By Brandon A. Cox www.brandonacox.com
Thanks SO much for downloading this Q&A guide! I'm passionate about helping churches to be healthy and growing, and I hope this is a conversation starter and idea generator for you and your team. Why the questions? Well, answers are everywhere. You can always find a book or download to help you with any area of church life. What you don t always know, however, is what you don't already know. In other words, we all have blind spots. It's possible that your church could be healthier if you just knew what needed to be revitalized. Let me take a second to challenge you to have at least four resources as you lead your church into its best years (because they are, of course, ahead of you). Good models of leaders who have led well through whatever stages of personal and church growth you are currently leading through. Good mentors to whom you can go with tough questions of your own, especially about life, home, and personal health. Good friends with whom you can do life, cry, talk, pray, hang out, kill time, and generally not be the professional. A good coach who will walk you through seasons of growth and help you break barriers by asking powerful questions. And if you don't have a coach, consider me. I coach a couple dozen leaders at a time through 6- to 12-month seasons. We meet monthly (usually by video) and tackle whatever is keeping you up at night. Interested? Visit brandonacox.com/coaching. And remember, keep going!!! Brandon Cox Pastor, Church Planter, Coach to Leaders Okay, let's GO!...
Your Personal Walk 1. On a scale of 1-10, how healthy is your relationship with God? 2. What has God been saying to you in your quiet time with Him? 3. What does a typical quiet time look like for you? 4. How much time do you spend in prayer each day? 5. How does being "in ministry" affect your walk with God? 6. On a scale of 1-10, how healthy is your marriage? 7. What would your spouse say to that question? 8. On a scale of 1-10, how healthy is your relationship with your kids? 9. Do you feel that you live in a rhythm that values time with family adequately? 10. Who do you look to for advice and accountability? Gathering Skills 11. Are you actively sharing your faith?
12. Are you intentional about meeting new people in your community? 13. Are you doing a good job of inviting new connections into your church? 14. Approximately how many people attend your church each weekend? 15. Approximately how many first time guests does your church meet each week? 16. Approximately how many first time guests return multiple times? 17. How many different ways can people initially connect with your church? 18. Do you handle most of the follow up or are you empowering others to help? 19. How are you helping people to multiply and invite others? Discipleship Skills 20. Do you see people developing the habits and disciplines of a disciple? 21. Do you see people growing in their knowledge of the Bible? 22. Do you see people experiencing and showing more grace as they grow? 23. What process do you use to grow new believers into multiplying disciples?
24. Have you written or articulated this process so that it can be easily understood? 25. How will you help new believers to begin reproducing their faith in others? 26. How will you keep individuals focused on living on mission? 27. What is your process for multiplying groups? 28. How do you envision your church multiplying? 29. How are you partnering with other churches to plant more churches? 30. How will your church be involved internationally in missions? Ministry & Mission 31. Do you know what areas need to be covered by staff and volunteers? 32. How many active adult volunteers do you need on a weekly basis? 33. Do you have a process for helping people discover their gifts and passions? 34. What is your approach to discovering and releasing volunteers into areas of ministry? 35. How do you boost confidence and encourage volunteers regularly?
36. How do you develop leaders from among volunteers to own areas of ministry? 37. Do you have a process for completing background checks on volunteers with minors? 38. Can you easily identify the significant needs of your community? 39. How do you currently meet community needs? 40. How will you infuse the gospel into your serving of your community? 41. Are there many people handling pastoral care, or just one or a few? Worship 42. What are the various elements of "worship" that happen on the weekends? 43. What qualities do you seek to develop in your worship leaders? 44. Is there unity on your "style" of music? 45. How do you lead people to be 24/7 worshippers? 46. Are you discovering a team and seeing new musicians getting involved? 47. How much is budgeted for equipment, instruments, etc. and is that adequate?
48. What other elements of worship are you already thinking through, beyond music? 49. How will you train a new generation of worship leaders? Small Groups 50. Are you a church with small groups or a church of small groups? 51. Do you have an effective process for moving people into groups? 52. What level of commitment are you expecting from small group leaders/hosts? 53. What kind of curriculum, if any, can groups use? 54. Can you see that members of groups are growing in God's purposes? 55. What is your process for multiplying groups? 56. How do you discover new leaders who may emerge from group life? Preaching and Teaching 57. How would you generally describe your approach to preaching? 58. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy preaching on the weekend?
59. How far out do you plan your preaching, and is this adequate? 60. How does your next sermon series connect people to God's purposes? 61. Are you cultivating creativity when it comes to your preaching? 62. How many Sundays are you the primary teacher? 63. Are you developing another teacher to help carry the load? Kids and Student Ministry 64. On a scale of 1-10, how effective is your kids ministry? 65. On a scale of 1-10, how effective is your student ministry? 66. Can you accurately describe to a guest what goes on in kids ministry? 67. Do you feel your current curriculum is adequate? 68. Who is the next leader you see emerging in these areas? 69. Do you have an adequate number of volunteers? 70. Do you have an adequate system for recruiting new kids and youth volunteers?
Administration 71. Does your church run on a well designed budget? 72. How confident are you that the people in your church are giving regularly? 73. Who do you seek out for advice in the area of church finances? 74. Who will handle the bookkeeping responsibilities? 75. Have you filed for and completed your 501(c)3 application? 76. Are you obeying all appropriate payroll laws and paying all payroll taxes? 77. Do you have written standards for employees and staff? 78. Do you have a working job description for your next staff hire? 79. Have you written bylaws that clearly articulate the structure of your church? Communication 80. What story do you believe people in the community tell about your church? 81. How have you worked to "brand" the church (frame the story people will tell)?
82. What are the primary ways you spread the story about your church? 83. Do you communicate the vision and values of your church regularly? 84. Do you have an adequate follow-up process in place? 85. Have you budgeted adequately for outreach and publicity? 86. Do you have a website that can be found in a search and is up to date? 87. Are your social media accounts being used and staying up to date? 88. How do you communicate with volunteers and core members? 89. Can you articulate your vision in less than one minute? 90. Can you essentially repeat your church's core values by heart? 91. Do your staff and primary leaders have a thorough knowledge of your vision? 92. How is your church handling changes and transitions?
3 Great Resources for Improving These are a few of my favorite online resources for church leaders. Pastors.com Rick Warren's online community for church leaders, especially leaders who are purpose driven. Ministry Pass An awesome collection of graphics and teaching and preaching series ideas, plus youth ministry resources. Ministry Library A great library of videobased content and training for church leaders and staff members. Services I Provide Leadership Coaching I love leaders! And I love coaching leaders, which I define as helping you clarify God s calling and fulfill His purposes for you through an ongoing, intentional conversation. Few things thrill me more than to help a leader find clarity and have a renewed vision and enthusiasm for influencing people. Learn More! Website Design I m pretty passionate about designing church websites using WordPress as a content management system so that a church, business, or nonprofit organization ends up with a website that is userfriendly, search engine optimized, and beautiful in its presentation. I also think through marketing strategies. Learn More!