Stanley, Andy, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones. 7 Practices for Effective Ministry. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2004.

Introduction

        “The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is not so much about what to do as it is about what to ask…not how to implement programs, but will provide you with new lens through which to evaluate your current programs…you will find no new strategy…but as you embrace the practices, your ministry cannot help but become more strategic and as irresistible as God intended it to be.” This is Andy Stanley’s critical evaluation on the book cover that serves best to introduce his book. 

Brief Summary

This book relays baseball game-related stories from which seven practices—not programs—could be applicable. It is divided into two parts. The first part is about a pastor who attends a baseball game during which he discovers seven principles referring to seven practices. The second part is about the seven practices put into action in a ministry setting at North Point Community Church.

Practice #1, “Clarify the Win” is about defining what is important at every level of the organization; it means evaluating and defining what is really working. It includes four steps: sum up the win in one sentence to keep staff and volunteers involved, focused, and positive; be specific and clear by making a mission statement; restate the win frequently and creatively to remind people; and meet with your team to clarify the win at every level.

Practice #2, “Think Steps, not Programs,” is about reaching the desired destination. A comparison between programs and steps clarify the practice. Program is about ministry-oriented program to meet needs—what need is how met (what and how); whereas, steps is about where is the destination and how to get people there (where and how). Effective steps have to be easy—smooth transition from one level to another, obvious—people have to see the step to be willing to take it, and strategic—positioned to help them get to the destination.

Practice #3, “Narrow the Focus” is about deciding to do less in order to be more effective. It calls leaders to develop the skill and willingness to eliminate certain programs so other programs can become stronger—the pruning principle (John 15). Distinct brands and specific target groups have to be defined; and a “not-to-do” list kept ensuring simplicity, away from the draining effects of complexity. The principle is that more focus on the environment leads to greater relevance, better connection, higher quality, and stronger impact. 

Practice #4, “Teach Less for More,” is about narrowing the scope of teaching to cover less information, to target people who need to hear it—the principle of irreducible minimums; it involves identification and prioritization of critical information to be communicated. This practice answers the question: “what do you want the people to become?”  

Practice #5, “Listen to Outsiders,” focuses on who you are trying to reach, not who you are trying to keep. The author assumes that outsiders will force the church to change the way things are done. He advises to ignore insiders who are saddling the ministry with an insider-mindset that paralyzes the church’s potential to reach for outsiders; to listen to insiders who listen to outsiders involved in the invest and invite strategy based on relational evangelism; and to listen to organizations that are reaching outsiders.

Practice #6, “Replace Yourself,” is about learning to hand off and to develop leadership skills by a system of apprenticing replacements and duplication. This practice will avoid burning out and becoming entrenched with a saddled insider mindset, but it requires a strategy of replacing yourself by apprenticing others to do your job, by coaching and modeling, and by letting go to transition to what is next.  

Practice #7, “Work On it,” is about carving time out to evaluate your work and to celebrate the wins through a calendaring margin—a scheduled, regular time off to break away and assess your performance. Celebrating the wins will reinforce the positive attitudes and acknowledge the sacrifice, efforts, and practices.

Critical Evaluation of Concepts.

The book derives the principles from the baseball game that is unfamiliar to me, the reason why it was hard for me to understand.  I had to read the first part twice before I could move on because of the metaphors and comparisons used; I even had to search the internet for the game and know what a pitcher is, a mound, and the rules of the game! Therefore, my critique will not relate to baseball analogy but to church ministry setting.

The author believes that when you do not Clarify the Win, many people quit the church because they do not feel they are winning.[1] This argument is too narrow and simplistic because there are many other factors involved in quitting besides the win. He too argues that “when you fail to give a strong leader clear direction, you give that person permission to go in whatever direction seems right.” This could be a convincing argument for quitting, but the author is focused only on the organization, disregarding that the strong leader could get hurt in the process because without a revelation, people cast off restraints.[2] In my opinion, when the leader doesn’t clarify the win, precious time is wasted and the organization wanders aimlessly. The win could be equated to the vision and the mission stages to practice #2.

Think Steps, not Programs was translated, at North Point, through three levels of communication activities: foyer, living room, and kitchen table. A healthy environment was created for the smooth transition from one level to another; however, the win must be constantly clarified at each level. The author did not view the win as an expansive concept that could be discussed in more details and deeper at each level as people get more matured and involved. However, he touched on the concept of teaching few topics but in depth through practice #4, “teach less for more,” which is a little bit different.

Narrow the Focus identifies the target group and target ministry. This could be valid for North Point Community Church, but for a mega-church narrowing the focus could lead to disasters. Though the author argues that many churches have been drained by a menu-ministry philosophy,[3] in my opinion, cutting back on staffing and programming to reprioritize is only acceptable in severe cases of drainage due to complexity. Throughout the book, the author makes extreme choices that gave me the impression of constantly making choices of either…or…while he could not strike a balance or make a compromise. North Point Community does not seem to be a mega-church that can accommodate various target groups, and various ministries, while remaining successful! Smaller churches will definitely have to narrow the focus all the way through, but larger ones just have to be aware of that principle!

 Teach Less for More prioritizes little information to be taught in depth. This is healthy and reasonable but it could sometimes have negative impact if not properly monitored by the church teachers who must put balanced curricula for a healthy equipping of the saints.[4] The lessons have to be well designed long-term curricula in case of linking stages or discipleship groups or Sunday school. Not any leader has the gift of teaching, therefore the church teachers have to be on top of that practice and train young teachers how to teach less for more. That issue the author did not pay attention to, as it could create many problems and heresies in the church, and lead to confusion and incorrect teaching.

 Again in practice #5, Listen to Outsiders, the author seems to have had a negative experience with insiders who had a saddled insider-mentality that paralyzed the church growth. In line with Stanley, outsiders do give perspective unseen and unheard of to the leaders and their opinion could be a catalyst for change and church growth. However, leaders have to be cautious and wise in consulting outside organizations too and filter their decisions through the lens of the Holy Scripture for alignment and correction.[5]

Replace Yourself is a healthy practice for growth, however, painful. The author’s perspective on effective handoff of leadership is vital for longevity of any organization.[6] Again, the author is organization-oriented more than people-oriented; he should have struck the balance between both because the church—organization—is about people, so people must come first. Jesus gave the example of the person who left the ninety-nine to search for the one lost exemplifying the importance of the “one person.” When he spoke about the church, he gave the impression of organization and not a group of people gathered around Christ Jesus.

Work on it is the last step of calendaring margins to break out and assess one’s performance. A proper evaluation could be assessed by the leader’s mentor because many times people are blind to their own performance, despite the assessment sheet that has to be filled out. Celebrate the wins seems to be an important issue as a psychological practice to keep winning which is true, however, we do not see it recurrent in the Bible.[7] The author did not pay attention that it could breed dissension, jealousy, pride, and unhealthy attitudes “I am greater!”[8] I disagree with the author on the spirit of celebration and not the act itself because many people sacrifice and work hard in order to be applauded and not for kingdom-sake; celebrating the win has to focus on God and the team as a whole because it is a “shared leadership.”

Conclusion

The 7 Practices for Effective Ministry is an easy-to-follow master plan to help leaders redefining and rechecking their wins, rethinking steps to take people to a specific destination, narrowing their focus for greater impact, teaching less for deeper applicable learning, listening to outsiders to effect change, replacing yourself without fear, and take time to evaluate.

Clarify the Win made me refocus on what really matters in life; it helped me realign myself with God’s purposes and calling. Narrow the Focus explained to me my mistake of being involved in too many ministries, while I should have narrowed my focus on doing one thing and do it with excellence. Naturally, I was burned out and committed many mistakes.     Replace Yourself, which should prevent burning out, opened my eyes to see what is behind the handoff—a far greater future ahead of me that God intends.

Those three practices had the greatest impact on me as I could touch base with the principles and apply them to my current situation to help me understand my shortcomings. The seven steps for effective ministry are indeed steps that could save a church from falling down or from being drained, or realign the church course, or reset priorities, or help the church identify certain diseases, or make a church more effective in its overall performance to give glory to God.

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[1] Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones, 7 Practices for Effective Ministry (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2004), 73.

[2] Holy Bible (NIV), Proverbs 29:18, “where there is no revelation, people cast off restraints.”

[3] Stanley, 102

[4] Ephesians 4:11-13, “¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

[5] 2 Timothy 3:16, “¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

[6] Stanley, 158

[7] Luke10:17, “the seventy-two returned with joy” and told Jesus about all the victories of casting out demons and healing the sick. They celebrated with Jesus. This is one rare instance of celebrating.

[8] Mk 9:33-35; Mt 18:1-4; Lk 9:43-48. The disciples were arguing who is the greatest?  So, celebrating the win, when pinpointing to particular people, could cause dissension and jealousy because after all it is a “shared leadership. So the whole team should be applauded as one.”