Church administration – Page 2

November 8, 2015

Church shopping: wire plate holders

Cleaning up on a Sunday afternoon. I found one of a number of coated wire plate holders that I bought years ago at an icon shop, now gone. And while they are not a religious good per se, they are terribly useful in doing church.

The GH marks on the hinge identifies it as a Gibson Holders product, and they are still in business.

They’re good for displaying icons, framed pictures, books and the like. Think: special services, funeral. And they’re inexpensive. And they fold up nicely for easy storage.

Put a few of these on your shopping list.

October 27, 2015

A WordPress theme for Unitarian Universalist congregations

I saw a notice today that a WordPress theme — the engine that powers this site and surely millions of others — particularly for Unitarian Universalist congregations. You can see the release notes and download the theme at uuatheme.org.

I downloaded it and intend to test it. In addition to ease of installation and customization, I’ll look at its license and consider whether the use of the support documentation apart from the theme.

Even before reviewing it, I’m of two minds. A shared resource can be helpful, but one customized for a small user base might never earn an economy of scale. Perhaps a non-denominational church site tempate would be more useful — but first, an examination of the work..

August 14, 2015

Printing out pages for a sermon or service book

After much trial and error, I have come up with this method of printing a service or sermon text to be put in a small binder for use in worsip, using free and open source software. And I thought it was worth sharing with you.

First you will need to download the LibreOffice office suite; a version 5.0 has just been released but I use 4.2.8.2, so I’m just hoping there’s not much of an apparent difference.

Also, ideally the Linux Libertine Graphite type face. (That typeface is free to use and share, and has features that I will describe later.)

You will also need a half sized binder (like this one) and page protectors.

The trick is composing half-sized pages and then letting the office suite compose those pages on to full size pieces of paper.

Here’s a sample of the service typed out.

When you go to print, click the Properties box on the General tab, and then set the paper to print Landscape. This is what it looks like with my printer.

Here’s the trick: check “Use only paper size from paper preferences.”

Then change the layout to print two pages side by side. Extra points to those who can figure out how to print a booklet or brochure, in which case a saddle stapler is a help.

Then print, fold, slip into the protectors and then into the binder.

Download the file I used in this lesson here, or click here for a Google Doc that does essentially the same thing (with the Gentium font) for you to copy and modify as you will.

I would appreciate feedback if you use either source.

July 24, 2015

Resources from the Management Center

I was talking to a friend tonight about management — church management in particular — and once again turned back to a favorite resource, the Management Center.

I can recommend their courses, but if you live too far from where they offer them (or it filled up) then be sure to get the companion book,

Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results, a snip at less than $20. And their on-line resources have a lot to teach.

Just a brief post to point out a great help

May 30, 2015

A page full of handbooks!

So, I was talking with a couple of people: what would we do if the Unitarian Universalist Association ceased to exist? Not a death wish, but contingency planning. And a way of identifying what’s a must-have and not just a might-want.

Someone mulled, “what does the NACCC do?” That’s the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, made up of churches that did not join the United Church of Christ on polity grounds. I’ve been long interested in them, as some of the Universalist churches that didn’t join the UUA “went NA”. Also, First Parish, Plymouth, and Universalist National Memorial Church, both members of the UUA have honorary membership. And the Council of Christian Churches in the UUA has — I believe — “fraternal relations.” In short, they’re close to us. Sorta.

And famous (or infamous) for having a lean administration. The kind that the UUA might back into, or be replaced-by.

So I was just browsing their site and noticed they have a single easy-to-find page with helpful handbooks ready to download.

That just made my day. Something to emulate.

Source: Handbooks (NACCC)

May 20, 2015

Kentucky joins the unincorporated nonprofits club

I’ve written about the option of organizing churches as unincorporated nonprofit associations in states that provided for them by law. That provides structure and protections more like what you have in a nonprofit corporation but with fewer complications. Unfortunately, that’s not too many states. Last month, Kentucky joined the club.

Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law new regulations making the governance of nonprofits and the management of small associations easier.

Source: Kentucky Updates Rules Governing Nonprofits—For the Better – NPQ – Nonprofit Quarterly

February 16, 2015

Things to try out

Now, with the preaching done for the day, I’m trying out three technology fixes:

to find the best (that is, most appropriate and quickest to learn) tool for modifying images for a website, social media and the like.
to see which of the static web development tool would work best for something like a church website, particularly reviewing Jekyll, Middleman and Pelican. Even better if I can use the super-cheap Amazon S3 service with it.
to try out the lightweight Midori browser, so we’ll see how that goes.

You might note a theme of lightening up.

January 1, 2015

Plans for 2015

I’m not much for resolutions: I rarely start well, forget them quickly and then late in the year reproach myself for failure. Why bother?

But I will make plans for the blog. I mean it both as a notebook for me and (more importantly) a resource and commentary for you, the readers. A review of blog traffic, feedback and my own thoughts lead me to focus on:

practical, ready-to-use resources for churches and individual believers
fresh interpretations of Universalist Christianity
skills to cope, survive and thrive in a changing world without snark or finger-wagging

I’ll also work on building readership, and would appreciate you help though referrals, plus links on blogs and in social networks.

Ah: I could write on boy bands, as so many seek them here, but I won’t consider that right now.

November 23, 2014

The little three-hole punch

While I’m mulling on whether or not to blog on the recent reportage about the Starr King School for the Ministry — it won’t be nice-nice-sweet-sweet if I do — I thought I would review a helpful bit of office equipment of particular use for ministers: the small three-hole punch, meant for 8.5 x 5.5 inch paper.

Over the years, I’ve written how-tos related to 8.5 x 5.5 sized print jobs. This is the size often used for orders of service, and is a good size for a DIY minister’s special services book. These days, I even put sermon notes and manuscripts in a 8.5 x 5.5 format, and into an appropriate binder. Why? It carries better, looks better and (for travel) packs better than a full-sized binder. It reads “book” more than “binder”.

You can print two 8.5 x 5.5 pages on one piece of 8.5 x 11 paper, and fold it into a small page protector, but they’re not always available, but once you have the hole punch…

This is what I bought, and despite what that page says, I got it in-store and there was a small variety of colors.

November 21, 2014

Serving the online church

I’ve signed up for so many accounts to manage my business relations with companies lately that I wonder what services a church — say, program-sized or larger — might offer online. I’m not suggesting that this suite of services already exists, or that everyone would find it desirable, but the such online services might expand utility to members (perhaps) with little or no added cost in staffing or facilities.

This list is far from exhaustive; just a few possibilities that occur to me over the course of about a half hour, in no particular order.

make financial pledges and special gifts
set up auto pay from credit card or checking account
download charitable donation letter
call for donations for affiliated charities
change address
take online trainings
register for space-limited events
download coloring pages for children
manage prayer circles
sign up (and get reminders) for church volunteer roles
get emergency alerts from authorities
offer feedback for quality improvement
apply for (and resign) membership
share alerts for road closures or public transportation re-routings
provide workflows to access public services
prepare and record special ceremonies (weddings, funerals)