In his book the Advantge, Patrick Lencioni writes about the importance of Creating Clarity within an organization. Creating clarity is all about achieving alignment so as to minimize any possibility of confusion or disorder that might negatively impact our ministry. Lencioni would go on to suggest if leaders are going to bring clarity to their organization, then they must agree on the answer to these six questions: Why do we exist? How do we behave? What do we do? How will we succeed? What is most important, right now? And, who must do what?
Over the past few weeks I have addressed the first two questions, why do we exist and how do we behave. This week we will look at what do we do and how will we succeed.
First, what do we do? Lencioni suggests that this is the easiest of the six questions to answer and requires the least amount of time to address. In fact, he suggests condensing what we do into one sentence. So, avoiding the temptation of naming all the little things we do as a church, we must keep the big picture in mind. What do we do? We do the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. The staff crafted the answer to the question this way: We build a redemptive kingdom by intentionally seeking out and developing reproducing apprentices of Jesus who are extravagant lovers of God and equipped ambassadors and fishers of men. Our current purpose statement says it this way, “We glorify God worshipping together, bringing people into a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ, nurturing people in loving fellowship, equipping people with the Word for service.”
The next question is a question we’ve been praying about for the past two months: How will we succeed? This question is essentially about our vision which leads to strategy and goals. The future success of ARC depends on these strategic anchors and goals. Lencioni suggests coming up with a collection of intentional decisions we must make now in order to give us the best chance to advance the kingdom of God in the future.
And here is where we need your help, taking into consideration our changing culture, and taking into consideration how we’ve experienced God at work in the past and presently, what would you say are some intentional decisions ARC must make now in order for us to grow in “seeking out and developing reproducing apprentices of Jesus who are extravagant lovers of God and equipped ambassadors/fishers of men?” How will we succeed? The staff and Consistory would appreciate your input to this important question. (Please see your mailboxes for the “collection of intentional decisions” that have been brought up by the staff and Consistory).
And what should you do with your ideas? Please join us on Tuesday evening July 16 at 7:00 in the fellowship hall for the Congregational Discovery Workshop. And again, why are we reflecting on these six questions and why are we hosting a Congregational Discovery Workshop? Using Paul’s exhortation to the church in Corinth “Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed. But if it comes to that, we’d rather the test showed our failure than yours. We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you. We couldn’t possibly do otherwise.”
Soli Deo gloria, Mike