Your Results May Vary

Whether I’m working in our small group ministry at Parkview or on the small group ministry of a church I am consulting or coaching…I’ve learned that a fairly small number of variables determine results.  I’ve also learned that some of these variables are in my control…and some are not.

Remembering Andy Stanley’s great line that “your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results that you’re currently experiencing,” I’m aware of the fact that it is these same variables are what determine design and design absolutely determines results.

In the last three months I’ve seen a variety of outcomes in the launch effectiveness of the churches with which I’m coaching and consulting.  Sticking close to the plan (and even innovating to customize the strategy), one church jumped from 60 small groups to over 400 coming into the weekend the campaign begins.  Another added over 300 new groups and had 451 people pick up a grab and go bag to do the study with a few friends or family.

Those are both big wins!  Very exciting stuff.

On the flip side, a coaching church with weekend attendance of nearly 1,000 came all the way through a 5 call coaching package and then decided to stick with their previous plan to add new groups by hand-picking a leader or two from each of 6 existing groups.

And then, there have been several churches that stuck fairly close to the strategy but compromised on a single variable or two, and have seen only moderate success.

In each case, certain variables determined success.

Your Results May Vary

I’ve learned that one of the most important first conversations I can have with a consulting or coaching church is the “your results may vary” conversation.  Much like the disclaimer you read on most medications, it’s important that churches realize there are variables that affect outcomes.

4 Key Variables

I’ve found there are four key variables in church-wide campaign success:

• Senior Pastor buy-in and attention.  In order to maximize the impact of a church-wide campaign, there is almost no variable more important than the senior pastor’s 100% buy-in and attention.  100% attention extends from the pre-launch host recruitment stage all the way through the launch series and into the follow-up.
• A narrow focus approach.  The number of competing ministries or projects plays an important role in the impact of a launch.  Every additional opportunity promoted diffuses the potential impact of the campaign.  In addition, the pre-launch host recruiting phase is so important, the narrow focus must begin earlier than some churches anticipate.
• Timing.  There is an ideal timeline for a launch.  It varies only slightly from one community to another.  Even slight changes in the ideal timeline can have significant impact.
• The topic chosen for the church-wide campaign.  Where the topic fits along the easy/hard continuum plays an important role in how both who will agree to host a group and who will say “yes” to the invitation.

Are there other variables that play a role in campaign success?  Absolutely.  Overall church health, extreme weather or disruptive local or national events can all play a part.  But these four (senior pastor buy-in, narrow focus, timing and topic) are the most important.

Can I help you?  You can find out more about my consulting and coaching services right here.

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