Church Admin Resources
Management & Organization
Our resources focus on building strong organizational structures that empower leaders and volunteers alike.
Recorded Webinars
Enhance your church management skills with our easy-to-follow webinars. Get the knowledge you need to lead your church effectively.
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Additional resources
Anti-racism Policies
This policy of the Reformed Church in America could be adapted for local church use.
The actions listed in this pledge could be used as the basis for a local church anti-racism policy.
This policy comes from a UK church.
Background Checks
This site offers volunteer and employment background screening for nonprofit organizations.
Pre-employment and volunteer background screening packages are offered by Intellicorp.
The publisher of the Southern Baptist denomination has a program which provides discounted prices on background checks for churches and religious organizations.
This site lets you search sex offender registries for all 50 states, The District of Columbia, U.S. Territories, and Indian Country. You can search by name or location.
They offer a full array of background investigation services—from formal written reference checking programs to criminal history, motor vehicle and credit bureau records.
They do backround checking, searching more than 415 million public records from national and international sources. They also offer other prevention tools.
They offer comprehensive background checks for employment and volunteers.
Group Publishing offers background checks through Shepherd’s Watch.
Boundary Training
If you are part of a denomination, contact your judicatory; they may have boundary training requirements either in-person or online or may have required training conducted by an outside organization.
This page of the Episcopal Church website has videos addressing various aspects of training and continuing education for awareness of “red flags.”
VAWnet offers a free curriculum for issues that impact those in the role of leadership in faith communities. The downloadable resources include workbooks in English and Spanish, a teacher guide, and a module to assist you in talking to your congregation about healthy boundaries. There is also a link on the page to A Sacred Trust video series: Healthy Boundaries for Clergy.
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership has ecumenical online training on ethical boundaries in ministry with .5 CEU and a certificate of successful completion awarded.
The ELCA has a downloadable document entitled “What Parishioners Can Do to Understand and Prevent Clergy Sexual Abuse.”
This UMC curriculum was developed to encourage living in right relationship with self and others within faith communities. There are downloadable leader and participant guides, as well as a #MeToo toolkit.
Child Abuse Prevention
Denominational Resources
VIRTUS is a program created by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group that combats sexual abuse of children in the Church.
The Safe Church page of the Episcopal Church’s website offers resources and sample policies for the protection of children, youth, and vulnerable adults.
This page of the ELCA website offers information on reporting child abuse and sexual misconduct, as well as a list of related resources.
This website offers a downloadable copy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Sexual Misconduct Policy and Its Procedures. PCUSA also has a sample Child/Youth/Vunerable Adult Protection Policy.as well as other resources.
The UU’s Safety for Religious Education and Children page offers recommended practices for children’s safety and other resources.
The Safety and Protection of Children in Church page is a guide to help churches design policies and procedures to help prevent abuse of children.
The New York Annual Conference of the UMC has Safe Sanctuaries guidelines, sample policies and documents, background check information, and resources which include a video series.
Nondenominational Resources
They offer several products for purchase including the Reducing the Risk DVD Training Program.
They offer a condensed version of their child abuse prevention workshop, which it can be viewed online at no cost.
Along with background checks and other services, they offer live and online training for child sexual abuse prevention.
They offer screening and training to prevent child sexual abuse.
Church Conflict
Blog posts about conflict are available here.
Style Matters is an “easy-to-use, all-purpose learning tool about conflict resolution. It is research validated and the subject of several current studies”
Church Management Software
Breeze is a top-rated church management system. You can see a free demo of the program on their website.
This is a free church management software that counts worship attendance, small groups, and more.
This free email and text message “phone” tree service is for churches under 40 people.
Church Marketing
This article lists low-cost things to effectively market your church.
Vanco offers information on free or inexpensive church marketing strategies.
Church Meetings
This one-page document comes from the ELCA website.
Church Safety
The Safety Library of the Brotherhood Mutual website offers free risk management articles, forms, videos, and publications.
This website offers resources in many areas of church safety.
This Government Agency offers information and grants to Improve the safety and security of your place of worship.
The Insurance Board of the UCC offers videos and other resources about preparing for and responding to an active shooter situation, as well as other resources regarding the safety of property and people in your church.
This article discusses things to maintain when your church building is not being occupied such as heating and plumbing systems, roofs, etc.
Church Signs
This website has free church sign messages in a number of categories.
This Pinterest board has almost 200 pins of church signs with inspirational and humorous messages.
Clergy Sabbaticals
They provide for the renewal of clergy, both full-time and bi-vocational, through a variety of educational, networking, consultations and grant offerings.
This site offers resources for both clergy and congregations on how to prepare for a clergy sabbatical.
The Louisville Institute Pastoral Study Project Grant (PSP) awards grants of up to $20,000 to support individual or collaborative study projects.
Lilly’s programs provide opportunities for pastors to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. Here are to links with tips for applying for a Lilly grant: What Makes a High Quality Proposal and Tips for Proposal Writing.
This PDF document discusses the benefits of sabbaticals for clergy and congregations, as well as financial and other preparations to consider.
This article comes from the Church Law and Tax website.
This is a list of grants and programs for clergy renewal from the Massachusetts Council of Churches.
The UCC offers this downloadable booklet which includes these topics: Theological Grounding and Relational Value, Policies and Best Practices, and Case Studies and Resources.
This article on the Patheos website has links to articles and resources related to clergy sabbaticals.
This article from the Presbyterian Mission Agency discusses how sabbaticals are an affordable must for the health and vibrancy of ministry
This excerpt from Robert C. Saler’s book, Planning Sabbaticals: A Guide for Congregations and Their Pastors, offers advice for congregations during a clergy sabbatical.
Leadership Training
This website has faith formation materials for Presbyterians including high quality video series and study guides. There is curriculum for New Members classes, and training programs for Ruling Elders and Deacons, and Confirmation.
This book is for anyone who teaches children, youth, or adults in a congregational setting. It includes handy forms, teaching tidbits, plus important information on “all things Episcopal.”
Mutual Ministry Committee (ELCA)
This handbook is from the South Dakota Synod of the ELCA.
This post is from the Lutheran Confessions blog.
Sexual & Other Harassment Prevention
PRC offers Sexual Harassment Prevention webinars which meet the NY State requirement for annual training. Visit our upcoming events and click on one of our monthly Sexual Harassment Prevention Webinars for more information and to register for a webinar.
This sample policy is from Church Mutual Insurance.
This document has links to sites with information about the NY State Sexual Harassment Prevention Training.
This is a list of considerations for creating a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy.
The Office of General Counsel of the UCC has prepared a sample abuse prevention policy.