Category: Ministry

Growth Part 2 – you can’t do more of the same

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Several years ago I was the ministry leader for a start up ministry.  We were trying to get something new happening and so a few of us pitched the idea to a number of our friends and people we knew.  Mostly it involved going out to dinner with friends and chatting to them over a meal.  We would explain the vision, the concept, some of the practical steps and what we needed from each person.  There was a sense of urgency because we wanted to get this up and running and we needed a start up team.  The pitch worked on about half of the people, but we got our start up team.

Fast forward about a year and half and we had grown to about 20-30 people in the ministry.  This was a good position to be in at that time but we wanted to grow bigger.  Every time we held a meeting we would ask ourselves “who else do we know that we could get to come along?”. The problem was that we had already asked most of the people we knew and after 18 months of doing life together this group was our friendship circle.  We were trying to get the next 20 people using the same strategy as how we got the first 20 people.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson about growing a ministry:

“You can’t do more of the same to get you to the next level”

Doing what got you growth in the start up phase may not lead to future growth.  When we wanted to grow a start up we asked the people we knew.  To make the next growth leap we needed to get people we didn’t know so they could invite their friendship circles.  Sometime in ministry we try to repeat the things that made us successful hoping that we will get the same result.

Andy Stanley says that growth doesn’t come from something that is tweaked, it comes from something new.  You can hear his talk on the Andy Stanley Leadership podcast here.

Growing a ministry from one level to another is not the same; getting the first 10 people to commit to a new ministry might take as much work as adding another 30. Some growth levels are bigger jumps than others.  For example when you double your start up team of 10 you are only adding 10 more people, you can handle 10 new names and faces.  When you double a ministry with 50 you add another 50 people which changes the dynamics to that of a crowd.  Imagine a bring a friend night with a group of 150 regulars, you could have another 150 new faces walking around which is way to much for one person to handle.  Each new growth level brings new challenges and new group dynamics so you can’t do more of the same.

What have you found to be the growth levels that have forced you to function differently?  How did you handle it? Please leave a comment to help us all out.

Growth Part 1 – What is your ceiling?

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Have you ever wondered why your youth ministry is not growing? Have you ever wondered how big it could get? What is the fullest potential of your youth ministry? Here I am talking about the number of people involved in the youth ministry. You can measure the “size” of youth ministry or you could measure the “health” of your ministry. But let’s just talk about numbers in this post, because numbers represent an actual disciple.

Every time I meet a youth ministry coordinator, they openly or secretly have a target in their mind of what number represents success. Some people have 20 as their target, others 50 and some want to reach 100. Peter was a person I worked with and his target was always 50 people, once he got 50 he was happy and said his youth group was “healthy”. In the three churches were he had served he had always got 50 young people in his group but that was his ceiling, the youth group never grew bigger than 50.

Most new groups aim for about 20 to 30 people in their group. The magical number for group dynamics seems to be about 30; a group seems its most healthy at about 30-35 people. But does a ministry subconciously stop there when it may have the potential to continue to grow? Why do some leaders have a growth ceiling?

A game changer for me was meeting Phil, a youth ministry coordinator with over 150 people in his youth group and their target was 500. All I wanted to know was how did they get to 150, let alone how were they planning to get to 500. When Phil started with the youth ministry, the group already had 50 people. Together they set themselves the target of reaching 100 students for Christ. When they reached 100 they set their sights on 500 because that was more outrageous than 200.

Reaching a target can lead to complacency if a new target isn’t set. Some groups reach their numbers ceiling and stop growing because they feel they have made it. It is fine to set a reasonable numbers target early in the growth of a new group, but that number should grow as the group grows. Your target should always be one that makes the group challenge itself to invite new people.

The down side of your ceiling is that complacency can lead to stagnation. Some groups hit their numbers ceiling and then go backwards even if they stay around 50. When a group reaches its target it takes away the urgency to invite new people (evangelism). When a group reaches its target it can turn inward to keep its numbers rather than being outward focused on what they can do for others (mission).

What is your numbers ceiling, or what is your complacency figure? What number would make you think you have arrived? What number of participants in your group would take away the urgency to invite new people? You better find this out because you don’t want to stop growing for 12 months before you look into this. You need to plan your next target before you reach your current one.

Please leave a comment about your growth ceilings, perhaps what advice could you offer to others to break through their growth ceilings.

Creating better connection over church coffee

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To all the coffee drinkers going to Church this Sunday …..

Recently I was standing outside church near the coffee stand when I heard a person ask her group if they were getting coffee here or going out for coffee.  At this point her group of friends said they were going out for coffee so she joined them in their tight friendship circle.  It was obvious to me that they were enjoying each others conversation but they weren’t drinking church coffee and they weren’t letting anyone into their conversation.

To all the coffee drinkers out there, and I love a good coffee, church coffee is not about the coffee, it is about fellowship.  In all my ministry time I think I could count on one hand the good coffees I have had at church.  Yet I persist with the average coffee because it is a chance to talk to someone after church or before a church meeting.

As a ministry leader how can you get the “coffee snobs” to hang around for the fellowship instead of driving off in search of a “real” coffee. Here are a few things to improve your fellowship or connection time after church or before your next ministry meeting:

  • Is the coffee really bad? Change coffee – if you don’t drink coffee ask one of the coffee experts in your ministry or church to give you advice.  One tip, if the coffee is referred to as “caterers blend” then stop buying it.  If you change your brand of coffee you might not please everyone but you may stop annoying some.
  • Call it connection time not coffee time – these days most people go out for “coffee” when they really mean they are going out to connect with people.  People can drink great coffee at home so highlight the connection factor rather than the coffee.  Perhaps call it connection time or call the location where you serve coffee “connection central”.  Enhance this connection focus by having of your flyers, notices and event promotion here also.
  • Get out from behind the counter – sometimes we get the best hospitality team but we lock them in the canteen style kitchen where a massive bench separates them from the people.  Get your hospitality team out of the canteen and have all the coffee on a central table so everyone can mix in.  Have your hospitality team moving amongst the crowd not stuck in a canteen.
  • Introduce groups to each other – if you have problems of tight friendship circles forming in your connection area then have some of your team move between groups opening up the conversation.  You regular phase should be “have you met this person? Let me introduce you”  As people are coming in for the meeting or coming out of church, move people into mixed groups or combine smaller groups of friends.
  • Give people a conversation starter – whilst we hope that the church service is so inspiring that people can’t wait to talk about it, perhaps maybe they don’t.  So at the end of your ministry meeting or church service give people a question to ask each other as they leave.  That way the people who aren’t friends can have a safer way to break the ice and start a new conversation.

Now perhaps that all sounds good but if your first reaction was “what you serve coffee at church?” then perhaps you need to work on your hospitality skills.

All of us are looking for ways to get people in our ministry to connect before or after meetings so please leave a comment about how you have improved your hospitality.

How to promote ministry events when speaking

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Let’s face it, if you are involved in ministry then at some stage you will have to promote an event.  It may be an event that you are running or it may be an event hosted by another group.  Either way there are three different ways to promote events:

1. You should go – some people promote events where all the work is on the other person.  This style of promotion usually involves phrases like:

  • There is a great weekend coming up, you can check out all the details on the website
  • If you want to attend the event then registration forms are in the foyer
  • The talk is going to be awesome you will really love it

This style of promotion places all the emphasis on the other person to get involved.  Whilst you might be keen for people to attend, this style can come across as impersonal.  However you can use this style effectively to pass on all the invitations you get via Facebook and email.

2. I am going – some people use this style to promote events in a way that is more personal, I am going do you want to join me.  This style encourages others to attend because they know at least one other person is going.  Many young people don’t want to go to an event alone so it is wise in youth ministry to say that at least you will be attending.  This style of promotion usually involves phrases like:

  • I am attending this event and I can tell you more about it in the foyer
  • On the weekend I am attending the camp, if you need a lift come and see me

This style of promotion is great for building a team.  As the ministry leader it establishes you are the peer leader; you are on board with the event and you want others to join you.

3. We are going – when your ministry gets bigger (bigger than your core group of leaders) then you should move to this style of promotion.  This style states up front that this community/ministry is attending the upcoming event, if you belong here then you will be going too.  It might seem a little bold but people want to be part of something popular and this style implies “everyone” is going.  This style of promotion usually involves phrases such as:

  • We are attending the camp next month please think of someone new that can join us.
  • We are hosting a guest speaker, please sign up to help set up or pack down the event.
  • On the weekend we are having an event for all those we haven’t seen for a while so pick up some flyers off our team in the foyer.

Whilst this might be the best system to use when promoting events, you need to have some track record of “everyone” attending events.  If this is the fifth time you use this style and nobody has turned up to any of the events before, then perhaps people may doubt that “we” are really going.

Pick your promotion style wisely so you know when to use each of the three styles.

  • Use the “you” style to pass on community events that you get in the mail.
  • Use the “I” style when you are attending an event and you want some others to join you.
  • Use the “I” style to build a core leadership team as it builds your place as the leader
  • Use the “we” style when your group is bigger and you want everyone to attend.

In the next post we will look at some things not to do when promoting events.

Leave a comment of how you have had success in promoting events.

Attendance vs Commitment

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“Sitting in a garage doesn’t make you a car anymore than sitting in a church makes you a Christian”

I am not sure who first said this but I have heard many ministry leaders use it.  Sometimes in ministry we judge someones level of commitment by their attendance at our ministry events.  We think that someone is more committed as a follower of Christ if they attend everything we offer in our church or ministry.  Yet really wise ministry leaders go beyond attendance to look at someone’s heart.

As a ministry leader here are four questions to ask about attendance:

  1. Is this person a Christian who is overcommitted? Sometimes the most committed Christians have over extended themselves and they don’t have any spare room in their schedule.  These might be people who have their finger in many ministries rather than committing just to your ministry.  As a ministry leader of this group of people you have to acknowledge that they serve God not you.  You have to help these people live out their mission and appreciate any small amount of time they can give you.  Perhaps you might even encourage them to skip your ministry to take some sabbath time.
  2. Is this person learning to follow Christ?  Sometimes the people in our ministries don’t get that they should serve the Church because they are still learning; they don’t get it because they don’t get it.  Some people may have been around the church a long time but they are not a follower of Christ, they just are doing what their family have trained them to do.  As a ministry leader of this group of people you have to have a lot of patience.  With people in this group you need assume nothing and go back to basics, explain that being a Christian means serving more than attending.  Some of these people may never have seen good ministry in practice so you will have to role model it for this group.
  3. Is this a Christian with a lack of commitment?  Many people have a lack of commitment, some people are graced with a commitment to the church others aren’t.  With this group of people you might have to be a little stronger and a little shorter in patience.  As ministry leaders we don’t often feel comfortable saying “that is just not good enough”.  I have met some young people who are always on time for their job, always upfront with teachers/lecturers yet they feel the Church should be happy with what ever they give; the Church should be happy with the left overs.  The best thing you can do for these people as a ministry leader is raise your expectations of them. 
  4. Is this a Christian who has lost their vision?  Sometimes we come across a committed Christian who has lost their focus, lost their passion or is discerning a change of direction.  As a ministry leader to this group of people you need to help them explore where God is calling them.  Perhaps you need to encourage them to take a break for deeper level of prayer, perhaps you need to be their spiritual director for some time or perhaps they should serve in a broader range of ministries.  As a ministry leader to this group of people you can help them by sharing why you are passionate about you area of ministry.

These are just four examples and we know people are more complex that just one of these four categories.  But these four groups of people do exist in your church/ministry and you need to be aware of their different understanding on attendance.  As ministry leaders we have to go beyond attendance, seeing the mark of faith on someone and help them grow deeper in Christ.

Please leave a comment about the examples of attendance vs commitment that you have seen in your church or ministry.