The Church Office

In this podcast Gavin talks to Andy Bagwell one of the Executive Director of UCAN who has helped launch a new HR Support Service for Churches in the UK. Andy is passionate about creating healthly church cultures and wants our churches to be excellent employers. To find out more about the HR Support Service that UCAN offer please check out the link below.    www.churchworkers.net  

In this video Gavin got the opportunity to talk to Tim Wyatt about Managing Church Finances and provided some practical examples around budgeting and forecasting. Gavin and Tim also discussed deficit budgets and the challenges that some churches are facing over the next couple of years . A big thank you too Wyatt and Co for giving the time for Tim to share his experience and wisdom with our viewers. Here is a link to a helpful Finance Procedure Document and further videos that Tim has recorded to support churches in the area of finances. https://www.thechurchoffice.co.uk/blog/church-finance-procedure-document https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqpRatRvipg  

Whether documented or not, we all likely follow some type of work flow. Sometimes they can be a bit random or inefficient, other times they can work really well. But in order to effectively carry out the vision of our churches, we need to be reviewing them- from our newcomer welcome process to how we process our orders and deliveries. Join us as Gavin talks to Mark Parsons from Christchurch Bristol about a really helpful seminar he did on work flows behind the scenes.

Gavin recently sat down with John Truscott to discuss the opportunity January presents to look through how things are going in your church. John has developed a fantastic tool on his website that supports leadership teams to review the health of their church.  He has cleverly broken it down in to 5 key themes with 9 questions to work through under each theme. John is passionate about the local church and offers loads of great tips and insights. Very helpful tool Here is the link to the church office website where you can download the tool for free.  https://www.thechurchoffice.co.uk/blog/church-health-review-part-1 https://www.thechurchoffice.co.uk/blog/church-health-review-part-2      

Listen in as Gavin chats with Neil Tallamy from Baglan Community Church about why and how we can be making the most of christmas events in our churches. Christmas can be the start of people having exposure to the gospel and to the church so we want to be maximising the opportunity to meet as many different people as possible. This starts with good hospitality and care, so that they're in the best disposition possible to listen the gospel. 

In this podcast Gavin had the wonderful opportunity to interview Nigel Ring who has served Terry Virgo and Newfrontiers leadership team behind the scenes for over 40 years. I loved hearing his heart and encouragement for church administrators. A great opportunity to learn from the best! A big thank you to our listeners for sending in their questions. 1. Do you have any tips on recruiting volunteers? This is a really challenging part of my job at the minute. 2. Do you have any suggestions of how we can better recognise volunteers contribution and thank them? 3. How do you sustain a long service in Christian Ministry? 4. How do you know when it is time to stop your involvement in a christian activity and how do you explain this to your friends who are still very much involved with and committed to that activity? 5. What kind of gifting do you need on a church planting team? 6. From your experience is there a link between good church management and a church successfully growing? 7. What advice do you have for churches who face financial challenges over the next few months and years? Any practical application? 8. When it comes to church finances and budgeting there can be a tension between faith and finances, how did you navigated that tension? I loved every minute of this interview with Nigel, grateful for him and his faithful service to the wider church.

In this podcast Gavin got the opportunity to interview Nick Coles the Uk Director for Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child is the world’s largest children's Christmas Project that sends shoe boxes filled with gifts to children all over the world. As church administrators we love a good statistic and since Operation Christmas Child started they have delivered 198 millions shoe boxes to children in 100 different countries. What an incredible achievement and a wonderful demonstration of God's Love in Action. It was great to hear Nick's passion for the project but we loved his heart to reach out with the gospel Locally, Nationally and Internationally. The shoe boxes provide the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus! There is nothing better!   To Find out more please check out their website. There are so many ways to get involved!   https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

In this podcast Gavin got the opportunity to interview Fran Richley the Operations Director for a Homeless Charity in Newport called Eden Gate.  The Church Office loves to make the connection between the practical and the gospel. Fran is doing both of these, He is both passionate about sharing Jesus and caring for the needs of some of the most vulnerable folk in our communities. We loved hearing about Eden Gate and the opportunities that the church has to get alongside projects working with the homeless in our area.

In this podcast Gavin got the opportunity to interview Naomi Hodges from Renewal Church in Solihull. Naomi leads the brilliant Toy Offering Project in her church. Last year they blessed over 600 children with Christmas gifts and food parcels. Community projects like this are a wonderful way to reach out to our local community, become more visible and create opportunities where we were able to express kindness and share Jesus.

In this podcast Gavin got the opportunity to talk to Jenny Herrera. Jenny is Acts 435's Executive Director and has been involved in the charity since operations began in October 2009. Acts 435 is a giving website that allows people to give money directly to others, and 100% of what is donated via Acts 435 goes directly to those in need. They work through a network of churches and local charities who nominate an Acts 435 representative, called the Advocate, who is trained by Acts 435 and posts requests directly onto our website for people in their community who are in need. As a local church we have hugely benefited from our partnership with Acts 435, we would highly recommend every Uk church partner with them.