Leading Character / Digital original

Effectively leading a church or ministry organization requires many thingsa motivating vision a clear mission statement an intentional strategy high capacity staff members. No one questions these things. However there is another fundamental requirement without which no ministry can thrive or sustain itself for the long hauland too often it is either ignored or disregarded especially by those in Christian ministry. According to Andy Stanley that fundamental requirement is systemscommunication systems decision-making systems budgeting systems programming systems structural systems and more. And it is systems perhaps more than anything else that determine what happensor fails to happenin an organization. Stanley writes You can pray your heart out fast your heart out commit your heart out and surrender your heart out to initiate change or launch a new ministry but if you fail to address your systems there will be no change and your ministry will not thrive. Its not because God is not interested or youre not spiritual its because God works through systems. Every time God creates something there is something systematic and predictable about it. That doesnt make God predictable or small; its just how God operates.