It Takes Skill to Grow a Healthy Church

Allow Me to Vent Please…

I can’t afford therapy, so let me vent a little bit today. This blog is my therapy. So, here goes:

"Hi, My name is Ronnie… and I’m a pastor. I am hopelessly addicted to the Great Commission...."

I was talking to a guy once. He told me our church should not plan initiatives to reach the lost, set goals, develop strategies, or devise methods to carry out those initiatives. It was plastic and pre-packaged to do so, he said. Rather, we should do nothing, pray, and leave the results to God. This was one of the most asinine comments I have ever heard in my life! And this was coming from someone who called himself a pastor. Perhaps this explains why he does not pastor a growing church, but rather a declining Sunday school class. His theories are giving him exactly what they are designed to give – not much.

Let me state it for the record - it takes more than dedication to grow a healthy church - it takes skill. The reason the apostle Paul was so effective in planting and building churches was because he was skilled at it. He admits this in I Corinthians 3:10, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an EXPERT BUILDER" (KJV says “wise master builder”). Not only was he dedicated, spiritual, and a praying man, he was SKILLED at using the right tools and doing the right things. The man knew how to plan and do work.

People sometimes offer simplistic solutions for reaching the lost and those solutions are couched in pious terms that make it difficult for anyone to challenge them without seeming unspiritual. But somebody needs to state the obvious: prayer & dedication ALONE will NOT grow a healthy church.

• Some of the greatest prayer warriors I know are members in dying churches

• Some of the most dedicated people I know attend churches that are struggling to stay alive
  

• Some of the greatest pastors I know are leading churches that are plateaued or declining
  

• Some of the greatest sermons you can hear are being preached in churches of less than 45 people
  
  

To have a growing healthy church not only requires prayer and dedication, it also requires a Biblical structure. It takes a Biblical mission and a devised plan to carry out that mission. Strategies need to be formed, and then implemented. Staff members and church leaders must establish goals, plan initiatives, and develop methods of ministry. This is called skilled leadership. If for nothing else, it is the framework upon which us mere mortals work and are able to measure our progress.

Of course, prayer is essential. Everything should be bathed in prayer. A prayer-less ministry is a powerless ministry. Of course it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to produce true spiritual fruit. After all, it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ. The supernatural aspect belongs to God.

But it still takes SKILL on the part of church leaders to get the work done effectively. Too illustrate: One time God told Joshua to STOP PRAYING about his failure and GET UP and CORRECT THE CAUSE of it instead! (Joshua 7). There is a time to pray, and there is a time to act responsibly.

This is exactly what Paul meant when he referred to himself as a wise master builder….He not only prayed, but he had a plan, a strategy, and certain skills he relied upon to carry out the work.

Planning has gotten a bad rap. Without it we continue to re-invent the wheel week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year. Or we just run laps every Sunday without ever making any real progress. But a well thought out plan will help us become more faithful and fruitful in every area of ministry.

We have a praying church, praying people, and a staff that prays. Prayer keeps our hearts softened, expresses our dependence on God, and puts us in the right frame of mind to be effective servants for God. But I’m also very thankful that our people understand the concept of work, and working skillfully. The modus operandi for servants at PCC is to “plan your work, and then work your plan.”

Of course, I tried to explain all of this to the guy I was talking with. But he was unable to grasp the concept - it was above his pay grade.

Without a Strategy You Will Flounder

If you are a church leader, not only must you have a clear purpose, you must have a clear process. I’ve met a ton of pastors and church planters who have a great vision, but no idea on how to accomplish it. It’s not enough to say our vision is to “Bring Glory to God” or to “Preach the Gospel” or to “Reach People Far From God.” You need to have a plan. How many great ideas (and new church plants) flounder in mediocrity simply because the leader could not come up with a viable strategy or raise the necessary money?

I had a guy tell me one time that making plans and formulating strategies in church work was “plastic and prepackaged” and should not be done. It was one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life. Perhaps this explains why he does not lead a growing church, but rather a declining one. His theories are giving him exactly what they are designed to give – not much.

It takes more than dedication to grow and lead a healthy church – it takes skill. The reason the apostle Paul was so effective in planting and building churches was because he was skilled at it. He admits this in I Corinthians 3:10, "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an EXPERT BUILDER" (KJV says “wise master builder”). Not only was he dedicated, spiritual, and a praying man, he was SKILLED at using the right tools and doing the right things.

Without proper planning we continue to re-invent the wheel week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year. Or we just run laps every Sunday without ever making any real progress. But a well thought out plan will help us become more faithful and fruitful in every area of ministry. The modus operandi for servants at PCC is to “plan your work, and then work your plan.”

My motto: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Of course, I tried to explain all of this to the guy I was talking with. But he was unable to grasp the concept - it was above his pay grade.

Five Things We Got Right From the Beginning

PCC will celebrate its 17^th year in five months.  Most churches make it or break it in the first five years of their existence.  I don’t understand all of this in terms of the work of the Holy Spirit and how much human skill is needed.  However, I do know that Paul recognized the need for wisdom and skill (on a human level) when he called himself a “wise master builder” when it came to church planting.  I wrote about this in 2008 here 

So, recognizing that nothing can be accomplished without a sovereign move of God, there are some things that we did get right in our formative years, that, I believe contributed to our longevity.

Here are five of the most decisive:

1.  In terms of programming/activities, we focused on two main things:  the weekend services and children's ministry.  Not small groups, mid-week services, choirs, cantatas, extra programs, foreign missions, or any thing else that may have broadened our ministry but blunted our impact..  We were decidedly simple because we were building from the ground up, and these two became the foundation for everything.

2.  We waited to build a building, using rented facilities as long as possible (about 8 ½ years).  We didn't wait to buy land, purchasing 25 acres after only three years of existence.  This is the crucial interplay.  Get your land as quickly as possible, and postpone building a building as long as possible.  The biggest mistake that new churches make is building too soon.  When a congregation of 75 people votes to build, they will build what 75 people can afford (which is small building and a long mortgage).  Now the shoe is telling the foot how big it is allowed to get.

3.  We put most of our resources and effort into outreach.  Lot’s of churches say they do this, but then they build their paid staff quick and large (instead of training volunteers and laymen), have super nice office space in the executive park, and, well, you get my point.

For the first 5-6 years the church offices were in my home.  Yep, my home phone was the church’s phone.  I worked as a bi-vocational pastor for the first 8 ½ years.  When we added two staff members, they too were bi-vocational.  My point is that we funneled what little money we had into things that would reach people – not serve us.  Still do.

4.  I had a bulldog tenacity in keeping the main thing the main thing.  By that I mean holding to the mission of the church and not allowing mission drift to set in.  We toed the line and made all of our decisions in light of our mission, vision, and values.  We lost a lot of people as a result (i.e., people who wanted to take us in another direction), but God has blessed this church with many more people.  The lesson I learned is this:  Churches grow by subtraction as much as by addition.

5.  Finally, we had a growth bias.  I know that sounds crass and it might invite all kinds of comments about the value of small churches, but let me make my point.  The NT demonstrates numerical growth, physical growth, and spiritual growth.  The book of Acts shows the early church grew by the thousands, and the very reason we know the numbers is because someone counted!

Consider these statistics:

• There are more than 400,000 churches in America and 50% (200,000) of them run less that 75 people in attendance
• 25% of all churches (100,000) run less than 35 in attendance
• And 95% of all churches (380,000) have less than 300 people in attendance.

That means when PCC hit the 75 attendance mark we were as large as half the churches in America, and when we crossed the 300 attendance threshold we were in the upper five percent of all churches in America in regards to attendance size.

One of the most important things we did in the beginning was to establish a preferred vision of the future so firmly in our minds and spirit that we acted upon it, and then made decisions based upon it.  We believed to our core that we would be something other than a small church and it almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy.  In the very least, it was a vision we worked towards.  Whatever the reason, it seemed to work for us.

Again, I don’t know why these things matter as much as they do.  I just know they do.  It isn't meant to diminish the power of prayer, Biblical teaching, reliance upon the Holy Spirit, and such.  There just seems to be a “street smart” element to the things that really count.

Passion is Overrated. Focus on Diligence and Hard Work Instead

Passion.  You know the line:  find your passion and you will excel.  I understand the point, but it’s over-rated.  The truth is, only 1% of the entire universe is fortunate enough to work in field they actually are passionate about.  If that describes you, count your lucky stars (or thank God) that you are so fortunate.  For the rest of the human race, you just have to plow your way through.

My point is simply this:  passion can be a starting point, but true long-term success is based upon excellence and hard work.  You can disagree.  That’s fine.  And you have a right to be wrong if you want to be.

I know many passionate people… and they are passionately ‘not making it.’  Starving artists.  Broke musicians.  Passion and success don’t always go together – and passion doesn’t always equate into happiness either.  But this is the nonsense being dumped on us by the ill-informed motivational gurus,

For the record, no business ever makes it on passion alone.  No business person or business owner ever makes it on passion either.  And no ministry leader will be successful just on passion.

Back to my earlier point:  excellence is what moves you to the top, and hard work doing the right things is what makes you excellent.  To tell someone that passion is the key to success is to mislead them.  Here’s why:  because somewhere down the road you will discover that no one else cares about your passion.  You will quickly discover, that, while you are passionate about your particular field, you will need to have something more than passion; things like having the right skills, being an expert, a marketing strategy, leadership, management, finance, or an understanding of market share.  You will need a business plan too.  If all you have is passion, trying cashing that in at the bank.

Take my job for example.  It involves things like preaching, teaching, pastoring, shepherding, and leadership.  I love the work.  I’m called to do it.  But loving the work is not enough…. I have to be reasonably skilled at it if I hope to make it.  I have to work hard too.  That means striving for excellence, improving my skills, and becoming an expert in my field.  The apostle Paul called it being a “wise master builder” (I Cor. 3:10).   It takes more than passion to grow a healthy church – it takes skill.   I wrote about this in 2008.  See here.

I enjoy being a pastor.  But if the truth be known, my real passion is LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER or LIVING IN THE COUNTRY.  There I would have one of my Jack Russell pups sitting at my feet on the front porch as I’m leaning back in my rocking chair,  having a conversation with my wife with no cell phone interruptions, with some Rolling Stones playing in the background while I’m enjoying the smell of freshly caught fish in the deep fryer.

Now, I can get passionate about that. 

But standing on a stage once a week in front of hundreds of people, trying to say something creative and inspirational, is a challenge.  I have to work at it.  It takes and incredible amount of discipline and diligence to study week-after-week, month-after-month, and year-after-year.  I bog down at it sometimes.  Yet, it’s my calling.  It’s my vocation.  It’s what I do.  Being skilled at it is how I stay employed.  If I was (only) passionate about pastoring, but not skilled at it, I would be UNemployed.

Passion qualifies you to choose a field to work in, but it does not allow you to make a living at it.  Excellence gets you paid.  And twenty or thirty years or hard work, study, and practice, is what makes you excellent.

So set your passion aside… and just get really good at what you do.  Got it?  Forget all that baloney about passion and just go to work, while striving for a standard of excellence.

MY ADVICE.  Keep your day job, get out of debt, and save a ton of money.  Then one day you’ll be able to pursue your passion without starving.