Forget going “back to the basics.” Time never goes backward. Instead, let’s go “forward to the basics.”
Specifically, let’s spend the next few weeks grounding ourselves in the basic “best practices” that, if implemented, will help your congregation to become healthy, to grow in mission, ministry and membership, and to do God’s desired work of transforming lives.
Whether your congregation is brimming with life or two coffin nails from closing its doors, your future can be brighter if you will stop doing things that don’t work and focus on things that do work.
The Church Wellness Project is based on best practices in seven aspects of church life:
Membership Development
Recruiting new constituents
Retaining current constituents
Transforming lives
Leadership Development Recruiting the best possible leaders
Training them for effective duty
Supporting them through challenges, especially conflict and change
Communications Strategy Using effective technology
Crafting an effective narrative to reach prospective constituents
Reaching beyond the walls of congregational life
Spiritual Development Teaching the basic spiritual disciplines
Enabling constituents to grow in their faith
And to embrace transformation of life
Stewardship Development Training constituents in sacrificial giving and the Biblical tithe
Budgeting responsibly
Putting resources into people, rather than facilities
Young Adult Ministry Engaging young adults in faith community life
Changing what needs to be changed for that to happen
Mission Development Looking outward, not inward
Enabling constituents to engage personally in mission
The basic principle is that all seven of these best practices must be implemented, and all key activities within each category must be pursued. In Membership Development, for example, you must have a balanced approach: not just serving the needs of existing members, but recruiting new members; not just bringing people in the door, but transforming their lives; not just seeking the new, but also retaining the current. When a membership program gets out of balance, health becomes elusive.
Church leaders are always tempted to focus on doing one or two things well. “Play to our strengths,” they say. Problem is: health requires it all. You need effective leaders to do anything well, and they need adequate human and financial resources. Plus people must break the trap of being self-satisfied and self-serving. Plus you can’t just open the doors on Sunday morning. And so it goes. You get the point. It’s like the human body: rest + nutrition + exercise + stimulation + purpose + challenge. You can’t just develop a plan to take more naps.
Over the next several weeks, I will lay out these best practices, with enough detail to make them useful. I welcome your inquiries on how to go deeper. Please invite me to visit your judicatory, clergy group or congregation to look deeply into church wellness.
Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns. His website is Church Wellness – Morning Walk Media
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