What still works, we still won’t/need it around, but it needs a fresh touch to make it better?
One example of most of our churches – we now have some form of online ministry. If yours is like mine it hasn’t stopped. In fact, it has become a huge front door for the church. That’s great, but is it enough? Should we consider how we better “shepherd” that opportunity? You may need to change who some of the volunteers you have are or where people serve. Some of your greeters may become “online hosts” for example. Don’t do away with it – just tweak it to make it better.
3. What needs killing?
This will be the hardest of the questions for church leaders. We tend to love holding on to programs and ways of doing things.
But if you are going to put more energy and attention into new things, then energy will have to come from somewhere else. What are outdated programs that simply don’t work anymore? Are there things you’ve done in the past just because you’ve always done them?
I’ve worked with multiple churches, for example, that had non-functioning committees still in their governing documents. They go through a process every year to find people willing to serve, but the committees never meet. That’s wasted energy.
In my experience, doing this exercise dozens of times, among these questions the longest list will be the second one – what needs tweaking. The shortest will be the third – what needs killing. That might be accurate, but I suspect many times its more a matter of churches struggling to do hard things. Even still, if you can simply get rid of one time-waster and put that energy on something in the first category – you’ll likely see some Kingdom momentum.
This article on questions for church leaders originally appeared here, and is used by permission. Check out Ron’s leadership podcast where we discuss leadership nuggets in a practical way. Plus, check out the other Lifeway Leadership Podcasts.
