Recently I traveled to Conway, AR and attended a coaching training for Church Mobilization sponsored by the BMA Missions Department and DiscipleGuide. Church Mobilization is an intentional coach-driven process intended to increase the health and mission of congregations.
All churches over time will experience difference phases or stages of the Church Lifecycle. The Church Lifecycle can be considered in three primary stages. Incline is the stage of church lifecycle when the ministry capacity of the church is increasing. Over time, the church is doing more and more ministry and the quality of that ministry is better and better. Incline is a strong stage featuring health, growth, and multiplication.
Recline is the stage of church lifecycle when the ministry capacity of the church levels off into plateau. Over time, the church is doing the same ministry over and over at more or less the same level of quality. Recline is a tepid, tread water stage featuring ministry management by routine, filling in the blanks.
Decline is the stage of church lifecycle when the ministry capacity of the church is decreasing. Over time, the church is doing less and less ministry and the quality of that ministry is more and more compromised. Decline is a weak stage featuring decreases in membership, attendance, giving and overall impact in the community.
It is most helpful when a church does not wait until they are in a steep decline before they choose to change course. With a deep decline comes also a great loss of vitality and resources to turn things around. Preemptive mobilization makes the most sense and creates the greatest probability that growth can occur once again.
So what can Church Mobilization do for our church? To help you to understand how this process works, I have included the following introductory statements which come from the Church Mobilization Toolkit:
A Coach-Driven Process
Each participating congregation will have a professional ministry coach who has been equipped to guide the leaders of the congregation through the mobilization process. This will require the congregation’s willingness to change and the leadership’s willingness to follow and complete the process of each phase. Pay particular attention to necessary outcomes required to move to the next step in the process.The majority of the work will be accomplished by the Church Mobilization Lead Team. There will be an open meeting for the congregation as part of each step in the process to keep the congregation informed and involved. This meeting should be led by the pastor with the assistance of the coach as needed.
Coaches will be provided with a toolkit including a large variety of tools for use with leaders and congregations. Tools will be used at the coach’s discretion. Not every tool will be used in every congregation.
If you or your congregation would like to know more about this process, please contact me at: danny@youneedcoaching.com or at 314-265-6265 and I will be glad to set up an appointment and explain further how this may be the very thing that will help your church move forward and begin the incline once again!
