GREAT Church GOOD Church to

Presented by: Lost Sheep Ministries

Taken from Jim Collins’ book: Good to Great

Though the book, Good to Great, is a study of companies like Walgreens, Kroger, and Wells Fargo, etc. The principles for moving from Good to Great can be applied to Churches/Ministries as well.

Definitions: A Good Church: Influences the community Grows at the rate of the Surrounding Population Disciples Most New Members Has a Vision Supported by Members Financially Sound; In Budget

A Great Church: Is a Leader in the Community Grows faster than the Local Population Disciples All New Members; Spiritual Gifts Identified and properly Applied Has Level 5 Executive Leader with Quality Christians in Right Positions Has Finances exceeding Budget and Helps other Churches

Determines Who Gets On the Bus Determines Who Gets Off the Bus Determines Where They Are Seated Level 5 Leadership

Level 5 Leadership is the Primary Path to Great Ministry. Characteristics of a Level 5 Executive Leader. Humble And Tenacious

First Who then What Wait to get the Right Christians on the Team (Bus) Agree on the Mission (Where to Drive the Bus) Place Qualified Christians in roles of Leadership (Where Seated on Bus) Choose Who will Assist in Leadership Before Agreeing on the Mission

Confront the Brutal Facts A primary task in taking a Ministry from Good to Great is to create a culture wherein members have unhindered opportunity to be heard and, ultimately, for the truth to be heard.

1. Lead with Questions, not Answers. 2. Engage in Dialog and Debate, not coercion. 3. Conduct Autopsies, without Blame. 4. Retain Absolute Faith that you Can and WILL prevail in the end, AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. Creating a Climate where Truth is heard involves four basic practices:

Hedgehog Concept

What are you deeply Passionate about Hedgehog Concept What drives your Economic Engine What you can Be the Best in The World At Stick to the Core: Don’t venture outside the Intersection of the three circles! This Will Be Your Hedgehog Concept

What are you deeply Passionate about? Enlarging Your Church? Changing Your Church to a Good Church or Great Church? Growing the Kingdom? Helping Failing churches? Meeting the Social Needs in Your Community? Other? Starting a Sustained Global Ministry?

Traditional churches have depended upon tithes and gifts from members to sustain operations Sick and dying churches can no longer depend upon tithes, gifts, and taxes to sustain operation. What drives your Economic Engine? Financial funding and manpower resources are essential to becoming Great and remaining Great. Special “Ministry Opportunities” are sometime promoted which “tax” members for more funds.

Should a Non-Profit Business or Grants be considered for augmenting the economic stability of a Growing church?

What you can Be the Best in The World At? What you can Be the Best in The World At? No organization can be Best at everything. To Grow from Good to Great, a church must become like a hedgehog and stop being like a fox. The church leadership should prayerfully debate what the church can do better than any other church. The Hedgehog Concept for a Great church will be to focus on what it is passionate about that is supported by its economic engine that is better than any other church.

The Hedgehog Council Ask Questions Guided by the Three Circles Dialogue and Debate, Guided by the Three Circles Autopsies and Analysis Guided by the Three Circles Executive Decisions, Guided by the Three Circles

Makeup and Function of the Hedgehog Council The Council exists as a device to gain understanding about important issues facing the church The Council is assembled and used by the Executive Leader and usually consists of five to eight members Each Council member has the ability to argue and debate in search of understanding, not from the egoistic need to win a point or protect a parochial interest. Council members come from a range of perspectives, but each member has deep knowledge about some aspect of the church and the culture in which she operates. The Council is a standing body that meets periodically or as called by any member. The Executive Leader will be the final decision maker for the church.

Great Church Mediocre or Dying Church (s) Good Church A Path from Dying or Mediocre to Becoming a Great church

Sustained Great Churches depend upon building a culture full of self- disciplined people who take disciplined action, fanatically consistent with the three circles. Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which arise from having the wrong people on the bus in the first place. A Culture of discipline involves a duality. On the one hand, it requires people who adhere to a consistent system; yet on the other hand, it gives people freedom and responsibility within the framework of that system. Culture of Discipline The single most important form of discipline for sustained results is fanatical adherence to the Hedgehog Concept and the willingness to shun opportunities that lead outside the intersection of the three circles. Use a “Stop Doing” List instead of a “To Do” List. _______________ The Budget must fully fund the Hedgehog and not fund other Good Ministries.

Technology Accelerators Technology is an accelerator of ministry, not a creator of it. Only technology that links directly to the three intersecting circles should be used. Mediocrity results first and foremost from Leadership failure, not technological failure. Great churches avoid technology fads and bandwagons, yet they become pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies. How a church reacts to technological change is a good indicator of its inner drive for Greatness versus Mediocrity. Great churches respond with thoughtfulness and creativity, driven by a compulsion to turn unrealized potential into results; mediocre churches react and lurch about, motivated by fear of being left behind.

Churches can be launched from Good to: Just Don’t let being a Good Church Prevent Becoming the Best!