As a new year begins, it’s time to evaluate the sacred cows in your church. 

What’s a sacred cow? It’s holding to anything that has become established and continues without question year after year, without evaluating its effectiveness. With 2024 underway, now is the time to evaluate systems and programs that have grown stale, ineffective, and burdensome and find new ways to reinvigorate the operations of your church.  

In this episode, Erika visits with Denise Craig, chief executive officer of The Church Network, a national professional association of church business administrators. Craig, a seasoned church administrator, explains the dangers of sacred cows to a church’s mission of spreading the gospel. Whether it’s worship styles, service times, committee structures, church software, or more, leaders often fall victim to a “this-is-how-we’ve-always-done-it” mentality—and that’s problematic, especially if a church isn’t growing spiritually. 

Erika and Denise discuss how to break this mindset and turn a congregation toward newer and better ways of fulfilling their unique callings. 

SHOW NOTES

The Church Network

Download your FREE copy of The Church Attorney Legal Audit® System document checklist here, and check out Episode 29 (“Using a Legal Audit to Position Your Church for the Long Haul”) to learn about the importance of a legal audit for your church.

Episode 31: Equipping Younger Church Leaders, with Dr. Nicole Martin

“Determining Which Ministry Gets What,” by Gary Fenton

Questions? Comments? We welcome them! Please contact Erika Cole at erikacole.com. Erika reads each comment and may answer your question in an upcoming episode.

See all episodes of Church Law.

The Church Law podcast is part of Christianity Today’s ChurchLawAndTax.com, a not-for-profit publishing ministry.

Erika E. Cole, Esq., known as The Church Attorney®, is the creator of The Church Attorney Legal Audit® System, a proprietary legal audit process that helps church leaders be confident they are operating with integrity, and avoiding costly risks. She serves as a senior editorial advisor for Christianity Today’s ChurchLawAndTax.com.

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