Archive for church philosophy and methods
Staffing or Equipping?
Posted by: | CommentsI just read a post by Eric Geiger, and though I usually post my best links of the week on Fridays, this one needed a post of its own. It is something that has resonated deep within me for quite some time.
Eric says:
Often I hear deep lamenting from pastors and staff teams about the lack of volunteer engagement in their churches. And often I have discovered that the problem is not with the people but a faulty ministry culture that fosters low levels of volunteerism and perpetuates an unhealthy dependence on clergy. The typical approach to ministry in most churches stands in stark contrast to the biblical approach given to us clearly by God.
In the type of churches I grew up in, you had to have a “Pastor” involved in everything, and if there were too many things going on for one guy to do it, you hired another “professional pastor” to help out. That totally goes contrary to the Biblical model of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry! The church in America many times forgets that everyone within the local church has been gifted to serve, and if they are not serving, the body does not function properly. If we want to see our churches grow and thrive, we need to unleash the members to do ministry!
Now, go and read the rest of the article by Eric!
Quotable Tuesday
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This weeks quote comes from Andy Stanley and his leadership podcast that I have been listening to. You can listen to his podcast by going to iTunes and subscribing to it. Great stuff! Ok, here is this weeks quote:
“The local church rarely gets serious about change until they run out of money… We’re preoccupied with paying the bills, not reaching unchurched people. What does that make us?”
Here are my take-aways from this:
- A church that thinks it can hold things together and stop the exodus of people by doing what they have always done is sadly mistaken.
- Playing it safe so that you do not upset the church members that have been there a long time will not cause the church to grow. In fact, it will sink the ship faster because no one is being reached and then change will have to come, and it will be forced change, not planned change.
- It is much easier to plan the change yourself. It may be difficult, and there may be some resistance, but at least it will be change you are planning and not change that is forced upon you.
- When the focus is money and not people we will have a harder time making the necessary changes.
Thoughts?
Quotable Tuesday
Posted by: | CommentsI attended the Catalyst One Day event in Chicago last week and had some great take aways that I am chewing on right now. Today’s quote comes from Craig Groeschel as he talked about momentum, and busting barriers in people’s mindsets:
“To reach people that no one is reaching we must be willing to do things that no one else is doing. To do what no one else is doing, we cannot do what everyone else is doing.”
I was raised in a church culture that said the more ministries we had going the more successful we were. Sometimes it even seemed like a goal was to add more and more things just to say that we were doing “such and such” a ministry. All the while, we never evaluated (at least not honestly) the ministries we already had to see if we should continue doing them because they were being effective. I am convinced that many churches try to do so many things that they do not do anything as good as it can be done.
Basically, Craig was saying we can reach more by doing less… what do you think?
Quotable Tuesday
Posted by: | CommentsI am going to try something on Tuesdays starting today. I love to read. With my reading I come across a lot of good quotes that motivate, inspire and convict me to serve Jesus better and to love people more. I want to pass some of those along here on my blog. I tend to share these quotes, and many more on Twitter if you want to follow. I hope they will motivate, inspire and convict you as well.
This first quote I read on Scott Hodge’s blog a couple years ago. It inspired me to continue charting a course that I felt God wanted me to be on in ministry.
“Until you get your focus OFF of the people who are disgruntled, unhappy, unsupportive, and resistant to the direction God has called you to go, and ONTO those who are excited, supportive and on board, you will NEVER gain momentum and see a new culture created in your church.”
What are your thoughts about this?
Just because you do it, does not mean you should!
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Many times churches get this idea that being busy and starting more things is the same as being a success. It is easy to think that the more ministries you start, the better the church must be doing. But here is the deal, more things going on is NOT the goal. The goal should be to see lives changed. You could be a church of 50 or 500, and have 25 different ministries, but if it is not producing life change in people, you are not being effective or successful. Here are a few more thoughts:
- If the ministries you are doing now are not producing any life change in people, you need to get rid of it.
- If starting a new ministry means another job for an already stressed out, overloaded staff member, you probably do not need it.
- If your idea of growth is doing something else, and not spiritual maturity in people, you likely do not need to do anything else.
- If you think that keeping your people busy is more important than letting them get out into the world to make a difference and have influence, you do not need another ministry.
- If you have to get up and beg people to attend a ministry event every time you have it, you do not need it because it must not be producing life change in people, or they would come.
- If you have to guilt people into doing something, you do not need to do it. It obviously is not an effective means to life change for your people.
- Just because the church down the street does it, does not mean you need to do it.
- Just because you have always done it, does not mean you should still be doing it.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you think less is more or more is more?
