5. How They Prioritize
In over-programmed churches, whatever gets on the calendar first wins. And, things that have always been on the calendar stay on the calendar…because, well, they’ve always been on the calendar.
Churches with a path plan and build their ministry calendar around whatever helps people take a next step. Prioritization is easy. New ideas are embraced. Methods and traditions are routinely sacrificed for the good of the mission.
Here’s the reality—every individual is accountable for their own spiritual growth. And, when we look back at our lives, most of the time, it was relationships that helped us grow in our love for Jesus and our desire to follow His way.
The advantage in having a simple, clear discipleship path over an assortment of programs is that you make it easy for new followers of Jesus to build important relationships at the right times in their journey.
You give them space to ask their questions and opportunities to exercise their faith. You also make it simpler for church leaders and lead volunteers to not let people fall through the cracks, especially early on when they need the most guidance and time investment.
All that to say, your path—or your programs—are not likely going to ever be so effective in and of themselves that you turn into a spiritual maturity factory. Making disciples is never going to be a tidy process. The Holy Spirit’s work can’t be replaced by a class or a method.
However, a discipleship path will help your church serve people better than a bunch of programs, and as we’re seeing, there’s at least a correlation between a clear path and healthy growth.
The Correlation Between Over-Programming and Decline
Incidentally, over-programming is a hallmark of churches in the Maintenance phase of the typical church life cycle—the first phase at the beginning of decline.
I share more about those early signs of decline in the conversation Carey and I had about the life cycle of a church in Episode 140 of his podcast.
If you suspect your church is dealing with this issue, I’d suggest checking out a free online tool my team created: the Unstuck Church Assessment. It will give you a snapshot of where your church sits in its life cycle today and help you start a conversation with your team about the steps you need to take—and possibly what programs you need to cut—to move towards health.
Take the Unstuck Church Assessment for free here.
Tony is founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, a company that helps churches get unstuck through consulting and coaching experiences designed to focus vision, strategy and action
Tony writes about leadership regularly at tonymorganlive.com. For more on all seven phases of the church life cycle, Tony dives deep in his book The Unstuck Church: Equipping Churches to Experience Sustained Health, available from Thomas Nelson.
This article originally appeared here.
