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5 Functions of the church
Long before Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Life, we wrote “the purpose driven church.” For the past 15 years, Warren has been coaching pastors on leading churches with purpose. I can still remember reading that book when it came out and how deeply the words resonated with me. I had been looking for those thoughts for a long time. In the book he outlines 5 basic functions of every church. Warren gives good structure to what is a timeliess biblical explanation of the church.

When I had lunch with Kevin Joyce a couple of weeks ago (fractals.tv), he referenced the 5 functions and it set off a chain events in my mind. What is the church supposed to do?

The 5 functions are:
Evangelism: Telling the story of your changed life
Worship: A lifestlye of reverence toward God
Discipleship: Commitment to growing and raising others
Mission: Doing what God has called you to do
Fellowship: The unity of Christians as they follow Jesus

We can quickly run through the list, add our own justifications, and use it as a check list about whether our church is doing what it should, but the church is not a thing. We are the church. The 5 functions of the church are not a list of what each congregation should be doing. They are in fact a list of what should be inside of each congregant (that’s you and me).

We have to stop thinking of the church as a place we go. We have to stop judging different congregations on what they have or do not have. We need to see these 5 functions as a mirror to review our own calling. If indeed you are the church, how are you doing on each of these 5 functions?

I talked to a friend this past week who pastors a church on the  West Coast.  As he and i were talking about the good and bad decisions he has made since planting his church he made a comment that knocked me back in my seat.  His words were, “i know at least a dozen guys who planted a church and woke up two years into it and realized they hated the church they had planted.  Whether through adding too many programs or losing focus on the original calling there is always the potential of the creators curse.  I don’t have answers, but would love to hear ideas on how we avoid decisions that lead away from the original calling.

What are the four most essential elements for a person to follow a leader?

I recently completed reading the book, strength based leadership. It’s an excellent read if you have the time. Along with the book you are give a code to take a strength based leadership test. I have asked the guys who report to me to take the test and we are compiling their strengths as I type this. The book is yet another stab at the working in your strengths message the Gallup organization has been preaching for a decade. If you have not tapped into this philosophy on leadership and personal growth you REALLY need to. The writings of Tom Rath and Marcus Buckingham, both members of the Gallup staff, have revolutionized the way I work. Enough selling, let me get to the point.

As I read through this latest book I came to a section titled, “why people follow.” Without question this simple list was the most valuable page in the entire book. After polling 10,000 people over three years here’s what they found to be the most important elements needed to follow someone…

Trust
The chance of an employee being engaged @ work if they do not trust the leadership of the organization is just 1 in 12, according to gallup. If people don’t believe you are a person of integrity then they will not follow you.

Compassion
Gallup has asked 10 million people to respond to this question, “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.” People who agree with this statement are…
- More likely to stay with the organization
- Have more engaged customers
- Are substantially more productive

Stability
This is a rough one for the church. While we have ultimate stability in Christ we are always changing our programs. In order to follow people need stability. The one thing we can offer is stability in our commitment to those who volunteer or work for us. The program may change but how we feel about the person can be stable. Interestingly, employees who have confidence in their company’s financial future are nine times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.

Hope
Other words used to respond to this category were direction, faith, and guidance. As we lead people we have to remember the strong need they have to hope for the future.

I am the first to admit I read too many books. However, when I combine this information with Seth Godin’s excellent book, tribes, I am seeing a theme emerge. As leaders of paid staff and thousands of volunteers ask yourself how you are working to instill these things in the lives of the people who follow you. Have an awesome week!