ASSESSING CHURCH - WHAT TO LOOK FOR

LOOKING FOR HELP FROM THE WRONG SOURCE

I don’t mean to rag on any individual or group desiring to help congregations but … I can’t help myself. I read with dismay the list of services being offered to churches by a consulting team. Like countless other consulting services, this team has developed strategies based upon working with some of America’s most innovative and fastest growing churches, which if applied to other churches, will unfailingly produce the same cutting edge outcomes. That’s the expectation.
That’s what you are paying for. All your church needs to do is to invite this team to conduct a ministry health assessment. You will do an online survey. A clandestine visitor will come to your church for a weekend to experience church, assessing your parking, exterior and indoor signage, demographic services, facilities and decor, greeters/hosts and ushers, how musicians and sermons engage with people and life. Then an executive report will be provided to you as well as a discussion with next steps. I’ve been around long enough to know that all of these areas can use some tender loving care and attention. However, my prolonged exposure to life inside church also informs me that the coaching from which most congregations and leaders would benefit most, pertains less to strategies and more to character, authenticity, spirituality and reliance upon God’s Spirit.