If you are United Methodist you know what season it is – Yes, Lent, but more than that – appointment season. There is nothing more stress inducing than going through the appointment process. But fear not because this series of articles will help you through this challenging time.
The steps so far have brought us to our final action – signing a reasonable contract. We now understand clearly who can rent our facility. We understand the types of long-term and short-term rentals and the costs of renting each space. We have established policies that honor our buildings and our staff and are easily …
Most of the sacred events that take place in church are worship events led by the church clergy, but there may be a significant number of events that vary from that norm. It will be most helpful if the church has well-established policies to guide the church and the user through a helpful process and …
Every church that decides to share space with a non-church group needs a set of policies. These policies will help your tenants know exactly what is expected of them. It will also protect the church from liabilities for accidents or taxes. It will establish the procedures you will follow from initial inquiry to a successful …
My guess is that most churches have almost no idea what it costs them to operate their buildings as rentals. Plus, if you are United Methodist, you have additional hidden costs which can be cancerous to the operation, which we will discuss later. When you operate a business, it is important to understand your costs. …
People pay money to attend events in your building. This helps to pay for the building. The most obvious way this happens is that your congregation’s members and friends give money in the plate and with annual contributions. When outside groups ask to rent part or all of our facility, we may ask them to …
It was the phone call no pastor wants to take – the County Tax Collector’s office. When my secretary told me who was calling, I thought it was a joke. It was no joke. A non-profit missionary group had been using a room on the second floor for years. The church got a monthly check …
I’ve noticed a lot of churches today are reorganizing their operating structure. I hear about Simple Board Governance, Single Board Operations, Streamlining, Downsizing, Effective Ministry, Winning Teams, and on and on. All of them are attempts to create new more efficient operating procedures. There is an old truism that comes to mind: “Any plan will …
So, your team just won the World Series and you are on your way home from Disneyland/world, and you think to yourself, how do I keep this level of high performance from this great team? For all the great stories about teams that went from last to first – even Jesus tells some stories about …
I’ll tell you a little secret, I will drop out of any team, committee, or board that strives after mediocrity. There are many people you will encounter in life who are just happy to get by pursuing the path of least resistance or are just happy to get something over with regardless of the quality …