6 Symptoms your Church has Ministry Silos

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Ministry Silos are one of the most common symptoms I find in churches that are stuck. Most churches don’t want to admit that they have silos. But admit it or not, the majority of churches have silos. It’s actually a natural easy drift that most churches make towards ministry silos. I wrote about this in a post: “What if Home Depot Functioned like a Church?”

Ministry Silos = multiple independent ministries operating under one roof

But how do you know if you have ministry silos at your church? You probably have ministry silos at your church if…

1. Each Ministry has their own Vision & Values Statements

If each ministry is chasing it’s own vision and developing it’s own organizational values; then you’ve got ministry silos.

2. You Frequently hear the word “My Ministry” in Meetings

If you hear the words, “my ministry, my budget, my volunteers, my rooms,” etc.; then you’ve got ministry silos.

3. There is no Coordinated Calendaring Process

If every ministry has their own independent calendar and there are consistent conflicts when it comes to using facility space, announcements, and other church resources; then you’ve got ministry silos.

4. No one is Sharing Best Practices

If each ministry is building their guest experience, discipleship process, missions experiences, and volunteer process (among other things) uniquely and independently from one another; you’ve got ministry silos.

5. There is no Coordinated Budgeting Process

If each ministry is coming up with their own budget independently of each other instead of working together and sacrificing for what is best for the vision of the church; then you’ve got ministry silos.

6. Each Ministry has their own Brand

If each ministry has it’s own cool name, logo, t-shirts, websites, and promotional material that look like their from different organizations instead of from the same church; then you’ve got ministry silos.

What else would you add to the list?

Your team can use this list at your next team meeting to begin evaluating where your church is at when it comes to ministry silos. Then use this post: “Tearing Down Ministry Silos” to help you begin taking your next steps.

Want help addressing the dysfunction of ministry silos at your church? At the Unstuck Group we’ve helped some of the fastest growing and most innovative churches in the country get unstuck. We can help you too.

Photo Credit: dawn_perry via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership

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5 Articles that will Help You Make Vision Real

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Thank you for making May a great month here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hearing about how helpful different articles have been. So, thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 “4 Indispensable Truths about the Art of Planning”

All of us have been in planning meetings before with a team that seemed to have had a break through moment. You know, that moment when everyone says, “Yes! That’s exactly the direction we need to move, and that’s exactly how we need to get there from here!” There was energy, excitement and unity as everyone left the meeting. But the more time that passed after the meeting dismissed the more that energy that was there faded and the less movement towards actualizing the plan took place. In fact a large majority of planning meetings don’t actually provoke much real change in most churches and organizations. Here are 4 reasons why many of your plans aren’t really getting you anywhere:

#2 “Leadercast 2014 Recap”

If you missed the 2014 Leadercast, then you missed some great content, great speakers, and incredible ideas that have the potential to shift your thinking when it comes to leadership. But no worries! Now you’ve got all the notes to every session right here at your fingertips for free! Hope you enjoy!

#3 “Take the 2014 Church Budgeting Survey”

Participate in the survey & get a free copy of the Executive Summary! Get answers to questions like:

What percentage of our budget should go towards Staffing, Operations, Ministry, and Missions?
How much debt do churches of similar size carry?
Do these percentages change as the size of our church changes over time?
How do different churches go about building their annual budget?

#4 “New Leadership Coaching Networks Launching this Fall”

Over the last 3 years of working with The Unstuck Group one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things I’ve had the opportunity to do is facilitate leadership coaching networks for Sr. Leaders serving in local churches around the country. I’m excited to let you know that I’m receiving applications for my next coaching network beginning this fall. Be sure to get your application in before the deadline of August 15. A couple of the spots have already been filled so space is limited!

#5 “Helping Your Church get Unstuck”

Churches get stuck for all kinds of reasons. It’s okay to get stuck, it’s just not okay to stay that way. There’s too much Kingdom potential on the line. That’s why 2014 needs to be the year that your church finally gets unstuck! At the Unstuck Group we help churches grow their impact through church consulting and coaching experiences designed to focus vision, strategy, and action. At the Unstuck Group we don’t just offer consulting solutions. We help churches get unstuck!

Photo Credit: justin fain via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership

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Take the 2014 Church Budgeting Survey

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

At the end of April I announced a new project I’m beginning to work on, a Church Budgeting Survey. While I’ll admit that at first pass a church budgeting survey may not seem very sexy, the results will be very helpful. At the end of the day my hope is to help churches make vision real, and if churches can begin to allocate their financial resources in a way manner that helps them move towards their vision, then the Kingdom wins!

I’m excited to let you know that since the release of the survey, responses have been coming in from churches of all kinds of sizes and denominational affiliations. Church plants, multisite churches and megachurches of more that 15,000 in attendance have all participated!

In a couple of weeks the research gathering phase of this project will be complete and I don’t want you or your church to miss out on the opportunity to participate.

The responses from this survey will allow churches to gain valuable information such as:

What percentage of our budget should go towards Staffing, Operations, Ministry, and Missions?
What is “normal” weekly giving at a church our size?
How much debt do churches of similar size carry?
Do these percentages change as the size of our church changes over time?
How do different churches go about building their annual budget?

The more churches who participate, the more specific comparisons can be provided.

Click Here To Take The Survey

Benefits of participating: For those who participate, you’ll receive the full results in an executive summary before findings of the survey are made public! And, you’ll be provided with a copy of the data. No worries, the data will be sanitized to remove possible church-identifiers for anonymity. All for free. Thanks ahead of time for participating in the survey and for helping churches make vision real!

Posted in Leadership

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5 Articles that will Help You Make Vision Real

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Thank you for making April a great month here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hearing about how helpful different articles have been. So, thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 When to Add Another Worship Service at Your Church

Many churches are stuck in attendance simply because they haven’t maximized their current facilities and campus. Thinking about adding another worship service at your church? Here are five strategic concepts to consider before you do. Not sure if multiple worship services are right for your church? Check out this blog on Overcoming the Fear of Moving to Multiple Worship Services.

#2 My Interview with 5 Sr. Pastors Leading Multisite Churches of 5,000+

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down and interview 5 Sr. Pastors who are all leading multiste churches ranging in attendance from 5,000 to more than 15,000. Among other things we had a very candid conversation about momentum, multisite, developing young leaders, and the courage it takes to lead at a high level.

#3 5 Reasons I Would Hire You

One of the most enjoyable things I get to do is to recruit and on-board new team members. Hire the right person and the whole team benefits. When you invite the right person to join your team not only is there an infusion of new talent, but also new ideas, fresh eyes, and a new well of experiences to go to. One new hire can literally improve the performance of the entire team. Below are five characteristics that I’m looking for when I’m hiring someone or helping churches make the next right hire. I’m not sure if these are what most high-powered companies, or even what most churches are looking for in their next hires. But if they’re not, they’re making a big mistake.

#4 Church Budgeting Survey

In working with churches across the country one of the reoccurring points of tension that comes up is church budgeting. “How do we build our budget in a manner that is fiscally responsible and at the same time helps us move towards our vision?” “What are standard benchmarks in church world regarding building a healthy church budget?” The truth is while you can find a lot of principles out there about church budgeting there’s not a lot of hard data that is easily accessible for the average church. That’s why I’m conducting some informal research on church budgeting, and I’m hoping that you may be able to help.

#5 “The One Thing” 2014 Ministry Report

I’m pleased to announce that The One Thing 2014 Ministry Report eBook has recently been released! Not just because I wrote a chapter on “Making Vision Real,” but because Darren Herbold took the time to mine out some great insights from some of the best church leaders on the scene today. Subscribe to my blog posts to get your free copy!

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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Church Budgeting Survey

Sunday, April 27, 2014

In working with churches across the country one of the reoccurring points of tension that comes up is church budgeting. “How do we build our budget in a manner that is fiscally responsible and at the same time helps us move towards our vision?” “What are standard benchmarks in church world regarding building a healthy church budget?” The truth is while you can find a lot of principles out there about church budgeting there’s not a lot of hard data that is easily accessible for the average church. That’s why I’m conducting some informal research on church budgeting, and I’m hoping that you may be able to help. The responses from this survey will allow me to share valuable information such as:

What percentage of our budget should go towards Staffing, Operations, Ministry, and Missions?
How much debt do churches of similar size carry?
Do these percentages change as the size of our church changes over time?
How do different churches go about building their annual budget?

The more churches who participate, the more specific comparisons can be provided.

Click Here To Take The Survey

Benefits of participating: For those who participate, you’ll receive the results in an executive summary before the findings of the survey are made public! And, you’ll be provided with a copy of the data. No worries, the data will be sanitized to remove possible church-identifiers for anonymity. All for free. Thanks ahead of time for participating in the survey and for helping churches make vision real!

Posted in Leadership