Here are the top ten search queries on YouVersion.
While it’s not the easiest of seasons for Church Leaders, there are 5 key principles to making this season not only less exhausting but also more effective.
Here are three kinds of growth you can look for in your church.
As technology has become more and more prevalent in our society, churches have an even larger opportunity to adapt their use of it to reach more people and engage their people more often.
Commercials like this will surely spark many questions and conversations and we want your church to be prepared. Here are some ways you can get involved.
This is a resource in partnership with the Church Multiplication Network specifically designed to help church plants.
As you read this list, hopefully, you’re encouraged that healthy church growth is attainable in your setting. Ultimately, church growth is up to God. It’s His Church and His Kingdom. But He chooses to use us, and we have a stewardship opportunity.
Here are some ways you can make the new year a great year in your church.
Whether you’re working on a sermon, trying to convince people to join a small group, or writing the church newsletter, there are some principles in this book are really going to help you.
Strategy can be a clarifying factor for your church. It’s the bridge between vision and execution, and it’s where you answer the important “how” questions of church leadership.
Barna recently hosted a “State of the Church” event aimed at helping church leaders in specific cities understand what people think of the church in general. The stats are informative, and they should give you insights into your local ministry context. But more than that, they should inspire action.
Services will continue to look different, even as we start re-opening. So how are other churches engaging their members around generosity? Let’s take a look at the three great examples we found.
Every church needs a digital strategy for reaching more people online.
Close the gap between first-time attendance and long-term engagement by revisiting that neglected (or nonexistent) follow-up process in your church. Here’s how.
We have two suggestions that we believe will help you communicate even when you don’t know what to say. When the answer is, “I don’t know,” here’s what you can do.
While no one can guarantee the future, these two documents are COVID-proof, meaning they will flex toward whatever comes your way.
As you continue to formulate the next steps for this next phase, make sure that you avoid these 8 reopening mistakes.
Your church’s ability to use online small groups to reach new people will be crucial to your church’s ability to grow.
With some frontend preparation, there are ways to keep online Christmas guests from falling through the cracks.
Jason guides the vision for how Missional Marketing can best serve our clients and church partners. He leads our sales team and is our lead church growth strategist. He was a Communications Director for 11 years at a megachurch named Central Christian Church of Arizona.
There are many meaningful things that should be represented on the church calendar that matter in every season and should happen no matter what. They can be done whether services and events are in-person or virtual.
Former youth pastor, church planter, senior pastor, and church consultant, you could say Michael’s lived nine lives—and he’s still going. Today, he writes books and articles and helps create courses for church leaders. Michael’s a graduate of Florida State University and did post-graduate work at Liberty University. Husband to Jennie and father to three kids, you can find him smoking ribs or grilling steaks on the Big Green Egg on the weekends.
Every ministry doesn’t have to come back post-COVID lockdowns. Most likely, there are some in your church that definitely shouldn’t come back. Here’s why.
Stephen is a creative leader. He worked in the music business for years, finding artists, developing albums, and leading marketing teams. He then moved into church leadership, serving not just as a lead over creative but also on the executive level of multiple mega-churches across the country.
Brian Beauford, executive pastor at Grace Church south of Boston, joins Meagan for a conversation that can help churches of any size reach new people in the post COVID world.
As churches seek to move forward and bounce back from the lockdowns, the stakes feel higher. Making a few small-scale but impactful changes in the year-end efforts can make a huge impact for church leaders who are hoping to revitalize both finances and spirits.
Here’s a look at the first week in the sermon series for when you reopen the doors.
There are steps you can take to rebuild live stream engagement for your church. These small changes can make a big difference.
You can serve your people well by communicating with clarity—in this season and always. Here are our six tips for communicating about reopening.
Here are 12 key trends that have emerged so far this year. I believe every leader needs to critically evaluate whether these are true in each local context, and if so… how to respond.
To give your church the tips and tools to invite someone to an online service, try these practical ideas.
Pastors should use data, information, and numbers in their decision-making process. The goal is not to be driven by those numbers, but simply to let facts inform our decisions.
Maybe this time of waiting is an opportunity. Here are three reasons not to rush back to meeting.
Consider taking your content and spreading it throughout the week. You don’t have to eliminate your family experience on the weekends but give families the ideas and resources to integrate their faith throughout the week too.
Even though most communications professionals talk about social media, email is still the best way to communicate with your congregation, particularly during times of crisis.
We can help by being present. We can help by sharing information that isn’t based in fear, but based in hope.
You don’t have to cancel your groups, you can simply move them online.
Check out the insanely practical ways that churches are using technology for student ministry.
Here are some trends I see continuing, and questions you need to be asking, well after the immediate effects of COVID-19 are over.
Here are seven problems with the digital strategy of most churches.
Here are some of my thoughts about what has changed and what will keep changing in the post-COVID church.
Here you are, with a carefully constructed reopening plan in place, about to embark on one of your biggest challenges: asking people to come back to church.
We share five practical things you can do today to begin to engage and ultimately reach new people online.
It’s time for every church to learn from and act as a small church. No matter your church size, here are a few ways for pastors and church leaders to stay connected with their congregations.
To “reunite” your church in 2020, you need to unify everyone around a common purpose.
We interviewed Kyle, the Director of the Experience Team at Crossroads, the group that creates everything from videos to music to articles to apps to weekend services.
The growth mindset is how you navigate a way forward, no matter what is going on in the world, in your community, or in your church.
The end of the year is a time for endings and beginnings. A time to reflect and plan for the coming year. As you approach 2018, let’s look at seven things that you should be thinking about putting on your church calendar.
These pre-written emails are all-new, relevant to the current coronavirus circumstance, and can help you communicate with clarity, care, and concern.
This is an archive course. You Want To Reach Your City, We Can Help.
This is an archive course. Getting the crucial elements of your marketing system ready to go.
Don’t let your limiting beliefs keep you from your God-given dream!
1. Click here to access the course on How to Apply for the Google Grant.
2. Due to the amount of work and time involved, we no longer recommend churches manage their Google Grant by themselves unless you have a highly trained volunteer willing to devote 5 hours a week to managing your account. Set up your Grow Strategy Call here to visit with our team about managing your account for you.
3. Here are resources you can use to train your volunteers.
4. Here is access to our archive course.
Connect with people in your community through nonprofit advertising. Run text ads on Google Search results with $10,000 of in-kind advertising every month. This course will walk you through applying for the Google Grant, setting up your main ad campaigns, and maintaining your account for performance and compliance.
Everything you need to run Ads and set up Plan Your Visit at your church!
An online conference 100% focused on helping your church get more visitors each week.
On average people get 147 emails a day. You must learn how to cut through the noise and deliver emails people will actually read.
Branding is about developing a unique, consistent, and compelling story. Great marketing starts with establishing your brand.
A financial recovery plan resource with a weekly offering devotional, weekly congregational email, weekly generosity coaching, and a weekly social media plan.
Most lead pastors don’t have formal education on marketing – nor did they get into ministry to learn about marketing. So we partnered with the Church Fuel team to create a Church Marketing Crash Course For Lead Pastors. These are the absolute essentials that lead pastors need to know in order to lead their teams effectively. The bottom section builds on this foundation and helps lead pastors navigate the common pitfalls in this area.
Setting up your church’s review system. Developing a culture of reviews. Dealing with negative reviews.
Great photography of your people will make a big difference for almost every other aspect of your church’s marketing.
Get a jump start on your church outreach with this Church Marketing Bootcamp! Learn the important cultural changes affecting churches and how to get started reaching people in new ways.
Our signature course and your starting point. Implement this course and you will have an incredible marketing system for years to come! This is the 2020 archive version.
The Church Growth Summit session replays give you the opportunity to learn from top church leaders focusing on practical ideas to grow your church attendance, giving, team, influence, community, groups, volunteers, vision, and moving the gospel forward.
Websites that are optimized for search engines will get more visitors. That means more people that will potentially visit your church! And, we partnered with SEO expert Tyler Rominger of Ministry Designs to give you brand new content in addition to the legacy modules we’ve already created.
A while ago, Facebook held a Community Boost Tour, a campaign with stops in thirty cities, centered around training and empowering local nonprofits and small businesses to harness all that the social media giant has to offer. Here are some highlights to recap the lessons and provide some thoughts on how everything discussed translates to church marketers – even today after so many years have passed.
Videos in this guide focus on three primary categories: leading yourself, leading others, and leading projects.
Worried about people becoming disengaged? Here are our top 8 ideas for boosting online attendance.
Good marketing has to start with a good product. You should not ever try to market a lie. In this module we will explore all the ways you can assure your guest experience exceeds the marketing promises you’ve made.
John Weaver and Whitefish Assembly created a virtual Easter Egg hunt through their building, hiding more than 1,000 eggs in classrooms, entry spaces, hallways, and the sanctuary. This is a creative way to serve the community, engage with families, and share the Easter message in the midst of the Coronavirus quarantine.
Church Fuel Founder, Michael Lukaszewski, is hosted this class on how to create or update your 2024 Ministry Plan. You get the insanely practical Two Page Plan® template, and Michael shows you how to use it!
The current pandemic really brought the numbers down for churchgoers. There’s no better way to bring those numbers back up than by inviting visitors and keeping them coming back! Watch this video to learn how to retain church visitors so they’ll want to join your church!
This Lab will give you step-by-step instructions that will result in a thorough plan for Christmas at your church.
This was recorded in October 2020 so there are many references to Covid-19 and holding virtual services, but many of the same principles can still be applied today.
In this Lab, our Ministry Coaches help you create an Easter Plan that will not only impact your current members but increase the return rate of your first-time visitors.
This was recorded in February 2021 so there are many references to Covid-19 and holding virtual services, but many of the same principles can still be applied today.
The Digital Strategy Course guides you through a sixstep framework to lay a solid foundation for your digital ministry, all held together with a one-page template. The course is designed to help you overcome being confused by buzzwords and wasting time chasing tactics to instead create a plan to reach more people online and increase engagement from your congregation.
In this doc, you’ll find tons of ideas and resources for blessing your community, ideas for kids and families, egg hunts, promoting your Easter services, and celebrating Holy week.
This document is a place to put all the key information about your church. Make sure your church’s information is consistent across all platforms- church website, social media, google my business, yelp, etc.
For many churches, an online presence only started when Covid-19 hit. As with anything new, it is hard to know where to start and if you’re doing it right. In this Webinar, Michael discusses five steps to reaching people online, how to understand your audience, what sharing “helpful” content really means, measuring the right things, and more.
Running an effective Facebook ad is more than clever words and a good picture. You have to know who you’re talking to, what you want them to do, and give them clear and compelling reasons to do it. If you’ve ever tried to create a Facebook Ad yourself, you know how easy it can be to get lost, and with constant updates to the platform, tutorials are often out-of-date and useless.
We brought in a leading expert, Chris Abbott of Church Growth Agency, to guide you through the why, the what, and the how.
In this Lab, you’ll learn the ins and outs of an effective Facebook Ad, as well as create your own ad for review.
Check out these example documents from Summit Park Church on how they run a Connect Night.
We believe that giving and tithing is expected for members of the church congregation. However, it is still our responsibility as leaders to show that we care about those who attend our church and are grateful for their generosity. Thanking givers is a simple gesture that can help you form relationships with them.
Provide a Next Steps Card at your church for people looking to get more involved.
Everything you need to do for a fully online service.
A plug ‘n play email template to capture immediate visitor feedback.
Here are the two primary things you need to have in place for guests to WANT to come back to your church.
Start and stay organized! Put all your church information and have all staff and volunteers pull the information from this page. Your information needs to be consistent on all platforms and profiles: Google My Business, social media, website, yelp.
Here is a guide for your student ministry leadership to use as you format your core values, guidelines, and discipline.
Graphic design is one of the most vital evangelism tools we have in the kingdom. It allows you to introduce Jesus to people in a way that makes them want to meet him.
Here are some example church descriptions. Use the Church Description Generator to make on for your church.
This template is an example and is not legal advice. Church Fuel is not a legal firm and we recommend you check with legal counsel in your state before publishing your website privacy policy.
Easter Tips laid out in video format for your church to get more visitors than ever before.
A Megatron Campaign is a strategy to use a few times a year to get the word out about a Big Event at your church.
Here is a list of website developers that were recommended in our Church Marketers Facebook Group.
A 7-episode video series by Ryan and Michael Lukaszewski for Lead Pastors in marketing.
Here’s our 12-month guide for implementing a system at your church, breaking the year into two types of alternating seasons: Momentum Seasons and Ministry Seasons.
Your church is already organizing events to reach people. Now learn how to take your event marketing to the next level.
This course has seven lessons that are designed to help you optimize 7 systems or frameworks that will help you reach healthy sustainable growth. Each lesson has several short videos – those are the meat of the course. Each lesson also comes with several resources, documents, spreadsheets or downloads. The resources give the videos handles and will help you take action.
55% of pastors say that they’re concerned about their church’s financial health. It’s understandable—raising money and releasing resources is hard, and it’s likely that seminary didn’t prepare you for this task. The training, tools, and resources in The Giving Course will help you learn how to talk about money the right way with a developed communications plan, create an engagement strategy, choose the best giving platform for your church, and lead a fully funded church where you’re doing much more than meeting the budget.
In the past year, marketing for churches has gone from a good idea to a necessary course of action. But you’re a pastor, not a marketer. So we’re bringing you a crash course that will help you maximize your marketing in a way that works for you. This is a church marketing course created specifically for pastors. You don’t need a marketing certification to reach people. But you do need to understand the digital landscape and how to utilize the right tools available to you.
The Inviting Course will help you master objectives like creating a culture where guests are welcome, equipping your church to invite their friends, neighbors, and co-workers, and leveraging advertising and promotions. Through plans, tools, and real-life examples from churches who are doing this well, you’ll learn to engage your congregation and start reaching new guests.
Take your follow-up system to the next level with an automated plan using the best church texting service out there–Text In Church!
The church thrives when volunteers and leaders step up. That’s why The Volunteer Course is worth your time, energy, and commitment. It includes ideas, plans, and best practices for recruiting, training, and leading volunteers in any season. You’ll learn how to make sure volunteers are properly trained and keep them engaged as the happiest, healthiest people in your church.
If you’re looking for ways to align all of the individual ministries in your church and make them more effective, The Ministry Course is for you. It includes video training that you can watch or share with your team, plus tools that will help them get organized and focused on the mission of the church. These resources equip leaders to make important changes and structure ministries for alignment and success.
The biggest growth barrier churches are facing today isn’t changing cultures or declining attendance—it’s leadership. And when we asked pastors about their challenges, developing leaders was at the top of the list. The Leadership Course will give you a plan to develop yourself and your team while finding and training new leaders to do the work of ministry. The ideas, training material, and resources will help you take action and lead at every level.
Church teams are working harder than ever: serving, leading, pivoting, and trying to keep the church going. All this hard work makes people tired, and if you’re not careful and intentional, burnout comes next. This toolkit will give you and your team the coaching you need and the resources to make things better.
Data Fueled Church is an introductory level, on-demand course that combines best practices and real-church examples, giving you a better understanding of how churches can use big-data, insights, and analytics to make better ministry decisions. This course is not overly technical; instead, it focuses on practical applications for ministry, leadership, and reaching people.
In this course, Jenni Catron walks you through a framework for leadership that will be an anchor in your growth journey. Based upon her book, The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership, this course will provide you with the secret to standout leadership found in the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Are you ready to see more visitors at your Christmas service?
This course is designed to save you time and give you incredible results. You’ll learn how to be ready for your Easter service and beyond. The content is built to help you not just have a big Easter service but to have a big impact with guests translating into consistent attendees.
The Follow-Up Course provides you with the tools and templates you need to follow up effectively. If you’re tired of people falling through the cracks in your church, this insanely practical course will help you create, improve, and launch effective follow-up processes to get guests, givers, and new believers connected in your church.
When COVID-19 hit, our churches responded, largely my moving most things online. As restrictions were relaxed, we build plans to reopen. But as we settle in to the new normal, it’s time to rebound. This course will help you wrestle with the question of “What’s next?” It’s not deep thought pontificating about the future of the church at large. Instead, this is a field guide on how to navigate this current season, getting your church back on track and focused on the mission.
Before you jump into creating content, you need to develop a Digital Strategy framework. Based off of the Digital Strategy Course, this Lab will help you get a head start on your own Digital Strategy Framework.
This offering kit includes graphics, a communications package, and a giving script to help your church rebound financially and effectively do a “catch-up Offering” post-COVID.
In this Webinar, Michael and Joe Sangl share practical information on communication, fundraising, and stewardship. A few of the things they cover: tips and resources for talking about money to everyone and practical guidance on how to stay engaged with current donors and inspire them to go to the next level.
Volunteer burnout is real, but here’s the thing: In most cases…it’s entirely preventable. There are actions you can take right now that will help you keep volunteers inspired and engaged. In this Live Class, Michael and special guest, Jason Young, give practical tips for keeping volunteers engaged.
If you are new to Church Fuel, this Live Class replay is a great place to start. Michael and Meagan walk through the ins and outs of your membership to help you make the most of it.
Does it feel like Christmas this year might even have more at stake for your church? We need to offer encouragement, share the good news of Jesus, and be a voice of hope to so many people. That’s why we’re taking time to help you plan your entire Christmas season.
This on-demand webinar features Church Fuel Founder Michael Lukaszewski along with Katie Allred, Justin Trapp, Ryan Wakefield, and Joe Sangl. Topics include what invitation tools to use for inviting the community to your Christmas services, and how to incorporate kids into the service. In less than 60-minutes, you’ll have everything you need to know for planning your 2021 Christmas services.
In this webinar, Michael gives practical tips on how to make a strategic plan you and your team will actually use. He covers why most strategic plans don’t work, the essential elements that must go on your ministry plan, how to practically use your plan once you’ve created it, and how to convince the “non-planners” to buy into the process.
Leading all-virtual small groups is new for everyone. These guidelines can be used for ideas on tips and tools to equip your church’s virtual smart group leaders.
This PDF includes examples and guidance on planning an engaging virtual Easter service, from emails to giving to follow-up and more.
This giving script can help you know what to say about giving in such a sensitive financial time.
Missing anything? Go over this checklist with your team to assist in planning the promotion, service, giving, and more.
An insanely practical PDF, with one printable page for each week of the year, to help you plan every week with purpose. The Pastor’s Planner is a resource to help you prioritize the most important actions, keep you focused on the most important people, and help you remember what’s coming soon. With one page for each week, it will help you stay focused on what (and who) matters most.
An insanely practical PDF to help you plan every week with purpose. The Pastor’s Planner is a resource to help you prioritize the most important actions, keep you focused on the most important people, and help you remember what’s coming soon. This PDF is updated for 2023 and will help you stay focused on what (and who) matters most.
An insanely practical PDF to help you plan every week with purpose. The Pastor’s Planner is a resource to help you prioritize the most important actions, keep you focused on the most important people, and help you remember what’s coming soon. With one page for each week, it will help you stay focused on what (and who) matters most.
An insanely practical PDF, with one printable page for each week of the year, to help you plan every week with purpose. The Pastor’s Planner is a resource to help you prioritize the most important actions, keep you focused on the most important people, and help you remember what’s coming soon. With one page for each week, it will help you stay focused on what (and who) matters most.
Foster an Environment that is FOR Your Community. The FOR Starter Kit gives you proven strategies that will help you define your church in your community, and give you more ideas to serve those who need you. It includes: 5 Instructional Videos, 4 Done-for-You Sermons, Social Media Guide & Campaign Strategy, Coaching for You & Staff Members.
An insanely practical PDF, with one printable page for each week of the year, to help you plan every week with purpose. The Pastor’s Planner is a resource to help you prioritize the most important actions, keep you focused on the most important people, and help you remember what’s coming soon. With one page for each week, it will help you stay focused on what (and who) matters most.
This workshop covers three immediate tweaks you can make to your budget to give your church a little financial relief through the uncertain pandemic times.
In this Lab, Michael guides you through the Purpose, Mission, and Vision portions of the Two-Page Plan.
This email—pre-written for you with the COVID-19 circumstance in mind—can be customized to communicate how your church is acting responsibly and staying on mission.
Does it feel like Christmas this year might even have more at stake for your church? We need to offer encouragement, share the good news of Jesus, and be a voice of hope to so many people. That’s why we’re taking time to help you plan your entire Christmas season.
This on-demand webinar features Church Fuel Founder Michael Lukaszewski along with Katie Allred, Justin Trapp, Ryan Wakefield, and Joe Sangl. Topics include what invitation tools to use for inviting the community to your Christmas services, and how to incorporate kids into the service. In less than 60-minutes, you’ll have everything you need to know for planning your 2021 Christmas services.
You can edit these ready to use Connection Cards to fit your church’s need using Microsoft Powerpoint and Mac Keynote software. Or, print them off and use as is! Questions? Contact your Ministry Coach for details on how to make this resource work for you.
PDF with CMU logo & branding; but useful information that can easily be edited or repurposed by Adam McLaughlin
Do you feel a tension between your online worship service and physical worship service? Those watching online can feel it, too. Is it awkward to try and engage your church’s online audience in what the physical audience is doing? Those watching from home can feel that awkwardness, too. They feel like outsiders. We must think about how to create a BOTH/AND scenario as we have in person and virtual services. That is why we’ve partnered with Jason Moore, who is known for his pioneering work in collaborative worship design and guest readiness and has devoted over twenty years to resource development, training, coaching, and consulting for local churches of all sizes, styles, and means.
If your church has had to ask, “What do we do if someone tests positive for COVID-19?”, this document is a great template to help you begin to outline your church’s process.
The Next Week Crash occurs when the week following a big event (like Easter) is no different than the week preceding the big event. This guide will help you answer the question – where did all the people go? Learn 10 ways to prevent this crash
This resource is full of practical ministry ideas from real churches. The eBook contains 101 different ideas to help you with discipleship, outreach, social media, communication, volunteers, and more.
