Over the past months I've been kind of quiet on the "strategy front" for SummitView. With all 
of the challenges and transitions of the past year I've just felt the need to hit pause and spend some extended time reviewing, reflecting and renewing. I recently finished a book that came highly recommended from another pastor. The beauty of this book is that it's not another new method, not some cutting edge technology, not a complex new system being suggested to implement in our church. In fact, it was just the opposite. The name of the book pretty much says it all - "Simple Church".
of the challenges and transitions of the past year I've just felt the need to hit pause and spend some extended time reviewing, reflecting and renewing. I recently finished a book that came highly recommended from another pastor. The beauty of this book is that it's not another new method, not some cutting edge technology, not a complex new system being suggested to implement in our church. In fact, it was just the opposite. The name of the book pretty much says it all - "Simple Church". The conclusion and main point of the book is that the most effective churches are basically "simple" churches. They have a simple and clear strategy for accomplishing their mission -- it's easy to visualize and easy to understand. Here's how the authors define it:
A simple church is a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth. The leadership and the church are clear about the process (clarity) and are committed to executing it. The process flows logically (movement) and is implemented in each area of the church (alignment). The church abandons everything that is not in the process (focus).
What struck me most is that the idea they champion (as a result of overwhelming evidence from their extensive studies) is an idea we have in place already at SummitView --- REACH, CONNECT, BUILD. That's our mission. That's been our strategy.
So here are some questions for us:
- What do we need to do so we can better EXECUTE that simple plan?
- Are we looking at numbers of people across the process or just "nickels and noses" on Sunday morning?
- Given that the hardest part of the simple strategy is movement between steps, what can we do to help people transition from one step to the next? Are the "next steps" clear?
- How does our simple strategy translate to Bedrock? to Student Ministry? --- so that the entire church is aligned?
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You are right on when you say the simple church model describes what SummitView is trying to be. Our “reach-connect-build” model fits this view perfectly. What we do not do well is execute – myself included.
I believe we lack process control. We actually have systems in place to allow us to know who is involved in what, and when, but we do not utilize them. What we are left with are many well intentioned, but uncoordinated small “programs”. We have Elders and Ministry leaders each taking the initiative in many ways, but each doing their own thing.
So, what do we need to execute that simple plan, and how do we help people transition? I suggest four things:
• As Elders and leaders we must take the time to communicate significantly better with each other! We cannot continue to not respond to emails. We need to let each other know what is going on in our own ministries, express our needs, discuss people we’ve ministered to, and generally share ideas.
• Let us all learn the processes SummitView has in place for tracking people, and then use them! This involves having administrative people to help us keep track and giving them the tools to help us focus in on an individuals needs.
• Schedule the “coffee connection” and use the pulpit to build it up so we have a well attended event, then follow up right away with the growth classes. Let’s get rosters and schedules for all of our small groups, make sure we follow up with all concerned and encourage people to be involved. Then repeat the process!
• Lastly, accessibility. Let us try to look through the eyes of a new attendee. What are our office hours? When can people just drop in? How do they contact an elder or other church leader?
I think our next steps are to get the process back under control. Let’s decide on point people. Let’s share our thoughts, seek God’s will, and get some decisions made --- this week.
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