Equipping

I have an exercise for you. I want you to take a trip on the way home this evening to the local “Blockbuster” Video Store. Check out the new releases on video and tell me which your favorite is. To expedite the process, go ahead and do this mentally. Get in your car and imagine every turn right up until you walk through the front door. [Pause here to take your mental journey.]

How is it going so far? Oh! There is no Blockbuster Video in your community. Hmmmmm. But they were the dominate video rental franchise in this region for almost two decades. What happened? Red Box. Netflix. On-Demand. What happened to Blockbuster? They did not change. Actually they did change “some.” They converted from video to DVD but they did not look ahead and got outflanked by the competition. If someone wants a job at Blockbuster now they will be hard pressed to find an opportunity.

How do you feel about change? I like to say that I like change so long as I agree with it! The reality is that change is a constant reality. What worked in the past does not always work in the present and what works in the present will not likely work in the future. You don’t believe me? Ask an former employee from Blockbuster. The same is true in the church. The same is true for any ministry or organization in today’s ever changing climate.  Change is not a possibility or an option. Change is now a constant reality. Failure to grasp this reality can have devastating effects.

Listen to John G. Millers observations on this subject: “Organizations need to move forward rather than looking back. In other words, to change…and the key to that is changing the way we think. Rather than being held back by rigid thinking and resistance to change, outstanding organizations recognize that change is going to happen anyway, whether people like it or not. Given the organic, constant, and inevitable nature of change, how could we think that what works today will work tomorrow? The reality is, if a strategy or tactic is working now, the odds are high that it won’t work in the future. There is just too much change taking place in our world for it to be any other way.”

He concludes with this: “Simply put, outstanding organizations take charge of change by changing themselves first. For they know that, otherwise, change will happen to them – and if that happens, it might just be too late.”

Great words of wisdom for those who want to maximize their leadership!

Perhaps you have heard the idea that “management is doing things right, but leadership is doing the right things.” Or likewise you may have heard that “Managers manage tasks, but leaders lead people.” I have been a student of leadership all of my adult life. Leadership development is a journey and I am constantly seeking ways to sharpen my skills so that I can maximize my influence. “Leadership” and “Management” are often contrasted as you study the subject of leadership and frankly management is always viewed as the inferior skill. John G. Miller challenges that notion. He points out that good management of people day in and day out is what makes an organization outstanding. He makes his point with no less respect to the value of leadership but views leadership and management as equally important.

For example he points out the way that people describe a good supervisor:

My boss communicates clearly what I should do.

He talks with me and listens to me.

When I get it right, she praises me.

He tells me when I am off track.

I was trained and coached.

She spends time with me.

He shows me respect.

These affirmations are all items that effective managers do day in and day out. If you have responsibility over staff, volunteers, or tasks then you are in a perfect position to strengthen the organization and ministry that you lead. Therefore, regardless of your title, regardless of your level of leadership, learn to manage your responsibilities well and you will ultimately be praised for maximizing your leadership.

Adapted from Chapter Twenty-Five of John G. Miller’s Outstanding; 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional.

Do you lead a Bible study group? Perhaps you are a pastor or staff member and you administrate groups. Some groups meet on Sunday morning prior to worship. Some groups meet at other times on Sunday and sometimes they meet during the week. Some groups meet on the church campus while others meet off campus and in homes. Some groups are fairly traditional in structure like Sunday school classes and others are more innovative like community based Bible study groups. Some groups are “open” so that anyone may jump in at any time and some are “closed” with limited time frames and are not open to new attendees until a new cycle begins.

Be sure to understand the strength of one universal principle that motivates growth in “open” groups and consistency in participation of “closed” groups. Here is the principle that applies to any group of any size in any place in any format: Your weekly attendance is ordinarily proportional to the number of ministry connections made by group members during the previous week. I can speak for an hour on this subject but let me drill down quickly and illustrate how it works. Group “A” and Group “B” both averaged twelve in their weekly attendance over the past few months. Group “A” begins to focus on intentional ministry connections for the next few months. The members are purposeful in touching base with those who had to miss for whatever reason, invite an average of six to eight guests each week, maintain contact with the faithful members to express appreciation as well as to identify any ministry needs that warrant a response, and have fellowships each month in addition to the weekly Bible study. Over the course of the month, well over 100 ministry connections were made.

Group “B” has also averaged about twelve in attendance each week. They love one another, are serious about studying God’s word, and are fine-upstanding Christians. However, any ministry connections they made were spontaneous. No on begrudges them for being spontaneous, but if you could track their ministry connections, which you cannot because they do not account for them, you would discover that they were not intentional in connecting with those who had to miss, invited only six people to visit over the previous month, did not reach out to even their faithful members unless they just happened to bump into them somewhere, ministered to a couple of families in severe crisis, and had no fellowship apart from the Bible study time. If you could calculate it, you would discover that fewer than a dozen ministry connections were made in the past month.  Group “A” made over 100 ministry connections and Group “B” had fewer than a dozen. Now you tell me…which group is most likely averaging more than a dozen or which group, if closed, likely maintained the strongest consistency in attendance? It is not rocket science but it is not common knowledge or every Bible study leader would leverage this concept. How about you? How about your Bible study leaders?

If you want to know more, I challenge you to take time to read chapter seven of my book “Sunday School That Really Works.”

I recently had the privilege of preaching on a Sunday morning at my home church. God really blessed the message as I shared some of the anchors that keep your children (and grandchildren) connected to church into their adult lives. This is a message that is inspiring and instructive. I want to do something a little out of the ordinary for my weekly leadership post. May I encourage you to take thirty minutes to enjoy the message, to allow God to speak to your heart, and to share with others? Thanks for your leadership and for allowing me the privilege of investing in your personal growth and ministry.

Download your copy today!

Servant. Servant spirit. Servant of Christ. Service Organization. Called to serve. Serving customers (churches). Jesus came not to be served but to serve others. Servant leadership.

“Serve” is likely a very familiar term to you. It likely reflects what you do particularly if you serve in a Christian organization. You serve Christ. You serve a church or churches. You serve customers or constituents. Service involves meeting the needs of someone else. Members of outstanding organizations take it just a notch further.  John G. Miller puts it this way. “Real service is simply doing for others that which we don’t have to do.” Think about it for a moment. Real service is not the fulfilling of your responsibilities, your job assignment, or your obvious duties. Real service occurs when you go out of your way to serve someone even though you don’t have to do it.

It can be as simple as picking up a piece of trash as you walk through the garage.  It could be cleaning up a spill.  It could be escorting someone to meet another staff member in your facility. It could be voluntarily staying ten extra minutes to assist a co-worker. It could be setting aside your responsibilities for an hour and going to a neighboring office or another floor to help a ministry getting ready for an event in a crunch. It is taking a few minutes to interact with a staff member from another ministry area to encourage them. It happens when you pause and express appreciation for someone even when they have not necessarily done anything specific for you. The possibilities are really endless. Thanks for doing your job and thanks for those times you serve by doing things that are not even part of your job. That is what members of outstanding organizations do!

Adapted from Chapter Twenty-Four of John G. Miller’s: Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional

“What did we ever do about…..?”

“Whatever became of……?

“What is the status of that idea we discussed?”

These are the types of questions you expect someone with supervisory responsibilities to ask of those who serve under their leadership. Keeping people accountable is a key component for any organization that strives to make progress. I’ve often heard it said of leaders that they should “inspect what they expect.” You should personally expect that anyone who has leadership over you, whether paid, volunteer, or in a ministry context, will expect you to be accountable to the mission, for instructions given, tasks assigned, as well as for your conduct inside and outside of the organization.

To this point, I have stated what I believe to be “obvious.” However, I have observed in many circumstances through the years that the accountability often flows in one direction (down the chain).  I experienced this in one ministry context years ago with great frustration. How about the accountability of the supervisor or leader to those who follow? No doubt, the person over you is and should be accountable to those who they serve under. Effective leaders are also intentional about being accountable to those who serve under them. To do so, while voluntary, is wise and engenders loyalty, improved morale, and greater effectiveness for the organization in which you serve. What does it look like? Here are two simple ideas for leaders:

1. Do you have a regular staff meeting or team meeting? Add to the agenda for each gathering an item called “What About?” Explain that this section is not a time to discuss miscellaneous issues. When the team gets to this part of the agenda, they have absolute liberty to ask the supervisor or team leader any question regarding anything that has ever come from his or her lips. Here are some examples “What is the status of…? Whatever happened to…? We discussed doing….., whatever became of that? You said we were going to….When is it going to happen?”
2. Speak directly to each of your reports, assistants, team members, or employees. Tell them that they have total liberty to ask you at any time about the status or result of anything that they have ever heard you say with no fear of defensiveness, reprisal, or concern for how you feel about being asked. You should do this regularly. I strive to take this approach with those that I lead.

 

Once a team member or employee does ask, you must respond without being defensive. Be honest. Perhaps you forgot. Maybe you got distracted. Maybe you made a decision but failed to communicate the result. Perhaps you have delayed the action because you have information that they are not aware of. Here is the question: Do you desire loyalty from those serving with you? Good attitudes and less complaining? Less frustrated team members? Greater advancement toward your mission and objectives? Take the initiative in implementing reverse accountability!

My first commercially published book released in 2010 from Kregel Publications was titled Sunday School That Really Works.  Whether you have a traditional Sunday School ministry, home groups during the week, or call your groups by some other name, the book is valuable and I hope you will check out. On page 51, I state that your church is not really growing unless the community is being penetrated with the gospel message, people are trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior, and the church is taking responsibility to lead those new believers (as well as existing members) to grow in their personal relationship with the Lord. Now that I have defined what it means for a congregation to grow, did you know that it is possible for some churches to increase in attendance without really growing? Here are five ways I have seen it happen:

1. Seasonal Growth: Most churches can experience a mild surge of growth at the beginning of the academic year for schools and the Sunday’s that follow the New Year’s Holiday on January 1^st. Everyone is back in town, new commitments have been made, new groups are created and attendance often surges. The dynamic is particularly true when comparing the attendance to the summer months when people are vacationing or the holidays when people are traveling. The illusion of growth can appear because attendance takes a seasonal surge which is common to most every church.
2. Worship Driven Growth: While Sunday morning worship is both critical to church vitality and central as the primary gathering point for the congregation, you can sometimes be misled by an increase in attendance for this particular service. The Sunday morning worship is the gathering of a crowd. However, some churches grow the worship without growing the believers. How can you tell? If a church is making disciples and equipping the saints (Matthew 28:18-20 and Ephesians 4:11-12) then more leaders are being developed, an increasing number of people are serving, an increasing number of small groups are being created, and more new believers are being discipled.  Let me be clear that it is not about the numbers but the numbers do reflect something. For example, if the worship attendance expanded by 20% or more and you have no additional leaders or more people serving, the crowd is growing, but not the number of fully devoted disciples. Rick Warren once noted that you “measure the health of a church by its sending capacity, not its seating capacity.”
3. “New” Driven Growth: When a church calls a new pastor, a new staff member, or moves into a new facility, at least a small surge of growth in attendance tends to take place. A church would actually do well to leverage this opportunity. It is also not uncommon, though not automatic, for some floundering of attendance to occur during the absence of a pastor in an interim situation. But the freshness of a new pastor leads some members to recommit though they may have wavered or to reconcile if they were disgruntled under former leadership. The attendance may increase but may not be reflected by more lost people having been reached.
4. Split-Driven Growth: This is a touchy one. A church up the road has a crisis or conflict and families begin to bail. It may not be that the church splits in half but that several families left in a short time span and many follow their peers to a new church. The receiving church has done nothing wrong in this circumstance, but the addition of six, eight, ten, or more families, while increasing the attendance, may not reflect growth. Members are just being moved around. In this case, do not let the increase in attendance to allow you to have a false sense of security and dissuade you from reaching out to the lost and unchurched.
5. Population Growth: An influx of new neighborhoods can sometimes result in an increase in attendance with little or no effort from the community church. A church that is friendly can particularly have an edge when this happens. The additional families who move from out of the area can be a blessing and the boost can help fill needs for service and leadership. Be cautious in that you should not substitute the addition of new Christian families in the community for reaching out to the unchurched of the community.

I want to emphasize that the church has not necessarily done anything wrong when they experience an increase in attendance for any of the reasons I have stated. Instead of misinterpreting the increase as growth, take advantage of the additional members to make more disciples and to more fervently reach out to more people who need the forgiveness and faith that comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Make disciples and equip the saints!