Hey Friends-

Are people already in the church being taken care of?

If a church isn’t caring for itself… what real reason does it have to be a church?

This is part 2 in a series of emails where I walk through what I call "The Vitality Matrix". If you missed the previous emails, you can find them here.

​Is My Church Healthy? | part 1​

Let’s go through this foundational material first.

In Scripture, we find this at the very beginning of the church. While people usually focus on Acts 6 for the invention of deacons, I find it more interesting.

We see the first development of the pastoral office. Peter and the rest of the disciples are at a moment in which their task has expanded beyond their current capacity. So we see first the actions of the church taking care of itself, as well as a delegation of primary responsibility. Galatians 6:2 further develops this line by calling us to “bear each other's burdens in love.” This is a distinct form of Christian life because we aren’t doing it out of a moral obligation, but in a unique expression of love for each other.

But as churches grow and change, this isn’t always easy. It isn’t hard because it has to be hard, but because Christian love (and burden-bearing) is a unique approach found as part of our life together. If a church fails to care for its members, it will reach decline to a new, but lower capacity for relationships. Churches need to think through the care and relationships of its members.

You might not think this category of vitality matters, but it does. It is part of the larger organizational dynamic.

Peter Attia, in his book Outlive, gives us a maxim to reflect on.

​Tod Bolsinger keeps us running down this line.

If part of any church's normal decline is people leaving without explanation, you need to think about your care and relationships.

Let’s get back into our conversation about the vitality matrix I introduced in the last email.

The first input area of the matrix is what I call “Member Care and Relationships." Let’s look at how this falls within the stages of vitality.

Unstable
​Struggles to provide care or is extremely insular.

This can actually be present in a variety of situations. The church might have maxed out its care. It could be a church larger than the pastor's span of care, yet other systems aren’t in place. The pastor is shouldering the entire load of care and can’t keep up. There are several solutions to this, and most likely a couple of them need to be implemented. It could be a large church, and ad hoc systems can no longer keep up.

It could also be a church with strong ties among its members. Newcomers, lacking a shared history, struggle to build relationships.

Stable
​Manages current members' expectations of care and relationships.

The church can handle who it currently has. This is under control. Yet, if more people are added, it might break the system. If this is the case, asking some large questions about where capacity increase can happen can help. The church takes a few responsibilities off the pastor's desk to build more time for relational building. Small group or Sunday School leaders can re-strategize how they can add a few people to their loop. A new class might get started to create space for new people.

Vital
​Able to easily onboard new people in need of care and relationships.

The work to increase current capacity at the “stable” stage pays off here. Some future work, based on what is known, creates space for both existing and new relationships with people the church meets. It does this instead of focusing on the present. It is still an expansion stage based on what is effective in the present.

These churches know how to take care of people in moments of need. You don’t have to start from square 1 every time, but Mrs. Martha has a stash of frozen dishes ready for those who might need a meal.

Sustainable
​Proven systems for caring for all people.

The magic word here is systems. If a church is at this stage, they are probably bringing new people in enough to have standardized the way they do this across the board. New leaders are trained to always be able to make this space. This is a true integration moment. It isn’t just adding an extra chair to the room, but everyone seeing this work as part of the life of the church to grow together in Jesus Christ.

As far as care is concerned, these are also churches that know they might actually have the best chance to reach someone during a moment of need. They have people trained to walk with others through grief. The church has systems to use when a funeral or death of a loved one occurs. They are truly being strategically proactive rather than living in reactivity.

That’s a good quick look at the Member Care and Relationships Input. The next email (later this week) will focus on the 2nd input, Objective Metric Measurement.

See you then.

Chad

PS. If you want to see the entire vitality matrix, with all 7 indicators, you can download a pdf copy here.

​Individual Areas of Congregational Vitality.pdf​