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Three Steps to Positive Outcomes

By September 29, 2016No Comments

Over the past few years we have replaced grass in our backyard year after year. We’ve applied natural fertilizers and chemical sprays. We’ve tried various grasses to keep it from becoming a yard of mud. But year by year the situation has only worsened.

Crepe Myrtles Fall 2015

Crepe Myrtles Fall 2015

So this year we brought in an expert who said we had 2 major issues, fungus and too few hours of sunlight. He and his crew came in this week and took out a layer of the old grass and the dirt under it, treated it for the fungus, and replaced it with new grass. They cut off the tops of all the crepe myrtles that lined the yard and made us feel like we didn’t live quite so close to our neighbors.

The result? The grass so far looks good, but the yard is so sad without the crepe myrtles. We took drastic measures so that in the end we will have a more beautiful yard again.

Crepe Myrtles Sept. 2016

Crepe Myrtles Sept. 2016

When something isn’t working well, it can be difficult to figure out what to do. Prudence says to try small changes first. But what if a series of little measures accomplish nothing?

Consider drastic measures for positive change!

If something in your ministry isn’t working (or it could be something in your life), maybe it’s time to think about a restart by taking drastic measures.

  • Revisit your purpose. Make sure you have a purpose or missions statement based on God’s purposes for the church. What part of his work does your ministry play?
  • Find the root problems. Determine which activities you are doing actually moving you toward it well and which aren’t. Getting to the bottom of the failures, like our fungus and sunlight issues, pinpoints what must be redone. Some activities may be popular and fun, but do they move you toward your purpose? If not, eliminate them even though you will for sure face criticism and misunderstanding over it. It will help if you cast vision for what your purpose is and let people know that you need to focus your money and manpower on the things that achieve it, explaining why this doesn’t.
  • Rebuild with new ideas and meaningful ways to achieve your purpose. Have some focus groups. Do a survey of needs. Open up the conversation to everyone affected by your ministry and see what ideas they have. You can’t do it all, but you may find some creative ideas that you and your leadership team would have never considered.

Bathe it all in lots of prayer and use wise women to make the decisions. And then revisit the changes to tweak or take more drastic measures.

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