IS THIS PRACTICE PART OF YOUR POST-COVID STRATEGY?

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Think about this statement:

"Every next step that is designed and offered should lead only in the direction of the "individual" preferred future to which you want everyone to go."

Here are three things you should notice about the statement:

It assumes you have already developed a clear understanding of your "individual" preferred future. Most churches have a corporate vision that states their dream for their church. A few churches have taken the time to develop an individual version of the corporate vision (i.e., they've stated what the life of their "primary newcomer" will look like 10 years into their journey).
The next steps offered have been carefully designed (as opposed to preexisting steps being retrofitted into a pathway).
There shouldn't be any next steps offered that are destinations themselves. Rather, every next step should lead to another next step (and they all should lead only in the right direction).

Don't miss this:

Adopting the practice of ensuring that "every next step that is designed and offered should lead only in the direction of the 'individual' preferred future to which you want everyone to go" will require next-level discipline.

Adopting the practice of ensuring that every next step that is designed and offered should lead only in the direction of the individual preferred future to which you want everyone to go will require next-level discipline. Click To Tweet

What Is vs What Should Be

Most churches have a different, less potent, practice.

Instead of a set of carefully designed next steps that lead only to the "individual" preferred future, what exists for most churches is the Battlestar Gallactica version (a ragtag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest).

In other words, most churches have simply taken all their preexisting programs and ministries and constructed a pseudo pathway full of false steps and missteps and unintentional cul de sacs. Their pseudo pathway has more in common with a maze, cobbled together like the Hearst Castle.

Most churches have simply taken all their preexisting programs and ministries and constructed a pseudo pathway full of false steps and missteps and unintentional cul de sacs. Their pseudo pathway has more in common with a maze, cobbled… Click To Tweet

On the flip side, a few churches, intentional churches, have begun carefully designing pathways with hand-tailored steps that are easy, obvious and strategic. That is, you shouldn't have to be an Olympic athlete to take the step, or a famous detective to find the step, and every step should lead only in the direction of the end in mind.

You shouldn't have to be an Olympic athlete to take the step, or a famous detective to find the step, and every step should lead only in the direction of the end in mind. Click To Tweet

Practice: "Every next step that is designed and offered should lead only in the direction of the "individual" preferred future to which you want everyone to go."

Is this practice already happening in your church?

Never more true than now, every next step that is designed and offered should lead only in the direction of the "individual" preferred destination to which you want everyone to go.

Another way of saying it is, you should never offer a next step that doesn't point in the direction you want everyone to go.

In addition, no step should be offered that doesn't include a built-in next step. We don't approve events, classes, studies, or experiences unless they have a built-in next step.

Note: "Steps" that don't include a built-in next step have a tendency to become destinations.

What does this mean practically?

First, carefully look over your existing steps.

Bring fresh eyes to the examination.

Conduct a brutal examination of each step.

The less accepting you are of what's always been, the more exacting you can be on the design of the best next step.

Second, insist on best possible solutions.

Do everything possible to avoid simply retrofitting the existing step.

Ask, "How might we ______________________?"

Choose design based on "What's the best way to ___________________."

Don't settle for the easy solution.

Go for the right solution.

Third, insist on an embedded next step.

Never launch a next step that doesn't already have an embedded next step included.

Every step in your pathway should have an embedded next step that leads only to the next step in the pathway.

Finally, build evaluation into the practice.

Every step in the pathway needs to be evaluated frequently.

Is it productive? Is it as productive as you expected?

Does something need to be adjusted?

Is the design right?

This practice is a game-changer.

When this practice becomes part of the way you design your pathway, you'll either see results you hope for or you'll evaluate and refine.

Remember, "your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing (Andy Stanley)."

If you don't see the results you are expecting, you will need to adjust the design.

Consider purchasing How to Design NEXT Steps and FIRST Steps.