If Your Church doesn’t look like the Community…

This is a guest post. It is actually a 4 question survey that we ask all team members to complete about their experience through the Reaching the Summit process . This one was completed by the interim pastor of a church who recently completed a one year series of working with me in the Reaching the Summit (RTS) process.

1——Through the course of RTS I have realized…have realized several things through this process. I learned that change is a slow process. It comes form identifying strengths of the church and then using those strengths to meet the needs of the people around it. The best way to see if this is happening is another thing I learned that seemed so simple. Look at the church and see if it resembles the community that it is in. If it doesn’t then it is not meeting the needs and reaching the people. This process is not a one time process, but instead is an ongoing and never ending one. This is because people change, demographics change and times change. This is what makes it hard because it is so easy for us to get comfortable where we are and doing what we like, which leads to the church using its strengths to minister to themselves.

If we are not making an effort to keep this from happening then it will happen.

2——RTS has helped me——RTS has helped me first of all see the importance selecting the right people for the job. It has helped me see how to do this by looking at peoples strengths, how they have handled jobs in the past and where their interest are. Some people are good long term leaders and some are event people who are good at doing one time events. Both are needed.

It has most of all I think helped me realize, that as a Pastor, I need to be a stronger leader. This comes from going through processes like RTS and requires effort to grow the spiritual gifts that God has given me. I think RTS really helped me in this area.

3——-I believe that because of RTS our church will———As a result of going through RTS we not only identified some of the strengths of our church but we also identified some of the weaknesses. Those seemed to be doing things simply because we always have. By eliminating those because they were no longer effective, we will have more people to help in our areas of strength and better meet the needs of the community around us which will result in our growth.

4——-I was an interim pastor at Bethel but have applied the things that I have learned at the church where I am currently serving and have seen the difference that it has made. Thank you as well for your book “Coaching, A way of leadership a way of life. It too has helped me to be a better leader.

Bruce Coker, Associate Pastor, LifeLine Church

George Yates is the Church Health Strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, assisting churches and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Learn more at ALSBOM.org/revitalization.