It’s that time again—the time where we look back at the past 12 months one last time before moving forward into a new year. Hopefully the last year has been one of growth for you, your staff, and your ministry. Now is a great time to thank God for all that he has done and continues to do through the work to which he has called you.
Maybe some of these are resources you used in 2012; maybe some are topics you’d like to cover but haven’t gotten to just yet. For the month of January, we are offering each of these downloads at a 25 percent discount to help you get your year off to a great start.
Without further ado, here are the most popular topics of the last year. We look forward to another year of providing the resources that fuel your ministry.
As a church leader, transformation is at the heart of all that you do. The goal of Christian leadership is to help people experience and grow in the love of Christ as they know him, love him, and serve him better. But when church leaders are faced with so many organizational and administrative tasks, what does it actually look like to foster spiritual transformation among those you lead?
One of the most important activities of the church is to draw in people from the outside—whether believers or those who may have never been involved in the church before. This resource helps evaluate how welcoming your church is and gives you tools to improve. Helpful topics include: how to foster hospitality on Sunday mornings among regular worship attenders; how to make sure people are not overlooked; and how to encourage members to cultivate commitment.
Every church should perform annual evaluations to help guide and motivate staff. Here you’ll find a compilation of forms that range from helping a staff member establish and review goals and objectives to reviewing specific roles, such as musicians and administrative staff. You can alter, customize, and print out each form to make your evaluations a smooth and helpful process.
7. Turning Attenders into Committed Members
It’s so easy to get caught up in numbers; they are easy to collect and report, and offer us a concrete measure of “how we are doing.” But more often than not, numbers don’t tell the whole story, or at least not the story that matters most. The question shouldn’t be, how many people are attending our church or ministry, but rather, how are we helping draw people deeper into a life of radical commitment to Christ and the church?
6. Connecting Service and Evangelism
Some churches are great at evangelism. They reach out to the unchurched or the ex-Christians and make clear God’s love for them using words that touch hearts. Other churches are great at service, and attentively care for the needs of their community. But few churches are good at doing both at once. The gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses God’s response to every dimension of human experience and need, and churches need not sacrifice evangelism in favor of service (or vice versa).
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Nowhere is this phrase more accurate than in the church. These brief and practical handouts equip your congregation to welcome visitors and make them feel at home. You’ll explore what works and what does not work when welcoming visitors, and there are specific handouts for greeters and ushers, two important visitor ministries. Each handout can be used at a meeting with your team or to pass out individually to those looking for guidance.
How often does your church talk about spiritual warfare? Whether it’s a frequently taught subject or one hardly discussed, it is essential that you prepare those in your church to identify and respond to the forces of evil that tempt and oppress. The practical articles in this resource will help you and those you lead learn to identify spiritual oppression, counsel oppressed individuals, and fight the forces that do not want to see God’s good work done in your church.
Ask people on the street what they think Christianity stands for, and many of them will list “”anti-gay”” near the top of the list. As cultural conversation on sexuality continues to get louder, it is absolutely essential that your church know how to talk about homosexuality well and how to better love and minister to LGBT people.
Develop a better understanding of the duties and roles of a church usher/greeter with this training tool. Consider the biblical background of the role, what is at work when the offering occurs, the importance of welcoming guests, and strategies for keeping your church safe.
1. Using Feedback to Improve Preaching and Teaching
No matter how many hours you spend preparing a sermon or lesson, something simple or avoidable could be keeping your audience from hearing the message. It could be a subconscious habit you didn’t realize you had, a style of delivery that isn’t connecting with your audience, or even a volume problem (that could be easily solved with some microphone adjustments). By taking time to obtain feedback from a select group, you can gain valuable insight that will make your preaching and teaching much more effective.
