It is hard to believe that the days of summer are quickly drawing to a close. The transition from summer to fall is often a busy one in the life of a church. Summers are generally of time of both calm and chaotic as many regular programs take a break and summer programs run. As summer winds down, its time to be ready for fall and here are some simple things you can do to get ready.

1) Update your website
Ensure that all the summer information is off and you have your fall information up. This is especially important if your service times change over the summer, you wouldn’t want someone coming to check out your church to show up at the wrong time. Also be sure that any pertinent program information is on your website and is accurate and easy to find. If people are checking out your church website, be sure they can find what they are looking for.

2) Follow up on the new and those who don’t come back
It seems every fall churches have a number of families that transition in or out. Early fall is a good time to get the information on the new families that come in. It is also a good time to figure out who might not have returned and do some follow up.

3) Update your family and children’s information
As a new ministry year begins it is a great time to ensure all information you have on file is correct. It is also a good time to ensure you have all the appropriate waivers and consents on file.  Review your policies to see what you should have on file. Some examples of permissions that may be included are consent for electronic communication, photo/video use, publication in directory and criminal record check.

4) Review your volunteer rosters
With a new season often comes new schedules, be sure yours are current. Do you know who will be serving where and when? More importantly, do they? Make sure all your schedules are up to date and properly distributed/available.

5) Update your financial reports
The summer slump is an unfortunate reality in church giving. Don’t leave the financial updates too late in the year. Encourage your people to consider signing up for recurring giving if they haven’t already. Break down your ministry’s financial needs for the remainder of the year into manageable pieces and encourage everyone to do what they can.

Our Sunergo suite of tools can help you manage the information for all of the above items. If you would like to know more about how a Sunergo solution can help your ministry please feel free to contact us.