One thing many stagnant/declining churches share is the sense they should be “doing more.” Yet, when one looks at their church calendar, they are “doing” plenty. Sometimes they need to simply change what they’re doing. More often, the church that says they need to do more actually needs to do less. Let me explain.

Jesus left us with the mission to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything He commanded. Yet, some churches believe the measurement of their ministry is how much they are doing. Somewhere along the line involvement/activity became synonymous with ministry/commitment. Ministry activity sometimes tells a church little else other than how busy they are. It may be a church’s love for it’s community or devotion to growing in the Word that spawns a desire to add programs after program–Sunday morning, Sunday night, Small Groups, Wednesday night, Thursday Youth Devo, Saturday Men’s Breakfast.

Obviously, I’m not suggesting getting rid of all programs, or trying to throw any rocks at churches that run a busy schedule. I am suggesting that many churches need to do less, not more–if making true followers of Christ is the aim. Here are a few reasons why:

  • When Christians are together night and day, they build fewer real relationships with those outside of Christ--evangelism tends to sag.
  • When families are at something church-related all the time, they aren’t usually together very much–this hurts marriages and parent/child relationships. Throw in any extracurriculars for the kids or a job for dad that ends at awkward hours–and the church can participate in a weakening of family life–even as we strive for the opposite.
  • When the schedule is full, there is no room for new ministries. There are only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. That won’t change any time soon. If the schedule is full, it’s full.
  • A busy calendar tends to silo participants by age group and geography. Families with young kids have more difficulty making night events (as do Seniors) and keeping pace with a 7-day-a-week ministry schedule. It’s also more difficult for people who live further away to get there at high traffic times (like weeknights). Churches with busy mid-week calendars tend to build a core of people in their fifties or sixties that live close to the facility.
  • Typically, the more programs you have, the less “quality” they are and the more poorly attended they are. See above. In addition, programs require money, volunteer hours, and focused energy. These resources are finite (assuming a church doesn’t grow with transfers in of mature, servant-minded Christians), and every time a church adds something, it runs the risk of being mediocre at most and masters of none.
Begin with a foundation of Sunday worship gatherings and Growth Groups (small groups). From there, begin asking hard questions about each ministry you have. Make sure there is room, resources, and focus for new things–community impact ministries, leadership development, and ministries that help bring people to the Lord.
When it’s time to add ministries, learn to love ministry that isn’t ongoing. It’s targeted, and has an end point–even if the spiritual value behind it does not. This will allow for greater circulation of ministries (and thus more balance over time), a sense of movement/freshness (because there is a steady flow of new ministry being launched), and if it doesn’t work well–you don’t have to go through the painful process of ending it. You can always extend it.
Programs themselves don’t really matter–cultivating life-long followers of Jesus does. Programs can be extremely helpful in this process. However, programs to not a church make, and “involvement” does not a disciple make.
What do you think? Do you think churches need to do more, do less, or do better?
If you want to explore the subject further, I highly recommend the book Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger.