7 Practices of Effective Ministry

For the better part of the last year, our church has been engaged in the process of selling our historic building and move from our church's primary location for its entire 130 year existence, and relocate to a community that is conducive to who and what we are as a ministry. What I discovered was that not only did our location needed to be changed, but our attitude towards the Lord and his work needed to change as well. So our motto for 2008 is "Becoming A People of Excellence", which led me to read more books on how to positively affect the atmosphere of our church that will enable us to possess an excellent attitude, before we get to our new destination.

I was led to recently read this wonderful book, authored by 3 original leaders at the North Point Community Church of Atlanta, GA, Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner and Lane Jones. They wrote this book with the thought that there have been dozens of books written for church leaders on how to increase their attendance, develop their programs or how to disciple the people of the church. This book is not about what to do, but rather it is a book about what to ask. This book will not tell us how to implement new programs, but it will give us a new lens in which we can evaluate what we are doing in our churches and remove those which may no longer be of use to the ministry.

Stanley says that every Monday morning at 8:00, he sits down with the staff leadership of North Point for what he calls a time of learning. He says that while those times are very frustrating at times, they are valuable nonetheless. These invaluable discussions have mostly led to the creation of new and exciting programs and the timely death of other programs. They talk openly and honestly in an unfiltered manner feelings are sometimes hurt, people leave angry, but the results lead to a continuance of learning and growing together. They said that over and over it is the 7 practices that are described in this book that have enabled them to plow through a fog of information and emotion to find the clarity they need to make the tough calls. These 7 principles have been provided for us to see the context and content of all those discussions and the subsequent decisions born out of those discussions.

1. Clarify the Win: There is no way for a church to effectively gauge the progress that they have made, if any, if that church is not clear about their destination. Which means that the leadership must look carefully at each and every thing on their calendar and honestly ask themselves this question, at the end of the day what do we want to be able to celebrate or more importantly where do we want to end up.

2. Think Steps, Not Programs: The programs within our churches should take our people towards a destination, not just filling up time. We must ask ourselves, where do we want our people to be? What do we want them to become? Are the programs that we have been doing for 50 years or more designed to take our people to that destination?

3. Narrow the Focus: The focus of the church's leadership, which is then filtered down to the congregation is a vital element towards attaining excellence and making an impact in our communities. Each ministry should be designed to only do one or two things well. Each ministry must strive to obtain tunnel vision and become specialists within the House of God.

4. Teach Less for More: The less you say to the people, the more you will be able to communicate to them. Our ministry will be more effective on every level if we only say what we need to say to the people who need to hear what we are saying and say nothing else. We face problems when we tell one ministry things that should only be heard by another ministry.

5. Listen to Outsiders: I have taken a real like to this one. The needs and interests of people who are on the inside tend to determine the agenda for our ministry. We tend to shape the ministry and programs around what "insiders" want. We need to put our attention on the people we are trying to reach and not the ones we are trying to keep.

6. Replace Yourself: This is probably the hardest principle for Pastors and leaders to perform. Nobody wants to think about finding somebody to move them out and have people forget who they are. But the truth of the matter is that someday, there will be a young giant of a preacher and leader who will do what we are doing. We need to embrace the inevitable, and when the time is right, begin to identify and prepare the one who will succeed us.

7. Work On It: In order to maintain our relevance, our sanity and our effectiveness as a ministry, WE MUST make time in our schedules to take a step back and evaluate the previous 6 steps and make every attempt to perfect what we do, and how we are doing it.

These 7 principles have been proven to be an answer to the North Point Church's prayers on how to gain and maintain their effectiveness in ministry that if they are followed, will allow the Holy Spirit to work through the local church and perform the words of Jesus in Matt. 28:19-20, Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that i have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (ESV)