Growing up in Texas, summers were hot and unbearable. But there was one soul-refreshing snack my family enjoyed on hot Texas summer days — refrigerated watermelon. It was almost a revival experience we indulged in to beat the heat.
Ironically, I have a minor food allergy to watermelon, and if I eat it, my mouth and tongue itch for several hours afterward. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying this juicy fruit.
Tory Wolfe
One summer, my parents purchased quite a bit of sand to level spots in our yard and added sod to areas where the grass had died. We ended up with a small mound of extra sand on the side of our home. My siblings and I would spit watermelon seeds in the sand while playing outside and snacking. Later, we noticed tiny vines growing out of the mound of sand. To our amazement, we had started growing watermelons from spit seeds and sand.
We watched over time as the vines grew and twirled and eventually started to have small balls pop out of them, and those began to mature and become watermelons. We eventually harvested them and ate them like their forefathers before them. It was almost miraculous.
This little anecdote taught me a valuable lesson about church growth. Many people take the same idea regarding church; they will just spit some seeds, and God will bless them, grow, and the church will have a bountiful harvest. That thought seems wholesome but, unfortunately, is dangerously idealistic to the detriment of many churches.
“They will just spit some seeds, and God will bless them, grow, and the church will have a bountiful harvest.”
The thought is we just need to trust Jesus to grow this church. Here’s the thing: What if all my family had to eat were those watermelons for an extended time? What if that was the only food we could access to feed my four siblings and parents? Would that be a wise way forward? Not at all. The limited food never would provide us with what we needed for long-term nutrition.
Spitting a few seeds and growing a few watermelons was a blessing, but they wouldn’t have addressed our family’s needs. If we zoom out a little on this story and think about the needs of neighbors and their families, the watermelon becomes insignificant in the face of more significant needs. This is what pastors need to get their heads and hearts around regarding sustainability and scale.
It takes an average attendance of about 200 people for a church start to become financially sustainable today. The reality is that seven out of every 10 churches report fewer than 100 people in attendance. Many spit a few seeds and expect it to meet the community’s needs. Many stick their heads in the sand, like the pile beside my house, and cling to the idea they just need to preach better.
Here is the crux of really needing to understand systems. If we were tasked to feed the spiritual needs of our community, we should quickly realize we need more than seeds and some sand; we need a plan of action and will need to be able to execute that at a high level to meet more of the needs around us.
“Organic things have a lot of systems behind them.”
Organic things have a lot of systems behind them. Organic crops require specific conditions. The organic crops need so many hours of sunlight and so much rain, but not too much. When there are pests, standard pest control cannot be used to keep them “organic.”
Indeed, healthy growth should align with God’s plans, but that isn’t all. You can have all of the strata scrap lines and high-quality seeds, but you will only get the desired result if the conditions are right and are set in such a way as to grow a plentiful amount.
The same concept applies to church growth.
ROI in ministry
The world of ministry has undergone significant changes over the last decade. As culture shifts, so does the ability of ministries to maintain viability. It’s no longer enough for a ministry to be, in the short term, financially viable; it must also remain viable in terms of its presence of love, care and help within a community. Unfortunately, many churches are drying up and closing their doors due to thinking on a smaller scale of survivability, not sustainability.
With proper planning and strategic systems, ministries will survive long term, and communities will retain important places of hope and help. Return on investment is a term that can sound counterintuitive in a ministry context, but it isn’t. Investing a disproportionate amount of your time serving a few who will never contribute back to the ministry is not sustainable in the long term.
We need to love everyone where they are, particularly the least of these. But ROI isn’t just about money; it’s also about spiritual fruit. To keep the heart of Luke 15, I am advocating to care for the one as much as the 99. We must value the individual but understand the individual and the community are better served when the church as a whole becomes sustainable in the long term.
“If we lead more and more churches to die and communities lose any and all gospel presence, we are not really serving our purposes at the level God intended.”
ROI is a biblical concept found in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. We see a master pleased or displeased based on his servant’s ability to create a return on his talents. Leaders are expected to have a gain on the kingdom investment they have been given. Yes, that return isn’t always in attendance numbers or offerings or, as some refer to it, nickels and noses, but if we lead more and more churches to die and communities lose any and all gospel presence, we are not really serving our purposes at the level God intended.
What are systems?
Many have a hard time wrapping their head around what systems are. To better explain the concept of systems, consider the idea of juggling balls. Have you ever been in a gym when basketballs are thrown on the court, bouncing this way and that? The sound, the chaos, is enough to drive an OCD person to faint.
Systems are like a ball rack that allows an orderly way to take the balls and move them efficiently and effectively. It creates greater sustainability for you and your church. With this in mind, I recommend having a plan of action for several systems in a church.
They are:
- Worship experience
- Assimilation
- Leadership development
- Discipleship (or small groups)
- Outreach (or evangelism)
- Finances
- Volunteers
- Administration
To develop and implement a system, look at what things need to be accomplished to create viability. Then, process through the most efficient way to automate or delegate those things to execute them effectively.
When the system is laid out, there should be metrics attached to it that can be pulled and seen to understand the effectiveness of the system. This allows you to know what is working and what might need to be changed or improved.
“I’ve seen leaders redefine their goals in order to salve their egos and not feel bad about a failure.”
Many times, leaders create an emphasis or systems that don’t work; worse yet, they have no idea if they work because they don’t measure them. I’ve seen leaders redefine their goals in order to salve their egos and not feel bad about a failure.
But in reality, failure is going to happen. If we don’t fail, we aren’t trying. Because we are trying new things, after we set up a system, there are going to be tweaks and changes needed. But if we put the effort in on the front end, it will give back more and more time and energy on the back end.
Organic systems
I am not advocating a one-way, one-size-fits-all approach to implementing systems in your church. When implemented correctly — when implemented within the vision, mission and culture of a given church — systems are organic. When a church understands why and what they are doing, and who it is, it can implement organizational systems to see the vision move forward, the mission accomplished, the culture established.
When that occurs, the system goes from being an arbitrary structure to becoming organic and natural to the flow and success of the ministry. Organic systems can bless churches of all sizes, denominations, backgrounds and cultures. By investing in principle-based systems teachings that can be contextualized in various ways, we can help churches become genuinely “organic.”
The reality is systems don’t create growth in and of themselves. However, they can augment and make other ministries more effective when organic to the church where they are being implemented.
Many in ministry know the frustration and overwhelming feeling that comes when you are trying to juggle more things than any one person can handle. Many ministers I know feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks, decisions and minutia they have to manage. It can be exhausting juggling so many things and trying not to let them all fall.
“It can be exhausting juggling so many things and trying not to let them all fall.”
For example, pastors may attend a conference and be encouraged to prioritize prayer in their church. So they plan, develop and promote prayer. Then, they are encouraged to improve their ability to connect new people to the church (assimilation). So, they start planning and implementing those things while still trying to keep prayer at a high level. Both can work simultaneously and should, but it helps if you have systems in place to provide the energy and attention needed to continue them both.
But what happens when the subsequent emphasis comes along and then the next? Eventually, you run out of bandwidth to do it all.
For sure, we never will be able to do everything we think of and really shouldn’t do everything. But there are certain things ministries must do to be successful and sustainable. And those things are almost impossible to do well without systems in place to help you accomplish them.
What now?
Some helpful next steps are:
- Evaluate current practices: Are there areas where systems could be implemented or improved to enhance effectiveness?
- Develop a strategic plan: Develop a comprehensive strategic plan that aligns with your church’s vision and mission. This plan should include specific goals, action steps and measurable outcomes.
- Implement organic systems: Start enacting systems that are tailored to the unique needs and culture of your church.
- Measure and adapt: It is vital that you regularly measure the effectiveness of implemented systems and make adjustments as needed.
- Seek professional guidance: This could include consulting services, workshops or training programs focused on organizational development and growth strategies.
In conclusion, we must realize church growth and sustainability require more than a few seeds and some sand. We need a solid plan of action, execution and alignment to ensure long-term success. We must always be thankful for the blessing of the sand and seeds, but we must realize a professional leader creates systems for organizational health and growth.
Victoria (Tory) Wolfe is an experienced strategic leader who has excelled in nonprofit and religious sectors. She has trained government leaders and transformed church operations, equipping leaders for success. She has worked with Baptist groups in Texas to drive transformative change and inclusive practices.