We’ve all had the experience: We’ve walked into a store, a restaurant or a church and were very quickly frustrated. We couldn’t find the Hispanic foods section, or the men’s socks or the rest rooms. Everything seemed to be designed for the people who are already there. You weren’t sure which door to come in. The menu didn’t make sense. The church’s announcements were full of private jokes and insider information. “See Ed to learn about the men’s breakfast.” “Go to Shirley’s house right after the service for the party.”
You found yourself thinking, “These people need a fresh perspective, an outsider’s opinion.” And you know from experience that in many cases, in our rapidly changing world, if they don’t get that perspective soon they’re going to go the way of Ponderosa, Sears, Wards and K-Mart.
Many churches have found it helpful to get a fresh, outsider’s perspective from someone who knows and loves local churches and is constantly studying and learning what makes for church health and effectiveness.
Brian was raised in non-evangelical churches here in Wisconsin, gave his life to Christ at age nineteen and has been deeply involved in local churches since age twenty. His passion for healthy churches that bring unbelievers to Jesus, blessing to their communities, joy to their members, and glory to God, has been fueled and fanned into flame over the years through much study and many experiences.
During his fifteen years as a strategic (or redevelopment) interim pastor (seven churches, three states and ten moves), Brian began writing and speaking on church health issues, penned two books, Heaven Help Our Church! and Redevelopment: Transitional Pastoring That Transforms Churches, and studied the writings of great church consultants as well as training materials from the Society for Church Consulting.
Brian is prepared to conduct various levels of assessments for a broad range of evangelical churches.
The Comprehensive Assessment (see the Comprehensive Church Assessment post) involves a congregational self-study, a church history journey-wall exercise, a computer-driven church health survey, a community demographic study, interviews with multiple church leaders, a visit to a Sunday worship service, a written report and follow up sessions with the senior pastor, board and congregational leaders. Partial or Targeted Assessments involve some but not all of the elements above, as selected by the Senior Pastor and church board.
Enlist as many people as possible, to as great an extent as possible, to heartfelt prayer for the assessment/follow-up process. Second only to prayer would be the need to “put your church on the altar.” Give your church to God!
Let’s talk about how we can serve God by taking your congregation through an assessment process!
