In any church setting (and other houses of worship), there are myriad goals and shoes to fill: sermons, Bible studies, pastoral support, staff managment, managing the operations / business aspects of the church, leadership development, congregational life, welcoming visitors, building strong connections with new members, strategic planning and visioning for the future, community outreach, evangelism, intentional communications (internal and external), keeping up with technology to better enable and enhance worship services, special one-time initiatives or events, congregational growth, multi-generational engagement, keeping an eye on congregational satisfaction and church effectiveness, continually growing with the evolving church identity and missions…and, of course, the list continues.
Yet, with often-limited resources and people, it can be difficult to juggle all of these things among just a few individuals’ skillsets. And at the same time, with multiple stakeholders (pastor, staff, and volunteers), task ownership can become ambiguous and ineffective, and the details of internal communications and processes can become tangled.
From the smallest individual church to the largest faith-based organization, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds of day-to-day affairs and have little time left to creatively expand the comfort zone and push for continued growth and improvement. In these situations, Salty Consulting will walk with you. We bring experience and passion to give your church honest and objective analyses, recommendations, implementation plans, and fulfillment, while keeping an eye on the overall mission and goals of good stewardship.
We’ll work with you to determine the best course of action. Sometimes there are stakeholders within the church who would like to contribute, but can’t manage the entire project – we are happy to work alongside church leaders and volunteers in situations like that. In some cases – for example, social media presence – it may be appropriate that Salty Consulting do the initial set-up work, then train staff members or volunteers on ongoing maintenance. In the event that further training is needed down the line, we can handle that as well.
Yet, with often-limited resources and people, it can be difficult to juggle all of these things among just a few individuals’ skillsets. And at the same time, with multiple stakeholders (pastor, staff, and volunteers), task ownership can become ambiguous and ineffective, and the details of internal communications and processes can become tangled.
From the smallest individual church to the largest faith-based organization, it’s easy to get caught in the weeds of day-to-day affairs and have little time left to creatively expand the comfort zone and push for continued growth and improvement. In these situations, Salty Consulting will walk with you. We bring experience and passion to give your church honest and objective analyses, recommendations, implementation plans, and fulfillment, while keeping an eye on the overall mission and goals of good stewardship.
We’ll work with you to determine the best course of action. Sometimes there are stakeholders within the church who would like to contribute, but can’t manage the entire project – we are happy to work alongside church leaders and volunteers in situations like that. In some cases – for example, social media presence – it may be appropriate that Salty Consulting do the initial set-up work, then train staff members or volunteers on ongoing maintenance. In the event that further training is needed down the line, we can handle that as well.
Some of the church-specific areas we work in and ways we help include:
Overall analysis, ministry structure, and/or visioning:We can conduct an in-depth analysis of church functions and processes, and recommendations for optimizations. Where there is ambiguity, we can add standards and structure tailored for your needs. Increased efficiency and effectiveness means more time and opportunity for ministry. We can analyze and report on your current ministries, their effectiveness and engagement within your congregation, and common ministries that other churches are doing – this can shed light on whether any current ministries should be combined or partnered with another church, whether any ministry areas are ‘missing’ and could enrich your congregation, etc. A/V integration & other worship materials:Bulletins, visual slides, and amplified sound are great (and arguably necessary) ways to help congregation members follow along and fully engage in the worship service – but, when done sub-optimally, they themselves can hinder more than help. We can review and revise these supplements – or develop them from scratch – to make sure they are effective and enhance worship without distraction. For more specific details, take a look at our page on A/V integration services. Worship service planning & inclusivity:The 'audience' of worship is God, of course; but congregation members still need to be engaged in the worship service and not distracted from authentic worship. To that end, while some churches prefer to worship with a full Latin mass, many churches often follow the lead of Martin Luther, who put worship in the language of the people to make church/worship more accessible. If your goal is to make worship inclusive and accessible, and to minimize preventable distractions, we can help. Once you've been deeply involved with your one individual church, it can be difficult to get outside your own box and look at a worship service objectively - and sometimes that allows issues to quietly arise, such as insider-outsider language, ableist practices, unintentional hierarchies, and unwelcoming atmospheres. We can bring a a fresh, objective perspective with your tailored goals in mind. We are also experienced with planning traditional, contemporary, and blended ancient/modern worship services. Special worship services or events:Not every church has dedicated creative worship planners, or they may find themselves short on time; additionally, inter-church or inter-denominational events generally require more planning and coordination than a regular worship service. If you need experienced assistance planning a special service or event, we can help. New member orientations & information:Orientations and information packets can be great tools for helping new members get more comfortable in your church. But once you’ve already been attending or leading for a long time, it’s easy to forget what information and lingo is not widely known to newcomers. We can help you help your newer members get settled in. |
Operations improvement:This is a broad umbrella that includes any special projects to improve effectiveness and efficiency, allowing you to better work on your ministry. One common example that falls under this umbrella is streamlining repetitive processes and documents. In churches, like any organization, there are always processes and documents that need to be repeated regularly – member intake forms, informational templates, reports, etc. We are happy to help clean up (or produce) document templates and/or develop standards and processes related to the documentation. Communications:We will work with you to develop internal and external strategic communications plans. This includes areas such as communicating information from your denomination throughout your individual church, communicating information from your church leadership to the rest of the congregation, and communicating information from your church to the community. For more specific details, take a look at our page on communications and web presence services. Web presence & social media:As part of your overall communications plan, or even as a quick need-this-now task, we can establish (or revamp) your church's website and/or social media presence to help you use each channel optimally to spread information and/or open a conversation. For more specific details, take a look at our page on communications and web presence services. Sermon recordings:Recording each week’s sermon can be helpful in a few ways – posting them online for potential members or those unable to make it that week, pastoral review, etc. We can help get you set up to record and post sermons in an accessible way. Surveys & data analysis:Customized surveys and data analysis (general health and satisfaction, and/or specific targeted topics) can help church decision-makers stay in touch with what the congregation in general needs – and can even uncover areas of growth potential. Visitor experience:What’s it really like to be a visitor at your church? Do visitors and new attendees feel truly welcome, or simply greeted? How about those from marginalized communities? We can help with these questions. Miscellaneous:Sometimes you have a special project or research task that doesn’t fall clearly into any existing role or team. This may include areas mentioned above, member care, constitution review, contemporary worship, or any other areas of church life and ministry. Just let us know what you’re struggling with, and we’ll discuss how we can help. |
