Engaging in a Church Consultation

Transcription

1 Engaging in a Church Consultation From time to time district ministers, pastors or congregational leaders may be asked to consult with churches in their area. The aim of this consultation would be to help improve the strength of the church s ministry so that it can more effectively reach out in its community and experience congregational growth. In the consultations I have done I have met with the pastor(s) and various groups in the church in order to obtain an idea of what each of these subgroups / committees have been doing their purpose, their activities, and their results. I have also met separately with a few congregational members, or even persons who are very new to the church. The following, then, are some of the questions I have used. The resulting answers can help the consultant to reflect and discuss areas of improvement with the congregational leaders of the church. I also write up a summary, and share the results with the congregation. What a Congregational Consultant Would Do 1. Analyze the congregation s life and ministry from an objective point of view 2. Assist the pastor(s) and people to more fully understand the dynamics that have led to the present situation 3. Help the church to see more clearly its basic purpose 4. Provide ideas on how the church priorities can be turned toward mission and away from merely maintenance 5. Share helpful insights that will evoke greater outreach 6. Present a long-range look into the future, and the steps needed to achieve decidedupon God-given goals. Suggested Questions for Accumulating Information 1. Pastor(s) 1) What about the church was inviting for you to come as pastor? 2) What do you especially like about the congregation? 3) What do congregational members expect from you? 4) In what ways are you cared for by the congregation? 5) What are the basic issues facing the congregation? A

2 6) How are you able to offer pastoral care? 7) Where do you rank the importance of each what order? Nurture for those who already members, evangelism, service ministries, administration, preaching, ministry to students etc.? 8) How much power and authority does the church give you? 9) How do you feel about your present quality and style of worship? What type of worship would help people from this community feel good about attending? 10) Do you have a ministry of small groups? If not, what would people say about trying to institute this type of ministry? 11) What is the image you feel your congregation has in this community? 12) How would you describe your church to a new neighbor who has just moved in? 13) Do you feel that your church has a desire to minister to those outside any church? 14) Do you feel that generally your people want the church to grow and add members, or are satisfied with where it is? 15) What is your goal or dream for the church over the next two to three years? 16) If your church had $300,000 on hand to be used in ministry, how would you invest it in order to make the church more like what you would want? 2. Church Council, Elders, General Lay Leadership Team 1) What should be accomplished in this consultation? 2) What do you think most of the people in this congregation would say the church is supposed to be doing? What is its purpose? 3) What attracted you to this church when you first decided to be a member? 4) What is the greatest source of satisfaction for you in this congregation? 5) What do you feel is the greatest strength of the congregation? 6) What do your elder group / committee / leadership team do that seems to make a difference in this church? 7) How could the work of the elders / council, leadership team run more smoothly? 8) Give your feelings about the diversity of this church. 9) What do you think people within this community generally feel about your church and what it s all about? 10) What kinds of strategies do you feel the church has to reach people outside your church? 11) If you were a newcomer, having come to worship only a few times, what are one or two things that might keep you from coming regularly? 12) If there is one dream you have for your church, what would it be? B

3 13) What are some new directions for the church that could really help its ministry? 14) What kind of strategies do you have to reach your community? 15) What are your church s immediate and long-range goals? 16) What would you like your congregation to be five to ten years from now? 3. Worship Committee 1) What is it that you appreciate about the worship time in your church? 2) How is the worship planned each Sunday? Who does what in preparation? 3) How significant a part does music play in your worship? Tell me about your worship style. How important are musical instruments in the service? 4) How would people describe your worship experience? Celebrative? Liturgical? Formal? Traditional? Informal? Participative? Passive? Gloomy? Happy? Ecstatic? 5) Do you feel that your worship helps to attract new people? What type of worship would help people from your community feel good about coming? 6) If you could alter your worship patterns a bit, what might you wish to change? 7) What kinds of provisions do you have for infants and children during worship? 8) In general, as far as you can tell, do visitors feel comfortable when they come for the first time? 9) How are greeters appointed? What is expected of them? What is expected of ushers? 10) How flexible, over all, is your church in making changes from what you ve done for many years? 4. Christian Education Committee 1) What do you appreciate about your church? 2) What are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of your church? 3) What venues do you have that provide Christian education? 4) Who are the people that come to Sunday school / Christian education hour? What per cent of your worship attenders come to Sunday school? 5) How are teachers selected? How are teachers trained? 6) How do you select what is taught to adults in Sunday school? 7) Do you have a small group or cell ministry? 8) What would you say is the overall purpose of nurturing and teaching people through the Sunday school, sermons, other Bible studies? 9) How would you describe your church to a new neighbor who has just moved near you and is very interested in going to a church? 10) If there is one dream you have for your church, what would that be? 101-C

4 5. Mission and Peace 1) In what ways does the overall program and ministries of the church encourage mission and outreach? 2) In what ways does the church encourage having a peace position? 3) Do you receive regular reports about your own denominational or conference mission boards that serve both within the United States / Canada and around the world? 4) Does your church have a special mission (in another state or country) that you promote and support? What kinds of personal interaction / communication occurs between persons in your church and that distant mission? 5) What kinds of things do you do to serve the local community? 6) Overall, do you feel that your congregation believes in evangelism and sharing a witness to others regarding personal salvation? 7) What types of training in evangelism do you provide church members? 8) How much does church leadership encourage members to reach out to unbelievers? 6. Youth Ministry 1) Tell me a little about your youth program (defining youth as young persons in 6-12 grades) such as leadership, amount of youth, activities, etc. 2) What is happening in your youth group that seems to be working? 3) What is not happening that you feel should be happening? 4) How are activities that are promoted by the youth supported by the rest of the congregation? 5) In what ways are youth involved in the overall life of the church? 6) How are you preparing youth for future leadership in the church? 7) How are the youth reaching out to non-churched youth? When a young person brings a friend to youth group, what do others do to welcome and include him/her? 7. Individuals (I like to have the church select a cross-section of 5-7 individuals (including one person who recently attended) and then to interview them individually and separately) 1) What are a couple things that have helped you to feel good about your involvement in your church? 2) What do you see as the purpose of the church? 3) What is your church doing really well? 101-D

5 4) How would you describe your pastor s gifts in his/her ministry? Preacher? Missionminded? Personable? Administrator? Evangelist? etc? 5) What are some needs of the congregational members that seem to be overlooked? 6) What are the basic issues facing your church? 7) How would you describe your church to a new neighbor who just moved in? 8) What could your congregation do to help the community? 9) Who are the people you could potentially reach? 10) What is the greatest hindrance for further growth and outreach? 11) Why would the people in your ministry area feel comfortable, or not comfortable, in attending? 12) Are there people who are specifically involved in outreach ministries? What do they do? 13) How do you feel about the quality and style of worship? What type of worship would help people from the community feel good about coming? 14) What do you feel the church should start doing within the next year? 15) What do you feel are the long-range goals of your church over the next three to five years? Let me know if you would like further information regarding procedures. I also have a profile sheet that is to be completed by the pastor on the history, membership trends, mission involvement, etc., and also one that is to be filled out by all congregational members. My contact information is Ed Bontrager, 2211 Lake Terrace Drive, Harrisonburg, VA. Phone is , address eebontrager@comcast.net E