I was recently asked to put down five things that I think we need to do to improve Fellowship Bible Church. This is not a perfect list, but it's the top five that came to mind that I believe would have the quickest impact toward moving us forward.
1) Become a culture of "can":
Once we have determined something should be done, "NO" should never be the answer. "Not now" is also not allowed. At least go to the trouble of developing a plan to make it happen. Money won't ever stop something worthy. Make the need known. Do we need $10,000.00 to do X? Tell the people we need to raise $10000 to do X and see if they will respond, If they agree it's important they will and just making the need know will help them feel a part of the church instead of just consumers of it's produce.
2) Top to bottom transparency:
Everybody should be able to know what everybody else is doing, including the elders. Unless it is extremely personal, the issues being that are being discussed should be made known to the congregation. It will help with the sometimes perceived bait and switch if a position is changed. Invite input on those issues from the congregation in an arms length, asynchronous forum, like a blog with comments or an actual online discussion forum.
3) Membership:
Low commitment levels are a direct result of failing to ask for commitment in a tangible way. Establish a meaningful membership covenant that outlines the responsibilities of BOTH church to member and member to church. It also needs a doctrinal statement that all members agree to. Most but not all positions in the church should only be open to "members" and part of the membership covenant is a promise to serve, failing to do so subjects the member to discipline, (i.e. a call, you were on our list of members not in active ministry what can we do to find you your place?)
4) Make Tech part of every plan, not an afterthought:
Big fail here, transparency and communication (both ways) can be a SNAP with all the tech tools available, twitter, facebook, blogs and pod/vodcasts. Whenever anything is planned, always ask, "How can we use our technological resources to maximize our impact and reach." Twitter and Facebook should be updated AT LEAST daily. Recent missed opportunity example: Post the elder nominee videos online and allow online feedback. It's literally 15 minutes worth of work.
5) Expect Church Members to do the actual work, not the staff:
The gumball example from 2 weeks ago is perfect, but think about it in man hours. The little jar is how much staff time is available to do ministry and the big jar is member hours available. Before you go looking for a staff person to do something, Try to find a member to do it. The benefits of that are huge: ownership, contribution, save money, time, maybe get someone truly talented in the area with a passion for it.
These are the rough starting points but I think they are 5 key things that would all work together to take it to the next level.
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