 Okay, welcome back everybody to the second hour of our lecture on church and ministry administration. In this lesson, so we are going to get into the next lesson. Let me just share the PDF and get started. We're going to talk about lesson number six. We're going to talk about systems and processes. So basically church operations. That means this has to do with the actual day-to-day running of the church as an organization. And so that's what we call we mean by operations. How is this organization going to operate on a day-to-day basis? And for good operations what we need is we need what generally is referred to as systems and processes. Systems and processes. So system has to do with any way of doing a certain task or ministry. How this should happen? And the process has to do with the flow of information, the flow of money or the flow of approval. How does that happen within that system? So example, we are running this Bible College. Now within this, even this one ministry that is Bible College, there will be many systems. Many systems have to be in place. Example, starting first is how can we inform people about Bible College? So there has to be a system that means we have to send emails, send some promotional material. We have to do some promotions. That means we are basically making people aware. There is a Bible College. The Bible College offers these courses. It is located in this place. So there has to be a system by which we constantly keep on informing people because every year we are going to have students come and so on. So that informing students. Then the next is, okay, if students are interested, how are they going to apply? So then we need another system there. Students will apply. When they make the application, they need to know are they accepted or they're not accepted. What is the tuition to be paid? When are the classes starting? What is the timetable? The students will need to know this. So we need to have systems to take care of all of that. Then internal, okay, somewhere during the semester, every semester needs a class schedule. How are you going to run the classes for those three years? Who is going to be teaching what? What is the timetable? Who will make sure that the timetable is being run? And then for the lectures, the course notes, all those things. So again, we need a lot of systems just for running of those first things. And then for the residential students here, for them, they will the boys stay, they will the girls stay. What about their food? What about their, what will they do in the afternoons? The other training that happens? How will they get fieldwork experience? All those things. So again, we need a lot of systems to take care of those things. So just one ministry. In this case, Bible College, one ministry area, there are many systems in place. And between these systems, information has to flow. Okay, if promotions are happening, then the website has to be ready with the application form and all of that. And that data has to go into the database. So the IT team has to be informed. People in the office have been informed because they may get calls, they may get emails, they may get messages, inquiries. So they have to be informed. And then when students are, you know, enrolled, people, people inside here need to know, okay, how many students are going to come on campus? How many students are residential? So we need to have norms for them, all those things. So the information also has to flow between these systems. So everybody knows what needs to be done. And so, and if there's any problem in any system, we have to give feedback. Hey, that is not working. So people are going to be affected, students are going to be affected. So please fix that or something, you know. So all that. So there is, so you can just think about it. Like, you know, if you see this, this chart here, in an organization, in this case, you're talking about a church or a Christian ministry, there are many different ministry areas. We just put six boxes here to represent six ministry areas. And within each ministry area, there are lots of systems and processes happening. Information is flowing, approval is happening, money is flowing, et cetera. And actually, these ministry areas are also connected. You know, they all belong into one organization. So the information is flowing even across ministry areas. And so there's a lot of interaction going on. So the important thing is when we are thinking about the administration of the organization, we need to break it down to the lowest level, which is the systems. This putting the right system in place for every little thing that needs to happen. And the process, you know. So how will information flow or approval process or money, you know, money flowing? So we have to think down to the lowest level. And we have to make each system and each process efficient. It should work well. So that the overall organization will then function well. And also people can be served well. So down to the lowest level, we have to monitor, we have to check, we have to give feedback, we have to make correction so that every system and process is optimized. It is working very well. It's working efficiently. Then everything will be going well. So we have to think like that. Think down to the lowest level of every system, every process. Keep checking. Is the system functioning well? Is the process working well? And then, you know, that way, the whole ministry area and all the ministry areas within the organization will do well. So let's look at some examples. Accounting department. So this is on page 19. So think about just accounting. So accounting is one ministry area or one department. And within that, there are so many systems that have to be in place. Now, we are very grateful that a good portion of contributions that come to the church come directly into the bank. So it saves us a lot of work. So we are encouraging more and more people instead of putting money on Sundays into the offering. Please, you make your contribution directly to the bank. So that may, it reduces all the work. But think about it, you know, like, but there is still the offering that people give physically on us during the service, like on a Sunday service, they put it in the offering bag. But let's talk about that system. So the offering collection, which in time past, maybe, you know, six, seven years ago, that was the main way of getting offerings, which is what the offering people make on Sunday morning in the offering bag. So we have to have a very tight system in place. So, okay, during the Sunday service at a particular time, offering bags are passed. So, you know, we pass the offering back. Now, you have to think about the offering back. We want money to come in, we don't want people to take money out. So we have to have some security measure. So our offering bags have locks on them, or at one point these boxes, boxes have to lock on them. So only money can go out or checks can go, I mean, money can go in or checks can go in or cannot come out. Only authorized people can take it out. So that we have to think about, that's part of the whole system. So offering banks are just passed around, people put their cash or check into the offering bag, then it's all collected. And the offering bag goes to, there are, it goes to the back, back where it's kept safe. Then as soon as the service is over, right there, so the system we have put in place is right there, there is a team of people who will sit and count the money. And it will be done in, you know, it's not done some secret place or something, it is done in right there in public. Public means it's not everybody is standing and watching, but it's done in a way that nothing can go wrong. It's done in such a place. So, and then it's done by a team. So it's not done by just two people, right? Maybe if it's small, yeah, maybe two people, but usually it's done by a team of people. So all the money is, the locks are opened when everybody's there, all the bags, okay, all the bags are there or checked, locks open, check, all the money is put there in front of everybody. So there's a team of people watching, then the money is sorted by denomination, all hundreds or fifties or thousands or whatever, the denominations are separated, then it's entered into a notebook. So this currency in this denomination, we got so many currency, so it's all recorded, checked, then two people sign off, then that cash is put into a sealed envelope or envelopes. The amount is written, then that cash comes to the church office. Then in the church and they send a copy of that sign, the recorded sign, so there's a logbook in at the venue where it is recorded, a copy of that is sent to the church office. The church office again, on Monday, they will check the whole thing and it should match exactly with what was recorded on Sunday at the venue, you know, okay, the denomination, so many notes, just so many notes, it matches. So that's part of it. So once that is done, the same thing goes to the bank and the bank again, you're entering, so many denominations, so many, so this one gives deposit, that's left. So all three records should match, the record of the, or what happened at the venue, the counting that happened in the church office and the deposit that took place in the bank, all three should match. Then we know money has gone from the venue to the bank. So that's the system being, and this is recorded, that means all copies of all three are kept for the accountants, independent accountant to check. So that's the system. Now in spite of having a system like this, I'll share one experience that, and this happened many years ago, one day, one, I think it happened on Monday, somebody from the church, this happened on one of our locations. So we had the same system in place, we had like five people counting, everything being done, but somebody had given, made a large amount contribution to put it in the offering, and they just had the presence of mine for whatever reason, they called the church office and said, I have put, and I think the amount was 50,000 Indian rupees, they called the church office, they informed the administrative saying, I have put 50,000 rupees in cash into the offering today, could you please make sure that it has come, they just had that, normally people don't do that, they just put in the offering and they go, but this person called the church office to say, I have done this, so okay fine, we will check and we will let you know, and they told us the denominations, I don't remember all the details, but this is what we have put, we have put so many currency notes in this denomination, and we have put that amount, they put it in the offer, and Monday, so then we waited for the, so then we saw that, that certain notes of that denomination are missing, they were not recorded in the beginning, that means they were taken out before they were recorded itself, and this was happening in a group of five people sitting, how can it happen, so then I had to call the, so every team we have a leader, so I called two people who were in the group, in the accounting offering, I said, you know, can you please explain how this thing happened here, because we have set a process in place where the packets have to be opened to get them, but how is it happening, and they said, oh no, no, no, they mentioned the name of the person, and said, no, this lady, she takes all the envelopes to herself first, and she does not let anybody else open the envelopes, she insists that only she will handle it, and she opens and she puts out the money, and I said, that's not the way it's supposed to happen, everything has to be in the middle, and in front of everybody it has to be opened, this is not the system we are, or the process we have set in place, immediately the alarm, because this lady is not following what we have told, and she has changed it, she has modified it to suit herself, and everybody is quiet, because they think she has been there the longest, and she actually was there before all of them, so they're all just keeping quiet and listening to her, but she has modified this process to suit herself, where all the envelopes go to her first, and then she puts it out, and then we realize what was happening, that because she alone is opening, she can keep some of the notes, and not put all the notes in front, so even before it is counted, some notes can be taken, and that's exactly what happened that Sunday, because the denominations that people said we have put did not come from the venue to the church office, so I called this person, I said, can you please come and meet me, I need to talk to you, then she got scared, she said, what is it about pastor, what do you want, I said, you come and talk to me, I just want to talk to you, please come and meet me, then she was very scared, can you please tell, she wanted to know what it was, then I told her straight, because she was hesitated in the coming meeting, I said, see this is the problem, I want to talk to you, I told her she disappeared, she left the church, she and you know, she was coming with her family, they all just left the church, stop coming, now if her hands were clean, she would have come and spoken directly, and said, please what happened, she would try to solve the problem, but the fact that she didn't even come to meet me, and the fact that she didn't want to even solve the problem, or she will even stop coming to church, was a clear sign that something wrong was happening, and there she was exposed, now we didn't take any action against her, we had to let it go, but the point was, the point is, even though we had a system in place, and we thought it was as tight as it could be possibly, and we had the process in place, somebody knew how to beat the process, find a way out and steal money, now the next thing we did, then we were in that location, we said, okay now everybody sit under CCTV and do it, so at least we have camera, CCTV camera recording everything, so people are aware that, hey while I am opening the envelopes and so everything is being recorded on camera, so that's what we did in that situation, so the point is, this was a very difficult lesson to learn, that he'll even have to be tried so much and put a tight system in place, everything, still somebody and that lady was in church, I think by the time at least 7-8 years, of course she was not always serving in that late team, but she had been in church for a long time, so there was an amount of trust, this person is with us for such a long time, we don't expect somebody like that to be doing something wrong, and then she eventually joined this particular offering team, offering recounting team and then started this thing, so we became very, very careful. So yeah, I mean the person will call, we have to thank them for telling us, but the fact is that the money is gone, but we can't recover it because this person has left and we don't want to create a scene going after them and police and all that, I mean it's not the whole amount, the 50,000 didn't go fully, but I think maybe like if I remember correctly, I mean I can't remember the details, but maybe like around 10,000 or something disappeared. If the person, that's right, so the thing is we don't know how many times this person was repeating this before, that particular Sunday, thank God that he orchestrated the thing to be exposed. So if that person had not called, this lady would have continued her activity and it was very sad, but we have no record and so then we can't, there's no way to involve the police or do any such things and she just left, so it's a very sad situation. Anyway, so the important thing is that we need systems, we need processes and we need to keep checking on these things. So similarly, we have a process within the accounting department, there are systems and processes on how we do expense claims, that means if somebody has to spend some money from their own pocket to buy something, we have a way how to do it and how they can get reimbursed, so it's there and people will follow that process, how salaries are paid, how vendors are paid. So for example, for vendors, especially for vendors who are going to be doing repeat business, we have first of all a vendor services agreement, that means if you want to do some work, we first get quotes from multiple vendors, we choose the right vendor and we get the vendor to sign a vendor services agreement with the church and in that agreement, we state basically certain things like everything has to be done with integrity and this is how we work and that vendors cannot pay money to any staff in order to get the work. See, otherwise what happens is the staff who is making the decision may choose certain vendor and say, hey, I will choose you, I'll give you this work, you give me some amount and we won't know. So we have this vendor services agreement saying, I mean of course we trust all our staff but we don't want any opportunity to go wrong, so that's why we have this in place. So we get the vendor to sign the agreement that they will not do any such wrong activity, they will not pay any of our staff any money in order to get the contract or get the work and then once they do that, they become a regular vendor that we keep losing on an ongoing basis for different things and our practices, every vendor gets paid within three days. So that means we don't wait 30 days, then within three days as soon as they send us their bill, the within three days, three working days, we will pay them so that it makes them happy but also means that we are being responsible. You know, you've served us so we will pay you immediately as quickly as possible. So all of these things are there in just one accounting department, there are lots of things happening and we'll get into some details when we talk about church accounts and how we manage that and some practices we follow, we get into details. So when you look at the human body, even the human body is so amazing and there are so many systems within the body. So one body, just one physical body has, I think these are the 12 different systems there. There is the circulatory system called the blood flows in the whole. So there's the heart, the palms of blood, the arteries that deliver oxygenated blood, the veins that bring back the oxygenated blood, and the whole body is functioning, nutrients are distributed, everything's happening. There's the digestive system, the endocrine system, the exocrine system, the immune system or muscular system, nervous system, renal system, reproductive system, respiratory and skeletal. So if you just look at the human body itself, even this body has so many systems and within the system there are various processes that are happening over and over and over and over again, repeating, repeating, repeating, repeating and that's how the body is functioning. So it's a good model. The same thing has to happen in the organization. The organization is repeating, so many things are happening over and over again and if the systems and the processes work well, the organization will do well. So what are the objectives we're trying to achieve in putting a system and process in place? We want to work in a very efficient way. People will need to be clear what they have to do and how they have to interact with others. There's a good control of flow of information, resources, finances and time and we can also look at ways to keep improving the system and the process so we can get better as an organization. Now a very important thing is this, that the way we set up systems and processes, it should be in such a way that even if people move and somebody new comes in, it should work fine. It should not be dependent on the people in the sense that if one person decides to leave or move through another role, things should continue to happen and the fact is people will move. People after somebody say, I want to change, I want to do something different, I want to go into another ministry or I want to, they will move. People are not going to be there forever. So the system should be designed in such a way that if another person with similar skills comes in, work should get done. So of course the skills belong to the person. People are coming in, their skills, their experience, their wisdom, they're bringing but people can also move. They can go to some other role. So what do we do? If another person comes in with similar skills and similar experience, work should happen. So it should not be too dependent on the person. So we have to design our systems like that and make so that the world can go. So here are some thoughts on good system design. We should design things in the system with these four things in mind. One, excellence. How can we do things better? What do we need to do to improve quality? That's another question we can ask. Efficiency, like how can we do it more productively? Can we do it faster? Effectively, could we make some changes to the approach we are working so that we can be more responsive? Third is economy. Can we do it cheaper? We don't want to waste time or money people's energy. Can we do it in a less expensive way? Are we wasting resources here without adding value? Can we improve the system that gives us an edge that makes us that we are doing something that's different or it's meeting a need that is not yet being met? So can we be innovative? Can it help us solve problems or meet needs? So these four things we keep in mind. Excellence, efficiency, economy, edge. So when we look at systems that are happening, no. You can ask questions. Is this really working well? Is it excellent? Can we do it better? Is it working efficiently? Is it economy? Are we wasting any money or time? Can we do something to meet more needs to give us an edge in what we're doing? So if we ask these questions constantly, we keep asking these questions. We can improve system design. We can keep getting better in how we are doing things. So some thoughts to keep in mind is keep it simple, lean and minimalistic. Don't make it very complicated. Make sure the right people are in the right place. So if you put somebody there who doesn't have the skill, doesn't have a required experience, it'll become a problem. The system won't work because the person doesn't have the skill or they're struggling. So the work won't get done. We need to evaluate and give feedback and make it independent of people so that even if people change, the work continues. And remember, even if we improve one ministry area, it doesn't mean the whole thing will improve. We have to keep improving all the ministry areas. All the ministry areas have to keep constantly getting better. So just look at one example here on how we think through on this. This is about how requests, I'm looking at the diagram on page 21, how the requests come in for books. So a book request can come to us through many different ways through email, phone call, somebody writes a letter. It could be at a book table where we are displaying our books in some event or somebody could just speak to one of our church staff and say, please send this book to me or something like that. So the request comes. So what should we do? We need to record it somewhere. So there is one person who's primarily responsible to record these book requests in, right now it's happening in a shared spreadsheet. So the request is recorded. The name, who requested it, what is the address, what are the titans, language, how many copies they need, by when do they need it, so that we make sure, especially if somebody's requested books for some conference or something, we need to make sure the books reach there for the conference. So that's the question. Then we have one person who's responsible for book distribution. So he looks at these requests every day and then he's also, so his immediate thing is of course to pack the books and dispatch the books and then to mark that this request has been completed. That's his immediate work responsibility. But he also has to make sure that we have enough books for the stock. So on a monthly basis, this person is providing a stock update on a monthly basis and we have a rule. If any book comes down to just 200 copies, immediately it has to go for readings. That means we need to print another 2000 copies or whatever that is. So we need to have a minimum stock of 200 copies in the stock at any point. If it starts getting close to 200 prints, so that we get a few thousand copies back into the stock. So he gives a monthly inventory update so that the requests for printing can go and then these books come into the stock room. But sometimes the requests that come in, for example, if somebody is doing a conference somewhere in some other part of the country and they need a huge, large number, large volume of books, please send us 1000 copies of these these books. So that's, you know, we may not have that many copies then. So then immediately he'll send a request directly. A conference is happening, you know, two months from now. They have requested for 1000 copies of all these books. So we need to print for that. So then, so he did, he doesn't wait till the end of the month to make the request. He will immediately request it because the books have to be ready to be sent to that conference. So that, so we have a system and there is a process that is involved or many processes involved. But this is just to meet the request for a book. So whether it is one person sending us an email saying send me one book or whether it is, you know, some big event that's happening where they have requested thousands of books, everything has to be met. And we have a two week, we say within two weeks the book has to leave, it has to be sent. Practically, we'll try to send it within that week, at maximum two weeks. If a request comes to us, within two weeks the book has to be sent. And of course, for conferences, we send it, you know, a few days before the conference happens, so that the books are received and given to the participants. So this is one example where many systems are needed, the processes and then to carry out that particular ministry area to make sure it works well. If we don't have the system, we don't have the process just printing books of no use, because it won't reach the people. And when somebody requests a book, if it doesn't go to them, they will miss out on something and or if you look at it this way, when the request book and the book goes to them, God can minister in their life, you know, through the book and bring about a change. So we need to do this. And then we constantly keep looking at this. How can we improve the sole process? If there are delays, sometimes delays with a printer and so on so forth, we need to we constantly look at it, keep monitoring it, keep changing. For example, after COVID, when we restarted, one big problem at that time was buying paper. The printer came and said, you know, and we use a particular type of paper, like, you know, this color, it should be white and it's just this thickness. He said, that paper is not available. I can't buy it. So it became a problem. And then at that time, he got it, he was able to source it through some, you know, another person was selling third party, he got that. Then that whole batch of paper got over. When he came back to us, he said, see, I know somebody who has the paper we need, but they are willing to sell, you know, they sell it in big tons. So if we have to buy that paper, we have to buy, I forget the numbers now, but so many tons of paper. And it costs so much money. And the printer asked us, can you help us help me buy that? And so we had to make a decision. Yeah, because anyway, it's for our goods, like, you know, that even though it's a big amount, huge volume of paper, and he's asking us to buy it, we will buy it, but it's going to be used for us to print all the books. And so we went ahead, you know, because of the situation, it's okay. He'll buy all the tons of paper, it'll be delivered to the printer, but we will use it. And then, you know, for all the printing work, he deducts the amount. So we kind of collaborate that way, because, you know, we're coming out of this whole COVID thing and all of those things have to be done. So those things, you know, but the end result is, you know, the books get printed and they're sent out to help people. So even when once I'm going to close with this, that even once we put a system and put the process in place, we have to continually monitor. And the one important thing is to collect data. Because we need to make our decisions based on actual data. We can't just say, you know, if you don't have data, then we may not be able to make right decisions. So we tell it, okay, how many books went out, how much time is taking from the request to the book being discussed. If the request date was this, the discharge date was this, is it happening within two weeks? You know, so that is actual data that we can see that, yeah, we are doing what we're supposed to be doing. So like that we have to collect data. Then we can see that, yeah, things are working well or things are not working well. We need to analyze results and then we need to correct what needs to be corrected and then repeat it. So like this, we have to do it in all areas of the ministry. Collect the data, look at the result, make the change. And sometimes the change may be the process, sometimes the change may be the person, because maybe the person is not doing the work that they're supposed to do, then that has to be dealt with. And so we need to monitor and take action. So yeah, just some exercises that you can think about if you want. If you're going to set up a traveling ministry, what systems and processes would you need? Like you're sitting in your Bible college, what systems, processes you need, just some things to think about. Let me pause here and see if there are any thoughts or any questions. Anybody wants to ask anything or share anything about systems and processes? Any questions? Everyone's okay? Yes, Pastor. All right, so I hope this has given you some useful things to think about for your churches, for your ministries, for an organizational perspective, administration perspective. If there are no questions, no comments, you will close in prayer. Yes, I see Colin's comment, monitoring and evaluation is very important. That's true. We have to look at data, collect data, first of all, and then monitor, evaluate and take the required action. Yeah, okay. Let's close in prayer. We will pray and we will dismiss. Could somebody in the online class pray and then we will close? Anyone can pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this wonderful lesson two hours we've had, Lord, about leadership and church management, Lord. We all know that any anointing without training is chaos. So Lord, the last try as much as possible to put everything we've learned into practice, to always use both our physical and spiritual ears to hear whatever has been told to us. So Lord, we also pray for the pastor, please, increase his anointing, increase the anointing of the students we are with in this class as we change this entire world for Christ. I do pray in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and everybody say it's Amen. Amen. Thank you everyone. We'll continue this next week. Thank you for being on the class. Have a good day. See you soon. Bye now.