7 Reasons Why Mid-Size Churches Get Stuck - Episode 295
May 10, 2023
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Explore challenges faced by mid-size churches in breaking the 1000 barrier, such as large boards hindering decision-making, struggles with volunteers, facility constraints, overlooked children's ministry, and undefined purpose. Discover the importance of strategic alignment and leadership capacity in churches for making effective decisions and empowering ministry areas.
Mid-sized churches should shift to a unified board and mobilize others into ministry teams to streamline decision-making.
To effectively leverage volunteers, staff members should lead ministry teams and empower volunteers to take on more responsibilities.
To promote growth, mid-sized churches should prioritize upgrading facilities, expanding capacity, and enhancing directional signage to improve the guest experience.
Investing in safe, engaging, and spiritually impactful experiences for children is essential for reaching young families and ensuring long-term growth in mid-sized churches.
Deep dives
Challenges with Governance and Committees in Mid-sized Churches
In mid-sized churches, a common challenge is having large boards and numerous committees, making decision-making complex and time-consuming. The recommendation is to shift to a unified board with 5 to 9 members and mobilize others into ministry teams.
Leveraging Volunteers in Mid-sized Churches
Mid-sized churches often struggle to effectively leverage volunteers, with staff members taking on too much ministry themselves. The solution is for staff to lead ministry teams and empower volunteers to take on more responsibilities, allowing the church to expand its reach.
Addressing Facility Constraints in Mid-sized Churches
Facility constraints, such as limited seating or lack of clear signage, can hinder growth in mid-sized churches. The key is to prioritize the guest experience by upgrading facilities, expanding capacity, and enhancing directional signage.
The Importance of Children's Ministry in Mid-sized Churches
Many mid-sized churches neglect to prioritize children's ministry, focusing on other areas instead. However, to reach young families and ensure long-term growth, churches must invest in safe, engaging, and spiritually impactful experiences for children.
Defining Purpose and Distinctives in Mid-sized Churches
Mid-sized churches often add more programs and ministries, leading to complexity and resource competition. To avoid this, churches must define their core mission, vision, and ministry strategy, focusing on areas that align with their unique identity and goals.
Emphasizing Quality in Weekend Environments in Mid-sized Churches
As mid-sized churches grow, the quality and excellence of their weekend services and other ministry environments become more crucial. Deliberate planning, preparation, and execution are needed to create impactful and engaging experiences for attendees.
Hiring Leaders versus Doers in Mid-sized Churches
Mid-sized churches often struggle with not hiring enough leaders and relying too much on staff members who focus on doing rather than building and leading teams. The key is to prioritize hiring leaders who can develop volunteers and guide ministries towards growth.
Different churches wrestle with different issues, but many times those challenges are a reflection of the church’s size.
In this episode, we discuss breaking the 1,000 barrier by exploring what challenges get many mid-size churches stuck and providing practical wisdom for moving forward.
If you’re overwhelmed trying to do it all, BELAY can help. BELAY, a modern church staffing organization with fractional, U.S.-based Accounting and Virtual Assistant services, has helped busy church leaders do just that for more than a decade. To help you figure out where to start, BELAY is offering a free resource to guide you through what tasks you should delegate. Get out of the administrative weeds and back to growing your organization with BELAY.
If your ministry has hit a plateau or you feel there’s something holding your church back from the next level of growth, this webinar is designed to help you identify that core issue and find your next step towards health. Register now.
For the full episode transcript, links mentioned during the show, and to download the Leader Conversation Guide, visit this episode's Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode295.
Join the Live Conversation on Social Media
If you're listening on Wednesday, when the episode first releases, join the live conversation The Unstuck Group's team will be having on social media about this week's topic. We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on Twitter. Or you can join in on Facebook.
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