Today, I want to talk to you about the five stages of church ministry. When you come into a new role, there are certain phases that you walk through. Let’s take a look at those.
The first phase is when you are getting acquainted. Now, many consider this the honeymoon phase of your ministry, and hopefully that’s true for you. It’s where people are giving you grace and they are glad to see you and happy you are there.
In the second phase you are moving into getting established, and there are more expectations there. People either trust you or they don’t. If they don’t trust you, it could lead to, ultimately, termination, but a lot of it is just a loss of ministry. However, there is a good opportunity in each phase to recognize that you can resolve these issues.
When trust has been established, you get to move to the next phase which is getting everything rolling. Here ministry either grows and scales or it remains stagnant and sometimes declines. But, if things are stagnant, you may need to revitalize the ministry or breathe new air into the ministry or create momentum for growth. And sometimes that means replacing people and it could be people that were a problem to begin with.
Once you are established, and you’ve gotten things rolling, you are getting insight. You receive insight in phase four, and this leads to either isolation or influence. And with influence you move into stage five. And that is establishing credibility. Both inside and outside the church, you continue to grow, and you continue to gain credibility, and you continue to gain development.
Consider your role for a moment. In which phase are you at the present? How can you take your leadership to the next level – to the next phase? Consider these five stages of ministry, and where you are, and decide what you are going to do about it.
