Structure is Not the Goal

Tag Archive - strategy

Structure is Not the Goal

Sunday, April 26, 2015

In growing churches things can often feel chaotic. More and more people are showing up every week which means space can become an issue…quick. You’ve got to figure out where to put all those new 2-year-olds, parking can be limited, new staff members are added, volunteers seem to be in short supply, and you may even have to start new worship services to accommodate the growth. But people are meeting Jesus and their lives are being changed. It’s exciting!

If you’ve ever experienced a season of ministry like this you know how fun it can be. Churches during this phase of growth often hear people say things like, “There’s just something about this place.” They’re experiencing success, they’re just not exactly sure why. Even staff members sit back and watch it at moments hoping to ride the wave of momentum and not get in the way and mess it up.

Inevitably someone comes along and identifies the fact that we can’t operate like a “Mom & Pop” organization anymore. It could be the Board, the Pastor, or a trusted senior level Staff Member. But eventually someone will say something like; “We need to set up the proper structures to help us move past the chaos and into the future.”

This is where things can go south, quick. While various structures, systems, and processes can be helpful; they’re not the goal.

1. The Vision is the Goal not the Structures

It’s not wrong to add structures; in fact they can be helpful. Just remember structure isn’t the goal, the vision is. The goal is not to have a nice clean tidy ship, the goal is to get the ship where Jesus wants it to go. Don’t get those two things confused.

2. Structures are Designed to Serve the Vision not the other way around

Structures are fine as long as they serve the vision and help you get where Jesus wants you to go. The moment the structure becomes a lid or hindrance to the vision it’s time for it to go.

3. Structures should lag Behind Chaos

Whenever structures get out in front of chaos you will begin to constrict and starve the vision, and things will begin to slow. Structure should live in the wake of the vision, not the other way around.

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Posted in Leadership

How many People should be Volunteering at your Church?

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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:

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

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

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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

Why People don’t Volunteer at Church Anymore

Sunday, February 22, 2015

According to the U.S. Census Bureau 1-in-4 adults volunteered their time in 2013. Altogether, 62.6 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.7 billion hours in 2013. Based on the Independent Sector’s estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour, the estimated value of this volunteer service is nearly $173 billion.

People in the community you live in volunteer their time. That includes people in your community who know Jesus and those who don’t know Jesus. But are they volunteering at your church?

In our research at the Unstuck Group we’ve discovered that:

The average church in America engages 43% of their adult and student attenders in some kind of volunteer role.
The Top 10% of churches in America engage more than 72% of their adult and student attenders in some kind of volunteer role.

That being said, I’ve never worked with a church that said they had enough volunteers to accomplish the vision that Jesus has given them. In fact here are some of the most common reasons why people may not be volunteering at your church:

1. Your Church has too many Paid Staff

A common reason many churches lack volunteers is because they pay their staff to “do” the ministry instead of “lead” the ministry. At the Unstuck Group we encourage churches to move towards a staffing ratio of 1:100 (1 full-time-equivalent staff person for every 100 people attending the church). The most effective churches have a tendency to move towards having fewer, more competent, and higher compensated staff.

2. Your Church has no Compelling Vision

Volunteering is one of the ultimate statements that someone can make that says, “I believe in this place and I’m with you.” The percentage of people volunteering at your church should act as an indicator as to how many people have bought into your vision and are “with you.” Does your church have a compelling vision that naturally inspires involvement?

3. Your Church has Poor Volunteer Strategies

Poor volunteer strategies are common in church-world. Often times we make it difficult for people to volunteer by making them fill out an exhaustive multi-page application, do a face-to-face interview with a staff member, go through a background check (which I’m in favor of when it comes to working with minors), take a class, or be a church member. Making people jump through hoops to volunteer that are often meant to increase commitment can actually have the converse affect and become barriers for people to overcome that they simply won’t waste their time with. There is a difference between volunteering and leading. I imagine there are probably some roles at your church where someone doesn’t even need to know Jesus to volunteer.

4. Your Church cares more about the Ministry than the Volunteer

Asking people to volunteer every week in the kids ministry because you have a value of consistency for the kids involved in the kids ministry may be noble, but alas ineffective. It’s a sure way to lose volunteers. It also keeps others from getting involved because the same person is in there volunteering every week, not making room for more volunteers. Often times I see churches that care more about what they can get out of a volunteer instead of what they can invest in a volunteer. Churches forget that volunteering is discipleship. People actually grow spiritually by volunteering and living out an others oriented life. So why not do what’s best for the volunteer instead of the kids? Those kids aren’t there every week anyway. If you do what’s best for the volunteer, chances are you’ll have happier, more fulfilled and more consistent volunteers. Which would make for a better ministry wouldn’t it?

At the Unstuck Group we help churches benchmark their behaviors and metrics to gauge their Church Health through a Ministry Health Assessment tool. Interested? Follow this link to learn more.

Posted in Leadership, Volunteers

5 Articles that will Help Your Church Make Vision Real

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Thank you for making January the best month ever here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hearing that these articles have been helpful. 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 5 Core Behaviors of Churches that get Unstuck

Churches all 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. Stuckness is no respecter of the “brand” or “flavor” of the church. It happens to all kinds of churches. Lead long enough in a church and it will happen to you. 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.”

Churches get stuck for all kinds of reasons but there are a handful of core behaviors that I see over and over again in churches get unstuck.

#2 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…

#3 8 Things to Consider Before You Multisite

Currently there are more than 8,000 multisite churches across America and more than 1,600 mega churches (churches of more than 2,000 people in weekly attendance). While both are growing the multisite church movement has outpaced the mega church movement in America. What was once seen as only a Band-Aid strategy for space issues at mega churches has become a vehicle for growth in local churches of all kinds and all sizes (the average size a church goes multisite is around 850-1200). “Multi” doesn’t mean “Mega” anymore.

Your church may be considering going multisite. If so, that’s exciting news and I’d love to hear about it! But before you do here are 8 things to consider before you take the multisite plunge.

#4 4 Strategies to Start in 2015 that will Change your Church

It’s January and the gyms are packed. They’re making money hand over fist this month with everyone making New Years Resolutions to finally get in shape. And when I go to the gym in February it will be back to normal. People are notorious for making huge goals at the New Year and then not following through. That’s why I want to give you a couple of small changes you can realistically make this year that will change your church in 2015. You’ll be surprised by how small degrees of change that you make in your trajectory today can pay dividends in the future. So here are 4 small changes that can make a big deal in your church in 2015.

#5 Join a Multisite Coaching Network

I’m excited to share some big news with you! At the Unstuck Group we’ve successfully been coaching Pastors and other Ministry Leaders at churches across America for years. This year we are taking new ground and offering our first ever MultiSite Coaching Network. This network is designed for leaders of multisite churches, to help them grow in leadership and succeed in addressing the unique challenges they face.

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Posted in Leadership