One of the things I've learned in 40+ years of ministry is that your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting. This is not only true for churches but for every area of life as well: Family, Career, Physical and Mental Health, Personal Growth, Etc. We create systems in every area of our lives, and those systems then create us.
Many years ago, even before I began to serve as a minister, I was a member of a church that had a lot of parking lot meetings. At the time I didn't understand why that church always seemed to have problems, but it was because their system of dealing with issues was not to address them but to complain about them in the parking lot. That church always struggled with distrust and dissension. Later in my ministry as a judicatory minister I found many churches with the same broken system who could never understand why they always seemed to struggle.
Churches that win numbers of people to Christ and have a lot of baptisms have systems in place that make doing evangelism and outreach easy. Churches that bring in a lot of first-time guests have systems in place that is inviting to those who do not attend church. Churches that are financially secure have systems in place that promote stewardship. Churches that do none of these things have systems in place that make doing them difficult.
Pastor and author Nelson Searcy identifies 8 systems that should be operating at maximum efficiency in a healthy church. These are
- The Worship Planning System
- The Evangelism System
- The Assimilation System
- The Small Groups System
- The Ministry System AKA The Volunteer System
- The Stewardship System
- The Leadership System
- The Strategic System
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