Has this ever happened to you? Someone approaches you after your service and asks, “Do you know what our church needs? A ministry for _______.” Or, “do you know what we did at my last church? We did ______.” 

Now, that blank is often a good idea. It might be a great idea. 

What many people and pastors fail to realize is that usually the person asking it doesn’t want that. They may think they want that or want to be a part of it, but they don’t.

Typically, when someone in a church says, We need a women’s ministry or a class on finances or prayer or parenting, we need a group for empty nesters or college students, church leaders jump and start one up because “they don’t want to lose this influential person.” 

When this class or ministry starts, do you know who probably won’t be there?

That’s right.

The person in the original conversation.

Why?

When it comes to our spiritual growth, we usually don’t know what we need. 

We often want what we think others have. We look at the end product of another church, another ministry but don’t ask, “What led them to start that? What need were they trying to reach? Does that need exist in our church or city? If it does, what is the best thing to reach it?”

Another reason pastors jump at these ideas is they aren’t clear on what their vision is and what the church should or should not be doing, so they do ideas to make up for that. 

But how do you know what to do when that new idea comes up? How do you make sure you don’t miss what God is doing in your midst?

Does it reach our target as a church? Every church has a target whether they admit it or not. The target of your church, whether that is families, singles, students, or empty nesters should drive many of the decisions of your church. Your target is who you are best situated to reach and who God has called you to reach. You want to reach everybody but are best suited to reach certain people in your city. Who that target is will determine the ministries and ideas you run with as a church.

Does the answer to question 1 matter? Sometimes, the answer to question 1 doesn’t matter. God is calling you, your church, or your team to move forward with the idea that your target doesn’t matter. This won’t happen a lot, but I wanted to put this in there.

Can we afford to do it? Do you have the structure, the bandwidth, and the finances to make something happen? Just because it is an idea doesn’t mean you can afford it in this season. Maybe your team doesn’t have the energy for a new idea. That’s okay and something you need to be honest about. You might not have the financial bandwidth to do all that you want to do. 

Can we afford not to do it? If you don’t do something, what happens? Not enough pastors list what happens if they say no or not. Often, we live in fear of people, losing people, making someone angry, and never list out, “What happens if we say no?” Often, saying no will not mean the world ends. Saying no might mean you lose people, but saying no may not mean anything. You at least need to play out what happens if you don’t do something. 

Is now the time to do this? Just because an idea is good or great does not mean now is the time to do it. Church planters often feel this tension as the larger church down the road can do a lot more than they can. That’s okay, let them.

As a leader, you must constantly ask, can we do this? Is now the time? Or do we need to wait?

If we do this, will it hurt something else we do? Many times, we unknowingly undermine something that we are already doing by doing something else. Too many churches continue to add to their ministry list without taking something away. 

Can we be great at doing it? Too many churches do too much because that’s what churches do instead of asking if we do this, will we be great at it? Can we do this better than someone else? Don’t just do concerts, Awana, or classes to have them. Be great at the things you do. This will mean you will do less. How do you know what you can be great at as a church? Look who has God has given you and what gifts and passions they have. 

The reality when this conversation happens is the person who says, “We should do ____” wants to see their church be great, and healthy and reach more people. You, as a leader, though are held accountable for knowing when the time is right to say yes.