How-To Guides
Practical tools to help your church navigate new economic models for mission and ministry, using your buildings and property.
Based on feedback from congregations, RootedGood created this series of guides to help churches and their partners navigate new economic models, with a particular focus on the effective use of buildings and property. Each guide is available as a digital PDF download or as a printed copy.
The Complete How-To Guide Bundle
Using several guides with your congregation? The bundle includes all seven at a reduced price: How to End Well, Partner Well, Rent Well, Develop Well, Sell Well, What About Taxes?, and Money + Mission Alignment.
Interested in using the How To Guides with multiple congregations or in more than one setting? Purchase our Institutional How to Guide Bundle instead. With this purchase you can use, copy, and share the PDF with up to 50 congregations and/or organizations.
How to Partner Well
Create and strengthen partnerships that amplify your church's mission. This guide helps congregations identify opportunities, assess readiness, and build lasting collaborations with other organizations, communities, and sectors.
You will:
Understand what makes partnerships succeed
Clarify goals and mutual expectations
Address power dynamics and build relationships that last
Build partnerships that serve community impact, operational effectiveness, and mission alignment
It is also useful for nonprofits and other organizations, whether you are partnering out of necessity or aspiration.
How to Rent Well
Renting out space can further a church's mission and provide a much-needed home for community organizations and businesses. This guide helps you weigh the mission, money, and practical sides of renting before you begin.
It comes in two parts:
Part 1: A money-and-mission alignment framework to guide the process; case studies of rental approaches; an audit of your space to decide what works well and what doesn't; a tool to determine whether to prepare to develop your property into affordable housing or something else; and a way to test whether there is demand for rental space in your location.
Part 2: A tool to analyze potential rental needs; a rubric for the potential renters; a list of important legal and practical aspects to consider; and ways to bring the congregation along when your church rents out space.
How to Develop Well
Considering building housing or some other development on your property? This guide helps you get clear on what your congregation needs and wants, and what to expect when working with a property developer.
You will:
Work through a process to put together a Development Decision Map and a sketch for ideal development based on key factors that come up in developing church property
Learn key tips to keep in mind when working with a developer
Read examples of what church and developer partnerships can look like
Find a list of important questions to ask before entering into an agreement with a developer
How to Sell Well
Has someone in your congregation said, "Maybe we should sell the building?" Then this is the place to start. The sale of a church property is a pivotal and unique moment. This guide helps your congregation build confidence and capacity as it considers selling, through exercises and conversations on the questions that matter most:
Why do you want to sell your property?
Are there alternatives to selling?
What impact will selling have?
What will you do with the money from the sale?
How do you actually sell the site?
Who will you sell to?
Who do you need to engage to assist with the sale?
What will your lasting legacy be on the property?
How to End Well
All beginnings come from good endings. For congregations, ending something, a program, an event, or even the worshiping community itself, is full of challenges. This guided process helps your congregation thoughtfully conclude a ministry, project, activity, or worship service in a way that honors the past and opens the way to new beginnings.
You will find:
A simple framework for reflection and planning
Guided questions that foster honest, engaging conversation
Tools to celebrate what has been accomplished and prepare for what comes next
Note: this guide is where the Good Legacy Fund fits naturally. See the Donate section for a cross-link.
More Tools For Your Congregation
A guide to the thorny question of taxes for churches that start generating new forms of income.
What About Taxes?
Money + Mission Alignment
A framework to help you align your money with your mission for maximum impact.
How-To Guide Licensing for Institutions
Are you a church-related institution, such as a seminary, foundation, or denominational body? Would you like to provide How-To Guides that are branded with your logo or customized to your denomination's context? Contact us about a How-To Guide Bundle, or about purchasing the tools in bulk for use with your churches.