{"id":30862,"date":"2017-01-04T03:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.churchvolunteercentral.com\/?p=30862"},"modified":"2017-01-03T10:09:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T17:09:43","slug":"5-vital-ministries-for-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/lead\/5-vital-ministries-for-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Vital Ministries for 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

The start of a new year provides the opportunity for ministry leaders to reflect and assess their focus and the health of their church. It\u2019s often the best time to develop a new game plan.<\/p>\n

These five vital ministry areas may be mission-critical to the future of your church:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Guest Services<\/strong>. In their book Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore,<\/em> Thom and Joani Schultz speak to the need to develop a culture of \u201cradical hospitality\u201d to draw people back into the church. Radical hospitality goes beyond greeters, coffee bars, and parking lot attendants. While these activities may help people feel more comfortable at church, radical hospitality is a value that communicates love for others without judgment or looking down on them. It\u2019s loving people as Jesus did and welcoming people just as they are. Thriving churches will figure out how to create this culture so it’s experienced among their membership and\u00a0guests who come to worship.<\/li>\n
  2. Online Church Connections<\/strong>. Nils Smith,\u00a0global director\u00a0of social media and innovation at Dunham and Company and former pastor at Community Bible Church in San Antonio, TX, understands the importance of making first connections through online tools and social media. \u201cThrough our Google analytics we discovered that 40% of our traffic was first-time visitors from the San Antonio area. We realized we had to optimize our website for them, thinking through what the guest will need to experience from checking out the website to attending a service,\u201d Nils says.\u00a0Community Bible Church\u00a0also provides a \u201cPlan Your Visit\u201d program where first-time guests can receive assistance and information before they attend one of their worship services offered at multiple campus locations.<\/li>\n
  3. Small Groups<\/strong>. Community is fundamental to our understanding of God and faith formation. Yet few people today know where to find authentic relationships. The weekly bulletin at Resurrection Fellowship in Loveland, Colorado, states: \u201cIn times of need and times of fun, Rez small groups are your source of friendship and support. They are your key to developing connections with those who share your interests or people who are dealing with similar life issues.\u201d <\/em>They\u2019ve discovered that friendships and relationships don\u2019t happen during their weekend services. So they offer a wide variety of social and faith-based groups with quick access to small-group information and registration online or from the lobby information center.<\/li>\n
  4. Children\u2019s Ministry<\/strong>. Vibrant, engaging, and safe children\u2019s ministry continues to be the number-one draw for parents. Churches can connect with families when they offer quality programming for kids. This means having fully staffed ministry teams of trained, screened, and prepared volunteers. It also includes having a check-in system, paging, electronic room monitoring, and safety plans for crisis management.<\/li>\n
  5. Equipping Ministry<\/strong>. Tighter church budgets have resulted in a reduction of full-time staff. Many pastorates are now filled with bi-vocational leaders or part-time ministers. The trend in youth ministry is also moving in this direction. Fewer and fewer people today, including the millennial generation, want to be\u00a0mere spectators\u00a0just watching the paid professionals do all the significant work of the church. A shift from clergy-centered ministry to lay involvement will require an understanding of the biblical mandates to equip people for ministry. When equipping values are reflected in the culture of the church, it raises the level of volunteer participation and communicates that \u201cWe\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The start of a new year provides the opportunity for ministry leaders to reflect and assess their focus and the health of their church. It\u2019s often the best time to develop a new game plan. These five vital ministry areas may be mission-critical to the future of your church: Guest Services. In their book Why Nobody Wants to Go to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":31389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,670],"tags":[686,625,529,626,627],"class_list":["post-30862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lead","category-volunteers","tag-686","tag-goal-planning","tag-new-year-2","tag-vital-ministry","tag-volunteer-ministries"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Vital Ministries for 2017 - Group Children's Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The start of a new year provides the opportunity for ministry leaders to reflect and assess their focus and the health of their church. 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