Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 241
February 18, 2016
Eight Effective Uses of Twitter for Churches
By Jonathan Howe
We have previously looked at ways churches can effectively use Facebook, and today we turn our attention to Twitter. While this social media platform offers fewer options of content types than Facebook, its real-time feed gives it a distinct advantage over Facebook’s algorithmic newsfeed.
The amount of information shared and the ease of sharing this information makes Twitter an essential component of your church’s communications strategy. Simply put, Twitter is the best social media platform to keep your church members and potential guests informed about what’s happening at your church.
Here are eight things to share to most effectively use Twitter in your church:
Daily Bible Reading Reminders. Twitter is a highly effective way to consistently remind your church members about the priority of daily Bible reading. One of the easiest way to automate this process is to use ifttt.com to link an RSS feed (most Bible publishers have these on their website) to your Twitter account or your Buffer account to schedule the tweet for a specific time.
Church Announcements. This might be the most obvious application of Twitter for churches. But the problem many churches often run into is tweeting too much information. If you’re sending out information about everything going on in the church, it will become white noise and have little to no effect. Tweet the important things you want people to remember and engage.
Sermon Quotes. These are great for Sunday mornings. It allows those who might follow your church from afar or even members who might be out of town to follow along. Pull out the best six to eight quotes from your pastor’s sermon and tweet them in real time. If your pastor preaches from a manuscript, this becomes even easier if you have it prior to the service.
Promotional or Inspirational Graphics. These should be of high quality with a consistent look and feel. And most importantly, they should be done in a way that encourages your members to share them as well. Always include your church name, Twitter handle, or website address on the graphics so that those who see the images can track them back to your account or website for more information.
Staff Blog Posts. Blogging allows your church staff to shepherd the people during the week. It also allows the rest of the church know what’s going on in certain ministries, not just the people who are involved in that ministry. So share these links from the main church account instead of just relying on the staff member’s personal or ministry account.
Sermon Podcast Audio. Similar to sharing sermon quotes and announcements, sharing sermon audio can help those both near and far stay connected not just to your church, but to the proclamation of the Word.
Community Events. One way to be better known in your community is to pass on information about upcoming civic and community events. Election days, parades, and local festivals are important components of community life. Having your church be engaged in promoting these types of activities helps you to better connect to what’s happening in your area.
Service Invitations. Tweets announcing your upcoming service times should be done weekly, preferably toward the end of the week. You may even want to include the sermon topic or any special information in this weekly tweet. This is mainly for the benefit of any guests who may be interested in showing up or for members who might need an extra reminder.
Does your church use Twitter in these ways? Is there another use for Twitter that you’ve found beneficial to your church?
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week, and the managing editor of LifeWayPastors.com. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications. Connect with Jonathan on Twitter at @Jonathan_Howe.
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February 17, 2016
Seven Reasons Why Your Church Should Have a Ministry to Widows
This verse in Scripture cannot be more compelling or clearer:
“Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:27)
Scholars have produced massive volumes on the biblical mandate to care for orphans and widows. The Bible is not ambiguous on this topic. I am grateful churches around the world have taken some steps to care for the orphans, though much more remains to be done.
But, in North American churches, I see hardly any intentional church wide ministries to widows. Millions are left to suffer and struggle in silence.
Though the biblical mandate to care for widows should be sufficient motive for our churches, consider some of the struggles widows experience. These seven factoids should give you at least a glimpse of the need for ministries to widows in your church.
The death of a spouse is the number one stressor in a person’s life. Too many survivors are not ready to deal with the issues of widowhood (Holmes and Rohe stress scale).
Over 800,000 persons are widowed each year. Of that number, 700,000 are women (U. S. Bureau of the Census).
Widowhood lasts on the average 14 years. That is a significant portion of any person’s life (U. S. Bureau of the Census).
There are over 14 million widows in the United States today. That is an average of 40 widows for every church in the United States (AARP).
Upon the death of a spouse, a widow loses 75% of her support base. It is imperative for churches to stand in the gap (Widow’s Hope).
Widows have a 30% higher risk of death in the first six months after the death of their husbands. They truly die of a broken heart (University of Glasgow).
The poverty rate among widows is three to four times higher than elderly married women. Financial needs among widows are often great (Social Security Administration).
Please don’t walk away from reading this short post without considering some type of action in your church to care for widows.
It is one of the clearest mandates of Scripture.
It is also one of the most neglected mandates of Scripture.
Let me hear from you.
The post Seven Reasons Why Your Church Should Have a Ministry to Widows appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 16, 2016
What Should a Guest Preacher Be Paid – Rainer on Leadership #199
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio
On today’s episode, we discuss the etiquette and principles related to hosting a guest preacher or speaker at a church. Be sure to listen for the story about the boa constrictor. Needless to say, Jonathan isn’t a fan of snakes.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Host churches should cover the cost of travel and meals for guest preachers.
Lodging for guest speakers/preachers should be generous and comfortable.
For a guest preacher, base the honorarium off your pastor’s salary.
When determining what to pay a guest speaker, take into consideration the full amount of time given up for the event.
A small gift for a guest speaker’s family is a great way to thank them for sharing their loved one with your church.
The six considerations that we cover for hosting and compensating a guest preacher or speaker at your church are:
Cover the cost of travel.
Reimburse for their meals.
Lodging should be generous and comfortable.
Base the honorarium off your pastor’s salary (including housing allowance) – half a percent per service.
Different events call for different levels of compensation.
Remember the speaker’s family as well.
Episode Sponsors
Midwestern Seminary, located in the heart of the Midwest, is one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America and offers a fantastic array of academic programs, including multiple online and residential options at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Midwestern’s new 81-hour Mdiv program, online program, and doctoral program have all been recognized as some of the most innovative and affordable in the country. There has never been a better time to begin your seminary education. Midwestern Seminary trains leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.
Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.
Resources
How Much Should You Pay a Guest Preacher?
The post What Should a Guest Preacher Be Paid – Rainer on Leadership #199 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 15, 2016
Seven Concerning Findings about Benefits for Pastors and Other Church Staff
I recently spoke with a pastor who was tearfully concerned about his health insurance. He had just received notice of a large premium increase that he could not afford. With a diabetic child, he did not know what to do.
The only good news in this story is that he had health insurance.
Many pastors do not.
Even more church staff do not.
Once again, I turned to the data trove, 2016-2017 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, by Richard R. Hammar. Church Law and Tax, a ministry of Christianity Today, publishes the volume. The material includes data from 8,250 ministry positions in 2,500 churches.
In my previous post, I looked primarily at compensation issues. In this post, I examine benefits of church staff.
I am concerned about some of the findings.
Fewer than half of solo pastors receive any health insurance benefits. A solo pastor is full-time without other pastors on staff. The news is better among lead or senior pastors, but it still is disconcerting. Fewer than two-thirds of lead pastors receive health insurance benefits.
Almost three-fourths of full-time worship/music leaders receive health insurance benefits. The worship leader is the most likely ministry staff to receive these benefits, but there are still over one-fourth of them who do not.
Many full-time church staff receive no retirement benefits. Those who do receive these benefits range from solo pastors (44%) to lead or senior pastors (64%). I am particularly concerned about the pastors of small churches who labor faithfully for 30 or 40 years and have no retirement plans made.
Almost all full-time staff get paid vacations. This information was one piece of good news in an overall concerning report.
Only six in ten full-time pastors and staff get any type of automobile reimbursement. Only five in ten children’s ministers do so. This item is actually a reimbursable expense rather than a benefit. Those who do not get automobile reimbursements must pay the expenses out of pocket, so it becomes a de facto pay cut.
Very few full-time ministry staff receive either life insurance or disability insurance. At the very least, ministers should be made aware of the potential need of such insurances, even if they have to purchase small policies themselves.
The parsonage as a benefit has all but disappeared. Only about one in eight pastors have this benefit. The numbers will likely continue to get smaller.
It is a tragedy that many church members have misperceptions about pay and compensation of ministry staff. Many of our ministers are underpaid by community standards. Even more don’t have benefits common in the secular world.
Would you church members make certain you are taking care of your pastor and church staff in terms of compensation and benefits? Also keep in mind that many of them have not received a raise in years.
Our pastors and church staff do an incredible job caring for us, the church members. Let’s be sure we are taking care of them as well.
Let me hear from you.
The post Seven Concerning Findings about Benefits for Pastors and Other Church Staff appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 14, 2016
Pray for Kinney Avenue Christian Fellowship
Location: Austin, Texas
Pastor: Dr. Ken Baldwin
Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM, Central
Fast Facts:
Church info: Kinney Avenue began as a new church plant in 1938, but by 2007, the church had declined to less than 40 active members, mostly senior adults. Dr. Baldwin came to KACF in a bivocational role and the church has grown since then but are still seeking inroads into reaching their neighborhood. In January 2015, they began a two-day pre-school program, and one year later they have 25 children attending and have used the program to begin to reach young couples in the area. They are considering going to five days per week and adding other ministries that will continue to reach these young families. Please pray that God will continue to direct them and provide for the expansion of the ministry. Also pray that God will remind them each day that the purpose of their ministries is to reach these families for Christ and that they will be active as a church in building bridges of relationships with these young families. Finally, pray they will have the resources to go to five days per week with the preschool program and add those additional ministries to more effectively will reach these families.
Website: Kacfaustin.org
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.
If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..
The post Pray for Kinney Avenue Christian Fellowship appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 13, 2016
Notable Voices: February 13, 2016
3 Steps to Break Through the Busyness of Leadership — Art Rainer
Art provides three questions to help you decide what to do next when you get overwhelmed as a leader.
Three Common Mistakes in Designing a Church Discipleship Strategy — Eric Geiger
Most, if not all, churches will say they want to make disciples. But they often do not have a plan to do so. Eric shares three mistakes churches sometimes make when developing their strategy for discipleship.
Four Reasons Why Preaching Is Leading — Chris Hefner
Chris shows how preaching is one of the greatest leadership tools a pastor has.
Don’t Be Embarrassed by Your Ordinary Church — Erik Raymond
This is an encouraging reminder from Erik. Ordinary doesn’t mean insignificant or unimportant.
Your 7 Job Responsibilities as a Church Member — Jonathan Leeman
In this excerpt from his new book, Understanding the Congregation’s Authority, Jonathan explains seven expectations and responsibilities of church members.
Doritos & Fundamentalism: Why Christians Should Thank NARAL — Aaron Earls
This was the commercial everyone was talking about following the Super Bowl. But not necessarily because of the commercial. The discussion had more to do with the response from NARAL.
The post Notable Voices: February 13, 2016 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 12, 2016
A Unique Approach to Casting Church Vision – Rainer on Leadership #198
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio
On today’s episode, Will Mancini joins us to discuss his latest book, God Dreams, and talk about how church leaders can effectively cast vision.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
We shouldn’t relegate the idea of being visionary to “superstar” pastors and leaders.
Visionary leadership is accessible to all church leaders. Vision is for everyone. Vision is for every day.
Visionary leadership is about serving people with a simple picture of where you’re going next as a church.
Clarity isn’t everything, but it changes everything.
It’s not about what vision you choose, but whether or not everyone is on the same page with the vision that is chosen.
We don’t need to be afraid of having a vision for our church.
About Will Mancini
Will Mancini wants you and your ministry to experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. As a pastor turned vision coach, Will has worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing megachurches and missional communities, to mainline revitalization and church plants. Will is the founder and team leader of Auxano and the author of two books: Church Unique and God Dreams.
Episode Sponsors
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.
Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Midwestern Seminary, located in the heart of the Midwest, is one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America and offers a fantastic array of academic programs, including multiple online and residential options at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Midwestern’s new 81-hour Mdiv program, online program, and doctoral program have all been recognized as some of the most innovative and affordable in the country. There has never been a better time to begin your seminary education. Midwestern Seminary trains leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.
Resources
GodDrea.ms
Auxano
The post A Unique Approach to Casting Church Vision – Rainer on Leadership #198 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 11, 2016
7 Church Communications Tips to Boost Your Reach This Easter
By Jonathan Howe
Earlier this week on Rainer on Leadership, Dr. Rainer and I discussed eight Easter planning tips. Many of those tips were church-wide efforts or ministry specific ideas to aid in preparing your church for one of its biggest weekends of the year.
What we didn’t cover in great detail was the role church communications can play in boosting the reach of your church for Easter. And while the description and application of these tips are specific to Easter, many—if not all—of them could be used for any special weekend or event on the church calendar.
Develop an Easter sermon series theme and graphics. Themes work well for major holidays. I’ve seen everything from those that draw from the biblical narrative account to those that use a play on words of a cultural event or saying. Because the majority of those you reach on Easter are dechurched, the biblical themes typically are more effective. Culturally-themed church slogans can too easily end up looking cheesy or silly.
Distribute invite cards. Once you have your theme and graphics decided, have invite cards (either postcard or business card size) printed with your service times, address, website address, and other important information. Encourage church members to use the cards to invite friends and family to your services. If you have any special Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services, be sure to include those on the invite cards as well.
Create sharable images for Facebook and Instagram. Using your theme graphics, develop sharable images for your church members to post on their social media accounts. Also consider using these graphics as header images for your church Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Provide sample tweets for your members. Similar to the sharable images, these tweets should contain relevant information about your Easter services or events. Send the tweets out through your church newsletter to your members, and encourage them to share them online. You can also develop a special page on the church website that contains all the graphics and sample tweets for members to reference as needed.
Use a specific hashtag for your church. The use of a hashtag allows you to track the promotions for your Easter service in each social media channel, and can help create an online “buzz” about the event. But there is one caveat: your Easter hashtag needs to be unique to your church. For example, #Easter2016 is not something you should use; or even #FBCEaster. It would be best to tie your custom hashtag to your theme or name of the event. City Church in Tallahassee exemplified this with their special Christmas event this past year: #ChristmasOnTheMoon.
Advertise using Facebook boosts. On another recent podcast episode, we went into a little more detail about how this works and why it works so well. Simply put, churches can spend less money and get more results by using Facebook advertising if you do it well.
Simplify communication cards and theme them for the day. Easter is a great time to test a new, simple communication card. Use your theme graphics and simplify the information requested to achieve the best results. Many churches encourage both members and guests to fill out communication cards on Easter as a way to lower barriers some guests may have. Include a simple check box for member or guest to help you sort the cards once they are turned in.
These are but seven simple examples of how you can amplify your church communications efforts in coordination with your Easter preparations.
I’m sure you have more ideas. I’d love to discuss them in the comments below.
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources, the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week, and the managing editor of LifeWayPastors.com. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications. Connect with Jonathan on Twitter at @Jonathan_Howe.
The post 7 Church Communications Tips to Boost Your Reach This Easter appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 10, 2016
Ten Fascinating Facts about Pastor and Church Staff Compensation
By almost any metric, pastors and church staff are not overpaid.
While some ministry leaders provide sensational exceptions to this rule, we need to dispel the myth of highly-compensated pastors and church staff.
I have in my hands one of the best statistical resources for ministry in the world. I am deeply grateful for the years of work of Richard Hammer, especially his latest statistical tome: 2016-2017 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff. I am likewise grateful to the publisher, Church Law and Tax, a ministry of Christianity Today.
This incredible volume belongs in every church. I have been trying to distill some of the facts from the nearly 400-page book. You might find the following factoids fascinating:
Church income is the number one indicator for compensation levels for all church staff. The larger the financial receipts, the greater the likelihood of higher compensation for all staff.
The highest paying positions in order are pastor, executive pastor, and worship/music leader. The growth of the executive pastor position is a major church trend of the past decade. It deserves greater study.
Church staff compensation varies by type of community. The rank of compensation level is: large city suburb; city/urban; small town; and farming/rural.
Education is still a factor in compensation. For lead pastors, pay increases about 9 percent from bachelors to masters, and 10 percent from masters to doctorate.
Fewer than two-thirds of lead pastors receive health insurance as a benefit. Lead pastors are full-time with at least one other minister on staff.
One half of all pastors did not receive a raise in the past year. This discovery was another surprise.
Compensation varies little with length of tenure for all staff positions. More experience does not necessarily mean higher compensation.
Churches in mainline denominations tend to offer higher compensation to their pastors and staff. The Assemblies of God offered the lowest compensation of the denominations studied.
Youth pastor compensation does not change significantly from smaller to larger churches. In fact, the average compensation does not change at all past 750 in average worship attendance.
Female fulltime children/preschool ministers make 14% more than their male counterparts. This factoid surprised me. I really want to dig into it more.
Next week I will look at the benefits church staff receive. In the meantime, let me hear from you.
The post Ten Fascinating Facts about Pastor and Church Staff Compensation appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
February 9, 2016
Eight Easter Sunday Planning Tips for Churches – Rainer on Leadership #197
SUBSCRIBE: iTunes • RSS • Stitcher • TuneIn Radio
On today’s episode, we cover eight simple tips your church can use to prepare for Easter in an effort to get more people to your worship service so that they may hear the message of the gospel through clearly communicated through the resurrection story.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
Easter is the best time of the year to reach those who seldom attend church.
Easter is a time to enlist extra volunteers for several different areas of service in the church.
Easter can often be used as a launching point for a new service, site, or venue.
Easter is a prime time to connect people to small group or enroll them in a membership class.
Welcome cards are your only opportunity to know exactly who was new to your church.
Remember to update your church’s website with any changes to times or schedules you may make for Easter.
Consider a quick audit of your church’s website before Easter to ensure all information is accurate and updated.
Easter is the perfect opportunity for your church to try something new to reach the dechurched in your community.
The eight Easter planning tips we cover are:
Prepare to reach out to the dechurched
Enlist extra volunteers
Consider service or venue
Promote small groups
Take the opportunity to improve the facility
Reconsider welcome cards
Get your website ready
Consider Facebook ads
Episode Sponsors
Midwestern Seminary, located in the heart of the Midwest, is one of the fastest growing seminaries in North America and offers a fantastic array of academic programs, including multiple online and residential options at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Midwestern’s new 81-hour Mdiv program, online program, and doctoral program have all been recognized as some of the most innovative and affordable in the country. There has never been a better time to begin your seminary education. Midwestern Seminary trains leaders ‘For The Church.’
Visit them online at MBTS.edu and start your ministry training today.
Vanderbloemen Search Group is the premier pastor search firm dedicated to helping churches and ministries build great teams. They’ve helped hundreds of churches just like yours find their church staff and are uniquely geared to help you discern who God is calling to lead your church.
Find out more about Vanderbloemen Search Group by visiting WeStaffTheChurch.com.
Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.
Resources
The Secrets to Getting Guests to Fill Out and Return Info Cards
Eight Things Your Church Website Must Have
The post Eight Easter Sunday Planning Tips for Churches – Rainer on Leadership #197 appeared first on ThomRainer.com.
