The following is another installment from my friends at MAG Bookkeeping. If your church needs bookkeeping or virtual assistance, there is no one I recommend more. You can contact this wonderful organization by clicking HERE.

Now, on to Four Practices Of Highly Effective Churches:

At MAG Bookkeeping, we have the privilege of working with churches all around the country on their finances. In addition, our leadership team is made up of professionals who've collectively spent decades working with churches on their strategic planning, membership strategies, construction projects, discipleship models, and dozens of other issues.

Through all these meetings and interactions with churches, our leaders have seen that effective churches of any age, stage or size consistently do the same four things really well. The ways in which each church does these things will look different, of course, depending on their communities. But across the board and across the country, effective churches that are reaching their communities for Christ do these four things really well:

1. Their Sunday morning worship experience is relevant to their community and effective in reaching attenders where they are. It doesn't matter whether it's defined as "contemporary" or "traditional," or if the pastor wears jeans or a three-piece suit—effective churches have figured out what resonates with their worship attenders  and what makes those attenders bring others with them to worship on Sundays.

2. They understand and emphasize building authentic biblical community. Effective churches don't just publish a list of how people can connect with each other—they are deliberate about helping people build relationships with one another. They have a sustained focus on helping people understand that all the "one another" exhortations in the New Testament can only be carried out in an environment where there's the freedom to have real relationships centered around the Word.

3. They minister well to the next generation. They focus on ministry to the next generation of Christ-followers—the children and youth in their congregations. They understand the power of inter-generational worship and learning, and keep it at the forefront of their efforts.

4. They reach out to the world outside their walls. They balance their outreach between local and global efforts, and communicate to their regular attenders what it means for their church to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

That's what we've gathered from our experiences. What would you add to this list? What else have you seen effective churches do well? 

Brian Dodd's daytime job is as a generosity architect and leadership consultant for INJOY Stewardship Solutions. During the last 10+ years, he has spent each day having one-on-one conversations with many of the greatest church leaders in America. He also also has over 25 years of church volunteer and staff experience. Check out his blog, Brian Dodd on Leadership.

For the original article, visit briandoddonleadership.com.

Get Spirit-filled content delivered right to your inbox! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Dr. Mark Rutland's

National Institute of Christian Leadership (NICL)

The NICL is one of the top leadership training programs in the U.S. taught by Dr. Mark Rutland. If you're the type of leader that likes to have total control over every aspect of your ministry and your future success, the NICL is right for you!

FREE NICL MINI-COURSE - Enroll for 3-hours of training from Dr. Rutland's full leadership course. Experience the NICL and decide if this training is right for you and your team.

The NICL Online is an option for any leader with time or schedule constraints. It's also for leaders who want to expedite their training to receive advanced standing for Master Level credit hours. Work through Dr. Rutland's full training from the comfort of your home or ministry at your pace. Learn more about NICL Online. Learn more about NICL Online.