Church offices face issues of time every day: bulletins need to be completed, mail needs to be sent out, and the newsletter has to be compiled—all while trying to find time to do ministry with the people who walk in your doors. Your church office shouldn’t be satisfied with the status quo or the excuse “this is how we’ve always done it.” Implement some new ideas to discover the difference that a few changes can make!

1. Ideas to
Make
Your Church
Office Hum
. . . and I don’t mean sing.

2. Presenter
Peter Frank
Senior Marketing Manager,
Concordia Publishing House
peter.frank@cph.org
(314) 268-1408
(800) 325-2399

3. How often do you leave the office
feeling that you have accomplished
everything you planned to do?

4. The key to feeling that sense of
accomplishment is efficiency.

5. Efficiency isn’t . . . Efficiency is . . .
Shirking responsibility
Rushing through tasks
Finding quick shortcuts
Ignoring other people
Getting everything done
Being a workaholic
Owning your work
Giving proper attention
Leveraging resources
Asking for help
Completing the right things
Being a good steward

6. “Look carefully then how you
walk, not as unwise but as
wise,making the best use of the
time, because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:15-16

7. Ideas compiled from . . .
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Scrum-Agile development framework
Survey of church-office workers
Independent research
Personal experience (i.e. failures)

8. Cautionary Tale
If you tend to work too much, efficiency will not
change your habits. It could make it even worse.
If you start to fit 10 hours of work into an 8-hour
day, it’s tempting to try to fit 12 into a 10-hour day.
Focus on why you’re being efficient.

9. Prioritize & Organize
Your To-Dos
Recruit & Utilize
Volunteers
Maximize
Your Office Space
Minimize Time-
Consuming Tasks
Establish
Some Ground Rules
Upgrade & Use
Your Technology
Improve Your
Communication
Optimize
Your Time
Outline

10. Prioritize & Organize
Your To-Dos

11. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
Getting Things Done by David Allen
[Capture]
[Clarify]
[Organize]
[Reflect]
[Engage]

12. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
[Capture]
Determine your to-do list method
Identify all your inboxes
Direct all incoming tasks to your to-do list

13. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos

14. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
[Clarify]
Is it actionable?
No  Trash, Incubate, File
Yes  Do, Delegate, List

15. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
[Organize]
When will you do this task?
Today, Upcoming (in the next week), Later
Let deadlines be true deadlines

16. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
[Reflect]
New Today Upcoming Later
Inbox
What will I do today?
What am I working on?
What impedes me?
What have I completed?
Review daily
Dated items
Waiting for someone
Review weekly
Project
Review
as needed
Review
throughout the day
Review
daily in the morning
Review
monthly

17. Prioritize & Organize Your To-Dos
[Engage]
Get things done
Focus on what’s causing you the most stress
Take breaks from big projects to keep the little tasks
from piling up

18. Minimize Time-
Consuming Tasks

19. Minimize Time-Consuming Tasks
Inbox Zero
Rigorous approach to email management
aimed at keeping the inbox empty—or almost
empty–at all times.

20. Minimize Time-Consuming Tasks
Getting to Inbox Zero
Set up email rules (Outlook, Gmail)
Designate specific times to check email
Answer each email that requires a quick response
Make each lengthy response a new task
Resist having the last word (even if it’s polite)

21. Minimize Time-Consuming Tasks
Bulletins/Newsletters
Update each deliverable once
Send out weekly reminders monthly
Send out newsletters monthly

22. Minimize Time-Consuming Tasks
Bulletins/Newsletters
Be smart about creative writing and graphic design
Evaluate your approval processes
Update the website yourself

23. Minimize Time-Consuming Tasks

24. Optimize
Your Time

25. Optimize Your Time
Plan for Success
Check off your most stressful to-dos first
Plan for peace-and-quiet time
Account for the unexpected
Take advantage of the summer
Start an hour earlier or stay later

26. Optimize Your Time
Digitize Your Knowledge
Establish an organized digital filing system
Share your knowledge—Desktop Procedures
Create a document for everything handwritten
Stop photocopying and filing everything
Convert forms to digital documents

27. Optimize Your Time

28. Improve Your
Communication

29. Improve Your Communication
Engage Your Team
Daily standup meetings
Weekly staff meetings
Regular one-on-ones
Utilize an online calendar for activities

30. Improve Your Communication

31. Maximize Your
Office Space

32. Maximize Your Office Space
Church Office
Make your greeter (whoever that is) visible
Designate volunteer work spaces
Organize and label supplies
Set up trays for in-process tasks
File sparingly, if at all

33. Maximize Your Office Space
Personal Office
Get a bigger desk or unclutter your space
Meet away from your desk
Purchase a personal printer
Invest in a standup desk
Two monitors is twice as nice (three is better!)

34. Upgrade & Use
Your Technology

35. Upgrade & Use Your Technology
Stewardship Doesn’t Mean Not Spending
Buy or rent a good copy machine
Use a folding machine
Computers do have a shelf life
You shouldn’t have to think about the internet
Invest in software training—you could save hours

36. Upgrade & Use Your Technology

37. Recruit & Retain
Volunteers

38. Recruit & Retain Volunteers
Try to accept help when offered
Determine tasks that are volunteer appropriate
Prepare for volunteers ahead of time
Hire part-time employees when you can
Utilize teenagers needing community service hours

39. Establish Some
Ground Rules

40. Establish Some Ground Rules
Baselines
Establish job descriptions
Establish plans for standard interruptions
Set submission deadlines for communication
Issue checks on a specific day
Use volunteers for registrations and payments

41. Establish Some Ground Rules
Rules of Thumb
Don’t print what’s already printed
Limit the size of the bulletin and newsletter
Ask for information to be emailed
Focus on the needs, not routines

42. Focus on progress, not perfection.

43. What are your best practices?