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7 Practices of Efffective Ministry by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner,
Lane Jones
Everyone wants to be part of a winning team.
But the reverse is also true: People tend to stop showing up when an organization is not winning.
Nothing will empty seats faster than a losing streak.
(Page 69)
Keeping score helps everyone involved stay informed about the condition of the organization.
It's just that in some organizations it's easier to know whether or note you're winning.
Most churches do not have a reliable system for defining and measuring what success looks like at every level of the organization.
Instead they post some general statistics that give them a vague sense of progress or failure as a church, and then go through the motions of continuing to do ministry the way they always have, productive or not.
Thus it is possible for a church to become very efficient at doing ministry ineffectively.
(Page 70)
Nothing hinders morale more than when team members with separate agendas are pulling against one another.
When this happens, it's usually because those in charge have not taken the time necessary to clarify the win for their team.
Every one of us has a God-given itch to belong to something that is bigger than ourselves.
Volunteers need to know that their investment of time is going to make a difference.
They will work hard and make incredible sacrifices as long as they know what the goal is and that what they're doing actually counts; they simply desire to find meaning and significance in their work.
No one likes to go through the motions just doing mental tasks.
Everyone needs to clearly understand what they are accomplishing.
But countless leaders have innocently sabotaged their church by leading people in the wrong direction.
And the fault lies with an organization that has not been systematic about defining and clarifying what a win really is.
(Page 72)
You see, misalignment usually happens gradually.
And if it goes unchecked, it can wreak havoc on an organization.
Misalignment is sometimes just a natural result of growth.
People start showing up and they join your church with pictures of what they think church should look like.
(Page 75)
Effective leaders constantly hold up clear pictures of what the church is supposed to be, so that everyone understands what it is not supposed to be.
As the church grows and the organization becomes more complex, it means they have to decide how to divide their resources among multiple ministries.
Most of us are aware of programs that have been funded for years but have made little or no real impact.
That's one more reason it is important to understand what is and what is not working.
When you have established a culture where the win is clear, the wins tend to happen more frequently.
There is a lot to be said for the energetic atmosphere that happens when an organization wins consistently.
(Page 76)
Winning motivates a team.
As long as they're winning, people will give you their time, their money, and their hearts.
And when you are winning consistently, the staff and volunteers in your organization tend to:
...work harder.
...be less negative
...trust the leadership
...give more generously
...stay involved
(Page 77)
"You can't manage what you can't measure."
Don't make the mistake of clarifying a win in terms that are too general.
When you do, you cheat everyone in your organization and you fail to establish an effective way to measure your success.
(Page 80)
The more consistent we were at communicating the win for every program and department, the easier it was to keep our leaders and volunteers from taking unintended detours.
Whatever we are using as a scoreboard needs to be in constant view of our leaders.
(Page 81)
But few organizations have summed up in a simple phrase what a win looks like at every level of the organization.
You can't stop at the top of the organization.
The principle will only help you become more effective if the practice is carried through to the levels where practical ministry is happening.
(Page 83)
What was your last "win"?
How did it affect attitudes throughout your organization?
Discuss any areas in your organization where volunteers may be confused or frustrated because the win is unclear.
Brainstorm some creative ways to communicate the win within your organization.
(Page 85)
It all seems right.
It even feels productive.
But there is no overall strategy and no runners are moving toward home.
The question they should be asking is not /Are we hitting the ball?/
But rather/ Are we getting on base?
Are we going in the right direction?
Are we getting closers to home plate?/
(Page 88)
When you "think steps" there is a fundamental difference in your perspective.
Now the primary goal is not to meet someone's need, but rather to help someone get where they need to go.
Notice how the same dictionary defines a step: "one of a series of actions, processes, or measures taken to achieve a goal."
A step is part of a series of actions that systematically take a person somewhere.
When you think steps you start by asking, "Where do we want people to be?"
That question is followed by a second, more strategic question: "How are we going to get them there?"
The result is a ministry that works as a step -- it has been created to lead someone somewhere.
This way of thinking makes a lot of sense in the light of what the church is called to do.
(Page 89)
Often, churches have a tendency to hold so many studies or classes that they end up holding hands with their adults too long.
It's like a baseball team that keeps leaving runners on first.
If classes don't keep people moving, if the classes are not viewed as steps, they can actually work against helping people grow spiritually.
(Page 90)
The bottom line is, we found our answer to the question, "Where do we want people to be?"
And once we knew the answer to that question, we began to spend time creating strategies to lead people there.
The small group became our "home plate."
It was the best place for individuals to experience ministry, accountability, and life change.
And so we determined not to start any new ministry or environment until we could determine how it would lead people to experience group life.
We started thinking in terms of steps, not programs.
(Page 91)
Whether is's a small group, a worship service, or a classroom, once you have defined the optimal environment where you think people can be discipled, then everything else you do should be positioned to help them get there.
(Page 95)
There are several organizational advantages to thinking steps, not programs.
Here are just a few: You encourage your teams to depend on each other.
You discourage individuals from becoming territorial.
You erase the hard lines that exist between departments.
You are more likely to uncover anything that is not working.
You become more intentional about simplifying what you do.
You position leaders to constantly think in terms of the big picture.
A program is usually disconnected from other programs and can easily become an island unto itself.
A step, on the other hand, is usually connected in an interdependent relationship to the other environments within the organization.
By its very nature, a step's success is tied to the organization's success.
(Page 96)
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