What's the common denominator in all three stories? Consultants. Just as businesses hire consultants to teach their executives to become better leaders, manage change, or increase productivity, churches can do the same thing. And the results can be dramatic—better leadership, more efficiency, improved conflict resolution, and increased motivation among members.

Who needs a consultant?
Every leader needs counsel. Aspiring leaders need to learn the skills of leadership, while talented and experienced leaders need to hone their skills. An effective leader learns to reach out and bring other leaders around him not only to compensate for his weaknesses, but also to improve his strengths.

Jim Mellado, president of Willow Creek Association, counsels that submission and growth are keys to effective leadership. He advises young, aspiring leaders to "discipline yourself to submit to growth and transformation as you grow in being a Christ follower—leading other people emanates out of that." Greg Moyer, executive director of Coaching Ministries, explains that even with talent and experience, "a leader sets limits on his ministry by his own limitations." Consultants can provide the right training and leadership, at the right time, to improve leadership skills, overcome problems, or boost ministry efforts.

Your church may need a consultant when it faces a challenge or an opportunity it hasn't faced before. Consultants can also help your church handle a recurring challenge better than it has in the past. Ken Houts, executive director of Care Ministries International, suggests using consultants to identify why your church isn't growing or assimilating new members, or to learn how to motivate and mobilize members to engage in the growth of the church.

Leadership issues affect churches of all sizes, and most consultants work with any size of church. "There is no typical client," says Kent Hunter, of Church Doctor Ministries. "We've worked with churches with as few as 20 people struggling to get started, or struggling not to die, and many … mid-sized congregations who want to be better at what they are doing." Houts adds, "Biblical principles work in every size church."

Gabe Lyons, vice president of INJOY, stresses that the right time to hire a consultant is "before there is a problem. One of the great dangers in our modern society is that pastors and their churches can become isolated." Consultants provide an outside view and bring fresh perspective to your ministry activities.

What should a church look for in a consultant?
Check out consulting organizations just like you would any other vendor your church does business with, but before signing a contract, ask to speak with the consultant who will be coming to your church.

"First and foremost, [look for] someone whose spiritual depth you respect," says Craig Pelkey-Landes of MRN Ministry Resources. "In the end, you may or may not like what a consultant has to say, but if you respect their relationship to Christ and their character, you're more likely to value their perspective."

You will also want to inquire about the consultant's experience in the areas where you face challenges or growth opportunities.

Can a consultant help with mission, vision, and values?
"Most congregations have been taught and equipped to focus on their vision and mission, and this is good," says Pelkey-Landes. "However, when it comes to actually implementing change, you need to know your core values. For example, a congregation might consider themselves to be a 'friendly' church. And they may be. Yet the question that needs to be asked is, 'To whom are they friendly?' A congregation may see itself as welcoming. Yet … do they want new people there? If so, who? Must they first become like us in order to be a part of us?"

"Most of the problems we see stem from the lack of true commitment (and follow-through) to a unified vision and strategy," says Moyer of Coaching Ministries. "And although many ministries do, in fact, have a vision or a mission, there are various reasons that they fall short in realizing or accomplishing it." These reasons could include a lack of ownership, weak or fuzzy communications from the leadership, personality conflicts, or sin issues that may need to be dealt with in a biblical manner. A consultant can help to uncover these reasons and guide a church toward resolving them.

Can a mission and vision wait until after a building project?
If your church doesn't have a mission and vision that is clearly understood by its members, you shouldn't begin a building program, according to Kevin Callahan, CEO and design director for Callahan Studios Professional Family. "Vision analysis is the first thing we do before we begin to design anything or even touch paper," says Callahan. "Pastors notoriously overestimate their members' understanding of the church's mission and vision."

As an example, Callahan cites a 4,000-member church that spent six months working on its new mission and vision statements. He tells the story about the first consultation meeting: "Ron Haydn, our stewardship leader, … asked someone to recite the mission and vision. Out of the 72 people in the room, no one could. Then Ron asked if someone would just paraphrase some of the key elements of it. Still no one could. I was sitting next to the pastor in the back of the room and I turned and looked at him. The pastor looked sick; he had just spent five weeks preaching on the five parts of the mission and vision."

Without a clear understanding of the church's mission and vision, you can't design a building that supports the church's ministries and you won't get the stewardship to support the new construction as well as the increased ministry costs. Agreement on the mission and vision of the church leads to agreement on design issues as well as forming the basis of the case statement when it is time to begin a capital campaign. So, the answer to the above question is no, it can't wait.

What tools do consultants use?
Consultants use a variety of tools and measurements to help them understand what is going on in your church. For example, Hunter at Church Doctor Ministries uses the following assessment tools:

Diagnostic surveys: Everyone in the worship service spends seven to eight minutes filling out a questionnaire.

Congregational inventory profile: A task force of church leaders provides statistical information about the church, such as attendance information for the past ten years.

Pastor's questionnaire: The pastor lists his vision and priorities, which are then compared to information from church members. "In one church the number one priority for the pastor was ranked thirty-seventh among members," says Hunter. Using this information he can help a pastor to realign priorities.

Church vitality profile: The church provides copies of all printed documents including brochures, church constitution, bulletin, webpages, and so on.

Preacher's sermons or messages: These are examined for content and compared to other information obtained.

Onsite data gathering: The consultant may take pictures of the interior or exterior, conduct detailed interviews of individuals or small groups, administer spiritual gifts testing, or a Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis to the staff, depending on the needs of the church.

All of this information is put into a final report and given to the congregation.

INJOY offers e-zines (email newsletters) as well as Web-based tools. "Free online assessments allow pastors and church leaders to discover their leadership and teamwork styles as well as their personality strengths and spiritual gifts," says INJOY's Lyons. Pastors can also benefit from a mentoring club called INJOY Life where each month they receive a new leadership lesson on cd or audio cassette taught by John Maxwell. Finally, check out websites designed just for church leaders, like www.pastors.com offered by Rick Warren and Saddleback church—or Your Church magazine's sister site, www.BuildingChurchLeaders.com.

What will the final report look like?
Reports vary by consultant and by church. Most reports describe the church in its current state and outline steps for the future. Hunter says that some of his past recommendations have been as simple as "Spray the grass in the cracks along the sidewalk. It is unsightly and makes a bad first impression." Other recommendations have been more complicated. "Buy 40 acres of land out on the highway, relocate the church and over the next 10 years build a campus and expand your ministry."

What if the problem turns out to be the pastor, a church leader, or something else embarrassing?
Don't be alarmed if a consultant turns up something negative about a pastor or church leader. Consultants don't go looking for these things but occasionally an individual may prove to be the source of a problem or an impediment to growth. Generally, the consultant will take that person aside, give them those findings and recommendations privately and then eliminate them from the final written report. Professional consultants will not embarrass a person or a church.

What kind of follow-up will occur?
Consultants can follow up with a return visit, phone calls, or other form of communication. Find out what will be provided before you make a commitment. Coaching Ministries offers software that tracks goals and evaluates progress towards them. Church Doctor Ministries requires that every client church respond with a written action plan addressing all the recommendations in the final report. "We feel this is the best way to ensure that the church actually implements the proposed solutions. We make an action plan covenant up front," says Hunter, "And we only work with churches that make a commitment to return the action plan within 90 days of our report."

How much will it cost?
Costs for consulting and training depend on what you need and how much of it you need. Here are a couple of examples:

Church Doctor Ministries offers a phone consultation for as little as $60 an hour. You contact them with the issue, and they will have a consultant research it for you and set up an appointment. At a prearranged time, you call and discuss your concerns with a knowledgeable consultant.

Onsite consultants can range from a few hundred dollars a day to several thousand a week, depending on your needs and travel expenses for the consultant. "There's no 'typical' package," says Pelkey-Landes. "Our services currently run between $500 and $800 per day for consulting."

Those who have used consulting services in their professional work understand the value of outside counsel, and recognize its value to the church. Consider recruiting a small number of high level business executives to pay for the costs. After you've secured the funding, go to the church's decision-making body. Explain the need for and benefits of outside advice, and that the costs have been taken care of by a small group of members who see the wisdom and value in doing so. In most cases, the request will be approved immediately.

"Do you believe God is a God of abundance or a God of scarcity?" asks Hunter. "If you believe he is a God of scarcity, you will ask 'What will this cost?' If you believe he is a God of abundance you will ask 'Is this God's will?'"

"Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning" (Proverbs 9:9). Leadership skills, like wisdom, can increase through learning. When asking if your church can afford to pay for leadership consulting, the better question may be, "Can we afford not to?"

Jennifer Schuchmann is a management consultant and writer in the Atlanta area (jschuchmann@bellsouth.net).