Leadership Seminar

I attended a Leadership Seminar today where the main speaker was Dr Gary McIntosh, author of "Taking Your Church to the Next Level". 

My pastor opened by speaking on 1 Corinthians 4:1-2:  "This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

• We are to be servants, humble and willing to be open to be filled with the Spirit, not to be seen, but to do what the Master wants done.  And, we have the privilege in our church to be serving where God is blessing; and we can see the fruits and results.  
• We are also stewards, for we don't own the ministry; we just deliver what the owner asks of us.  And, we are entrusted with the mystery - Christ in us, the hope of glory.  
• Our Mission is the Great Commission.

Gary McIntosh, founder of Church Growth Network, gave an overview of his book and led us in discussions and games that applied principles from his book to our church:

• God grows the crop, but He doesn't do it without the farmer  (Similarly, as in 1 Corinth 3, God grows the Church, but we have to work with Him
• Most churches grow in a step-wise fashion at sizes of 35, 85, 125, 200, 400, 800, 1200-1600, and >2000.   85% of US churches are <200.   Cornerstone jumped to about 350 in the beginning and had growth spurt with new building, and is now at about 1,000.  Just as we adjust to our children's growth, we also need to do the same with church growth. 
• Why do we want to keep growing?  To fulfill the Great Commission
• Characteristics of growth:  1) Complexity, 2) Loneliness  (as a church grows larger, it must get "smaller" with an emphasis on small grp ministries), 3) Specialization (more specific pastors, functions, roles; expansion of definitions, etc), 4) Need for better communication, 5) Centralize/Decentralize (more authority to pastor and board b/c church is too large to be run by voting; and ministries given more to lay people as well as pastoral care being spread out more, 6)  Need for redundant systems (recruitment and assimilation)
• The avg person in the church knows about 60 people by name, no matter what size
• Need to think globally, i.e. dream big dreams
• Need more intentional focus on mission and core values, especially when people from other churches bring their missions and values from where they came from
• Don't become complacent with fulfillment of earlier visions (dream new ones)
• Example Challenges:  misunderstandings, communication, lack of direction, preconceived notions, lack of flexibility, not relinquishing control, unfocused or unnecessary activity =>  seek help repeatedly and in the right places; seek various voices at appropriate or similar stage; teamwork
• Growth Challenges specific to our church:  fear of growth, facilities, unclear mission and goal for next level, doing things the same way without changing as needed, motivation and putting ideas into action, recruiting and involvement, need for leaders trained and empowered, need for right people in right places, feeling of ownership, not neglecting discipleship and spiritual growth over growth in numbers, being able to offload pastoral care, balance for volunteer and paid staff, processes and communication, coordination, flexibility and letting go of ego, involve next generation, remain diverse, be clear on definition of terms (e.g. success), step out in faith, use technology, redefine outreach, generational change, knowing strengths, absence of warfare and presence of the Spirit
• Opportunities:  develop technology, facilities (expand, acquire, new campus, plant), staff (rule of thumb 1:150 - but, our church is working with 1:250 b/c of the help of volunteers like elders; as churches grow the ratio can shrink as well b/c more lay people get involved), clear volunteer recruitment process with follow-thru and analysis of "data", youth and children's ministry (people, space, security)
• As churches grow, the impact grows (e.g. small churches have local impact, medium have city, we are at regional, and large can have world or global impact)
• We may need to consider church plant  (have an extension pastor who takes a year to soak in our DNA and then has "hunting license" to recruit 10% to go to another area to start daughter church, which can in turn spur growth due to increased morale) or multi-site  (multiple campuses where church members reside; may be simpler than megachurch at one campus; can televise one pastor or have another pastor at each site)
• Planning is dependent on size (e.g. speedboat vs ocean liner); so if momentum is taking us to a projected growth, we need to plan now to handle that growth
• In terms of staffing, at 1200-1500 people, there is often an Executive Pastor; btwn the Pastor and Outreach, Worship, Instruction, Admin; but probably won't work for our church since our Pastor likes to remain directly involved.  So, may want to add a position above Admin or Worship to oversee technology
• What are some things that need to be done now?  Planning for facilities, another service, additional staff and volunteers, better communication/technology, additional security
• Sometimes an ad hoc committee may be better than a standing one, so that there is a defined term and specific purpose.

It was useful to brainstorm and get awareness of areas to focus on, in order to continue to the next level.  I also found the book to be interesting as well.