What’s in this Episode?

Have you ever wondered if you should start a new ministry at the church? Maybe you’ve had someone come up to you with an idea that they thought would be a great idea for the church. Maybe you’ve got some ideas of things you could do at the church. Well, how do you know if you should actually start that ministry? Well, in today’s episode, we’re going to share 3 steps to evaluate the merits of a new ministry in the church.

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Read the Transcript

Jonathan Hardy 0:00
Have you ever wondered if you should start a new ministry at the church? Maybe you’ve had someone come up to you with an idea that they thought would be a great idea for the church. Maybe you’ve got some ideas of things you could do at the church. Well, how do you know if you should actually start that ministry? Well, in today’s episode, we’re going to share three ways to help you determine if you should start that new ministry. Here we go.

Jonathan Hardy 0:24
So, when I first started in my first pastoral ministry position, we were I was coming on board to help the church navigate a huge transition. We were a church that had Sunday school on a regular basis. And the church was shifting to a small group ministry. I called them life groups. And so, it was at that moment when they hired me on to come help, because it was going to be a big change for the church, and it was in the adult ministries area of the church.

Jonathan Hardy 0:49
So, they needed to have another person help to make this this change happen. And so, I had the privilege of coming on from the beginning and closing down the Sunday school program that we had. Well, I guess I shouldn’t call that a privilege. I think, in fact, I think I share a story about one of the things that happened, and one of the other episodes, I don’t remember. But then we shifted to starting this new ministry, which was a small group ministry for the church.

And so, the reality is, this is something that we have to do in ministry often, is we have opportunities. People have ideas, there’s vision. There are thoughts from the Lord of starting new ministries. So, the question is, what merits the start of a new ministry? And so, that’s why we wanted to talk about it today in the next few minutes of how, what are some steps we can take to determine if we should start a new ministry in the church?

Dick Hardy 1:34
Well, the very first thing should go without saying, but if we’re going to say it anyway, You need to pray for wisdom from the Lord. Because you know, Jonathan mentioned, you know, people come up with ideas. You come up with ideas. Everybody’s got ideas.

Jonathan Hardy 1:46
Right.

Dick Hardy 1:47
But the reality is, if you are just listening to every little idea. You’re going this way, that way, and every way you’re going every which way. You need to pray for wisdom from the Lord. If you do this on your own, you’re going to do it at your own peril.

Jonathan Hardy 2:00
Yeah.

Dick Hardy 2:01
God will validate a great idea. Maybe something comes to you, and you say, “Oh, I never heard of that one, that idea. But God can validate that, and He will, as you’re praying for wisdom. And He’ll, He can redirect you even, to an idea that maybe you heard along the way, that might be a different direction than you were thinking otherwise. But praying for wisdom is going to help you.

Dick Hardy 2:24
And with this one, this is about take your time. So, if you haven’t been doing this, don’t think that you can just listen to this podcast, pray for wisdom this afternoon, and tomorrow, make a decision. Granted, the Lord could honor that. Generally, though, you’re gonna need to take your time, and you’re gonna need to listen to your heart.

Jonathan Hardy 2:44
Yeah.

Dick Hardy 2:44
You know, we’ve talked in a previous episode of the importance of the spiritual disciplines, and moving forward and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. As you’re exercising all of the spiritual disciplines, you’ll know that you’re making the right decision, because you’ve stayed so in tune with the Lord, and that you’re listening.

Dick Hardy 3:03
Now, you’re waiting, and you’re listening, which is sometimes a skill that many of us, as pastors don’t have. You need to get that skill developed as you’re praying for wisdom on the merits of a potential new ministry.

Jonathan Hardy 3:15
Yeah. The second thing is to identify the need. So, we don’t want to just start a ministry for the sake of starting a ministry.

Dick Hardy 3:23
It’s a bright idea of somebody.

Jonathan Hardy 3:25
Someone has an idea. Someone says, “Hey, I have this passion for the basket weaving ministry.” Should we start that? Well, how does that fit in the overall context of the church? Is it, is the energy that it’s going to take to start that and to maintain that in line with the overall direction of where we’re wanting to go? And so, the key we have to look at is, is there a need for this? And does this ministry merit, you know, that does it merit fit?

Jonathan Hardy 3:50
You know, having this new ministry to fill that need? So, just because there’s an idea, just because there’s some thought, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right thing to do. And so, you got to get, you got to kind of survey the land. Get a feel for who would be involved in this. Is this going to help? Is this going to help the church overall? Is this going to move the ministry forward? And does it make sense for our church? These are questions we have to be asking ourselves.

Dick Hardy 4:12
And the other thing with that, Jonathan, is don’t get caught up in is this the trendy thing to do?

Jonathan Hardy 4:16
Yeah.

Dick Hardy 4:17
I’m telling you, pastors, we, you know, we’re credentialed ministers. We know the drill. Oh, this guy over here is doing this. Oh, this one over here. Don’t chase after that. Y That’s where you really have to identify the need of your body.

Jonathan Hardy 4:32
Now, just because it’s the latest fad

Dick Hardy 4:34
doesn’t mean it’s right for you. T

Jonathan Hardy 4:36
That’s right, exactly. And then the third thing is to get buy-in from key leaders. So, as you’re preparing to start a new ministry, you want to make sure you have buy -in from people, because the last thing you want is for it to be just you as the person presenting this thing, but there’s not buy-in.

Dick Hardy 4:51
And you’re out there hanging on your own.

Jonathan Hardy 4:52
Yeah, you’re trying to shoot yourself in the foot. So, you want to make sure you you get that buy in on the front end to be able to, you know, help make this thing happen. And that’s going to help launch it with success, and not, you know, not a failed launch or a weak launch.

Dick Hardy 5:09
You know, and I will say to that, too, we had an episode here, its been back probably a month and a half ago, episode 35. It would be worth you looking at, on how a pastor’s duties and responsibilities change as the church grows. So, you’re looking at putting on a new ministry, and it may change the way you have been functioning, the way you have been operating. It’d be worth taking a look or listen to that episode, as you’re moving forward with the whole idea of evaluating the merits of a new ministry.

Dick Hardy 5:09
Yeah. So, as you’re getting this buy-in, you know, you want to make sure that you’re talking to the key leaders, that you’re painting the picture, that you’re really developing the why.

Dick Hardy 5:50
Exactly.

Jonathan Hardy 5:50
So, that way you can, you know, as you go to present it, if this is something you present to the whole church, you know, “Hey, we’re starting this new ministry.” You know, like, in my small groups example, that I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, that was one where I mean, this was a church-wide deal. So, this was a massive adjustment we were making.

Jonathan Hardy 6:07
And so, there was a whole presentation that had to happen. We started in smaller circles of people and slowly built out to where we eventually presented it to the whole church. You may have something like that. And if you do, that’s where this buy-in really comes into play with those key leaders.

Dick Hardy 6:22
Yeah, and then, I think, with that, you need to be prepared for the potential fallout. When you’re doing something major, you’re going to have some people that don’t like it.

Jonathan Hardy 6:31
Yeah.

Dick Hardy 6:31
And it doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do. But you just need to be prepared for the potential fallout, as you move forward, to get the gain that you know the Lord has in store. for you.

Jonathan Hardy 6:41
Right. So let’s recap.

Dick Hardy 6:43
Yeah, just a quick recap on this, very simply. Pray for wisdom. Identify the need, and get buy-in from key leaders. This is a very simple set of three steps that you can take in determining whether it is, you should start a new ministry. Now that we’re not talking about the mechanics of actually starting them. But it’s this determination that you’re doing as the pastor, trying to say, should we move this direction.

Dick Hardy 7:11
If you’ll pray for wisdom, identify the need, and get buy-in from key leaders, you’re going to see some very, very good things happen.

Jonathan Hardy 7:16
That’s right.

Dick Hardy 7:17
I want to mention to you as well, that the during this period of time between the first the 15th of October, we have a partnership with Ryan Wakefield over at Church Marketing University. We were privileged to be co-founders of Church Marketing University, back oh my goodness, been almost four years ago. It’s been a while ago. And Ryan has done a phenomenal job with creating a resource for you as pastors and church leaders, called Church Marketing University.

Dick Hardy 7:44
So, just go to leaders.church/CMU. Leaders.church/CMU and take a look at all that Ryan offers. I’m absolutely amazed at what he has put together for pastors and church leaders. In fact, Ryan is going to be up on the next two episodes.

Jonathan Hardy 7:59
That’s right.

Dick Hardy 8:00
So, just pay attention to these next two coming up. And you’re gonna just, I think, get great value from listening right to the guy who probably is the premier leader in American western church culture, on marketing the church. Because there are great things happening at your church and you need to be communicating those things to people outside the church for the mission to reach spiritually lost people.

Jonathan Hardy 8:24
That’s what marketing is.

Dick Hardy 8:25
That’s exactly what it is.. So just go to leaders.church/CMU and jump right in there. Anything else?

Jonathan Hardy 8:31
That’s it.

Dick Hardy 8:32
I think we’re good to go. Thanks so much for hanging out with us today. Make it a great one, and be blessed.

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