed so they can help manage the communication to that volunteer.

5.  Control Access

Access to confidential and sensitive information needs to be controlled. Electronic files need to have limited user access and paper files need to be locked at all times.  The policy should clearly state who has access to what data and specifically who is exposed to donor and background check information.

The are many responsibilities that come with managing a church office but one of the most significant is creating an environment that protects and safeguards employee, member and volunteer sensitive information.

Churches have come to realize the importance of incorporating quality concepts and tools into their management model.

Many churches and nonprofit organizations are now focusing on efficiency and effectiveness in the way their mission is achieved.

While some might argue that quality concepts are too carnal for the church, I would argue that the church should lead with quality – after all they are representing Christianity.

Quality is defined by the American Society for Quality as “The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs; and a product or service free of deficiencies”.

Phil Baker, states that “excellence is not about impressing other people, it is about doing it right because it is the right thing to do. It is not seen as clearly in the big things as it is in the little things. It’s about learning from our mistakes and implementing improvements based on what we learn.”

Quality is about how things are done and focuses on data driven decision making,  learning from mistakes and a commitment to continuous improvement.

6 Characteristics of Quality

1. Customer Focus

Church customers are their key stakeholders – their members, volunteers, visitors and the community they serve.

Churches should take the time to learn about their customer groups and develop systems and programs to support those customer needs. This can be done by soliciting feedback with a church survey and developing plans to address customer requirements.  For example, if your church has a lot of young families, it is important to create programs to support children and youth.

2. Leadership

Leadership is about influencing others.  For a ministry, it is rallying people around a shared mission.  Developing leaders to help further the cause is a continual process which includes transferring those leadership skills and reproducing leaders.

3. Resource Management

God blesses churches with valuable resources – people, time and money.  Being good stewards and managing those resources efficiently is one of the biggest responsibilities of church leaders.  This involves constantly looking for ways to do things cheaper, quicker and more effectively.

4. Training and Development

Employees and volunteers are the engine of the church making it important to nurture and develop that core group to help them advance in their roles. This includes training and focused role development for increased responsibility.

5. Process Improvement

Donald Berwick, MD has a great quote, “every systems is perfectly designed to achieve exactly the results it gets.”  What this means is, improvement does not happen without intentionally looking at internal processes and finding ways to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.

6. Data Management

Decisions should be birthed out of a commitment to using all available data.  Budget decisions should be based on projected revenue; church programs should be based on demographic information about members or community; volunteer training should be based on data gathered from volunteer feedback, church service programming should be based on member demographic data, etc.  Data driven decisions are how successful organizations achieve objectives – for the church that means mission accomplished!

The church is responsible for representing Christianity in a way that demonstrates excellence and efficiency. Church quality assurance is one way of doing that.

How does your church maintain a quality culture?

Working for a ministry can be challenging because of the many hats church employees wear and the limited resources available to help fulfill the church mission.

The good news is God’s word is full of encouragement for everyone, but especially those who are called into full-time ministry.

I pray that these scriptures are an encouragement to you!

1. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.  Psalm 32:8

2. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6

3. If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.  Proverbs 24:10

4. But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31

5. Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

6. For My thoughts are not your thought, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9

7. Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.  Jeremiah 33:3

8. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  Matthew 11: 28-30

9. On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  Matthew 16:18

10. The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.  Luke 18:27

11. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

12. If God is for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

13. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  1 Cor 2:9

14. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  Galatians 6:9

15. Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.  Phil  1:6

16. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  Phil 2:13

17. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  Phil 4:6

18. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Phil 4:13

19. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Phil 4:19

20. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.  1 Thessalonians 5:24

21. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  2 Timothy 1:7

22. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.  2 Tim 2:3-4

23. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.  Hebrews 10:36

24. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach.  James 1: 5

25. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  Revelation 21: 7

God bless you for all that you do!

photo by:  DrGBB