2. EXCITED CHURCH: Clear the Roadblocks

In Acts 15 the matter of requiring the newly saved Gentiles to be circumcised has reached the Council at Jerusalem for a decision. Barnabas and Paul reported to the Council how these new believers had received the infilling of Holy Spirit, the miracles that had took place in their midst…and that some were requiring them to be circumcised as adults…in order to even be saved. This event, could easily be considered a “roadblock” to the unity and growth of the church, it became abundantly obvious that this was something that needed to be dealt with if the church was to continue to grow among the Gentiles.

It’s amazing at times how we can be oblivious to or ignore the much needed decisions that need to be made, some of them simple, that would keep the church growing, reaching and even less frustrating. On some occasions they can even be our own rules or past patterns that have grown out of date and ineffective.

In Verne Harnish’s article he points out that that question of how to motivate employees (church) could be in fact the wrong question. The right question is “How do I stop demotivating them?” Ask what are the processes and obstacles in their way from being more effective. Long pointless meetings, no vision, poorly staffed nursery, not enough budget, church culture counter effective to reaching the community, incompetence, etc. could be some issues. Staff, leaders and pre-leaders often will be able to point out the sometimes simple changes needed to promote better, greater, more effective growth or morale. In other words…one of the roles of leaders is to “clear the roadblocks”.

1. EXCITED CHURCH: Give Them A Voice

I've found that churches, staffs, companies...actually a lot of entities begin to atrophy when there becomes a stagnation of new ideas and implementation. Maybe we sometimes feel as though we have reached our pinnacle, or there is a bottleneck near the top preventing growth, or, we simple have lost our vision of what we are doing and why. Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels found the company on the verge of failure, embarked on a new endeavor to involve everyone at all levels during a series of specially designed retreats to get ideas and buy in of how things could be turned around. After a renewed 250 million in new sales Conley said, "The more you give people a voice, the more they step up".

Its simply amazing how we in the church can stick with the same ways, when its abundantly clear we are not growing, reaching, discipling and winning...wining people passionately to be passionate followers of Christ. If a hotel fails, so what. If the Church does not reach her potential and continue to grow...people fail to hear the message Christ died for and commissioned us to deliver. 

I heard someone say once, that God has given each church what it needs to be successful. Maybe...vision isn't up to just one person...maybe God has placed dreams, passions, new ministries, giftings, callings into a lot of people...maybe we just haven't listened. So I say, Give the Church A Voice. Let Pastors, leaders, staff, pre-leaders all have the opportunity to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit to see the Church be exactly what it should be in the community it has been placed. To be Light...in a dark world...bringing and proclaiming freedom for those in captivity and sight to the blind.

An EXCITED Church

I've long said, the Church is the most important business on Earth. While some may be uncomfortable thinking this way, consider this...The Church is in the business of seeing the LOST FOUND and CHRIST KNOWN to all. Verne Harnish, CEO of a executive education firm recently wrote a piece for Fortune magazine entitled "Five Ways to Keep Employees Excited" and I began thinking of the application to church teams, leadership and those in pre-leadership (attenders). 1. GIVE THEM A VOICE, 2. CLEAR THE ROADBLOCKS, 3. GROW BETTER BOSSES, 4 TAKE A BREAK FROM AUSTERITY, and 5. MAKE THEIR DREAMS REAL. My plan over the next few days is to briefly put a church perspective on some basic business advice.

* PS. This is my re-entry to this blog, from the hiatus of attending to my parents during the final few months of my Mom's battle with cancer.