Issue 55 of Administration Matters
Stories of Faith in Action 2017-2018 is here!
Stories of Faith in Action is an annual publication highlighting how God is changing lives through ministries funded by Mission Support. Mission Support is a portion of ELCA members’ unrestricted offering dollars that is shared with their synods and the ELCA churchwide organization. This collection of stories is a tool to help ELCA members understand how important their weekly offering is in sustaining and growing global and local Lutheran ministries. Stories, videos, bulletin inserts and an infographic explaining “Where does my offering go?” are tools congregations can use to encourage giving. Order free printed copies of the resource—just pay shipping and handling—or download a free pdf. Visit ELCA.org/SOFIA now to read Stories of Faith in Action and download additional resources.
Plan ahead for 2018 payroll withholdings
If you provide ELCA benefits through Portico and your employees changed their 2018 pretax retirement, supplemental life insurance, and/or other voluntary benefit elections during Portico’s Annual Enrollment, you’ll need to adjust payroll withholdings for 2018. In December, this summary of 2018 payroll withholdings on EmployerLink can help you determine how much to withhold from paychecks in January.
‘Cybersecurity Best Practices for Churches’
Cybersecurity is the body of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. In a computing context, security includes both cybersecurity and physical security. In order to protect your constituents’ data, it is critical to understand cyber security threats and vulnerabilities and have the ability to defend your computer systems against cyberattacks. >More
‘You Need a Disaster Communications Plan’
This practical guide to developing a congregational disaster communications plan was written by the Rev. David Hansen, serving at Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church in The Woodlands, Texas. Based on his experience at the congregational and synodical level responding to Hurricane Harvey, this blog post offers tips for communicating before, during and after a disaster. >More
1 in 10 Protestant congregations experiences embezzlement
While it’s easy to believe fraud could never happen in your congregation, the truth is that no congregation is invulnerable.>More
Planning safe events
Anyone who has hosted a gathering knows how much goes into even a simple get together with family and friends. Putting on a successful and safe church event takes planning to a new level. This resource from Church Mutual provides some steps to take as you manage your event planning.
