It has been said, “Your future depends on what you do today.” And since we are talking about moving forward into the future as churches, let’s unpack what we should prioritize today so that our tomorrow is brimming with noble and exciting realities!
Over the past decade, there has been a ‘Niagaratic’ flow of resources to help churches achieve their so-called “2020 Vision.” Then Covid-19 happened! Yet, for some, this intensified the vim and vigor of championing a church’s future. We have been hearing words like “pivot,” “adapt,” “innovate,” “ideate,” “imagine,” “forecast,” “disrupt the disruption,” and so forth - at levels and frequencies we have not heard before. Amid this flurry and in some cases, obsession, of all things ‘church-futuring,’ I have found a very helpful starting place to prepare your church for her future: ask questions.
Every question contains the catalytic power to ignite a quest - an exploration and expedition - into the shaping of the future. I’ve often heard that the best leaders lead from questions and not from answers. (Sidebar: according to Gospel accounts, Jesus asked 307 questions, was asked 187, and only answered 3.)
Here are some questions to ask and work through with your team, as you navigate your future direction as a church community. Be both courageously curious and compassionate when working through your questions - fostering a safe and motivating environment.
Known as the 4 Helpful List questions, they can be asked in a variety of contexts - to help evaluate teams, departments, or the organization as a whole:
Within every question, we should also ask, “Why?” Why is it working, broken, missing, or confusing? "Why" questions help us get to the root of the matter.
Ask these 4 questions about the following areas of ministry:
As part of this questioning process, evaluate both the church's scalability and sustainability. (It’s all about learning to travel lightly toward your destination.) These elements are essential to creating and cultivating a reproducible movement that both expands (leading more people to Jesus) and transforms (leading people to live more like Jesus).
Furthermore, indispensable to any church's ‘futuring’ is the ongoing query: are we operating out of a place of attunement (discerning and knowing God’s vision for us) and alignment (living that vision out in unity) - resulting in a beautiful harmony between both focus and flow?
Here are some further questions; these may feel like they have a ‘leading’
quality, but that’s intentional. Sometimes questions need to be designed to cause us to think in a manner that may not be natural for us - getting us out of our comfort, bias, and default zones. It’s often what we don’t know that we don’t know that gets us into trouble.
This list of questions is unending - go ahead and create your own! There is no question in my mind that rightly designed questions help you architect the way forward. At Chemistry Staffing we love to help pastors and churches work and wrestle through their questions, and, as well, to ask questions that may help unlock more fully the imaginative and innovative capacities of your team.
To connect with Allan about finding a long-term healthy fit or to talk about church health, reach out to him via email here ... if you're ready to find a new staff member, schedule a conversation with Allan!