"Leading Ideas: Top Resources of 2017" Lewis Center for Church Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 27 December 2017

"Leading Ideas: Top Resources of 2017" Lewis Center for Church Leadership from Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 27 December 2017

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From the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
op Lewis Center Resources of 2017
Lewis Center resources guide you in strengthening your personal leadership and renewing your congregation. Following are our most popular free and purchased resources of the year. Save 20% on video tool kits and PDF ebooks with coupon code TOP2017 through December 31, 2017.
Top Free Resources

50 Ways to Take Church to the Community
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50 Ways to Take Church to the Community
50 Ways

Churches can no longer open their doors and expect that people will come in. Effective congregations go into the world to encounter those in need of the gospel. These 50 Ways provide tips on reaching beyond the walls of your church with worship, community events, ministries, and service.

Embrace an expansive concept of community

1. Learn to regard your community as an extension of your congregation. A church’s mission field goes beyond its membership to include all the people God calls it to serve. You are connected to individuals who never set foot in your building.
2. Know that what’s happening within the church — preaching, worship, music, Bible study — is no longer enough to attract people in an age when church attendance is no longer a cultural expectation.
3. Don’t sit in your church building waiting for people to come. Be prepared to meet people where they are.

Prepare spiritually

4. Acknowledge the synergy between the Great Commandment in Matthew 22 (love your neighbor as yourself) and the Great Commission in Matthew 28 (go and make disciples). Evangelistic outreach expresses our love of others.
5. Remember that Jesus primarily engaged people through everyday encounters, rather than in the Temple or synagogues. He fed people, met their everyday needs, and enjoyed the fellowship of others.
6. Express love and compassion for your community in big and small ways. Avoid judgmentalism.
7. Pray regularly for your neighbors and lift up community concerns.
8. Attend to the faith formation of existing members. Willingness to share faith and reach out to others develops as one grows in faith and discipleship.
9. Prepare spiritually for the transformation that creative, risk-taking outreach will bring.

Get to know the community surrounding your church

10. Review demographic data from public, private, and denominational sources, but don’t assume that statistics alone will tell the whole story.
11. Get out in your neighborhood. Walk the streets. Map the area, and record your observations. Note how the community is changing.
12. Assess community needs and assets. What are the needs of your context? Who are your neighbors, and how can you serve them?
13. Be attuned to where God is already at work in your community.

Listen and learn

14. Know that ministries that truly bless a community often arise out of conversations where you listen for the hopes and dreams of people in your community.
15. Interview residents of the community. Sit in a park, diner, or coffee house. Ask simply, “What are your challenges, hopes, longings and dreams?”
16. Get to know the major public officials. They are people with tremendous influence. They need to know of your church’s commitment to the community.
17. Involve many people from your church in this work. Hold one another accountable to the tasks of engaging and learning from others.
18. Discern clusters of issues and concerns that arise from these conversations. Ask what issues, suffering, injustices, or brokenness might you address.

Build authentic relationships

19. Strive for meaningful engagement with others, not superficial gestures.
20. Make sure you are reaching out to people for the right reasons. If your motive is simply to get them to come to church, people will see right through to it.
21. Maintain appropriate boundaries, and respect all with whom you engage.
22. Collaborate with others who are also passionate about the community. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you can partner with someone else serving the community.

Turn your existing ministries outward

23. Challenge each church group with an inside focus to find a way to become involved with the community outside the church. A choir might sing at a nursing home, or trustees could sponsor a neighborhood clean-up.
24. Extend recruiting and advertising for church groups and events to audiences beyond your congregation. For example, recruit for choir members in a local paper or community list serve.
25. Build relationships with those taking part in existing programs that serve the community, such as ELS classes, food pantry or clothes bank users, daycare families, etc.

Reach out through community events

26. Plan “bridge events” designed explicitly to draw people from the community by providing for them something they need or enjoy — block parties, free concerts, seasonal events, parenting classes, sports camps, or school supply giveaways, etc. Source: Get Their Name by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan (Abingdon Press, 2013)
27. Hold these events off church property or outside the church walls in venues where people feel comfortable and naturally congregate.
28. Get the word out through a well-planned publicity campaign.
29. Encourage church members to invite their friends and neighbors. It is less threatening for them to invite someone to a community event than to worship.
30. Avoid explicitly religious themes: no preaching, prayers, pressure, or financial appeals that might turn people off or reinforce negative stereotypes about church.
31. Remember, the event itself is not the purpose. The purpose is to meet people where they are and build relationships. Mingle. Get to know people.
32. Have a well-trained hospitality team. Make sure guests are enjoying themselves and know their attendance is appreciated.
33. Gathering people’s names and information about them will permit follow up to those for whom it is appropriate.
34. Invite those who attend community events to another event — sometimes called a “hand off event” — planned to draw them into a deeper relationship.

Extend your congregation’s spiritual presence beyond church walls

35. Recognize that many “unchurched” people are spiritually inclined but apprehensive about attending church because they feel unwelcome, distrust institutions, or have been hurt in the past.
36. Pay attention to the heightened receptiveness to spiritual engagement around religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas.
37. Offer offsite worship services on special days, such as Christmas Eve, Palm Sunday, and Easter. Select familiar venues where people feel comfortable — parks, restaurants, parking lots, coffee houses.
38. Offer imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday in public places.
39. Partner with other institutions (such as nursing homes, hospitals, or prisons) or commercial establishments (restaurants, bars, shopping centers, or sports facilities) to offer worship services to their constituents or clientele on special days.
40. Plan creative outdoor events, such as live nativities or “blessing of the animals” services, to help make your church visibly present to the community in creative ways.
41. Hold your Vacation Bible School in a local park or recreation center. Canvas nearby neighborhoods to invite families.
42. Reach out to local media. Community outreach is often newsworthy, and reporters are often looking for religiously themed stories around the holidays.

Connect spiritual outreach to community service

43. Acknowledge that many served through feeding and clothing ministries, justice ministries, weekday children’s services, and other ministries of community service have no other connections with our churches.
44. Ask if these ministries inadvertently convey an “us and them” attitude or communicate that “you are not worthy of joining us.”
45. Identify aspects of church life, such as characteristics of the building or how people dress, that may make some feel unwelcome. Are there alternatives that may reduce barriers for some to enter?
46. Treat everyone as a person of dignity who deserves respect.
47. Extend genuine hospitality to those you serve.
48. Focus first on building relationships of understanding and trust.
49. Consider adding a spiritual or discipleship element to community service activities but without any sense of expectation or requirement. For example, have a service or study following ESL classes for any interested.
50. Seek to conduct each activity in a way that connects people to God and the church.

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Reach New Disciples with the “Taking Church to the Community” Video Tool Kit

Explore strategies your congregation can use to reach beyond its walls with worship, community events, ministries, and service. The Taking Church to the Community Tool Kit features engaging videos, presentations, and supplemental materials and is designed for both self study and for use with groups in your church. Learn more and watch introductory videos today.

50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
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50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
By Lewis Center On March 18, 2016
50 Ways

Church members who make pledges give substantially more than those who do not, and congregations that seek annual financial commitments have significantly higher levels of overall giving. These 50 tips will help you maximize giving by improving your annual financial campaign.

Engage your leaders and members

1. Choose a time of year when the congregation can focus its attention on stewardship and when there is a high probability of connecting with the most people. The annual financial campaign should be on the calendar a year in advance and planned with as much attention to detail as Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve.
2. Pick a new theme every year for your stewardship campaign. Taking the time to be creative and innovative may encourage your members to take the time to reflect on their giving.
3. Be strategic in building a leadership team. Involve a large group of people to build their sense of responsibility for the outcome. Include persons from different age groups and different ministry areas. A faithful giver (preferably someone who tithes) should head your annual stewardship campaign.
4. Be sure that the generous givers of the congregation are well represented on the stewardship team and other groups related to the church’s funding, just as you would be sure to include those most active in other ministry areas as you plan for those ministries.
5. Do not hesitate to ask church leaders to make their pledges first as a sign of their commitment and as an encouragement to the larger congregation.
6. Orchestrate a comprehensive communication strategy to focus attention on stewardship during your campaign. Use every available means — sermons, music, testimony, newsletter articles, study programs, bulletin boards, banners, etc.

Plan carefully

7. Remember — and communicate — that the annual budget is about ministry and mission, not dollars. Prepare the budget with great care, being sensitive to giving trends. Set ambitious but realistic goals.
8. Define your purpose and set goals. Set priorities and sequence activities in appropriate ways. Be efficient and realistic in making assignments. Be logical about how you allocate your time and efforts in relation to expected outcomes.
9. Establish a realistic timeline. In larger churches, planning and implementing the annual commitment campaign can take six months or more. Use benchmark dates to keep on track.
10. Avoid the temptation to rush to the final steps without spending adequate time and attention on the foundational steps that normally determine success or failure.
11. Know that developing a congregation of faithful givers does not happen only through a stewardship drive. Develop a year-round approach to stewardship education.
12. Appreciate that fund raising is incremental. The most important determinant of how much you can raise this year is what you raised last year.

Approach solicitation with a healthy frame of mind

13. Never be apologetic or feel guilty about stewardship appeals. Campaign leaders are not asking for themselves. Their willingness to approach others about giving is an expression of their deep commitment to the church. The vast majority of those being asked will respond in ways that honor that commitment.
14. Remember that there is a great deal of “money looking for mission” and that many people are seeking ways to use their resources to advance their values and do God’s will.
15. Remember that people give to many things, so do not assume that people will give all their charitable giving to the church. You need to make your case.
16. Emphasize that stewardship is about faithfulness to God, not obligation to the church. Stress the giver’s joy in giving rather than the church’s need to receive.

Structure your campaign to acknowledge unique giving patterns

17. Know that every church has a “giving pyramid” with a small percentage of donors contributing a large proportion of what is given; for not all people have the same resources to give, and not all people are at the same level of spiritual maturity. Most money will come from larger gifts.
18. Analyze giving histories and membership data in your congregation to determine where your people are on your pyramid.
19. Track pledges and giving by age “decades” (younger than 20s, 20s, 30s, 40s, etc.) so you can assess giving patterns across age groups.
20. Determine what percentage of giving comes from those aged 70 and above. You may be vulnerable if this percentage is high and getting higher each year.
21. Focus on those currently giving. Most of the giving, including increases, will come from those already giving.
22. Be realistic in your expectations from those who are not currently giving. New donors are much more difficult to reach, are less likely to respond, and will give less than those already giving.
23. Know that one approach will not fit everyone in the church. What is appropriate for the spiritually mature member who demonstrates faithfulness may not be appropriate for a newer or relatively inactive member who has never given. Think of relating to people “as they have lifted their hands.”
24. Think in terms of “concentric circles” with your committed core (active members who are strong givers) in the center.
25. Expand the circles, then, to includes actives who are likely to move up in giving because of their income, level of engagement, and current giving; new members since last year; those who attend or participate but do not give; and inactives who do not participate or give.
26. Have multiple goals with these realities in mind — a comprehensive effort that invites everyone to give along with a focused effort on the relatively few likely to give the most. Seek to increase the number of pledgers and to increase the giving of those who already give.
27. Set giving targets to help people get a figure in mind. People normally do not give more than they are asked. Set different giving ranges for different categories of givers.
28. Provide a “Step Up” plan to encourage everyone to grow in giving.
29. Make each part of the plan as personal as possible and appropriate.

Know what motivates people to give

30. Know that people give from a mixture of motives. Few give out of a clear spiritual rationale. Most do not have a well-planned or consistent approach to giving.
31. People will “protect themselves.” You do not need to guard them against over-giving!
32. Appreciate that people want care in the use of their money, but procedures and documentation do not tend to be motivators for giving except in the negative.
33. Remember that people are likely to continue giving once they begin.
34. Nurture relationships. People give based more on credibility and relationships than on the merits of the cause.

Ask in effective ways

35. Take the initiative. If you want money, you must ask for it. Many never give because they were never asked nor given compelling reasons to do so.
36. Use the most personal approach possible. A personalized letter is better than a form letter, a hand-written note better than a letter, a phone call better than a note. A one-on-one visit is best of all! If you cannot visit everyone, start at the top of your pyramid.
37. Be positive in everything you communicate about giving. Eliminate negative references.
38. Never divide the budget by the number of church families or members and say, “If everyone gave just …” Those who give little will not give more, but some who give more may give less
39. Most people do not give to support budgets. They give to support people and programs.
40. Build your message around mission. Relate everything to the church’s vision and purpose.
41. Prepare a “Ministry Impact Budget” to use in your campaign. Rather than presenting “line items,” this budget should interpret ministry and mission in ways that are meaningful to your membership (worship ministries, educational ministries, outreach ministries, etc.).
42. Always, however, make the accounting version available to anyone requesting it.
43. Use groups in your church to reinforce your campaign efforts. Prepare group study materials related to your campaign theme. Ask group leaders to help in contacting their members.
44. Know that congregations that seek annual pledges have a higher level of giving than congregations that do not ask for annual commitments.
45. Make giving by automatic withdrawal simple to choose when people make their pledges.
46. In all pledge requests, acknowledge that some may be in a “financial jam.” Ask them to commit what they can and not to let their inability to give more keep them from church.

Follow-up

47. Do not think of a Commitment Sunday as the end of the campaign. It is an important celebration and punctuation point, but much work needs to happen after that day to reach those who have not responded.
48. Follow every successful solicitation with a meaningful gesture of appreciation.
49. Do not forget to seek commitments between campaign periods, especially from new members.
50. Be sensitive to members’ desire and need to make year-end gifts. Communicate any deadlines for year-end giving positively, focusing on all the ways a person can give in a hectic time of the year. Do not make it hard for people to give.

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Learn How to Make Your Annual Financial Campaign More Effective

Church members who pledge give 30 percent more than those who do not, and congregations that seek annual financial commitments have significantly higher levels of overall giving. With Optimizing Annual Financial Campaignsyou will learn to reap the harvest of generosity through best practices to make your annual financial campaign more effective. The resource includes engaging video presentations, written materials, and supplemental materials. Learn more now.

50 Ways to Welcome a New Pastor
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50 Ways to Welcome a New Pastor
50 Ways
Congregations can help a new pastor get off to a strong start with these 50 Ways to acclimate a new pastor and make that new pastor feel truly welcome.

Prepared by Robert Crossman

Prepare to welcome your new pastor

1. Open your hearts and decide that you are going to love your new pastor.
2. Begin praying daily for the new pastor and family, even as you continue to pray for your departing pastor and family.
3. Invite church members individually to send cards of welcome and encouragement to the incoming pastor.
4. Know that welcoming your new pastor in genuine and effective ways lays the ground work for a healthy and vital relationship and the development of stable, long-term ministries together.
5. Plan for the transition. Occasionally important welcoming gestures are missed with everyone thinking someone else is handling these details.
6. Appoint a specific liaison person to whom the pastor can go for help and information during the transition.

Say goodbye to your current pastor in a healthy way

7. Show love, regard, and even grief, for your departing pastor. This is one of the best things you can do for the new pastor.
8. Acknowledge the change in public ways. Especially in the case of a much-beloved pastor, this allows the congregation better to let go and receive the new pastor.
9. Provide the congregation the opportunity to say thank you and goodbye to the outgoing pastor, even if things have not always gone well.
10. Find appropriate occasions — in worship and at other times — to thank the outgoing pastor.
11. Express appreciation in ways that are consistent with what you have done in the past.
12. Consider giving the pastor the last two weeks off. This helps the pastor enter the new situation rested and gives an emotional buffer between one pastor’s last Sunday and another pastor’s first Sunday.
13. Plan goodbye celebrations prior to the beginning of the two weeks off.
14. Provide information to the local media about the outgoing pastor’s accomplishments and future plans.
15. Do not invite the former pastor to return for weddings, funerals, or baptisms. This allows your former pastor to engage fully with his or her new congregation, and it establishes your new pastor as everyone’s pastor from the beginning.

Make things move-in ready

16. Make sure the parsonage and pastor’s office are clean and ready. Offer to provide help or a cleaning service if needed.
17. Determine if the parsonage is in need of repairs or painting. Consult the outgoing and incoming pastors about timing so as not to disrupt the lives of either party. Do not ask a new pastor to move into a parsonage “under construction.”
18. Consult the new pastor on any paint, design, or furnishings issues.
19. Offer to have someone cut the parsonage grass.
20. Make sure the new pastor and church officials are clear on how moving expenses are paid and all matters related to compensation, benefits, and reimbursement policies.

Welcome your pastor on moving day

21. Stock the parsonage refrigerator and pantry with some staples.
22. Make sure there are kid-friendly foods and snacks in the refrigerator if children are arriving.
23. Have a small group on hand to greet the new pastor and family when they arrive and to help as needed.
24. Offer child care if there is an infant or toddler in the household.
25. Invite children in the household to do things with others of their same age.
26. Welcome any youth in the household by having church youth group members stop by and offer to show them around.

Continue the welcome during the entry period

27. Take food over for the first few days. Many churches continue the practice of having a “pounding” for the new pastor when persons bring food items.
28. Provide a map with directions to local dry cleaners, grocery store, drug store, veterinarian, etc., and information on local options for internet and cable television providers.
29. Give gift certificates to several of your favorite restaurants in the community.
30. Give the pastor and family a welcome reception on the first Sunday.
31. Plan a worship celebration of the new appointment.
32. Invite the new pastor to any social events held by Sunday School classes or other groups in the early months.
33. Make sure the pastor’s spouse and children, if applicable, are invited to Sunday School and other appropriate small groups.
34. Continue to remember your new pastor and family in your daily prayers.

Help the new pastor become familiar with the congregation

35. Introduce yourself to the pastor repeatedly! You have one name to learn; your pastor has many names to learn.
36. Wear name tags. Even if name tags are not a tradition, the congregation can wear them for a few weeks to help the pastor learn names.
37. Provide a current pictorial directory of all the church members, if available.
38. Provide an up-to-date list of all church committees and officers.
39. Provide the new pastor with a tour of where things are kept inside the church and perhaps a floor plan of the facilities.
40. Orient the new pastor to information systems and the way records are kept.
41. Make sure the pastor has a list of home bound or nursing home members, a list of those struggling with long term illness, and a list of those still in grief over recent deaths in the family. Better yet, take the pastor for an introduction to each of these households.
42. Have an appropriate person offer to go with the pastor for introductions and support if there are particularly urgent pastoral situations (a member near death or the family of a member who has just died).
43. Have a lay official offer to take the pastor to meet church members in their businesses or other work settings, if they are easily accessible.
44. Offer to help arrange small group sessions to meet and talk with the congregation.
45. Create a “church yellow pages’” (a list of people in the church who have specific skills that a newcomer may find beneficial…. auto mechanic, doctor, dentist, dry cleaners, book store, office supply, etc.).

Help the new pastor connect to the community

46. Provide local media with information about the new pastor.
47. Provide a list of hospitals, nursing homes, and community service agencies.
48. Introduce your new pastor to other clergy in the community. Provide information on any ecumenical activities or associations.
49. Introduce the new pastor to public and community leaders.
50. Ask church members in civic clubs to take the new pastor to one of their meetings.

Dr. Robert Crossman, Minister of New Church Starts and Congregational Development for the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church, is the primary author of this document. The Lewis Center staff and others provided suggestions and editorial assistance.appropriate for self study and for use with groups in your church.

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To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Clergywoman
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To the Point: Suggestions for Churches with a Clergywoman by Lewis Center To The Point
Celebrate your new pastor. Know that your new pastor continues a tradition of women in ministry going back to biblical times. Do all that you typically do to welcome a male pastor, including praying for her daily. Give her a generous opportunity to fulfill her ministry, and let any judgment be by the biblical standard of fruitfulness.
Treat her as your pastor first. Avoid putting gender first in conversations about her. Talk about her as you would a new male pastor. Use the proper title, or ask what she would like to be called. Avoid using terms of affection, and resist language such as “woman pastor” or “lady pastor.” And do not lower compensation due to gender or assumptions of other sources of income or benefits coverage.
She will bring unique gifts for ministry. Learn your pastor’s gifts rather than making gender assumptions. She has both strengths and limitations, just as your male pastors had. Most of your delights and objections will not be gender-based. Respect different types of leadership. Some male pastors are not very good. The same goes for women. If she isn’t serving your church well, it is not because she’s a woman.
Expect some resistance but avoid making very much of it. Expect some push back, especially if this is a new experience for your church. A few may leave, but far more are likely to join. Resist assuming the worst and making too much of it. Clergywomen are common in today’s world. Avoid allowing negative voices to dominate. Ask people to keep an open mind. Most resistance is based on the unknown.
Avoid stereotyping and assumptions. Keep pastoral expectations as before. Don’t assume she will be good with children but not finance. Don’t expect her to bring treats for meetings. Women often have family responsibilities but so do many men. Resist asking about her personal life, relationships, or family plans that you would not ask a male pastor.
Some things may not fit. Be open to repainting the office and replacing the pastor’s chair if it no longer fits the occupant. The pulpit may need adjustment for height, and make sure the sound system works for a female voice, especially if it’s high or soft.
Make sure there is a trusted feedback group. Your new pastor needs regular honest feedback from those committed to her success. Assure that someone is asking your new pastor how things are going and listen. A trusted group that listens makes the pastor more open to receiving feedback she needs to improve.
Avoid references to appearance. Avoid making comments about her size, shape, or appearance. How she dresses or does her hair should not be a topic of conversation. Avoid such comments that would never be made to a male pastor.
I have had more comments about my hair style than I can count, including “I am so glad you cut your hair; your last hair style was distracting when you preached.”
Pay attention to boundary issues. Take seriously any concerns a female pastor expresses about sexual harassment or unwanted actions involving staff, parishioners, or others. All clergywomen encounter such situations at some point. Train church leadership in how to recognize when harassment or sexism is at play. Members need reminding that “If you didn’t say it to a male pastor, don’t say it to a female pastor. If you didn’t kiss your male pastor, don’t do it now.”
I’m the third female pastor, and I have no sense that people still object to having a female pastor, but they do still say inappropriate things!
The all purpose question to remember: “Would you honestly ask (say, criticize) this if the pastor were a man? If so, okay. If not, drop it.”
Clergywomen graduates of Lewis Fellows, a Lewis Center leadership development program for young clergy, provided the content for this resource.
A companion Lewis Center resource is “Why Women Are Clergy.”
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Video: The New Realities of Engaging Newcomers
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The New Realities of Engaging Newcomers
By Lovett H. Weems, Jr. On August 25, 2015 Videos
This five-minute video by Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of how new people are coming into church communities in different ways than previously, what it means for your congregation, and what you can do to engage these newcomers today.

Download this video free.

Clergy Personal Finance Resources
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Clergy Personal Finance Resources

Our basic responsibility as Christian stewards is to manage our personal financial resources so that we can care for ourselves and our families and marshal the resources needed to respond to God’s call to generous giving. This is especially true for clergy who are expected to teach and model faithful stewardship within our congregations. Mastering personal finances is both a personal and a pastoral responsibility. To that end the Lewis Center and Wesley Theological Seminary have gathered together resources to help pastors better understand and manage their personal finances.

Why Clergy Personal Finances Matter

Personal Finances and Budgeting

Debt

Compensation and Taxes

Insurance

Investing

Estate Planning

Source Abbreviations: 

AALTCI – American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance

ACCC – American Consumer Credit Counseling

CPG – Church Pension Group of the Episcopal Church

FTC – Federal Trade Commission

GCFA – General Council on Finance and Administration of the United Methodist Church

ECFA – Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

FGC – Financial Growth Coach

FR – Federal Reserve

III – Insurance Information Institute

IRS – U.S. Internal Revenue Service

LCCL – Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary

LRB – Lazetta Rainey Braxton

NEFE – National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)

PCUSA – Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

SEC – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

WesPath – WesPath Benefits and Investments

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Synergy: A Leadership Guide for Church Staff and Volunteers
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Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel 
Copyright © 2004-2017 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
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