5 Simple Moves That Will Shift Your Ministry to a New Trajectory

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The moves I’m going to suggest are simple.  They’re not hard to understand.  They’re not even hard to execute.  They’re not easy.  They will take some work.  But they’re not complicated.  They’re simple and they will shift your ministry to a new trajectory.

Here are 5 simple moves:

  1. Choose a cross-cultural church-wide campaign for February, 2014.  It’s not complicated.  Choose an off-the-shelf campaign on a topic that your friends and neighbors care about.  Imagine yourself walking next door to invite your neighbors to attend.  What would the topic have to be for them to even consider joining your group?  See also, Top 5 January/February Church-Wide Campaigns for 2014 and 5 Things You Need to Know about Connecting Unconnected People.
  2. Adjust the height of your leader bar to make it easy to begin.  This is a simple move with huge dividends.  Making it easy to say “yes” to hosting a group allows the people with the largest number of strong connections into the community to play.  You can still set parameters that mitigate the risk of this move (i.e., Anyone can pick up group material as long as they’re filling their own group with members. If you want your group listed on the group finder you need to meet an additional requirement.).  See also, Customized Leader Requirements and Benefits and Leader Qualification: Raising the Bar, Lowering the Bar, or Open Bar?
  3. Identify and recruit key testimonies for January.  The simplest way to move the hearts of potential group leaders and potential group members is by leveraging the power of testimony.  Identifying and recruiting four key testimonies for January is a secret ingredient that will change the game.  You need two types of testimonies: (1) First-time leader testimonies and (2) I’m glad I was in a group” testimonies.  See also, To Do List: Film Video Testimonies That Inspire Action and How to Develop Video or Live Testimony that Recruit Leaders or Members.
  4. Identify and recruit campaign coaches for the February campaign.  This may sound hard, but it is actually very simple.  One of the two key ingredients to sustaining the new groups you launch is providing a coach to walk alongside each of your new hosts for 10 to 13 weeks (two weeks on the front end to help them get started, the six weeks of the campaign, and a couple weeks on the back end to help them land).  See also, Recruiting Additional Coaches for Church-Wide Campaigns and Clarifying the Win for Launch Phase Coaches.
  5. Choose a follow up study that is similar to the launching study.  The second key ingredient to sustaining the new groups you launch is providing a follow up study that is similar in kind to the launching study (i.e., DVD-driven, 6 weeks long, easy to use, limited preparation, etc.).  See also, 5 Keys to Sustaining New Groups.

Here’s the thing.  None of these moves are complicated.  Every one of them is simple.  Do they take some work?  Absolutely.  But they’re extremely doable.  Start now and you’ll be on a new trajectory in 2014!

What do you think?  Have a question?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

2 Comments

  1. Libby Myrin on October 31, 2013 at 7:16 am

    Totally agree with you, Mark! This is similar to what LifeChurch.tv campuses will be doing the start of 2014!



  2. markchowell on October 31, 2013 at 7:18 am

    Awesome Libby! You guys have definitely figured out how to do this!