There’s something intrinsically special about starting a new year. A time to refresh just before the new year. A time to look back and assess the year. An opportunity for a reset or a 2nd chance. A time to renew or set new goals.
I believe it’s exciting and generates hope because God is a God of renewal and hope.
Many make new year’s resolutions, and I certainly encourage you to do so – especially in the areas of personal discipleship and family. In all likelihood, most will also consider new resolutions in regards to their vocation.
With these things in mind, I offer New Year’s Resolutions for Church Admins.
/6 Areas of Consideration for Business Admins/
>:Be More Relational/
/Be more intentional in developing personal relationships with other staff. Don’t always be so task-oriented.
Take them to lunch (same gender)/make it a monthly or bi-monthly appointment.
In the process of getting to know them better, ask how you can better serve them.
Have their family over to your home.
/If you’ve been ‘stepping out of bounds’ by letting ministry tasks take away time from your family consistently – STOP.
I get it. Business Admins typically wear multiple hats – Facilities, the Computer Network, and all that comes with the Finance and Admin hat – not to mention special projects. If you’re also responsible for a ministry area, it can be quite a lot. Have the discipline to focus on the most important, schedule your work, allow yourself time to think/plan. Set a time you won’t work beyond (at home or the office) and stick to it. You won’t regret it come end of next year. Or ever.
>:Serve Others More Than Self/
Ask your Pastor what his biggest needs are in the coming year. Write them down and make it your goal to meet these needs.
Get his perspective on how you can better help the church in executing vision and strategy.
Commit to pray for him daily.
Find out what your Direct Reports need from you. Make it your goal to deliver next year.
Start One on One Meetings with your Direct Reports – weekly, biweekly or monthly. Here’s a link to a template.
If you’re not serving in a ministry in a volunteer role, commit to serve.
>:Commit to be a Learner/
/Leaders are always learning.
Allow yourself to be mentored
Commit to read 4 books next year (in addition to being a student of the Bible)
Follow a few Bloggers you can learn from
Choose a high quality conference to go to
>:Make your Church More Fiscally Secure/
/Improve Finance Process Systems
Do an analysis of the effectiveness of your Control Systems. Strengthen them. Is the documentation current, being followed, employ adequate Segregation of Duties? (Hint:If your finance controls aren’t a topic of discussion ever with the Pastor, XP or Finance Team, they’re not effective).
A couple of posts that may help stimulate your thinking:
4 Things to Include in your Master Finance Document
The Power of Collusion and What You Can Do
/Perform a SWOT Analysis of Outside Risks
At a very minimum, ID the biggest risks to the church. Make sure processes are in place to:
*Guard the Safety of Children*
*Protect the Church during an Active Shooter Situation*
*Protect against Inadequate Property and Liability Insurance*
*Protect the Offerings*
*Protect the Database from Hacking*
and so on.
Even if your church has processes in place for the aforementioned, it’s helpful to reassess them annually and ask if there are any new risks that need to be addressed.
/Ensure Adequate Cash Reserves
Analyze if reserves are adequate. Work with leadership to set goals and put a plan in motion if not.
A couple of posts that may help stimulate your thinking:
*For Reserves – Got Cash?
*For Cash Ratios to track – the Balance Sheet
/Ensure Positive Cash Flow
If your church has not been generating Positive Cash Flow the last couple years, do some Attention Directing…your church can’t fund Reserves, much less the Future Vision.
/Start an Audit Committee/Schedule an External Audit or Review
Get the Audit Committee up and functioning a year or two before engaging an External Firm.
/Polity
If your by-laws are outdated/not being followed – you must get them updated. See this post – Risking the Corporate Protection of Your Church
>:Improve Reporting Systems/
/Where can you improve the reporting in your church?
Start Producing an Annual Report?
Begin Tracking Key Ministry Metrics?
Start a Quarterly Report to the Congregation?
Develop a Giving Analysis Report?
/Help Staff better understand reports
Take the time to explain the basics or main points in laymen’s terms. The more they understand, the better off the church is. Remember, they’re on the front lines and get asked questions. You want them to answer correctly with absolute clarity.
/Start producing a Narrative or Highlights of Results quarterly?
Check out my post on Why Eliminating the Noise is Important
/Are there any reports you need to Stop? Any new ones to Start?
Take a few minutes to consider your reporting strategy. Read this post – A Reporting Strategy for Your Church
>:Get Organized by Planning Your Work/
/Efficiency is one thing but priority is greater. Better to work on the right things efficiently.
Check out my most read post and downloaded template – Work Planning.
/Move tasks to others to make more time for other things.
I bet you can identify 3 things you can stop doing.
Identify 3 things you can delegate to another staff member or volunteer.
Outsource the payroll or network maintenance.
Outsource other accounting components to volunteers.
/Learn to Say “No”
The word “If” is a mighty big word for only two letters. In the same way, “No” is really big in staying on track with your goals next year. Don’t allow the seemingly urgent to derail you. Learn to say no when you can.
Scroll down and let me know which ones you will implement in 2017.
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