Ministry Makeover
by Gary Strudler
posted 8/01/2005
 1 of 4
Our family recently moved into a home we had purchased nearly two years earlier. We had decided that some changes and updating needed to happen, which we were told would take four months to complete. "You should be in by Christmas," our general contractor assured us. He forgot to tell us which year!
So many months and several furniture moves later, we finally slept in our own bedroom. Remodeling tested our resolve and our patience. But it was the right thing to do. Sometimes ministry must undergo changes and updating—also the right thing to do. And the important lessons that my home remodeling experience taught me parallel what I learned when our ministry went through a significant makeover.
Our ministry never appeared broken. To anyone looking, clear signs of strength could be seen; happy children running down the halls to their classes mixed with an abundance of volunteers. In fact, we had more men group leaders than we needed for our fourth and fifth grade boys! Attendance was on the rise as many young families were coming because their kids loved being here. Everything seemed great on the outside. But inside our office walls was a different picture. A wall seemed to run down the middle of our ministry—one that separated the Early Childhood and Elementary Departments. Each area had a different mission and operated with different values. Piled on top was a lack of trust. What a mess! So we embarked on a remodeling adventure that required five important steps—and resulted in a ministry that every paid staff member and volunteer is now glad to call "home."
Step 1 - Assess
Look around. Determine the current condition. Then form a picture of where you need to go. Before our purchase, our new house had stood vacant for almost two years. We clearly saw that the house needed major work. With our children's ministry, I needed to apply similar honesty. It, too, was a mess. Through visits and conversations with other programs, the Lord gave me a picture of where He wanted to take us. Philippians 2:2 describes "being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." That would serve as our starting point—a clear mission from the Lord with values for the entire ministry to adopt.
I took lots of walks to talk with God. For a year, progress proved slow as we tried to get everyone on the same page so we could start dismantling the wall through our ministry. Organizationally, we took inventory of people's strengths and passions that would help bring about the changes that needed to occur. An example of this process is DeAnne. She worked part-time as a service coordinator. When we started asking questions about one another's desires and skills, we discovered she had a Masters degree in curriculum. We changed her role to be a perfect fit for her passions and training—in a newly created position of Curriculum Director.
Next, we began to look at space and curriculum issues. Specifically, if we decided to do large group teachings each week in the preschool area, then we had to find enough space to bring all the kids together. And that space did not currently exist. Previously we had written our curriculum, but now had to analyze if we could continue. From a variety of angles, we assessed different aspects of the ministry in order for the future picture to become a reality.
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