Category: Financial Management

Posted in Buildings and Property, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, External Relations, Financial Management, Staff, Stewardship, Volunteers Tagged with

8 min 16 s

Rev. Dr. Laura Barnes

  • What their financial documents reveal about the condition of the congregation – what to look for
  • Here’s when and how I ask for their financial documents and what I do with them
  • What if I don’t have any financial training? Should I just leave all that to others?
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Posted in Buildings and Property, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Financial Management, Leadership Development, Mission and Vision, Pastoral Care, Staff, Stewardship, Team Building Tagged with

12 min 26 s

Rev. Dr. Laura Barnes

  • Creating a Covenant of Agreement with the staff
  • Why I make a point of spending time with the top financial donors
  • How I use my perceived objectivity as an outsider to advantage
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Posted in Change Management, Church Decline, Church Mergers, Death and Dying, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Financial Management, Legacy Churches / Church Closing, Managing Expectations, Pastoral Care Tagged with

13 min 49 s

Rev. Diane Kenaston

How we were able to tell the truth about our reality without also predicting gloom and doom;

My own process from being one of the people in denial about the congregation’s reality, to embracing it and moving forward;

How we were able to build the trust necessary for people to listen to the truth of their reality and move forward;

What I did when I realized that the church was not going to have another full-time pastor after me.

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Posted in Change Management, Church Decline, Church Mergers, Death and Dying, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Financial Management, Legacy Churches / Church Closing, Managing Expectations, Pastoral Care Tagged with

13 min 37 s

Rev. Diane Kenaston

Simultaneously raising and lowering anxiety in the process of change;

A copy of the letter we sent to the congregation laying out our reasons and reality….

The details of our deliberative and thoughtful approach to ….

The specific steps we took to reduce the congregation’s anxiety level to allow a constructive conversation about our future;

How we named the options we had for the future;

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