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By Claude Carrello
Over the past 4 years we have moved from being a
small church to a growing church
quadrupling membership and establishing a culture of
growth. We continue to ask God to perpetuate this
growth as we realise how sacred it is. It is God
dependant. Outlined below are 5 components of
leadership focus for our church today
that have been keys to staying ‘in’ what God is
‘on’.
Component 1
- Leaders prepare for the future they
see.
Shortly after joining the movement with just over
100 people we renovated a newly leased facility in
July 2003. A church member shared how he could see
us growing exponentially because we were “building
it” and “they would come.” I had no idea he was
talking about the principle he had seen in the movie
‘Field of Dreams.’
We
were in the middle of doing exactly that – building
a place where the presence of God could be
presented to the people of God. Over the next
3 years we would all learn the power or preparation
and be amazed at the results. We prepared a great
facility, had teams take over the responsibility of
ministry areas, ‘salted’ the community with
advertising, purchased more chairs for our
auditorium (3 times) and started a building fund so
that we could purchase our own property.
Component 2
- Leaders carry prayer presence.
I
can remember our first service and our first
‘official’ opening service in that leased facility
like the day I was born again. There was a presence
of God that was overwhelming. Dreamlike! We had not
tried to produce it but we had done the things that
God responds to – moved in faith, passionately
prayed for him to move, and remained united in our
efforts as a church.
God
had spoken to us about ‘waking up the city with
worship’ about one year earlier and as a result of
that we clearly stated to our worship team that
their job was to “Inspire our people to vocalise
their love for God with powerful praise and
passionate worship”. My wife brought a hallmark
message to our church which spoke of developing
geographical presence through prayer founded on the
word of God.
God’s presence is the result of prayer presence.
Component 3
- Leaders love people.
I
don’t hate much. The Devil, religion and lust are at
the top of my list closely followed by this next
statement, “church would be great if it were not for
the people.” Sure it has been used as a joke on many
occasions but as my mum used to say “many true words
are said in jest.”
People are what make God’s kingdom so amazing. I
love people – even the painful, challenging ones.
Especially those ones! Why? I was once one of them.
(maybe I’m still there…) Over the years I have
discovered that lots of people are into ministry,
less are into people. Our children’s church people
love children, our service team love people and our
worship team love worshippers! If they don’t they
are being ministered to, not ministering… its better
to have a shortage of volunteers that love God and
people than to have an abundance made up of one or
two that just want to do ministry.
Only people that love people should lead God’s
people.
Component 4
- Leaders prioritise according to purpose.
When we were not growing as a church we assessed
everything we did by the tone of the atmosphere and
the presentation of the event. Atmosphere and event
presentation were certainly important but the
outcome was most important.
Were people being converted, did believers get
challenged to live with pure hearts, clear
consciences and sincere faith? Priorities keep us on
purpose. People love it when, on purpose, we call
people to salvation, pray for the sick, preach the
word and correct error.
Here are some simple church purposes we had to
redefine:
Notices
during services – to promote ministries and events
that relate to at least 50% of the church. For us
church notices are not to communicate to leaders,
advertise one connect group or boring, irrelevant
info. Like “Aunt Martha is selling her kero heater
for $5!”
Facilities
–
are for hosting corporate meetings
that don’t fit into a home, café or similar setting
where all meetings / gatherings of 12 or less should
meet. People connect much better in those venues.
Tithes
and offerings – are for specific
purposes. Thank God for Gordon Moore and his
teaching on tithes for the ministry of the house and
offerings for the vision of the house. Hey the
teaching may have originated from someone else but
Gordon preached it to me and I preach it to my
church!
Component 5
- Wise leaders create profit.
Every church organisation is not-for-profit.
Many people think they are non-profit and that’s
where the rot sets in. We are not in it for money
but we need money to stay in it. Every department,
event and ministry endeavour actually needs to
profit.
Profit is what you have left over after the
experience. Profitable relationships leave you
feeling like you have more not less after the
experience. To ‘break-even’ is to have at least 10%
left over to cover the ‘unseen costs’.
Recently I came very close to having a nervous break
down. Sitting on the beach physically incapacitated,
I began to shake uncontrollably. My mind was frozen
in a loop of what next, who am I supposed to call,
what meeting do I need to prepare for, have I
completed my to do list… How did I get to that
point? By failing to profit personally...
I
was spending all my energy. Everyday I used all my
time for output, leaving little to no time for
input. Very unwise…
Prov 3:14
For the profit of wisdom is better than silver, and
her wages are better than gold.
Our
leaders prepare for the future they see,
carry prayer presence, love people,
prioritise purpose and create profit.
More often than not!
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Live life, enjoy the journey,
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Claude Carrello |
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