5 Great (And Free) Ministry Resources

I love the beginning of a new year. For me, a chance at a fresh start has always been encouraging. At the end of every year, I begin making plans about how I’m going to live better in the upcoming year. And I know I speak for many church leaders when I say that part of those plans include how I can be a better leader and how I can help my team be more productive and efficient. 

With all the information in the world at our fingertips, there have never been more resources, apps, and tools to help church leaders accomplish new goals. I rounded up a list of our favorite resources for pastors and church staff members to use in the new year.

1. Develop.Me

The biggest of these resources came onto the scene earlier this year through the genius of Life.Church. Develop.Me Is a new performance review platform that pulls your teams goals and objectives together like never before. You can set goals for your staff and then can monitor and adjust them in real time. Staff development and growth is key for any team, and this is in innovative way to streamline this process. 

The best part about this tool is that it’s totally free! There’s really no reason not to try this out and continue investing in your team’s growth this next year.

2. Sermon Calendar Template from Ministry Pass

Getting organized is always a big part of starting a new year on the right foot. Why not use Ministry Pass’ free sermon calendar template? This is a simple guide that allows you to map out your sermon schedule while still having a big picture view of the year.

3. Understanding & Engaging Your Givers from Generis

Often, the new year holds new goals for giving as a part of a church’s growth goals. Generis has this great resource that’s worth downloading. In the free download, they walk you through the four types of givers and how to best engage them. While the goal of most churches isn’t just dollars and cents, a healthy culture of giving is often the sign of a healthy church. January is the start of new habits for many people, so take the opportunity to engage your community into a better habit of generosity.

4. Free Templates from 12Stone Church

If you’re not familiar with 12Stone Church, it’s one of the largest churches in the country with 8 locations and over 12,000 weekly attendees. Located in the northern Atlanta suburbs, this church has grown quickly but also innovated well in the midst of that growth. 12Stone has an entire hub of free resources for churches that range from sermon series, small group curriculum, student ministry, guest services, and much more. A few of my favorites are:

• Guest cards & templates for first time guests
• Contracts for parents & students on boundaries for cell phones & computers, etc.
• A lesson from Dan Reiland (12Stone’s Executive Pastor) on leadership & influence

5. Free Resources from Vanderbloemen 

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t highlight some of our own free resources specifically geared toward helping church leaders with staffing. For us, the first quarter of a new year is always filled with new hires and staff reorganizations. Be sure to use these when working to fill these important new roles!

• Exit Interviewing 101: Though losing a staff member is usually hard, there is so much to learn from each departing staff member. Download our free guide to help you conduct effective exit interviews.
• Multisite Staffing eBook: The trend of multisite isn’t going away. As your church looks to add campuses and campus pastors, we created a guide to hiring the right one for your specific campus.
• Conducting Effective Reference Checks: Please don’t skip this step in the hiring process! References are vital piece to the hiring puzzle and that’s why we created this free guide.
• Guide To Personality Assessments: There are many personality assessments out there, so we’ve broken down some of the top ones used by ministry leaders. 

Take advantage of all the resources out there to start the new year strong.

What are some of your favorite free ministry resources?