Craig Groeschel from Swerve
When I want to lead into the future, I usually look into the past to see what I can learn from any patterns.
Sensing it was time to make some changes in our church culture, I prayerfully reflected over the different seasons of our church.
I noticed a distinct pattern that repeated itself at least seven times. (I’m not claiming this will be true for everyone, but might be true for many ministries.)
Phase 1: We create something new (new ministry or new innovation).
Phase 2: We recruit and train leaders for the new initiative.
Phase 3: We build systems to support the new effort.
Once the ministry system (or leadership structure) is in place, the ministry runs somewhat effortlessly for a while.
It could be months or even years that God seems to bless this season of ministry. Eventually, it seems that God slowly (or quickly) removes His blessings from what we “we’re doing” forcing us to seek Him for something new.
Have you noticed anything similar in your ministries?
