Does the system match the culture?

All churches, especially those churches that have been around for any length of time, have a certain culture, that culture is often times tied deeply with the church’s traditions.
Years and years of letting the paid professional minister do much of the work in the church became the culture or the norm in most churches.  Visit the sick?  That’s what we hired him for.  Teach the class?  That’s what we hired him for.  Teach the children?  That’s what we hired her for.  Change the light bulb?  We are baptists we don’t change anything.

When we go back to the New Testament church we see rapid growth.  Thousands were coming to know Christ.  The church in Jerusalem was exploding.  So the apostles realized something had to happen in order to minister to the church.  Welcome the  deacons!  So deacons were appointed as servants to take care of the widows and orphans to serve the church.   The pastors’ role was one of equipping the believers to serve, to do ministry.



Many churches now are getting back to the New Testament way of doing church and the members are becoming the ministers.  To change that culture takes time, it won’t happen overnight.  As we make a change in culture we also make a change in the systems.  The old system was the paid minister does it all, a one man system, or a selection committee system.



Sue Mallory in her book, The Equipping Church says this about systems and culture:
 "While systems are often written down, cultures tend to be passed down through relationships.  (Another way to put it is this: Systems are in books and cultures are in looks.)  While reading the published “organizational chart” of leadership positions in a church will tell you about the system, asking a question at a congregational meeting and observing the one toward whom all heads turn will tell you about the power flow in the culture.  Systems can often be analyzed from outside the church; cultures mus be understood from the inside.  Healthy and wise change rarely happens apart from deep cultural understanding.  Christ’s gifts of people (and the gifts he gives to people) can change the church from the inside out.  Systems, good and bad, offer a structured description of what we are trying to do; the culture is who we are and what we actually do.  Though systems and culture are not identical, they must work in harmony.  When they cooperate and support one another, healthy growth, positive change, and transformed lives are all possible."

A church may have a system on paper for their ministry.  It may look like an organizational flow chart but does it really flow like the chart says it should?  Is there a power broker(s) that isn’t on the flow chart that everyone looks to instead of looking to the system that is in place?  If that is the culture of the church than the church is going to have to decide to change the culture to match the system and this may not make the power person happy or the church may even lose him/her.  Does the church system say “we all serve” but in fact only a handful of members serve?  System doesn’t match the culture.

If the culture has to change to be more in line with the Word of God the question to ask is “are we willing?”  Systems are on paper and are easy to change, rewrite, and the ignore.  Culture, when it starts getting tweaked, isn’t easy to ignore and a church has to be willing, if the goal is to be more Biblical, to stay the course through the change even if it means there may be some members who leave along the way.  If it’s important enough to get to health as a church than it may mean losing some members along the way.



Is the church willing to change the culture to be more in line with the Bible no matter the cost?
Are the pastors willing to stay the course even though it may get tough for a time?  


Culture doesn’t change easy but when it does change the church will be healthier as a result.



4 Ways to Promote Volunteer Retention

Good quick article from volunteercentral

Recruiting volunteers is one thing; keeping them is another!

If ministry leaders want to keep volunteers engaged in service, they should consider the advice of Dobie Houson and Jim Diehl in their article “5 Warning Signs You’re Losing Your People”. Their article in the December 2015 issue of Chief Learning Officer—a publication designed for corporate human resources professionals—has useful application for church leaders. Of their six suggestions, four speak directly to equipping volunteers.

Read More

Culture Shift

Our church has had a culture shift over the past 25 years.  We have seen some big changes in that time but one that stands out is our culture in the area of ministry.

Eighty percent of our partners are serving on a ministry team in our church.
Years ago the statistic passed around about churches  was that twenty percent of the members did eighty percent of the ministry.

For a long time churches in America had the mindset that the pastor was the one who was the one who was the minister.  At some point pastors started doing all the ministry, the one who visited the hospital, made visits in the home, started the coffee and set the thermostats on Sunday morning, shoveled the walks when it snowed and the list can go on and on.   I think there are some churches that want to make the shift but because their leadership is changing every two to three years the shift will never happen because the turnover of leadership isn't conducive to changing the culture from paid ministers to members are ministers.  You can't turn that big ship on a dime, it takes time.  The longer the leadership is in place the more likely the shift in culture will take place.

God's Word teaches us that the pastor's role is to equip the believers for ministry.
Our church has transitioned over the years and part of that transition has been moving to the knowledge that we are all called to be ministers, not just the paid guy, the "professional".
How does that happen?
Teaching
Leadership modeling ministry
Discipleship
Raising the bar of expectation
Resisting the urge to do everything (know how to say, "no")

Our church has made the shift.  We aren't perfect and we do still have some partners (members) who are missing out on the joy of using their spiritual gift in ministering to the body of Christ, their church.  Our current percentage rate at NHC is eighty percent of our partners are on a ministry team.  That's exciting but this means we have another twenty percent to help get connected in ministry.

Don't Just Recruit Volunteers

Good article with some great advice on creating a ministry culture in your church
from Churchplants.com

iServe

As Ministry Teams Pastor I am constantly scanning the world wide web looking for helpful articles our team leaders and volunteers can benefit from and use in their ministries.
As I run across articles I'll be sharing them here on this blog.  I plan also to blog about ministry in the local church.

Ministry isn't just for the "paid professionals" but is for all Christ followers.  We have all been gifted by the Holy Spirit and those gifts are to be used in our local church serving the body of Christ.  Each believer should be serving in their local church, this is part of being a spiritually healthy growing Christian.

For clarification:
Ministry - is what we do within the church, serving other believers and Christ.
Mission - is reaching out of the church to those who have yet to discover life in Jesus Christ.

I hope that something on this blog will be an encouragement to you as you serve and lead others in serving.