Alignment keeps your church tires from balding. Car ownership includes ensuring your car has a proper alignment. Without proper alignment, your car’s tires will wear unevenly, causing either the inside or outside tread to go bald if left unchecked. This will cause your car to handle poorly and is dangerous. As you should have your car periodically checked for alignment, so also your church or other organization needs a periodic check your organization alignment.

What is church alignment? What is a church to align to? Scripture? Yes, but every church has a specific alignment obligation. Every Bible believing New Testament church is to align every aspect of the church to The Great Commission. It is our one and only driving force. This is all inclusive, every sermon, every song, every class, ministry, every leader, and every decision made is to align with The Great Commission.

The Great Commission is not your mission or mission statement. It is God’s directive for every church. Each church then must develop a mission statement to align within their context – their community, according to the Great Commission.

There are three tenets in The Great Commission;

 Go and make disciples, this is evangelism, take the gospel to the people outside the church. Unfortunately, many churches have only a supposed alignment here. If it were properly aligned would we not be seeing more baptisms?

Baptize them, just what it says. When a person has surrendered to God’s plan of reconciliation, baptize him/her as a demonstration of what has taken place in his/her life. Baptism does not save a soul but is a public demonstration of what has already taken place inside that person’s heart and soul.

Teach them to observe all Things I have given you, A lifelong ever-growing process in Christlikeness. We never outgrow maturing as believers. There is always something to learn and to achieve in Christ. What evidences and testimonies are being regularly shared and observed of spiritual growth in church members? How many members are disciples making/nurturing other disciples?

It is imperative to periodically evaluate every aspect of your church as mentioned in paragraph two above, for proper alignment to The Great Commission. Even if much of your church is properly aligned, it only takes one area out of alignment to bring catastrophic damage and destruction to your church/organization.

There are other subsequent areas of alignment required in the church as well. Yet, being properly aligned to The Great Commission is by far the most crucial and necessitated. Without it what devastation awaits your ministry? What will you do this week to begin the alignment check for your church?

For more information or assistance contact your denomination leaders or reach out to George Yates. My desire is for every church to be properly aligned for greater fruitfulness.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Increase the caliber of your players and you increase the fruitfulness of your organization. That is a little twist on a quote from Mark Miller, Leader, Training and Leadership Development for Chick-fil-A.

Most leadership within the church comes from – within the church. Too often in the church we settle for the first person who will say yes. I do believe we want the “right” person, and we hope and pray that the first person we ask will be “The right person”. I have written and will write about placing the right person in all roles of leadership within the church. But for this post, I want to give some thoughts on increasing the caliber of learders in your church/organization.

1, Caring Engagement – If you want people to put forth their best, show them that you care, for him/her personally and their fruitfulness in the position. Noy just a one-time thing when recruiting. Caring engagement is an ongoing aspect of leadership. Show them you care.

One of the best ways to show you truly care is to engage on a regular basis, not only about their role, but about other aspects of life. Engage in conversation, maybe attend their child’s ball game. Show concern for their trials and sufferings as well as their victories and successes at home and church.

2, Provision – Provide everything possible for a fruitful ministry in each person’s leadership role. Instead of giving them a title and turning them loose to figure out how to with what, provide the resources, training, and personnel to have a fruitful ministry which advances the entire organization.

3, Empower – Too often we give a position or title while using constraints for fruitful accomplishment. When you give a person a position and title, turn lose of control of the ministry and give the flexibility to be the most fruitful leader possible. While there must be boundaries set, without freedom of empowerment to accomplish the task, fruitfulness will be lacking and not necessarily on the part of the new leader. Build an empowering structure within your church/organization.

4, Provide Proper Equipping – There is not a position in the corporate world where you had your orientation training and never had to do any other training. Yet, many times in the church we recruit for training and thank someone for saying yes, but never give any further training. In the corporate world this would not be acceptable, there is always some type of training. All those jobs deal with the temporal, we deal with the eternal. How much more important should ongoing training be in the church. Be certain you are providing opportunities for growth for every leader in your organization. Research and encourage each leader to research training opportunities outside the church related to his/her particular role.

5, Follow-up – Do not micro-manage, Empower. Regular, consistent follow up is critical for the fruitfulness of each ministry and the church/organization. Regular consistent follow up is checking in, showing that you care. It also gives you a sense of where the ministry is going, difficulties that might be developing. Follow up will also give you victory stories to share throughout the church encouraging other leaders as well.

Increase the caliber of your Leaders and you increase the fruitfulness of your organization.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Truth is narrow, always has been. In our society today, truth is mocked, marginalized, and criticized. Yet truth is and always has been narrow and people do not like to be boxed in. Therefore, truth is received as a threat when in fact it is not a threat, but it is – the truth.

Mathematical truth is narrow. 2+2 always equals 4, never 3, not sometimes 5. It is always 4. Mathematical truth is always narrow. Scientific truth is narrow. Water always freezes at 32⁰ F. Never at 35 or sometimes 37. Scientific truth is always narrow. Geographical truth is narrow. I live in Kentucky. Kentucky is bordered on the north by the Ohio River, not the Ganges or the Missouri. Geographical truth is narrow. Historical truth is narrow. Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon on July 20, 1969, not the 23^rd or September 20. Historical truth is always narrow.

Since all truth is narrow, why would we have difficulty understanding theological or biblical truth as also being narrow? In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus himself said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Biblical truth makes people uncomfortable because it is truth and the flesh does not like anything that goes against our fleshly desires and pleasures. Fleshly desires and pleasures are plentiful, broad, and can bring temporary satisfaction. However, that temporary satisfaction also leads to ruin – “broad is the way that leads to destruction.”

As believers in Jesus Christ as Lord of All, we are called to bring the light of truth to a world living in the darkness of broad destructive behaviors. Biblical truth will always lead us to Jesus. As He stated in John 14:6, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No man comes to the Father but through me.”

Jesus was not boasting or arrogant. The only way to righteousness is through righteousness. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived a perfect and righteous life. Therefore, He is the only way to Heaven. He sacrificed His life for you to have life abundant and eternal. Yes, it is very narrow to only have one way. Yet it is truth, and truth always is narrow.

My thanks to O.S. Hawkins and the inspiration to write this from his devotional, The Believers Code, Thomas Nelson Publishers, pg. 276 September 13.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

In a monthly meeting while discussing the church history and attempting to identify trends, the new pastor asked, “Is this a trend? I’ll be out to supper with my wife, and a church member will come up to me and say, ‘Pastor, I want to introduce you to Bill and Jane. They used to be members of our church.’ Then I’ll be visiting someone in the hospital and the patient will say, ‘Pastor this is Judy. She used to be a member of our church.’ Everywhere I go church members are introducing me to people who used to be members of our church. Is this a trend?”

He posed the question to me, but I turned it back to all the members of the team sitting around the table. “What do you think? Could this be a trend in the church?” Within a few minutes they had identified a trend that had been ongoing for twenty years. Each time the church had to say good-bye to a staff member, they lost several families.

Looking at the history of an organization can bring to light evidence of trends that may have followed the organization. Trends will be evidenced in things we count such as attendance, giving, membership, and baptisms. Trends can also be discovered in the way a church is inclined to vote on church matters, or how they treat church leaders. Trends can emerge in how a church deals with political or social issues. It is interesting to surface trends and bring to a discussion of the church members or leaders as they may never realize the trend unless it is oftentimes brought before them from an outside observer.

It is important when looking at the trends of an organization to attempt to unveil any subdued or hidden causes or reasons. For instance, if a church is turning over pastors every three years, what might be the underlying reasons? It is possible the church is using seminary students, and the students are using this church as a steppingstone. It could be the church likes this approach because they do not have to pay a full-time salary to a long-term pastor. In other churches, it is possible there are leadership issues among the members of the church. There could also be a number of other reasons. When similar actions are taken on numerous occasions, a trend is being cultivated. Some trends can be good; others may not be lending to the good health of a church.

The important measure is to unearth the reasons for trends in the organization. Many church members and leaders are actively involved in the trends of the organization and may not realize the reason for the trend. Oftentimes the detriment of the trend is not realized by the church – until irreplaceable damage is made. This brings another viable reason to surface for including an outside perspective of looking at your historical eras and data.

What trends are prevalent in your church? Can you identify the good and detrimental trends?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

An effective/fruitful church organizational structure is the one that supports fulfilling the Great Commission and doesn’t hinder forward moving efforts. Many churches have an established structure, but not one that fulfills this purpose. Organizational structure should be set to serve your vision and culture. Therefore, it needs to be organic and dynamic, ready to change when God does a new thing.

Unfortunately, many churches have established a structure that worked well in previous season of the church, but it now no longer supports the needs of the church and community. Indeed, yesterday’s structure could even hinder God’s agenda because of its inflexibility. Without intention to, we can become ‘structure first’ in our practice and quench the Spirit’s work that He is wanting to do through us.

Organizational structure in the church needs to be like a wineskin, flexible according to the wine inside it. Wineskins can stretch according to the need, but the wineskin serves the purpose of the wine, and not the other way round. 

A fruitful church organizational structure includes:

1. providing a mission-centric framework.
2. Focus on the use of resources toward the vision.
3. creates space for culture to grow.
4. changes in line with strategic development.

If the structure is unhealthy or ineffective, resources will not be maximized, and the church will be program-driven, process, or politically led instead of being Holy Spirit mission-led.

Five keys regarding church structure to be considered:

1. A healthy church has a structure that helps the church steward a fruitful culture. A healthy church culture helps the church develop the beliefs and behaviors needed for biblical fruitfulness.
2. Healthy church culture is derived from values. Values are the seeds of culture and reveal what we believe to be right, Godlike, and best. They give us a framework for making decisions that propels the church forward in fulfilling The Great Commission. True values will always be manifested through our actions. Many churches claim evangelism as a core value, yet only one or two people share their faith. Evangelism is not a core value in many churches.
3. Values are carried out through the church’s biblical oriented vision demonstrating God’s heart, shaped by His words. and shared God-given passions in the hearts of the leadership team.
4. The mission of the (worldwide) church is to fulfill The Great Commission. Every particular church has a unique mission of how to fill their part of The mission. Mission answers the key question, “What does our church exist to do?”
5. Church strategy, the prioritizing of actions and activities that fulfil the mission, advance the vision, generate the culture and further develop organizational structure needs.

When these five characteristics line up, you have organizational alignment. If the church is weak in organisational health, then one or more of these is ineffective or in opposition to what your stated purpose is.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

When planning a vacation, what is the first ingredient of planning for you? Perhaps your first thoughts are of where or when. May I suggest there is one other element that must be considered first? Before the when, where, how questions are answered we must first consider “who.” Who will be traveling with you? Without the “who,” all other planning may be for naught.

I am a firm believer in using the same approach for ministry? Knowing who is traveling with you on your ministry journey is of primary importance. Having the right people in positions of leadership is crucial to getting started right and continuing on a quality course of ministry.

The right person for a particular position might not be the one with the highest qualifications or education and experience for the position. Organizations, churches, and businesses are littered with people in positions with no passion or drive for accomplishing required tasks. Someone with passion will overcome inexperience with his/her drive to accomplish required tasks.

Having the right people in leadership positions begins with proper recruitment. Here are two tips to consider when recruiting for any position: 1) Do not recruit in the hall. 2) Look for the who, people with capacity for the role needed

Steps to follow when your organization has a position to be filled.

1. Pray for your eyes to be open to seeing as God sees so that you will realize when the Holy Spirit nudges you toward a person. Not because you know the person has accepted before, but because this person has the capacity to undertake the responsibility of the position and spiritual warfare that may follow.
2. Contact the person asking for a meeting, not in the hallway, preferably in his/her home or at a restaurant for coffee.
3. Pray before the meeting. Pray for the proper wording to use during the meeting. Pray for an open heart for both you and the other person.
4. During the meeting be cordial and remember his time is valuable. Begin with casual conversation. After a few minutes, move into the reason for the meeting. Choose your wording carefully. Statements like, “God told me…” will kill the interview immediately and the likelihood of receiving a positive response.

Instead phrase your wording similar to, “I (We) have been praying about the right person to assist with our ____ ministry. After several weeks, we believe you have the right qualities to serve in this capacity. Would you agree to pray with me about accepting this as an act of service (to God) for our church?” Notice I did not use the terms position, job, or responsibility in this initial approach. Those terms carry a negative allusion to a burdensome task.

From this point you can begin to answer any questions the candidate might have and explain the responsibilities. Set a time for follow-up and his answer, about a week.

This format works and honors God more than the way many are recruited in the church.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Fruitful teaching/training in the church is never directionless. It always points us toward holy behaviors. Fruitfulness is always evidenced in changed behavior. How is your personal and corporate Bible study changing your conceptual behavior about the following areas of life in today’s culture? 1) Life status? 2) un-Christlike behaviors? 3) idolatry keeping you from God-time? 4) Relationships and societal norms?

Proper, fruitful, biblical training should always produce changed behavior in all believers, even the most senior of saints. Unfortunately, in many churches we do not see changed, growing Christlike behaviors in God’s people. The word teach is defined as, “to impart knowledge or skill; to cause to learn by example or experience”.

Didasko, the Greek word used in the New Testament 84 times is translated in English as teach or teaching, is described as “the act of causing someone to learn”. The meaning goes much further than passing along knowledge. Facts and information do not create a learning experience. Behavioral change is the fruit of biblical training/teaching.

The definition of both teach and didasko use the word “cause” – to cause learning. How do we cause people to learn? The word cause is defined as, “Something the produces an effect, result, or consequence”.

According to this definition what teachers and preachers bring to the classroom and pulpit should produce a result. It should have a changing effect on people’s lives. If as teachers and as learners our Bible studies are not causing a personal behavioral life change, something has gone awry. To be a maturing disciple requires change, a change in the way we perceive and act in all areas of our lives. It requires a continuation in how we aid and serve others.

We’ve looked at teach, didasko, and cause, let’s look briefly at the word learn. Learn is described as, “To gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery of; to acquire through experience”. More than knowledge learning is to gain mastery of. In a martial arts DoJo there is one person who is more accomplished in the art than anyone else. He is referred to as “Master”. How is your Bible study contributing to your mastery of Christ-like living?

Skill also appears more than once in our definitions. Skill is an applied ability. The only way to gauge the level of your skill is by applying that skill. It is the application of learned skills and knowledge that not only brings about behavioral or life change. Application is life-change. The very first time you sat in the driver’s seat of a car, you began applying the knowledge and skill you had learned.

Someone had to teach you how to drive. Your first time out may not have been the most graceful, yet from that point forward you practiced those learned skills, increasing your ability and improving those learned skills, thus changing your behavioral patterns.

Whether you teach in a church setting, a public school, or in your own family, Teach for Behavioral life change!

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

“Most churches don’t have a leadership problem—They have a leadership development problem.” David Stokes. While instead of the word problem, I normally use the word issue, I do agree with his statement. A statement I have used in equipping settings for years is, “Every leader should be mentoring another leader.” If you are a teacher you should have at least one apprentice teacher who shares in the teaching responsibilities. If you are a class secretary, you should be training someone in those duties. It matters not how big or small your task, you should be mentoring/equipping another person in those duties.

While mentoring is a great component of leadership development, it is not a complete process. Even the way we recruit leaders in most churches is unhealthy. I have written and produced videos on this in years past. In most churches we recruit to fill an empty slot. The first person we can find to say yes is our answer. That person’s qualifications and giftings is seldom considered.

At one church I served the nominating committee went to Gail several years in a row asking her to teach in our children’s ministry. Each year she declined. Gail was a second-grade teacher in a local school. Therefore, to the nominating committee, she was perfectly fit for the task at church.

Gail on the other hand was desiring relationship with a different age group on Sunday. She was with 7-year-olds all week and longed for adult interaction for Bible study. In time Gail and two other women came to me desiring to start a Bible study for women. They already had the commitment for a teacher, Gail. They had the ministry plans laid out beautifully and the women’s Bible study became a very fruitful ministry to the women of that church.

A church’s leadership process begins even before the recruiting process. It begins with prayer. In chapter six of Reaching the Summit I laid out a better recruitment plan for churches, and people have noted, “You have prayer in every aspect of that process.” Indeed, shouldn’t that be true for every single leadership position in our churches. My friend, Allan Taylor says, “In the church, we recruit many of our own problems.” Without a prayer based system, our entire leadership development process is doomed.

What can you do this week to prayerfully enhance and enrich the leadership recruitment and development processes of your church?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

A biblical worldview should be an essential for a believer in Christ. Yet, it is not always true for every person who claims the term Christian. If you have been in church – in most Christian denominations, you have heard your many Bible stories. Through preaching, Bible studies, Sunday school, dramas, music and other means, Bible stories are laid out for us in various fashions.

We gain lots of knowledge of various Bible stories, yet knowledge alone does not a disciple of Christ make. I would assert that most Christians/church goers have heard their share of Bible stories yet have no comprehensive approach of applying the truths of this knowledge in their daily lives. Little David killed the big bad giant, Goliath. But what does that have to do with my work on Tuesday?

Many churches have turned to the theory of need for information, give them as much information and knowledge of what is in the Bible, verse by verse, with little application of God’s truth in life throughout the week. some without any application. I am not knocking any method of teaching/preaching, but if all we are giving is information, are we creating only trivia buffs? In the Great Commission, Jesus said “teach them all that I have commanded you” shouldn’t that include Jesus’ instructions on how to? Over 60% of Jesus’ teachings were application.

The knowledge of truth is essential, but so is application. A true biblical worldview must contain both. Many churchgoers can tell you stories of the Bible. Faithful believers can convey how the truth of biblical stories connect to their beliefs. But “how many can convey how they know the beliefs they hold are true?”[i]

Without being able to answer that last question, a biblical worldview cannot exist. That question is answered as we apply the knowledge of truth in our lives and experience God working through those applications. We must have biblical knowledge, be able to convey God’s truth of that knowledge, while also communicating how we know our beliefs are universal truth. This is developed over time through knowledge and application into an instinctual awareness of confidence in who we are and who God is. Only then will we prevail with a true biblical worldview. And that worldview must continually be groomed and grown with further gaining of knowledge and continual application in every aspect of life.

We are tasked in the Great Commission to assist one another in the continual attainment of knowledge and prevailing practice (application) in our daily living. Certainly, Pastors, teachers, and leaders have a significant role to play here, but Christ gave the Great Commission to each and every believer. You and I have a role to play in growing in knowledge and practice while also assisting others in the same.

This dually aligned equipping with knowledge and application is God’s only concept for developing a biblical worldview, which He desires from each of His children. What is your next step for gaining biblical knowledge and applying it in your life space this week?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

[i] McDowell/Wallace, So the Next Generation Will Know,pg 89

I recently read a statement saying that “So many young Christians are ill prepared to face the…challenges that confront them today…” My immediate thought was, not only today, we’ve been turning out ill prepared Christians for decades. Many Christians came through good, well-meaning youth groups without a secure, firm foundation. We learned the Bible stories and the difference between right and wrong, but what was missing was the strength of conviction to walk away from wrong – that which was tempting to each one.

Learning Bible stories and the difference between right and wrong does not a worldview make. Everyone has a worldview. Your worldview is the lens through which you see the world. Each person’s worldview interprets his/her beliefs, values of life, influencing his/her perception of his/her place in life. A person’s worldview also establishes his/her moral standards.

If we do not consciously equip not only young Christians, but ALL Christians with a biblical worldview, they will inevitably absorb the philosophies and practices of today’s culture as their worldview. Today we have a much greater amount of information at our fingertips and instant influencers through many social media platforms, internet, than any time in history. Every person’s worldview is being infiltrated every hour of each day with new ideas, questions, and challenges.

“People need a worldview through which they can make sense of this information bombardment.” Christianity offers a biblical worldview. A person’s worldview has been considered a mental map of a  his/her reality. A worldview does not emanate from the mind but from the heart, the very soul of all belief. Therefore each person’s worldview is our fundamental commitment to our known reality and daily practice.

Not only what we are teaching in church, but are our methods of teaching creating biblical worldviews? For at least the last five decades, the amount of young people walking away from the church would suggest that at least one of the two has been failing. Let me suggest the following practices for every age group in our churches.

• Teach for a clear personal understanding of God’s purpose for every individual and all human life.
• Return to clear instruction and sound, functional grip on the afterlife.
• Bring listeners to a vibrant perception of the greatness of the True, Living God.
• Train people of all ages in the difference between fleeting happiness and everlasting Joy.
• Help Christians create their Life Road Map based on scripture.

These five bullet points alone are not going to in and of themselves create a biblical worldview, but they are a step in the right direction, a step that we in church too often fail to accomplish.

What will you do this week to strengthen your biblical worldview and encourage others to do the same?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.