One of the things we are working on in the Fanning the Flame church revitalization process is a thorough review of our organizational structure.  Rick Hall is leading this effort along with Jayne Morgan and Doug Padgett. 

Lee Kricher writes:

The most beneficial outcome of having a clear and compelling vision is organizational focus – the ability to differentiate between the good things you can do and the best things you should do to fulfill your church vision. 

No church can do everything – especially not a church our size.  No matter how large a church becomes, though, it can’t do everything well.  So, how do we decide what we should do and how?  Organizational focus.  As we focus in on doing what we have said we must do – Worship God, Show the Love of Christ, Disciple Believers and Share the Gospel Locally and Worldwide – we must honestly look at what we are doing.  Are the things we are doing accomplishing those four things?  If not, what needs to change? 

Rick’s group is working on clarifying what North River’s current organizational structure is and how each piece of the organization helps us accomplish our mission statement.  The goal is that once they are done, each ministry and each position will understand how they fit into the over all goal and what their specific roles and responsibilities entail.  That’s a huge task, but one that we have needed to tackle for years.  Without this clarity, we don’t know if we are accomplishing our main objectives.  Staff and volunteers also don’t know if they are doing what they are supposed to do. 

This is not so much about crafting job descriptions, although that may be necessary, it’s about giving people a missional vision for why they do what they do.  No one wants to just do a job, especially if they aren’t sure that it is necessary or accomplishing something vital.  We are much more motivated and energized when we have a vision to do something we know is mission critical. 

So that’s what Rick’s team is doing.  They are crafting mission critical visions combined with mission critical organizational alignment so that we can do what Christ has called us to do.  Pray for them as they tackle this on our behalf.  They need your support.