Seminars

Harder & Associates has developed seminars for church leaders to assist them in both the area of general stewardship and the implementation of successful capital projects.

16 Ways to Increase the Giving in your Church

This seminar is designed to assist church leaders maximize their financial potential for budget support.  It has been offered across Canada and in the United States with over 3500 church representatives from all the major denominations attending.  It has also been sponsored by five leading denominations as a national seminar, has been sponsored by numerous denominational Districts and Presbyteries from Halifax to Victoria as well as by many individual churches.

The introduction to the seminar is a presentation of the 7 Myths of Church Fundraising. These ‘myths’ or the assumptions churches make about what stewardship means, often limits churches in their ability to generate sufficient revenue to fund ministry. These myths are identified with recommendations made as to how they can be resolved.

The major part of the seminar is the presentation of sixteen ways churches can increase their potential in giving.  These sixteen ways deal with the following issues:

• Clarifying purpose is the most important issue in terms of giving. This section deals with problems churches deal with as to vision, a four-step process to clarify vision and the four positive results as to vision clarity.
• Setting a standard for giving.
• Creating a new system of envelope and giving usage to accommodate the variations of giving methodology.
• Setting a standard for giving, an extremely important principle to maximize potential.
• Understanding that donors are different as to age, type and giving interest.
• Formalizing stewardship responsibility in church leadership.
• Developing a proactive budget process to move churches from maintenance to proactive ministry.
• Presenting stewardship as a holistic discipleship based focus rather than simply dealing with church finance in the context of crisis.
• Presenting the budget as a series of ministry modules rather than simply administrative expenses.  Putting this ‘face’ to the budget will encourage members to give.
• Developing a planned giving program so that members are encouraged to give through their estates and wills and other deferred programs.  This will tap very significant financial potential.
• Plus other issues…

This seminar is offered regionally by Harder & Associates and is sponsored by numerous churches and denominations.  Check the web as to where this seminar is being offered.

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Capital Projects Workshop

This seminar, conducted in tandem with a professional architect, is designed to assist churches that are planning a capital project. This seminar has been offered regionally some 85 times across Canada with representatives from over 1000 churches attending. 

The seminar, on the financial side, deals with fundraising issues to support a capital project.  These involve establishing a church’s potential, factors that impact the achievement of that potential, campaign readiness, establishing a critical path for building, principles that are important for campaign design and the various campaign models churches use.

On the architect side, the building issues covered include property purchase, property size, the necessity of a needs assessment, ten design issues that impact building efficiency and cost and the various principles involved in the preparation of a global budget.

This seminar is offered regionally by Harder & Associates and is sponsored by numerous churches and denominations.  Check the web as to where this seminar is being offered.