Specialized Consultations

A horticultural rule of thumb is that a healthy plant grows naturally according to its nature in the correct environment. A spiritual rule of thumb is that a healthy church grows naturally according to its nature as a spiritual organism – not an organization. However, the environmental demographics must be factored into the growth potential.

The marks of a healthy church range from 32 to 6 depending upon the number defined by various authors who have written on the subject. My annual health checkup lab report identifies 43 markers that determine my overall health status. All are not of equal significance in relation to my life expectancy. The implications of defined markers/marks of a healthy church are not all of equal significance but all are of eternal significance.

To determine the irreducible number of markers is essential to prescribing a manageable strategy and structure through which these can be strengthened to bring growth to the body – the church. Our model is the first century church whose dynamics are recorded in Acts chapters 2-5. In duplicating these dynamics the parameters of my church health diagnosis are: The mission, measure, and means of holistic disciple-making through the local church. Holistic disciple-making defined as fulfilling all of the Great Commission.

The vast majority of the 80-85% of declining churches within the Southern Baptist Convention have a Sunday School as an organization of the church. Few use the Sunday School as the small group strategy and structure for holistic disciple-making.

The fundamentals of football have not changed over the decades that Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, now in their early eighties, have coached winning teams. These two have simply and successfully innovated on the fundamentals. The fundamentals for developing a holistic disciple-making Sunday School have not changed since being introduced by Arthur Flake back in the 1930s. Leaders of transformational Sunday School teams have successfully innovated on these fundamentals resulting in both health and growth.

This specialized consultation will guide your current Sunday School leadership through the process of transitioning your Sunday School small group structure from organizational to transformational.

In his book Advanced Strategic Planning, Dr. Aubrey Malphurs defines the process as the envisioning process that a point leader uses with a team of leaders on a regular basis to think and act so as to design or redesign a specific ministry model that accomplishes the Great Commission in the unique ministry context. This definition cannot be improved upon but I will elaborate on the particulars of the process that I follow.
It is not plug and play or franchising some one else’s model. Rather, it asks and answers these important, fundamental questions that are all essential to a church’s health:

• What is the biblical basis for our existence as a church? (Foundational)
• What does that look like here? (Vision)
• How will we bring it into reality? (Vision paths)
• Who are we as a church? (DNA)
• How do we measure success? (Horizontal or vertical)
• What business are we in? (People or programs)
• How’s business? (If “people,” define reality)
• What are our core values? (Perceived or actual)