Tag Archive - consulting

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5 Reasons Churches Don’t Grow

Stuckness is no respecter of the “brand” or “flavor” of a church. All kinds of churches across America are stuck. Large churches, small churches, old churches, new churches, Baptist churches, Methodist churches, Nazarene churches, Presbyterian church and even non-denominational churches are stuck. In fact Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources has stated in his research that:

“Eight out of ten of the approximately 400,000 churches in the United States are declining or have plateaued.”

While there are all kinds of reasons that churches end up stuck, at the Unstuck Group we’ve identified 5 key contributors that lead to churches being stuck. Through working with churches across America we’ve observed these contributors over and over and over again. You can click on the following headings below to learn more about each of the 5 key reasons that churches get stuck. So here they are in no particular order:

#1 Lack of Vision

An old Japanese proverb says, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” There are a lot of churches out there living a nightmare because while there may be ministry activity, that ministry activity is not aligned to move the whole church towards accomplishing a clear vision.

#2 Inward Focused

One of the most dangerous places a church can be in their life cycle is when the ministry they are doing is having a big impact with insiders (people who already know Jesus and are inside the church) but a low impact with outsiders (people who don’t know Jesus yet). It’s dangerous because it’s comfortable. It feels like things are going well and you have momentum because people are happy, they’re regularly attending, and they seem to be “all in” with what you’re doing. But if you aren’t reaching new people, your church or ministry is already moving towards unhealthiness and decline.

#3 No Clearly Defined Spiritual Maturity Pathway

Many churches are stuck or declining not because they have a difficult time attracting or introducing new people to Jesus but because they have no plan in place to move people towards spiritual maturity or the plan they’re working is broken.

#4 Complexity

It’s exciting when you’re adding staff, adding ministries, building buildings, and more and more people are meeting Jesus. But it’s not as exciting when things get really complex and the fun stops and growth begins to slow down. Growth by it’s very nature leads to lids of complexity.

#5 Lack of Strong Leadership

The greatest crisis facing the modern day church is a crisis of leadership. The modern day Church simply doesn’t attract, develop, or keep leaders. Leaders by their very nature are change agents. Because the unstated goal of most churches is to preserve the past, church leaders often times find themselves fighting the family instead of fighting the enemy.

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Posted in Leadership

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How many People should be Volunteering at your Church?

Did you know that there is a direct connection between the amount of money a church invests in staffing and the number of people who volunteer? What we’ve discovered in our research at the Unstuck Group is that the as a church increases its spending on staffing the number of people volunteering decreases.

Translation: if you want more people to volunteer at your church you may need to spend less on staffing.

What we’ve learned through our experience and research is that the average church in America is mobilizing 43% of their adult and student population in volunteer opportunities. The reason it is so critical for churches to address this and take steps to move their culture in the right direction is because volunteering is discipleship. It’s not about filling roles and getting ministry done through people. It’s not about what we want from people, but rather what we want for people. Mobilizing people into volunteer roles is the ministry of pastors and church leaders. It is discipleship. Because volunteering and living an others first life is the very essence of what it means to live like Jesus.

Interested in learning more? Download the ebook “Vital Signs: Meaningful Metrics That Keep a Pulse on Your Church’s Health” or consider engaging the Unstuck Group to do a Ministry Health Assessment with your church to discover the health levels at your church and develop a plan to move things forward.

In the meantime below is a free exercise you can do with your team to begin addressing the volunteer culture at your church:

Continue Reading…


Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

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If You Want to Grow, Stop Thinking Like a Small Church

For years we’ve been hearing (and seeing) that the average American church has fewer than 100 people in regular attendance. If you spend your time in ministry leadership circles, blogs and conferences, it would almost be easy to forget that the megachurch is a rather new phenomenon, and that hundreds of thousands of smaller churches are still engaged in ministry every week. To be sure, many are closing their doors for the final time every week, as well. But thousands are also launched each year, meeting in whatever space they can find, trying to reach the lost and grow and pursue their unique vision.

At The Unstuck Group, we talk to a lot of pastors from churches of all different sizes. We know firsthand that megachurches don’t have the “exclusive” on passion for reaching people with the love of Jesus. In fact, churches of different sizes have different strengths and challenges.

One of the growth-inhibiting habits most difficult for a smaller church to break is the habit of thinking like a small church.

And with that in mind, we have been working on a brand new consulting service for a while, and I’m excited to finally unveil it.

GrowthSolutions is our new service designed to help leadership teams at smaller churches who want to take intentional steps towards growing their church to 500 and beyond in weekly attendance. This consulting experience gives fresh perspective and tools to handle the challenges related to growth and health, strategic planning and maximizing resources.

We believe healthy things grow – in size, impact and effectiveness. (Sometimes unhealthy things grow, too — tumors come to mind. You don’t want to grow like that. A healthy church makes healthy disciples.)

We’ve already gotten started with about a dozen churches across the country and are looking forward to sharing their stories with you in the coming months!

Click Here to learn more about GrowthSolutions from The Unstuck Group.


Posted in Leadership

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Big News for Leaders Who Want to Grow their Churches

Are you ready to push your leadership ability up a notch? If so, we want to help you. In April, our brand new coaching networks will fire up. We always get excited about the start of new coaching networks, but this year, we are more excited than ever.

The team has introduced two new types of coaching networks, and these are designed specifically for leaders who want to grow their churches — either with a multi-site strategy or by taking intentional steps to reach the milestone of 500 in weekly attendance. All groups meet once a month for six months, and focus on giving you practical, applicable coaching. With that said, all participants are expected to be actively engaged and ready to tackle real issues.

Here’s what we have going on:

1) Leadership Coaching w/ Tony Morgan | ATLANTA or DALLAS
Leadership Coaching includes training on a variety of ministry strategy topics including staffing, leadership development, communications, financial stewardship, volunteer team development, weekend services, ministry structure, discipleship, multi-site and more.

2) Multi-Site Leadership Coaching w/ Paul Alexander | PHOENIX
Our Multi-Site Coaching Network is designed for leaders of multi-site churches, to help them grow in leadership and succeed in addressing the unique challenges they face.

3) GrowthSolutions Coaching w/ Mark Meyer & Chad Hunt | OMAHA or INDIANAPOLIS
Our GrowthSolutions Coaching Networks will help leaders of smaller churches take intentional steps towards growing their church to 500 in weekly attendance. 

In our coaching networks, you can expect a relational experience built around simple and practical systems and tools to help you take your next steps as a leader. We take a look at best practices in growing, healthy churches, and we press into tough conversations to help you get unstuck in your leadership and ministry impact.

Most groups are limited to 12 participants, so if you want in, you should consider signing up soon. Click here for more info and to register. The deadline to apply is March 6, 2015.

Here are what some of our past participants have had to say about the experience…

The insights and practical wisdom that came from Tony not only revolutionized how we do ministry and build healthier teams at Breakthrough, but quite honestly, gave me exactly what I needed in a season in which I was ready to call it quits! Tony’s knowledge of systems and strategies is amazing, but it is his heart for YOU, the leader, that is most impressive. Don’t miss out on this opportunity it will change you.”

— Nate Hill
Lead Pastor at Breakthrough Church | Asheville, NC

This coaching network with Paul was one of the most beneficial experiences of my ministry life. The network gatherings were fun, challenging, and full of leadership exercises that provided me with tools to lead more effectively and move people towards a focused goal. I highly recommend this experience!”

— Ira Towns
Executive Pastor at Atlantic Shores Bible Church | Virginia Beach, VA


Posted in Leadership

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6 Symptoms your Church has Ministry Silos

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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