For church leaders and administrators, the summer is a great time to squeeze in a family vacation, soak up the sun, and enjoy some much-needed R&R. Typically, church activities are a bit lighter during this season and everything slows down.
This also makes summer break the perfect opportunity to prepare your ministry for the fall.
Don’t worry—we’re not saying that you have to dump out your iced lemonade, cancel your upcoming barbecue, and report to your desk immediately.
What we are saying is that it’s all too easy to let the summer slip by without doing any preparation for the upcoming busy season. But once you’re in the thick of the back-to-school buzz—juggling family ministries, programs all throughout the weeks and weekends, Bible studies, and more—you may find yourself scrambling to fit everything in.
If you can get some of your ducks in a row right now, your future self will thank you. By taking just a small amount of time to review these 5 steps, you can set your church up for success by the time fall rolls around:
1) Revise your guest follow-up communication.
Follow-up communication is a golden opportunity to leave a powerful impression on new visitors to your church. When done strategically, it can help foster connection to small groups, inform guests of upcoming events, and provide important next steps.
As college students return to campus this fall, refreshing your guest follow-up communication is key to helping them find a church home during the school year. At the same time, families looking to build church into their weekly rhythm may be visiting local congregations in your area—and intentional follow-up can show them that your church cares.
One Church Software makes it easy to set up email and text automations that provide key information while still maintaining a personal, human touch.
Automating the first few steps of your guest follow-up process will allow communication to happen in a timely manner, save you the time of having to repeat regular tasks, and help foster genuine connections between new visitors and your church.
Learn more about creating a guest follow-up workflow >>
2) Make it easy to get involved.
Calendars fill up fast, and the more advance notice you can give people about upcoming events, the better.
By taking some time to pencil in recurring activities on the church calendar as well as highlighting major events like Trunk-Or-Treat, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any closures, you can help your staff and members plan ahead.
One Church Software offers intelligent scheduling, which automatically updates and integrates your calendar across your website, app, and internal team calendars. And when you set up our RSVP form, you can easily update only relevant key members about updates or changes. This means you no longer have to send out church-wide alerts that spam inboxes with unnecessary communications.
Learn more about our intelligent scheduling and communication options >>
3) Set up alternate giving options.
The data is in, and the numbers show that when churches offer online tithing options or even text-to-give capabilities, their overall donations can increase by 32%. Digital giving can benefit churches of all sizes. It simplifies giving both for donors and church administrators, making the tithing process seamless, efficient, and convenient.
Utilizing the summer to set up your online giving and SMS text-to-give options will ensure that your members can respond at the moment the Spirit leads or use a convenient digital system to set up a recurring gift for their tithe.
We made Text-to-Give a key feature of One Church Software because it offers indispensable benefits like:
- Convenience and Security for Donors – No matter where church members are, they can simply text the church via their phone to donate. And they can do so with full confidence that their private information is in good hands—our text-to-give feature is 100% safe, and we save all data on a secure server.
- Increased Donations and Engagement – If you want to encourage a behavior, it’s important to lower the barriers to that action as much as possible—and that’s why phone-based giving is such a powerful innovation. By making giving easier, you’ll see greater engagement and support from your community.
- Recurring Donations – When members choose to automate their giving on a routine basis, it simplifies their tithing process while also providing your church with a steady income stream. People often miss church donations when they get busy and it simply becomes inconvenient to go through the hassle of writing a check or filling out a new form. By encouraging them to set up recurring donations, you ensure that they are proactively involved in the growth of the church.
- Real-Time Tracking and Reporting – Administrators can easily track donations in real-time with text-to-give. This feature offers immediate insights into who is donating and how much, helping church leaders monitor finances more efficiently.
Robust digital giving options are essential for any modern church looking to boost its impact and streamline operations. If you want to adopt or refine this offering for your own church, summer is the perfect time to start laying the groundwork.
Learn more about our online giving options >>
4) Look at your church with new eyes.
You probably spend so much time in your church that you could navigate with your eyes closed. But when was the last time you looked at your church facility from the eyes of your members and guests?
Are your facilities easy to navigate?
Is it clear where the kids’ space, classrooms, and worship space are located?
Take some time to assess your building and how people utilize the space on a Sunday morning. Notice if there are spaces that are crowded while others are vacant. If you offer coffee to your attendees, does the line of people interfere with entering the worship space? Do you have adequate signage to direct guests around your building?
Just a few small changes can make a big difference in making people feel welcomed and helping them navigate your space with ease.
5) Cover your efforts in prayer.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9
The ministry you do day-in and day-out can wear on you. When your hours get long or your workload grows heavy, you may begin to feel discouraged. While this work is not easy, it is good!
Scripture reminds us that our struggle is for the souls of the people in our community. While things may feel dark or particularly difficult at this moment, don’t give up.
Use the slow summer season as a rare chance to pause, breathe, and reflect on all the progress you’ve made so far. Then, ask God for guidance and support as you go forth into a new season of growth, discovery, and service.
Read 10 encouraging Bible verses to help you prepare for the fall >>
As church leaders, we have been given a special responsibility to shepherd the people of God within our care. We hope that reflecting on these 5 ideas has encouraged you to use the remaining weeks of summer to set your church up for success this fall.
As we always say, being a good steward of your ministry does not mean you have to work overtime or spread yourself too thin. With a smart church software on your side, you can get more done in less time—working smarter instead of harder.
One Church Software’s features make it easy for church leaders to prepare for the season ahead. Give these capabilities a try and customize them to your church’s needs by signing up for your FREE 30-day trial.
