Lay Leader “Bold Moves”
Policy-Governance Changes
To move past the 400 barrier, you must move to a policy-governance government system (see my article 3 By-Law Changes Needed To Break 100, 200, 400 and 600). The problem is this shift almost always has to be voted on by the congregation (per the by-laws) and comes via losing some or all of your governing board in the process.
I believe this transition doesn’t have to be a fight, and doesn’t have to involve the shedding of metaphorical blood to make it happen, but the only reason this transition is capable of happening is because the Senior Pastor is willing to commit to both.
Only when the Senior Pastor is willing to die on this hill, but doesn’t, will the governing board that holds the Powers Strings take their leader seriously.
Annual Lay Leader Development Process
I have a friend whose church grew from 1,200 to 8,000 over 10 years in the suburbs of Chicago. When I asked him what the tipping point was to make that happen, he said, “I found the 10 best leaders I could find every year and started pouring my life into them.”
At every stage of growth, the bold move that always serves as the “lead domino” in a growth strategy is finding, pouring into and deploying your best leaders and givers.
For many Senior Pastors, their boldest move is saying no to the clamoring of their C leaders and strategically replicating themselves with the top 5 percent who can move the ball down the field.
Fundraising “Bold Moves”
Developing a Donor Development Strategy
The first and most important bold move any Senior Pastor can make regarding developing a funding strategy is to actually think through and document a strategy for developing donors.
“Passing the plate” isn’t a strategy. Neither is simply praying that God meets your church’s needs. God has already answered your prayers. It’s called leadership, and leaders know that hope is not a strategy. It’s abdication of responsibility.
There is a very clear reason why people give, just as there are proven strategies that help them connect the dots between their generosity and changed lives. Senior Pastors who make the bold move and say “I own this” and seek coaching and pull together their best minds to formulate (and execute) a strategy always end up having the funding they need for the vision God has given them.
When I’m talking about a “donor development strategy” I’m talking about what happens the first time a new person gives $10, to your preaching calendar, to your approach for getting 75 percent of your church to give via online avenues, to campaigns, etc.
Relational Donor Strategy
The biggest move, by far, comes when a Senior Pastor views it as their job to know who the top 5 percent of the givers are in the church and to develop them to their highest capacity.
Romans 12:8 tells us that high-capacity giving is a spiritual gift. Why would you take the time to develop someone who has a teaching gift, but not take the time and develop someone who has the gift of giving?
After a donor development strategy is in place, one of the boldest moves Senior Pastors I coach are most reluctant to make is to shift their thinking from “not knowing” to viewing relationship building with their highest donors as one of their top priorities.
Show me a Senior Pastor who makes this shift, and I’ll show you a leader who serves a congregation that has the resources needed to break barrier after barrier after barrier.
Like I said, after everything has been tweaked and moved and recalibrated, the only way to break through your next growth barrier is to choose action over fear and commit to a “series of bold moves.”
Be fearless, friends.
This article originally appeared here.
