One of the great things about hosting a blog like Church Giving Matters is that I get a good excuse to hang out with really great people doing BIG things for the Kingdom. I’m so excited about this new series entitled “Build Community, Fund Ministry.” It is a first attempt to make the connection between the process of member assimilation and ministry funding.

To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.

I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.

Here is the outline of our fourth conversation:

Focus: Engagement is proactive participation in a cause or organization. It’s what happens when someone raises their hand and says I’m ready to bring what I have to the table. This is a key shift in the continuum of church membership.

Key ideas:

1. How can technology improve how we manage the time between someone first visits to the time they choose to become a member? How do you move people through the funnel of commitment: support, believe, belong?

2. What role does data play in informing our decisions and managing the relationship with church members?

3. Tracking behavior and participation on an individual level reveals what interests that person and indicates what’s most important to them. How can you leverage that knowledge to expose them to similar opportunities for impact?

Listen or download the fourth podcast in this series.

Previous posts in this series:

1. Lifecycle of church membership

2. Connection creates community

3. Community facilitates interaction

Also on The Content Matrix: