Discover how to leverage technology in your church

“Ok, Google . . . How do I effectively engage volunteers in social media ministry?”

1.3 million results.

“Hmm. Ok, Google . . . Can I please talk to a real person that has already been down this road?”

If you’re diving into a new role in church communications, you’re already well-versed in the power of Google. But you may have also noticed that Google doesn’t always get context right. It also doesn’t provide validated concepts—you don’t know what information is coming from gurus or real-world practitioners.

If I don’t write down that I have to do something, I will immediately forget it. No joke. Whether it’s homework assignments, work duties, or personal chores, if it doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done.

I have, as some people call it, an unhealthy obsession with Microsoft Excel. I get excited about anything that allows me to be more efficient. With Excel, I keep finding new and better ways to do just that.

While much of Excel revolves around numbers (all right, most of Excel revolves around numbers), there are some pretty fantastic formulas and functions that allow you to quickly manipulate text. So even if you are more focused on Bible studies and mail merges than income statements, Excel can help you.

Strategic planning is important for every organization, whether it’s business, a group, or a church. As a church leader, you are responsible for looking at the larger picture to decide what will be of most benefit to your congregation—unless your church has unlimited resources, of course!

The first step? Implementing a program review process at your church. Here’s how to get started:

When your church is without a pastor, it can feel like you're on a boat without a captain—sailing aimlessly and without direction.

The church office might be the place where the pastor is missed the most. Questions about bills, membership, and bulletins have no answer, forcing staff like the church secretary or office administrator to take on even more responsibility than usual. So how can your church office survive without a pastor—whether it’s for a month or a year?

In college, I always tried to prioritize. I’d start by writing that excruciatingly long paper, then tackle the short, multiple choice quiz. Though I knew the paper would take a long time and the quiz wouldn’t happen until 3:00 a.m. when my brain power hit an all-time low, at least it was easier than writing! My plan got me through.

In the church office, work such as creating bulletins and newsletters will always take a while to complete. But you can still have a plan! We’ve compiled a list of six ideas to help you minimize those time-consuming tasks.

Meetings have a bad reputation, especially in churches. They are stereotypically long, boring, and unfocused. They seem to revolve around the details of running a church, like finances and schedules, rather than how the church is sharing the Gospel.

What I have found in my experience in the church, as well as in a corporate environment, is that people really don't dislike meetings; they just don't like unproductive meetings.

Working in a church office is unlike any other office setting. There are very real business needs, but the bottom line isn’t so much focused on dollars, but rather on the mission—to teach the Word of God. Yet, there are bills to be paid, data to be collected and analyzed, deadlines to meet, and reports to be reported.

We surveyed thousands of churches and asked how the work gets done, who does what, and what stumbling blocks halt productivity.

The following is a list of 51 ideas that pastors, office managers, secretaries, treasurers, and volunteers from churches of all sizes and denominations have implemented to make their work more efficient.