By Rick Warren
Structure
doesn’t cause growth; the structure of your church determines how fast you’ll
grow and the size to which you’ll grow. There is no clear organizational
structure in the New Testament, and I think God did that intentionally so the
Church can adapt to different stages, ages, and cultures. God gives us broad
principles and not narrow rules. There is no perfect structure.
As we study
Scripture, we learn two general principles about organizing and structuring for
growth. First, God wants us to organize around the purposes for which he
created the Church. And, second, God wants us to organize around the gifts of
our members. Purpose and giftedness determine how you should organize your
church.
Here are some
advantages to a simple, gift-based structure:
It focuses
the church on ministry, not maintenance. When organization is over-emphasized, a church can lose its focus on
ministry. I heard about a grease factory that, as it became more and more
successful, had to build more machinery to produce the grease. But, they also
had to use more of the grease on the machinery they were adding. Pretty soon,
they closed the marketing department because all the grease was being used on
their own machinery.
If you
streamline your structure, then you can maximize ministry and minimize
maintenance. If you cut out about half of your meetings, your church would be
more effective. I noticed the other day that my peach tree is covered in
peaches; in fact, there might be 50 small peaches blooming on one branch. This
week, I’m going to have to go out and remove about half of them. If you want
big fruit, you have to get rid of about half of what you already have. That’s
true in ministry, too: You have to focus if you want big results.
It makes
better use of talent. I remember
many years ago when we were looking for land for Saddleback Church, I asked
people who had a background in real estate or development to show up at my
office the next night. There were 14 guys who showed up, and I didn’t know half
of them. They went around the room, introduced themselves, and said why they
should be on the task force.
The first guy
said, “My name’s Tom, and I buy all the sites for Kmart.” You’re in, Tom.
The next guy
says, “Last year I did $91 million in land acquisition.” You’re in.
Next guy:
“I’m vice president of First Interstate Bank.” You’re in.
All the guys
were highly qualified — far more than me. I said, “I believe God wants us to
have 50 acres of land for our church; your task is to go find it. God bless
you. Meeting dismissed.” That’s what you call liberating the members for
ministry. I’ve had this philosophy for more than 30 years, and Saddleback has
gone far beyond what I could do because I released people to do what they are
good at doing.
The more
successful a person becomes, the more impatient they will become with
meaningless meetings. The last thing you want to do is put a go-getter on the
flower committee. Committees discuss what they want other people to do;
ministries just do it.
It builds
morale. Why? Because ministry is more fulfilling than
maintenance.
It allows
spontaneous growth. If someone
has a burden for ministry, then they can start it. We call this the “You’re It”
principle. I can’t tell you how many people come to me and say, “Pastor, what
the church needs is …” My job is to release and equip the saints for ministry.
When people see something missing in your church, they’re often revealing their
giftedness. Don’t treat it as a criticism; realize that they are revealing
their passion.
In 1992, a
young guy named Shane came to me and said, “This Internet thing is really going
to take off, and the Church isn’t doing anything about it.” He wrote a three-page,
critical letter about how we weren’t getting anything done. So, I hired him. As
a result, Saddleback was the first church in the world on the Internet. Instead
of getting defensive, I said, “Take it. Run with it.”
Don’t go
around popping bubbles all the time. I’d rather someone try and then learn that
it can’t be done than for me to tell them that it can’t be done. And, it may be
that they are finally the right person for the ministry that has failed in the
past.
Sometimes we
start ministries from sermons. One time I did a message on how we need to care
for one another. I thought, “We should start calling people just to see how
they’re doing.” And I said, “I’m going to start a ministry right now called
‘Care Callers.’ If you like to talk on the phone and want to go through the
directory and call people up and ask for prayer requests on my behalf, then
please sign up on a card.” We didn’t do any long-range planning, but we started
a valuable ministry.
It promotes
growth. Structure will be as creative as you allow it
to be. If you allow people to expand and stretch, then you’re going to have a
creative church. But if you have bureaucracy — “We’ve always done it this way”
— then creative people are going to leave your church. They’ll go find a place
where they’re allowed to blossom.
It allows
more efficient decision-making. Have you ever seen a church waste time on a trivial decision? Often, the
more trivial the decision, the more time it takes to resolve the issue. In
congregational meetings in small churches, decisions are often based on the
popularity of the speaker. Also, the smaller the church, the more power the
most negative person has. Many churches operate by management objection. The
most negative person in the church is allowed to kill an idea.
A simple
structure is more stable. The more complicated a structure is, the easier it is
to break. How do you simplify your structure?
•
Reduce the
number of meetings you have in your church.
•
Reduce the
number of items you vote on.
•
Release
ministries to make their own decisions.
Let your budget determine your priorities. The
way you spend your time and your money determines what’s important in your
church.
