Churches have historically dreaded summer due to one thing: giving. That's because activities and costs peak with summer missions trips, camps, and Vacation Bible School just as regular weekly contributions wane. The challenge for every church leader is to survive slow summer giving with a balanced budget.

The good news: It's possible. The bad news: It will require more attention than you've likely given it in the past. If you want different results, you must be willing to shift your thinking, planning, and strategy.

There are, of course, the obvious tactics like boosting participation in online giving--especially recurring giving. As attendance during the summer months proves to be inconsistent, traditional giving during the weekly worship service can be dramatically affected. Recurring online giving can solve that.

Another often-overlooked idea to boost summer giving is to keep everyone connected to the church and church needs via e-mail. Too often, church communication is limited to what is spoken from the platform or what is printed in the church bulletin. While that is certainly efficient for the church, it is not necessarily effective when a portion of your congregation is expected to be transient.

These two ideas are a good place to start, but there is so much more you can do to boost your giving this summer. Consider these five ideas:

On Monday, a 2-mile-wide tornado touched down outside of Oklahoma City, destroying homes, cars, and buildings. Governor Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties that suffered severe storms and floods. This tornado was just a part of the heavy, dangerous storms that have affected more than 171,000 individuals during the last three days. There have been an estimated 28 tornadoes in Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma since this weekend, and the storm watch continues. Churches and congregations in all four states have been affected, and they've gathered together to pray and grieve.

Natural disasters are dangerous, and sometimes tragic, but the better prepared your church is, the safer your congregation will be.

• When Disaster Strikes
• Planning for Emergency Evacuations
• Reducing the Risks Associated with Natural Perils
• Serving as a Disaster Relief Team

• "Natural Disasters and the Tax Law"
• "Creating an Evacuation Plan"
• "Disaster and Emergency Readiness in the Local Church"
• "A Vulnerable Asset: Simple Steps Can Protect Data From Loss or Theft"
• Leadership Journal's "How Churches Can Prepare for Disasters"

In what areas are your congregants most generous?

Earlier this year, Leadership Network said that 54 percent of megachurches it surveyed had average cash reserves of two to three months. Our Essential Guide to Church Finances encourages churches to maintain at least three months' worth of cash reserves.

How long could your church operate with the amount you currently have in reserve?

For the complete results of our 2013 State of the Plate research, see 20 Truths about Tithers.

For an in-depth look at the results of the 2013 State of the Plate, featuring responses from more than 2,000 church leaders nationwide, check out the new, comprehensive executive summary, 20 Truths about Tithers.

Sometimes the way we approach the connection between ministry and money makes people uncomfortable. We should view money not as a necessary evil to be reckoned with but as a partner for ministry. No ministry thrives without needed resources.

We frequently hear people describe generosity as a particular kind of giving. For example, the theme of generosity is tied to everyday giving for the ministry operating budget or to a special giving opportunity such as a mission project or a building campaign. Sometimes generosity is discussed as a person considers leaving a planned gift as a legacy for future generations. We believe that generosity encompasses all of these, but it also goes beyond them.

It's important to incorporate teaching on generosity into every part of your ministry. Talking about money should go beyond occasional needs-based appeals. It goes beyond learning fundraising strategies and techniques.

"A great deal of choice-making is unconscious and results from subtle cues in the environment," HBR says, citing the researchers of the project in France.

The takeaway for churches: Even seemingly small details can go a long way toward winning the hearts and minds of potential givers and donors. Think through the way you intend to convey information and requests, whether for a food drive, support for a missionary, commitments to a capital campaign, or something else. Don't shy away from creative techniques, but make sure the creativity reinforces the message in subtle ways without causing complexity or confusion.

Q: Our church's new community center includes a gym, and a coffee shop for people to fellowship and drink coffee while watching their younger children on our playground just outside the building. We also host a church basketball league involving other churches. All the fees from the basketball league and funds from the sale of coffee will be used to pay for supplies, electricity, janitorial supplies, and so on, for the events we plan. All money goes right back into our ministry for which the building is intended--to reach non-Christian families in a recreational environment.

• Do we owe taxes in any way?
• How are payments for referees handled? Contract or payroll? Cash or check?
• Can we use waiver of liability forms for referees and/or players?

It does not matter for tax purposes how the funds are spent. The only thing that matters for taxes is the transaction where the church received the funds. Churches may operate youth athletic leagues within its exempt purposes, so all the fees received from operating the leagues are exempt from federal income taxes. If the church allows another entity to operate the leagues, then the proceeds will likely be taxable.

The organization uses Bureau of Labor Statistics information, looking at payroll averages of nonfarm, nonsupervisory labor and adding a percentage for benefits. Although it's an imperfect measurement, it can help nonprofits determine some dollar amounts associated with the hours of volunteer time provided to them during the year. Rick Cohen from Nonprofit Quarterly further explains:

That was, until Ryan.

Ryan was one of my first-grade campers. He was sweet, round-faced, and had an incredible laugh. I loved this kid—he had been there every day for two summers. We were buds.

Oh, yes. And Ryan was allergic to dairy.

The suspect leapt over pews and lunged at people. Four people went to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Toward the end of the NBC News article, one witness told a local television station "that her husband thought 'something was wrong'" with the suspect after shaking hands with him earlier in the service.

This detail highlights an important reminder for churches of all sizes and backgrounds: Forming church safety strategies now often can help defuse potentially dangerous situations later. In our January interview with Carl Chinn, who tracks violent incidents at churches and ministries, Chinn emphasized how most any church can develop safety and security plans by focusing on people, parts, and processes.

With people in particular, good planning and communication can help coordinate the presence of multiple people casually monitoring the building and grounds during worship services. And, this planning can create dialogue that encourages churchgoers to mention unusual behavior to an usher, staff member, or someone publicly identified as a church security team member.

• Dealing with Dangerous People
• Protecting Your Church from Crime and Violence
• Creating a Safety Team

Church bonds have been around for many decades. Most of the time, they proved to be a reliable system of financing construction-type projects. Occasionally, a prominent scandal or failure would decrease enthusiasm for them.

Bond financing also tends to rise when banks set tight conditions and higher interest rates. For the first part of the last decade, credit availability was widespread. But things have changed.

Last month, Frank Sommerville, CPA, JD, visited Christianity Today and spent time with our team. Frank is one of our Editorial Advisors and he spent time with us discussing some of the top risks churches face each day.

A couple of days later, he spoke nearby at a National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) local chapter meeting. Between our on-site visit with Frank and his NACBA presentation, it became abundantly clear that there are critical, ministry-killing pitfalls that threaten every church, and leaders need to be better educated on these risks:

A wave of functions previously handled in-house at not-for-profits and small companies have been outsourced on an "as needed" basis. These are tasks and ministries that, in the past, would have been the responsibilities of staff and key volunteers.

A discussion among a group of church executive pastors several years ago brought this to my attention. One of them asked, "How much are the rest of you spending on financial administration between personnel, software, and other costs?"

There were various answers. Some said they were turning to a combination of volunteers or part-time staff; others were looking to full-time staff as always, or, in certain cases, software licenses. But one participant said, "I'm confused. We pay a service to handle all these things for us. We just pay them month-to-month on an agreed upon annual basis."

Reilly recaps a recent Tennessee appellate court decision regarding property taxes assessed between 2004 and 2008 on a portion of property owned by Christ Church Pentecostal of Nashville. Tennessee's State Board of Equalization and its Assessment Appeals Commission contended the megachurch's bookstore and cafe did not qualify for property tax exemption, and its fitness center qualified for only a 50-percent exemption.

The reason: Assessors believed the bookstore and cafe went beyond religious purposes, while the fitness center, by offering memberships to the general public, went partially beyond those purposes. The church disagreed; in court documents, the church's senior pastor explained the crucial role the bookstore and cafe and fitness center played with creating what is known in architectural design circles as third place spaces for the surrounding community, particularly its immigrant and low-income populations.

Reilly notes: