The 8 Systems No Church Should Be Without
Is your lack of SYSTEMS causing your church stress … especially this time of year?
Well … you’re not alone. An estimated 72,000 churches in America lack the clear cut systems that are necessary for operating effectively and without unnecessary stress.
So what are these systems … well, they can be boiled down to eight different categories.
- ADMINISTRATION
- FACILITY
- FAMILY MINISTRY
- CONNECTIONS
- CREATIVE ARTS
- FINANCIAL
- STAFF
- VOLUNTEER
Of these eight categories, which one(s) do you have rock-solid systems for?
Our research has uncovered that of the 72,000 that are operating deficiently in the systems areas, that 82% have sufficient processes for only 2 of the 8.
That’s a lot of deficiency.
While there are certainly compliance issues with a lack of bullet-proof systems in several of these areas, there is a far-worse toll that is taken on churches and their personnel.
Stress and wasted effort.
That’s right. There is a workload that comes from having a lack of automation in these areas.
A recent survey of pastors revealed that of the churches that had improved their processes year over year by more than 25%, more than half of them said the biggest and most immediate difference-maker was the introduction of …
Templates.
Yep. But not just any templates. The right kind of templates.
“Most templates that come with business or word processing software don’t really do the trick,”one Oklahoma pastor said. “Churches are so unique in how they operate that there is a whole other category of forms that lives outside the norm.”
And he’s right.
Churches that want better results need better systems. Having pre-set forms and documents for all areas of ministry is absolutely key to achieving two things:
- Reducing the time it takes to perform necessary ministry tasks, especially the repetitive ones.
- Providing consistency in the execution of systems tasks.
Where are the results?
When you’ve successfully transitioned all areas of ministry and administration to the use of the right templates the following things, by nature, follow:
- More time to do actual ministry.
- More time to spend with family.
- A turn-key system for future staff. (Leave your church systems better than the way you found them.)
- A duplicatable system should you ever go multi-site, saving the new campus team THOUSANDS of hours in their first year alone.
Systems lead to church growth.
About four years ago, a former pastor named Michael sat at a conference where Andy Stanley said, “it was systems, not just sermons, that led to church growth.”
Andy said “your system is perfectly designed to get the results you’re getting.”
It was the big aha for Michael at the weekend pastors’ conference. And guess what … he went back to his church, and did nothing about his big aha. Then about a year later, he launched into an aggressive church growth strategy for The Rocket Company.
The fruit of his efforts was an entire church system of documents and forms that address all eight critical areas of ministry.
Docs & Forms was born.
Because healthy systems equal a health church.
Looking to prepare the ground for a less stressful 2017? Want to get ahead for once and save your sanity in the process? Try this special offer for Docs & Forms. (Hint: It’s less than $10 for the whole system.)