Hey Friend -

Hey Crew -

This is email 5 in our series on the Vitality Matrix and 7 core categories of vitality. If you missed any of the previous emails you can find the archives here.

​Is my church healthy? (understanding the vitality matrix) ​​
​​How healthy are the relationships in your church?
​How good are your metrics (and do they really matter)?
​​What does financial vitality look like in a church?​

Today we will focus on core category four, Ministry Opportunities.

Category one was about the internal care and relationships of the church. This category focuses on discipleship and outward ministry to the community. To sum it up, does your church offer an appropriate level of ministry for people? Are there ways for folks to get involved with or be impacted by the church?

As I lead churches through this matrix, I find a unique thing happening in some churches.

The church has a few different ministries, but they are almost always the pet project of a couple of people. The church doesn’t have a unique understanding of ministry and mission itself; they depend on the ideas and passions of a few people. This is something holding you back!

You have to have a congregational vision and strategy for ministry.

So let’s think about how Ministry Opportunities work inside the vitality matrix.
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Unstable Churches

These churches don’t have age-group ministries for the entire church or community. They might have shuttered kids ministries when the last child left the church or during covid. The same for youth ministry. Adult discipleship only suits a specific age group in the church. This is due to its meeting time on weekday mornings and the overall vibe. These churches also have nearly 100% of their ministry done by a handful of people. The church might contribute financially, but the congregation lacks a clear vision for ministry.

Stable Churches

These churches have enough ministry for the people currently in the church. It might be small, but they’ve got something for all ages. People understand their outward ministry as belonging to the church, but it might not be impacting many individuals. Healthy ministry will be bearing fruit.

Vital Churches

Churches in this category can create new ministries without negatively affecting others. They are starting to develop and deploy new leaders in these ministries. Core ministries have learned to adapt their practices to meet current needs.

Sustainable Churches

Sustainable churches are highly mobile in their approach to ministry. They can understand when times are changing and will close existing ministries and start new ones to meet new needs. They have a deep bench of leaders to serve in these ministries. They identify when a ministry segment needs additional support (such as starting a young mother’s group in conjunction with kids and womens ministry).

So why do Ministry Opportunities Matter?

One statement I heard in a conversation this past week was “churches can no longer afford to be religious extra-curricular events.” The ministry of the church isn’t just to fill up someone's social schedule. The conversation took a turn with this eye-opening statement: “People don’t need biscuits and coffee; they need Jesus and Spirit-filled relationships.””

Did you hear the mic drop?

Churches trying to figure out vitality are often expending time and energy (and resources) simply being a religious extra-curricular. One of the big cultural shifts was people no longer looking for the church to fill up their schedules. But many churches still operate with a programming and event mindset, and leave the spiritual needs of people outside. Your church should focus its ministry vision on meeting real needs. Also, have intentional conversations across the whole church.

Another major part of this is it can be extremely hard to make a new church a home when there is nothing for you there. You never know who is searching for a spiritual family. If the great aunt and uncles are in charge, the 20-something nephew may not feel like sticking around. We have to be creating new spaces for new people and work hardest to get things off the ground with appropriate critical mass.

That critical mass is the game-changer.

Let’s use this example.

Your church has nothing for young adults and has one leader who might be willing to help out. Instead of expecting them to join a Sunday School at 9 am with older folks, think about what you can do with one leader and a few younger members. This could be a better fit. Sure, you can’t host the big weekly worship nights the big church down the road does…but you can get a dinner together and have a focused conversation. You can ask them what their biggest needs and dreams are and connect them with another older person who might have had the same journey. Bigger churches would struggle to give this one-on-one attention, but a smaller church can excel in it!

Don’t sleep on understanding the power of ministry opportunities as you try to revitalize your congregation.

Next email we are back to talk about New Member Integration. This is a big one.

As always, feel free to forward this to a friend or leader for other conversation. You can always hit reply back and get into my inbox.

Chad

PS. If you want to see the entire vitality matrix, you can download a file here.
​Individual Areas of Congregational Vitality.pdf​