Your effectiveness will never rise above the organizational systems being practiced. Therefore, it is crucial to review and reevaluate the ways – systems – in your church/organization. I received a phone call from a pastor who said, “Our systems are broke.” His inquiry was if I was willing to help. I traveled to their location in February, and we worked for two days on a couple of systems in the church. They in turn were able to then work on other church systems.

The following are questions you can ask – with a team – in an attempt to improve the systems that are not producing as they should. Please, pastor, do not attempt to do this alone. A team approach is key. Some questions are the same for every process, others may depend on the ministry needs. It is imperative that you avoid the normal, churchy answers, and dig into the root causes. In my opinion, the best way to ensure this is to bring in a trained coach who knows how to ask good thought-provoking questions.

1. Identify the Need; This goes beyond, “we need more people” or finances, even beyond, “Our people are not committed”. The need to the first two could be, “Are we doing a truly great job of equipping the members to walk daily like Christ?” Most churches are attempting to do good things and have good programs and ministries. However, Good is the enemy of Great. When we settle for good, we never strive for the greatness for which God created us.
2. What is the desired outcome(s)?; More than our wishes, What outcomes would be as demonstrative as those found in the Early church in the book of Acts? Due to our compulsion to remain in our comfort zone we often avoid God’s ways, inserting our own, expecting God’s approval. If we can grow to allow God to do things God’s way instead of what we think would please God, can we not expect God-sized results?
3. Stop here and as a team spend quality time in prayer. Pray for guidance in developing essential systems to meet the need.
4. What are our current practices?; Using the earlier example, “we need more people”, Are we opening the doors, waiting for new people to come in? How are we equipping members to reach out and bring people in. Are we trusting in the latest fads and gadgets that we’ve heard other churches using? Are we trusting in the historic traditions used in the church for the past forty years?
   1. What is not working in our current practices?
   2. What was the last innovative practice we put into place that implored people to join us as an inquiring guest?
5. Discovering Better Practices; Read as a group, passages like the first six chapters of Acts, then come together and through prayer discuss what to discard and how to build anew, practices that honor God and stretch you and your church members.

Remember, No Growth ever takes place in your comfort zone. Ask God to stretch you and your church beyond your comfort. God stretches us to grow us into Christlikeness. There are more questions to be asked and fine tuning to be done. As you think through the processes in your church/organization, feel free to contact me or your denominational leaders for assistance in asking the right questions.

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.