Are You Coaching A Team or Building A Fan Base?

It's that time of the year when we all dig out our annual planning tools and start to look into the next year to set our goals and objectives.

One of the first steps is to review the current year. Umm, if you're like me, I might skip this part. Looking at my plans for 2020 only underscores what a crazy and unpredictable year it has been! Still, with the lessons learned from 2020, we can begin to cautiously look forward into 2021.

As you review your goals and objectives, let me challenge to try and see your plans through the eyes of a regular church member. Will they read your 2021 goals and objectives as a game plan they will play a part in, or will they see it as a game the pastor and staff will play as they watch and cheer you on?

One of the most valuable illustrations I heard this year came from a Masterclass by The Unstuck Group on “Beyond Coping: How to Lead Change & Reach More People.”

The online class featured an interview with Pastor Derwin Gray of Transformation Church in South Carolina. This illustration underscores a major paradigm shift many pastors need to make if they are going to see their church transition from a Sunday morning, program-oriented church to a disciple-making church. Read this illustration carefully:

Game Day vs. Team Meetings

Derwin Gray is founding pastor of Transformation Church in South Carolina. Prior to becoming a pastor, Gray played football with the Indianapolis Colts and the Carolina Panthers. 

Saved at 26-years of age, Gray's life before Christ was football. He spent his time on practice fields, in locker rooms, in weight rooms, at team meetings, traveling to games, and, of course, games. He had coaches that helped him in his specific role on the football team, and the sole goal of these coaches was to prepare him to the best of their ability to play the game of football to the best of Derwin's ability. 

When he became a Christian and God called him into ministry, he knew he wanted to bring this same mindset into his ministry philosophy. He knew he didn't want to spend time trying to please the crowd, his goal was to help his team--the church--play the game. In this case, the game they were playing was the gospel and the goal was making disciples. 

This is the philosophy that is the foundation of Transformation Church. Sunday is not game day. Sunday is the team meeting. The people who come to church are not the fans, they are the players. The pastors and staff are the coaches and their role is not to play the game while the crowd watches, but to prepare the players to play the game to the best of their abilities. The players require different kinds of coaching, but all players need to be a part of the team (a Christian), understand the goal of the game (making disciples), and be as physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy as they can possibly be in order to play to the best of their ability. 

This is a paradigm shift for most church leaders: Is Sunday morning team practice or is it the game? Where do you spend your time? Are you preparing to play the game or are you learning how to coach people to play the game? Do you see your church as the crowd watching you play the game, or are they the players being equipped to go into the world and play the game?

Annual Planning & Coaching the Team

Make sure you understand the difference underscored in this example. Honestly, it goes against the grain of how most pastors and churches are wired today.

Survey 100 pastors and I wager the vast majority would identify themselves and the church staff as the team they are thinking of when they sit down to begin their annual planning.

Ask yourself these questions. When you read a goal or objective:

• who will accomplish this in the coming year?

• who is the active agent? Is it a staff member or staff team or is it the congregation?

• when a church member reads the goal, will they think, “I want to be a part of this” or will they assume this is a staff member who will be responsible?

Sometimes you can’t answer these questions simply because you are too close to the details. It is helpful to have what Will Mancini calls a “Strategic Outsider,” someone who comes from outside the organization and is not tainted by all the inside noise that creates a strategic myopia. In fact, Mancini argues that every church needs a Strategic Outsider as a key part of their toolbox.

Recently, I sat through a presentation by David Nelms highlighting the work of The Timothy Initiative among unreached people groups. The model of church planting they employ works with astounding success in the regions of the world where they minister, but by David’s own admission, it probably can’t work in America. There are several reasons, but one that struck me relevant to this conversation is the paradigm TTI follows overseas. The people they work with are players, not fans. Built into their training curricula is the expectation that a disciple will in fact find and disciple others. You don’t pass the course without accomplishing this goal.

There is no advantage to converting to Christianity in a Muslim country to sit in church on a Sunday morning and watch a worship service. The persecution is real and the risks are great…too great to simply live as a fan of the local church to check-off your church attendance on Sunday morning and go on to live your life like everyone else in your village. You join “the team” by becoming a Christian in order to play the game, which is to be a gospel influence and teach others to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, we need to change the paradigm for how we view church in America. If we are to see a disciple-making movement, we can’t devote our time to prepping for the crowd on Sunday, do our gig, take up an offering, and then send folks home. We need to focus our planning, our goals, and our objectives in a way that communicates the challenge and the risk in front of us. We need players, not fans. We need church members willing to give more than an hour a week and a financial gift. We need Sunday morning to be the team meeting, not game day.

Discipleship Curricula Evaluation Rubric

Criteria	50	40	30	20	Score
Discipleship Curriculum is well organized and prepared
Discipleship Curriculum is biblically based	The curriculum requires extensive interaction with the Bible
Discipleship Curriculum is designed with a scope and sequence and scalable	The instruction covers the major doctrines of the Christian faith and provides a progression from beginner to advanced	The instruction covers the major doctrines of the Christian faith and provides a progression from beginner to intermediate	The instruction covers the major doctrines of the Christian faith with only a beginner’s level	The instruction is lifestyle based and targeted at beginners only
Discipleship Curriculum is affordable	Cost per unit is easily affordable by a large number of people within our church	Cost per unit is affordable by a large number of people within our church	Cost per unit is affordable by a small number of people within our church	Cost per unit is not affordable by many within our church
Overall Quality
Total Score

Seven Tough Questions Spiritual Assessment

Seven Tough Questions Spiritual AssessmentCheck one answer for each question. If you are in-between two answers then you can put a line or dot between the two boxes.#1 – When I pray:[ ] I don't pray[ ] I only pray when there is an emergency[ ] I regularly pray for things I need and want[ ] I often pray for others and thank God for his blessings[ ] My prayers feel like a two way communication channel with God #2 – I give money to the church[ ] Rarely[ ] I put in some pocket money on occasion[ ] I give regularly a small percentage (less than 10%) of my income[ ] I give 10% regularly[ ] I give sacrificially above my 10% #3 – The Bible[ ] The last time I opened a bible outside of church was more than 6 weeks ago[ ] I read bible stories to my kids or grandkids[ ] I keep my bible near and read it when I have some spare time[ ] I set aside time 5 or more times per week to read the bible and do devotions[ ] I invest significant time to memorize scripture and study it in depth #4 – Serving others[ ] I'm so busy I can barely keep my own affairs in order[ ] Once or twice in the last year I gave money or time to help someone in need[ ] Whenever I see someone with a need I try to meet it[ ] People with problems seem to come looking for me[ ] A significant amount of my time goes towards helping others #5 – Fellowship[ ] I attend church less than 20 times per year[ ] I attend church most Sundays[ ] I attend church most Sundays and also attend prayer meetings and other events[ ] People notice when I'm not at church[ ] In addition to regularly attending church and events I am an active member of a small group #6 – Evangelism[ ] No one outside the church knows I'm a Christian[ ] I practice lifestyle evangelism and hope that by my example people will want to know Christ[ ] I invite unsaved people to church[ ] I feel comfortable discussing spiritual matters with the unsaved and can explain biblical salvation[ ] I seek out the lost to help them know Christ #7 – Helping others to become more mature Christians (discipleship)[ ] I know so little about being a Christian that I can't help others yet[ ] I'm bringing my kids or grandkids to church[ ] I check in on people who haven't been to church recently to encourage them to come[ ] I encourage other adults to read the bible and discuss spiritual matters with them[ ] I invest time one on one with other adults to study the bible and pray Assessment – God called, He wants you to work on one of the things in this list above, which one are you going to work on?

[ ]	#1 – More meaningful prayer	[ ]	#4	– Getting active in a small group
[ ]	#2 – Giving faithfully to support the church and its	[ ]	#5	– Serving others
	ministries	[ ]	#6	– Sharing the Gospel with others
[ ] #3 –Reading and learning the bible		[ ]	#7	– Helping others to grow in their maturity

 How did you do?The first answer for each question is 1 point, the second is 2 points, the third is 3 points, the fourth is 4 points and the last is 5 points. Half points are OK so if you're halfway between the third and fourth options in “bible reading” it's OK to give yourself 3.5 points. The goal is to take this assessment periodically and see an improvement each time you take it. The highest score is 35 and if you get a 35 it means you need to work on your humility. :-)Your Score: ___________  Today's Date: __________ 0 2009 by Matthew Nuzum – www.bearfruit.org – you are free to copy and distribute this as long as this notice is included. v1