Churches are living breathing organism that have to be nourished just like our physical bodies. When churches catch the flu, they fail to reach their full potential and sometimes they wither and fail. These 10 dynamics make assessing your church's culture just what the doctor ordered.
1. Agility
2. Speed
3. Flatness
4. Availability of Leaders
5. Predictability
6. Alignment
7. Performance to Plan
8. Visibility
9. Opportunities
10. Growth
#1 Agility
noun
1.the power of moving quickly and easily; nimbleness:exercises demanding agility.2.the ability to think and draw conclusions quickly; intellectual acuity.
The bible provides us with God's unchanging truths but the world we live in is constantly changing. In order for the church to realize its mission to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11) it must constantly re-invent itself in light of new opportunities and challenges. New opportunities such as those which changed the flow of information have always challenged church leaders. The protestant reformation flourished and was fueled by the innovation of the Guttenberg printing press which took the information from the Reformers to the people at a speed never possible before.
Agility therefore not just about trying new things, Agility is the process by which churches innovate new things into it's culture. It starts with a question: "How fast could we implement something new?". Too many churches never question this intentionally for its members and in this way frustrate many good members because their church is simply too slow to change.
Jason Jennings brings this point home in his book " It's Not the Big That Eat the Small...It's the Fast That Eat the Slow" as he assesses how fast companies outperform slow companies.
A quick check of the New Testament book of Acts reveals that the early church was agile where in Acts 6:1 the leaders quickly responded to a dispute over the treatment of widows. In perfect agile form, they quickly assessed the problem, assigned leaders and managed the problem quickly. As a result the church grew and reached more people which is a good thing because the alternative looked bleak.
I recommend church leaders become intentional about managing agility not just for leaders but also for 'the least of these', to ensure that the flow of information and the flow of change facilitates Acts 6 health and growth.
