Thursday, October 09, 2014

Offer a Map, Not a Menu


Some church leaders offer the people in their churches a menu—a menu of all the programs, studies, activities, and events that the church programmatically offers. Essentially the message is “Here is what we have; choose what you want.” With this approach, churches have expanding menus as something can always be added. Churches with menus grow more and more complex and are likely to make less and less of an impact as energy and resources are divided in a plethora of directions.

Other church leaders, and sadly this is the minority, offer the people a map. The map reveals how the church strategically and intentionally uses all she offers to move people toward greater maturity in the faith. Churches with maps have a theology and philosophy of discipleship beneath their programs. In other words, they are not merely winging it. They are disciplined in their approach to discipleship.

Perhaps the biggest difference between churches with menus and churches with maps is in the leadership. Read more

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