Chapter 3: “Strategic Growth: Plan Your Work &

Work Your Plan”

I. Review from last time

A. Look at the bell curve to the right. Then write

down in your own words what this book – and this

workshop – is about.

B. Before you protest that this is just applying “business-speak” to church growth, we also saw last time that each of the first-generation congregations were in varying states of health and decline (Revelation 2 & 3). Jesus came to them to point out strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. He will for each church was to be healthy. But for that to happen they had to recognize “where they were at on the curve” and have an understanding of what they could do to move toward health. “The Unstuck Church” is meant to give us an understanding of ideas and actions that we can prayerfully adopt to move us toward health. Let’s do a quick SWOT analysis of Bridgeway.

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C. Last time we looked at the first two stages of the lifecycle: Launch & Momentum growth. We discussed two ideas vital to these stages that need to be imbedded into our vocabulary:

_______________ & ________________

Tony Morgan distinguishes them this way:

Mission: defines the primary purpose for the church. Typically, in twelve words or less, I help

the church develop a mantra that answers the why question. Why do we exist?

Vision: paints a picture of where the church is going in the future. I like to develop that vision

for three to five years out. I also like to make the vision specific and measurable. It should answer the question, Where are we heading? We also pointed out how Jesus had a sense of both mission and vision motivating his work. For example:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” ~ Luke 19:10

This represents Jesus’ sense of his _________________.

“This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world.” ~ Matt. 24:14 This represents Jesus’ sense of his ___________________.

II. Now We Move On To Strategic Growth

“As the church grows it becomes impossible for one person to be everywhere and to control everything…If you want to continue growing, [the pastor has] to release ministry, leadership, decision-making, and just about everything else to others. A church can’t continue to grow on the shoulders of just one person. God didn’t design it that way. Instead, he purposely designed us to be a reflection of the entire body of Christ, namely, every person has a gift and a part in the mission of the church…which must be translated into intentional strategies, systems and

structures to support future growth and health” ~ Tony Morgan, pp.66-67 1. “Many of you just read the subtitle to this chapter and want to stop reading. From your perspective, the subtitle includes a four-letter word. It’s the P word: plan.” When you hear the word “plan”, how do you react? And how did you find this chapter, compared to the first two?

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2. How did planning help the churches mentioned on pages 67-68? 4. These churches embraced the six characteristics of churches which experience strategic growth. Let’s identify them.

• They shift from personalities to ______________________. The churches that get this right learn to model team-based leadership at the top of the

organization.

• Growth pains force leaders to think more ________________________. Without this shift, complexity will continue to grow and ministry silos will begin to develop.

• They confirm their _________________________ path. This is one of the key strategies that any church needs to define. In small churches, next steps

are driven relationally, that is, people develop a relationship that leads to a next step. As churches grow, people will need to take a step before those relationships develop.

• __________________ are established to reinforce healthy behaviors. Rather than rely only on chance…boundaries are established and steps are defined so that

decision making can be released to more people.

• __________________________ forms to support future growth. By structure I mean a combination of lay leadership, church governance, staff leadership, and

volunteer ministry teams.

f. They begin to flex their healthy _______________________ muscles. While it’s still growing, the church needs to learn how to let go of the past and embrace the

future. Now is the time to begin establishing this in the culture: change is expected and is a sign of health.

Do you think Bridgeway has this spirit?

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Key Changes Requires To Develop Strategic Growth

Build a Strategy to Accomplish Your Vision: Good Stewardship Demands a Good Plan of Attack

“What makes people work is an idea worth working for, along with a clear understanding of what needs to be done.” (Michael Gerber) The ideas worth working for are your mission and

vision. The mission answers the question of why you exist; the vision addresses where you are headed. The “clear understanding of what needs to be done” is addressed by your strategy,

which puts legs to the vision.” What happens to a mission and vision unsupported by a strategy? Well from here on out, Bridgeway will prayerfully build an annual strategy that will guide our work and ministry decisions. And you may have forgotten, but we have a “2020 Roadmap” already in place which we have mailed out and talked up repeatedly in the first few months of this year. In Appendix 1, pp.8-11, at the end of this study, you can find this year’s strategy. Observations? Questions? What would you like to see improved about Bridgeway’s strategy?

Implement Systems Around Common Touch Points: Don’t Let One Person Become a Bottleneck to Helping More People

How does Morgan define a “system”?

The day-to-day methods for executing the ministry strategy.

“During the momentum growth phase, these systems start to form, but they’re typically handled by one person. Instead of documenting that process in writing and equipping others to share the

responsibility, one person becomes the system.”

Why does this become a problem?

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So what do you believe are the “systems” that a healthy church should have in place? We’re attaching an article, called, The 8 Vital Systems Of A Healthy Church (which you can view here). Try and match the right system with its definition.

Assimilation System * Evangelism System * Leadership System * Ministry System * Small Group System * Strategic System * Stewardship System *

Worship Service System

• The _______________________________ System: How we plan, execute and

evaluate our weekend service

What are the elements necessary for a smooth and enjoyable service?

• The _____________________ System: How we attract people to our church

• _____________________________ System: How we move people from first-

time visitors to members

• The ______________________ System: How we connect people into community

• The _________________ System: How we mobilize people for significant ministry

• The __________________________ System: How we develop extravagant givers

• The _________________________ System: How we develop leaders at all levels

• The ____________________________ System: How we constantly evaluate and

improve our church Observations? Questions? What would you like to see improved about Bridgeway’s systems?

Adjust Your Structure to Reflect Your Strategy

“Count the people in your regular ministry staff meetings. That includes all the pastors and all the ministry directors. As the church grows, this group will eventually exceed eight people.

When that happens…the conversations about overall church health and spiritual growth get squeezed out. Everyone begins to protect their turf. The meetings are more about execution

than they are about vision and strategy.”

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In a healthy church, what should be true about the church’s structure? (pp.79-81)

• Your structure should reflect your __________________ to accomplish your vision.

• Your structure should play to the ___________________ of the people on your team.

• Your structure should connect every _______________________________ to the senior leadership team.

• Your structure should support ___________________________________ growth. Observations? Questions? What would you like to see improved about Bridgeway’s structure?

Clarify the Discipleship Path: Keeping People Busy in Ministry Activities Doesn’t Produce Spiritual Growth

A Key Question We Must Answer: What will we do with the ____________________ Christians? “Based on findings from the most effective churches, the “more is better” way of thinking is not the best route for people who are new to a church, and it is particularly unsuitable for people who are taking their first steps to explore the Christian faith . . . . Instead of offering a ministry buffet with multiple tempting choices of activities and studies, these churches make one singular pathway a virtual prerequisite for membership and full engagement with the church. In other words, you will need to add ministry programming to help people take their next steps. But those programs need to be focused. The path needs to be clear.”

But Beware!

If you do [create a focused, simple discipleship path], you will avoid the biggest challenge that declining churches face on the opposite slope of the life cycle, namely, complexity. In these

churches, multiple ministries compete for people’s time and attention. Churches become bloated over time as new ministry programs are added but nothing is ever taken away.

Observations? Questions? What would you like to see improved about Bridgeway’s discipleship path?

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Increase the Leadership Capacity of Your Team: Leadership Isn’t Leadership If It Isn’t Released to Others

“Leadership isn’t leadership if it isn’t released to others. Because of that, it’s important to ask: Is

my leadership more about getting people to do what I want them to do or helping people be who God designed them to be? Am I entrusting leadership to other capable people or am I just

delegating tasks? If I wasn’t here, would the ministry continue to grow without me?”

Observations? Questions? What would you like to see improved about Bridgeway’s leadership capacity?

Let’s make sure we have these concepts down. Connect the word to the right definition.

Projects for Workshop #3 (April 18th, 10:00am):

1. Read chapter 4, “Sustained Health”.

2. We would like to draft a fresh mission statement – or affirm our existing one. To do this, we

want to first do a thorough study of what Jesus was passionate about, and then what the early

church was passionate about. For next time, read through the verses in Appendix 2, pp.12-16,

and identify activities and ideas that Jesus was passionate about.

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Appendix 1.

1. Make Sure We’re “Sunday Strong” Because we’re a mobile church without our own building, we don’t have the luxury of creating multiple connecting points with our community throughout the week. Sunday is our day to shine, so we need to make absolutely sure that we’re putting our best foot forward, especially if our hope is to grow. On a practical level this means a few things: a. Ensuring that we have a growing pool of trained ushers and greeters staffing our service coordination ministries. This will include… b. …establishing an attractive Connect Center with a dedicated volunteer, stocked with church materials, information brochures, welcome gifts, sign-up sheets, etc. c. Preparing the worship service to run more smoothly and seamlessly. Too many starts and stops feels clunky, and can make it challenging to focus on God’s presence. d. Leave margin at the end of the service for people to enjoy fellowship, make friends and minister to each other through prayer or counsel.

2. Stabilize Our Church Governance In the past year, Bridgeway has laid the foundation for a new understanding of church governance known as “Policy Governance” (in the California circles I traveled in, it was referred to as an “Accountability Leadership Model”.) The PG model doesn’t tell churches how to structure themselves (it works equally well in a variety of structures – elder-led, congregational, presbyterian, etc.) Instead, it provides a roadmap for how churches should run themselves. When a church is operating as it should, the pastor should lead, the church board/elders should govern (not by micro-managing church operations but largely by creating accountability policies for the pastor), and the church members should be empowered to serve in ministry.

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But this way of governing is new to us. We’ve drafted solid policy documents to guide us (and we encourage you to become acquainted with them). But we’re literally just taking Policy Governance out of drydock as we speak. So in 2020, here are some things that we’ll be working on: a. I’ll create a workshop on the PG model as a training resource for our church and future leaders. b. We will be rewriting our By-Laws, to align them with recommendations offered last year by the Metanoia report. We want to make sure that there is nothing about our governance that is hindering our mission. c. The church lacks a thorough and functional Operations Manual. Without an OM, it is difficult to recruit and train volunteers. In 2020 we will draft current job descriptions for every ministry and volunteer position in the church.

3. Train and Expand Small Groups Our Life Group ministry is extraordinary. If the attendance figures I’m seeing on paper are accurate, we have well over 50% involvement in our weekly small groups. I have no doubt that one of the reasons the church emerged stronger from its recent challenges is because of this. It’s been said that healthy churches always grow larger – and smaller – at the same time. How do we continue to shore up this vibrant ministry? a. We’ll provide quarterly training and vision-casting, beginning in January, for all our Life group facilitators and hosts. I heard it said multiple times these past couple of months how much this would be appreciated. b. We’ll develop a plan to birth additional groups by training more leaders. Already, we have enough new regular attenders to form a new group or two.

4. Create Membership Pathways For Assimilation “Assimilation” is probably a bit too Star-Trekky, but the idea is to make it as simple as possible for a person to move from being a visitor to a regular attender to what I call a “FULL Member”, a growing, contributing disciple. Right now, our process is fuzzy at best. So in the first quarter of 2020 we’ll address this by… a. Hosting periodic fun events to bring our newer visitors together with our staff. Call it a “Pizza With The Pastor” or “Racquetball With The Rev” (maybe not the last one.) b. Using our Life Groups and Ministry Teams to create simple friendship-making opportunities. We called them “Soup & Salad” lunches in my other churches. Each Sunday after church, one of our small groups or ministries hosted a simple one-hour lunch in somebody’s home, which visitors were invited to share in. c. Create a new membership seminar or class as a training portal for those who want to become an active part of the church.

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5. Provide Training And Streamlining For Our

Ministry Teams Bridgeway offers multiple ministry and fellowship programs. It’s impressive for a group that has around 100 adults. Maybe too impressive, if I can put it delicately. I watched “Fellowship of the Ring” recently, and Bilbo’s line of “Being stretched thin, like butter over too much bread” might describe us. I believe we need to simplify some of what we do, even set some things aside for a season. Sometimes doing what’s good can get in the way of focusing on what’s best. a. Our Missions ministry might be a good example of this. Bridgeway faithfully reserves 10% of its budget for “missions” activities, but these activities need better definition, direction and communication. I’ll bet few of you can rattle off your tongues the various missions that we support right now. I’m grateful for those who have served in the missions arena in years past. And I’m grateful that there’s a small core emerging even now to help provide leadership in this area. b. Our caregiving ministry appears to lack substance. BridgeHelps has been a well-intentioned vehicle for distributing care, but its scope is limited. Meals are provided, or sometimes a family that’s moving gets some strong backs to help out. But what is our plan to support the grieving, or reach out to our MIAs (attenders who suddenly stop attending)? I wonder if the church would benefit from the institution of what has traditionally and biblically been called a “diaconate” – men and women who serve in what I call “spiritual watchcare”, ministering to the array of practical needs that are part of life in this broken world.

6. Define Our Current Vision, Mission & Values Like they say, If we aim at nothing, we’ll hit it. We won’t be able to get anywhere this year if we don’t come to an agreement on what our essential vision is as a church. Between now and Easter (April 12th), our first large-group project as a church is to nail this down. a. Our first formal teaching series together will be a 10-week series called “Reach, Teach and Unleash – Discovering A Fresh Vision For Our Church.” b. Our Life Groups will each share in this journey by using the weekly Bible studies we will prepare. c. My habit will be to provide a “book-of-the-quarter” for the church to read together. From now through April, I’m going to ask that everyone picks up a copy of “The Unstuck Church: Equipping Churches To Experience Sustained Health” by Tony Morgan. I will guide us through this book, and in March we will enjoy at least one training and prayer event built around this book. By the time we are in the heart of spring, my hope is that we will have defined our new guiding statements. d. Oh, and how could I forget. After a decade, it’s time for Bridgeway to have a new logo for a new decade.

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7. Website and Social Media Enhancements We’ve already seen much improvement in these areas, but we’ve got miles to go before we sleep here. I asked one of our newer families recently what drew them to Bridgeway. They said, “First Google, then we checked out your website.” ‘Nuff said.

8. Communication & Networking Communication has been almost universally tagged as one of our greatest weaknesses. So we’re going to tackle this head-on. Through the use of technology – our website, as well as Planning Center (which we urge every regular attender to get acquainted with), social media, and weekly email-newsletters from both the office and myself – we’ll do everything we can to “get the word out”. As well, we’ll produce a weekly bulletin or handout for Sunday mornings. And in our first full year together, some form of quarterly town meetings will be scheduled. And you will find me highly accessible. Thursdays and Fridays are times when I usually keep open office-hours. In time, Alyssa will manage my calendar, but as we set up our systems, you can reach out to her or me directly if you need to make an appointment. I also will begin networking with local pastors, and regional ministries. We learned from our experience with Metanoia that having healthy affiliations with other parts of the Body of Christ helps us be more fruitful.

9. Provide Spiritual Growth Tracks For Every

Believer

Scripture calls each follower of Christ to grow in three

areas: Christlikeness, Knowledge and Fruitfulness.

I consider it part of my training ministry to provide specific tracks for a believer to grow

on, no matter how young or old in the faith they are. If your desire is to grow spiritually,

then we will help you do it.

a. We’ll provide roadmaps, curriculum and resources to help you grow in each of the

three areas.

b. We’ll teach an innovative concept called the “FULL Member” concept which will help

any believer who wishes, to learn how to discover, develop and deploy their unique

spiritual giftings and “SHAPE”, within the context of church life.

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Appendix 2.

What Jesus Was Passionate About

Capturing a fresh vision from Jesus for Bridgeway requires that we first lean our heads into Jesus’ chest

and listen to how his heart beats. What got him out of bed in the morning and set his heart racing?

How do we do this? We look through the gospels at Jesus’ own words and actions to see the mission

that drove him and the core values he lived by. Examine the following Scriptures. Then write out in one

or two words what Jesus loved doing. What did he find “missionally” important?

Matthew 4:4 Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God.

Matthew 4:10 You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

Matthew 4:17 Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Matthew 5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works.

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but the one who does the will of my Father.

Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went…teaching…and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom… healing…When he saw the crowds he had compassion… ‘The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me all who labor…I will give you rest. Take my yoke…and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matt. 13:31-32 The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed…It is the smallest of seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all…the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

Matthew 13:47-50 The Kingdom of heaven is like a net that…gathered fish of every kind.

Matthew 16:15-19 I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 18:7-9 If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off…It is better for you to enter life crippled…than with two hands…to be thrown into eternal fire.

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Matt. 19:13-15 Let the little children come to me…for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matt. 21:18-19, 43 Jesus curses a fig tree – “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

Matthew 22:34-40 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…and mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 24:14 The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Matthew 25:34-40 I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked and you clothed me…As you did it for one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

Matthew 28:18-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Mark 1:15 The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.

Mark 1:17 Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.

Mark 3:31-35 Who are my mother and my brothers…Whoever does the will of god, he is my brother and sister and mother.

Mark 10:42-45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served to but serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Luke 4:42-44 I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God…for I was sent for this purpose.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 5:31-32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

Luke 6:12 In those days he went out to the mountain to prayer, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

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Luke 9:10-11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing.

Luke 9:23-24 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:57-62 Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head…Leave the dead to bury their own dead…No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Luke 10:38-42 Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled…but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her.

Luke 11:1-4 Now Jesus was praying…and when he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord teach us to pray.” And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say, “Father, hallowed…”

Luke 12:32-34 Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy…For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 13:6-9 Look, for 3 years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. What should it use of the ground.

Luke 15:3-7 What man of you, having a 100 sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave The 99?...Just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents…

Luke 17:20-21 The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Here is is!...for behold the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 18:18-24 One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me…How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Luke 24:46-47 Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer…and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

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John 4:5-10 If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will given him will never be thirsty again. (13-14)

John 4:23-24 For the hour is coming…when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people…God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 6:35 I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 7:37-38 If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

John 8:12 I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

John 10:14-16 I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me…I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 11:25-26 I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

John 12:27,32 But for this purpose I have come to this hour…And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself.

John 13:13-17 If I then your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you…By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 14:12 Truly I say to you: whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.

John 14:15, 23-24 If you love me, you will keep my commandments…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

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John 15:1,5, 16 I am the true vine, and my Father is the Gardener…I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should last.

John 15:16

John 17:20-23 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.

John 20:21 As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.