Consultation
Friday, April 16, 2010 at 5:00AM This post is a little different. I'm going to ask you to pray for me, and the church I pastor, this coming weekend.
I've pastored at Richview for almost twelve years now. This weekend we've invited a team from our denomination to come in and assess our church. The result will be a report that's presented to us on Sunday that lists our strengths, our growth areas, and some prescriptions for change.
This isn't a reaction to a crisis situation, but it does reflect a desire to be more strategic than we've been in the past. We've seen some good things happen in the past few years, and the Gospel is transforming us. But I know we need to strengthen a lot of areas. And we probably need to be reminded of some of the things we're doing well that we may not even see ourselves.
This type of process can be really good or really bad depending on how its lead. The people we've invited to lead the process are skilled, which helps a lot. But this is really only going to work if God is in it.
So, I'd really appreciate your prayers for us this weekend. I'm both excited and a little bit scared. I'll let you know how it goes.
Reader Comments (5)
We're going through he same process next year. You'll be prayed for today. You're prayed for a lot of days.
Praying for you all. Keep us posted.
Courageous, Darryl!! You da man - we'll be praying for you throughout the weekend!
Our church did it once and it caused more problems because people got more introspective and critical of each other including the pastors.
... i have the benefit of hindsight being 20/20 as i now know how the weekend exercise worked out ( very well, apparently ). but yes, Dave ... i've seen these go sideways and/or south. sometimes i think it is due to bringing people in who don't know the church, or can't ( or just don't bother to? ) find a way to validate the church's context. They seem to think the process drives everything regardless of history, personalities, struggles, joys, whatever. It then feels like the consultation was done "to you" ...... on the flip side, consultant ( or team ) who integrate all the factors seem to me to manage a much better process, and in doing so often exercise a kind of process leadership, or facilitation, that steers folks away from the navel gazing introspection and criticism. i've seen both ... so yes, it is a bit of a gamble. i think RBC's/D3's confidence in these guys stemmed from relationship, and trust, and it all came together?dlcps. hey Dean ... nice to see you/hear from you.