The Church Planter Fellowship

THE GROWING SEASON

Identifying the Indicators Where Competing Values Stymie Growth

We have identified ten predictive indicators in healthy churches. In Section 5.1.1. your team had the opportunity to assess your church. Now you will have to identify those where the tension is the greatest so you can begin to resolve it.

GOAL: To identify the predicative indicators that will stymie your growth.

KEY RESULTS: 

1. You will have the necessary and hard conversations to create a healthier DNA.

2. Your leaders will grow closer to God and perhaps see him in a new light.

3. Your leadership will grow closer to each other and strengthen their ability to lead the congregation.

4. Your church will have a new energy and focus while glorifying God.

First, let’s look at common story found in church plants.

Oak Street Community Church is having trouble getting to the next level. They started with great guns four years ago. Since then:

  • People are growing closer to Jesus.
  • People are coming to know Jesus.
  • They have two ministries impacting the community.
  • They grew from 15-150.
  • Their budget is about $250,000 a year.

All these things are healthy, so why haven’t they continued to grow?

It’s usually a capacity issue rooted in competing values.

As a church grows so does the tension of where the focus should lie.

For the first four years the church focused on the community they were sent to reach with the gospel. It worked.

Now with more families attending, the priority changed. They built a children’s ministry. They started a mom’s group. Dads started to gather around events and projects. The leadership’s natural inclination led them to shift their focus to the congregation at the expense of the community they were reaching. If this course is not corrected, it won’t be long until the community they were sent to reach is ignored.

Do you see the competing value?

A healthy church’s strategic priority is the community they were sent to reach. Always. It is front and center to all they do. It’s woven into The Great Commission. As we go throughout life, we make disciples. It never changes.

The key word is strategic. Healthy churches do not ignore the congregation. Rather, they create robust discipleship systems and ministries to support those they have found and brought home. BUT, the strategic focus is always on the community they were sent to reach.

One of the ten predictive indicators of a healthy church is FOCUS. Churches either are strategically focused on:

  • The Community
  • The Congregation
  • The Core of the Congregation

By engaging in our self-discovery workshop, you will be able to identify the competing values within these predicative indicators.

Once you identify those values, it’s time to disciple your leaders to get them on the same page. This will get you moving in the right direction.

Action Item:
  1. Identify the competing values in your church.
  1. Prioritize them.
  1. Ask yourself how you would disciple your leaders to move them to the healthiest value. (Say from the core of the congregation to the community.)
Think through:
  • What are the stumbling blocks to get them there?
  • What are the options to get them there?
  • Who else do you need to get involved to get them there?
  • What needs to rest in prayer?
  • What are the next two steps?