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Summer can be a fun time for churches—many host Vacation Bible School, Church Picnics, or other warm-weather events.
These events are designed to provide fellowship opportunities for church members.
However, summer is also a great time to regroup and prepare for the busy season that fall and winter bring to a church campus.
10 Projects Your Church Can Be Doing This Summer
1. Clean out files
Every church office has files.
Whether your church has all digital files or your church is old school and has file cabinets full of files, summer is a great time to do some cleaning.
Spend a day or two going through those file cabinets and discarding any files that no longer add value.
For instance, if you have files from the research you did on a remodel project a decade ago, it might be safe to discard them.
Keep all legal documents, signed vendor agreements, and all personnel files.
Other outdated files can be discarded or shredded.
2. Update Policies and Procedures
Take advantage of the summer months and review your church’s policies and procedures.
Organize a team that is familiar with the subject matter and update your policy and procedure manual as necessary.
For instance, if your personnel policies have changed to reflect new overtime rules, ensure the printed copies reflect those changes.
This might also be a good time to write those policies that you haven’t taken the time to do.
For instance, if you get a lot of benevolence requests but don’t have a formal, written policy, spend some time clarifying the process for benevolent requests that come your way.
Remember to sign and date all updates so that the record accurately reflects the efforts made.
3. Update Job Descriptions
Use the summer months to review all of your church job descriptions.
Whether the job description is for church employees or volunteers, take the time to ensure that job descriptions accurately reflect the expectations for the job.
For instance, if you have volunteers who assist in the Children’s Ministry and have implemented updated sanitation protocols, ensure that those job descriptions accurately reflect your expectations for maintaining a safe and clean environment for the children.
4. Deep Cleaning
We all like to do spring cleaning at home, and summer is a great time to do some deep cleaning of your church campus.
Organize a group of volunteers to help wash windows, power wash sidewalks, and clean out those flower beds.
Deep clean the carpets, dust the blinds, and inspect the walls for scuffs that can be touched up with paint.
5. Maintenance Projects
Walk through your campus with the maintenance supervisor and make a list of projects that need to be done.
Look for burned-out light bulbs, doors that are difficult to close, or windows that don’t open properly.
Gather a group of men, plan a maintenance workday, and get a lot of projects done quickly.
Make it a party and provide a time of food and fellowship after your list of projects gets completed.
6. Update Church Website
Gather a group of members to review the church website.
Check to make sure all information is accurate, all links are working, and the site is free from errors.
Utilize your creative team to determine whether it’s time for a theme update, ensuring your site remains current and visitor-friendly.
For instance, if your website is more than ten years old, it may look dated and need a facelift.
Do an internet search for your church and see what results come back.
If your church is not showing on the first page, work to improve your church’s online presence.
7. Organize Archive
Every church has a history, and it is important to maintain an archive.
Recruit some volunteers to organize the church archives.
For instance, if there are digital files of pictures and videos, use a tech-savvy person to organize those files so you can easily access them by search.
For instance, set up files so that if you are looking for a video from the Christmas production done in 2018, you can find it without watching hours of unrelated videos.
8. Update Program Curriculum
If you are like most churches, you have created a training curriculum for church members.
Whether the curriculum is for new church members, leadership, or employee training, summer is a good time to reexamine the content and update it as appropriate.
For instance, if you are expanding your leadership development curriculum to include leadership competencies, update the files that are used when presenting this training program.
9. Office Moves
Sometimes, church offices need to be reassigned. Summer is a great time to make the move.
Whether you created a new workspace for the maintenance supervisors, updated the cubicles for employees, or are redoing the accounting office, summer might be the right time to make those moves seamlessly.
10. Take a Class
It seems like the world is spinning faster than ever. Invest in your skills and take a class to learn something new.
Whether you want to learn how to use AI in your church, improve your communication skills, or manage your church office, summer is a great time to invest in improvement.
Summer goes by quickly!
I don’t know why, but winter seems to drag on, and summer always goes by so quickly!
Take advantage of these months and get some projects at your church completed.
You will enter the fall feeling refreshed, organized, and caught up on those nagging projects that often get put on the back burner!
We Can Help!
Use our ready-to-use documents, forms, and job descriptions to make your project go much quicker!
Or invest in your skills and enroll in our Church Administration course!
