Practical Church Newsletter ⛪️

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You can’t optimize what you don’t start.

Starting small and imperfectly is much easier than having a perfect start. It is starting that’s the hard part for most of us. You can spend so much time trying to research and figure out everything up front that you never actually start. The best way to learn is to do.

In a ministry context, I’ve learned that it is often best to start a new ministry or initiative without making a big announcement or laying out a ton of plans.

When announcing a new ministry/initiative that has not been done in any way yet, you run the risk of sharing plans that you’ll soon realize have to change, and if you decide the new ministry isn’t sustainable or what you thought it would be, you now have to go back and announce your church is going to stop it.

Instead, it is much better to run something small and invite a few people into it via word of mouth. Give it some time, see what works, and if it gains traction then make a ministry plan and announce it to the church.

For example, back in October, I invited about 30 guys to a men’s event in our church. We didn’t announce it to the church and didn’t say anything about this being more than a one-off event.

The event went great, and we worked out some kinks for how we would run it in the future. Now we are planning to do it once a quarter.

But again, we aren’t saying this is a new quarterly thing we are doing, we are simply telling all the guys in our church in our church this time about our next men’s event that is happening in February.

If it goes well again and it gains momentum, then it might turn into a more “official” ministry.

So, if you want to try a new small group structure, service flow, etc., just try it first. Don’t make big plans that might change later. Give it time, run it with a smaller group of people, and then you’ll know whether this thing needs more fuel.

By the way, this also works great if someone in your church wants to start something new. Have them try it with a few people a few times. If they can grow and sustain it, then have a conversation about making it something your church spends the resources to support.

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What problems could I avoid in the future if I said what needs to be said today?

More Resources to help you in ministry 🙌

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1. Join the Practical Church Facebook group. Connect with 2,300+ pastors and ministry leaders to get help and feedback from others.

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3. Shave 10 hours off your workweek and get back more time to get everything done. 

P.S. Why did Noah have to discipline the chickens on the ark?

Because they were using fowl language.

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