Questions to guide organizational change during tough economic times
Sometimes institutional leaders are focused on survival. These questions can help shift thinking toward thriving, even in a climate of scarcity.
Financial crisis
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Quiz: How to fill the collection plate
Nurturing cheerful givers is more challenging than ever during an economic downturn. New research provides important insights that could boost the financial and spiritual health of congregations. Take our quiz to test your knowledge of church giving trends.
William G. Enright: Money is like a vital sign
Three and a half years after the beginning of the Great Recession, data are beginning to show the toll it has taken on congregations, says the executive director of the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving.
Quiz: Investing for sustainability
Many congregations have endured staff cutbacks, salary freezes and deferred maintenance in response to the recession. But one budget area that may need to be increased, even in hard economic times, is programming, recent research suggests. Take our quiz to test your knowledge of the relationship between economics and congregational health.
Prince Rivers: Rethinking generosity
Many congregations have less money coming in now than five years ago. But in the wake of a double-dip recession, can churches still create new ways to give the money they do have?
Gannon Sims: Word renovation
Our vocabulary, on matters both institutional and faithful, can become dulled.
Tom Arthur: "Good to Great" not so great
The book hasn’t aged well amidst The Great Recession. What of the church plants built in its image?
Church finances face long-term challenges
The latest research on giving won’t come as a surprise to Christian leaders: It shows that financial problems run deeper than this recession. Take our new quiz to test your knowledge about religion and giving.
Michaele D. Birdsall: The economy of abundance
If we open ourselves up to God and the Holy Spirit to show us new and creative ways to be church in hard economic times, we will be surprised not by scarcity but by abundance, says the CFO of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
N. Kurt Barnes: No small battle
Facing the financial crisis. The CFO of the Episcopal Church talks about layoffs, reducing expenses and thinking about development in a new way.