This is the second most read post of 2010.
L
et me tell you about your church…
#1. You’ve got too much going on.
#2. People want more.
#3. You don’t have the resources or the staff to offer more.
I know…I’m psychic!
I am currently taking part in an online coaching network with Tony Morgan. We were talking today about the most common disease in churches today…
overprogramming!
In my experience it’s easy to get people to admit this but when it comes to cutting programming…no one can figure out where to start. Tony had some good advice and I wanted to pass it on.
When deciding what to cut…here are three questions to ask yourself?
1. What program requires a major platform announcement in order to succeed? If something needs “main stage convincing” for people to show up…it probably should be cut. A good program will survive on it’s own merit and by word of mouth.
2. What would you not participate in if you were not the pastor? Ouch. Maybe another question might be…Are the other staff members coming to this program or sending their kids? Ouch again.
3. Does this reach people outside the church…or does it just satisfy people inside the church? There is no problem with “insider programs” but I think you need to be honest with yourself…how many “outsider friendly” programs do you have? This will tell you better than anything if you are interested in reaching people or keeping people.
I would add this one as well…this is one we ask ourselves here at North Point.
4. For what are you manufacturing energy? What are you tired of doing? A good sign that the program is tired is that you are tired of it. What is it that used to be exciting to you and is now a drag?
