8 Areas of Your Church Worth Constantly Improving

Sometimes it helps to break things down into bite-size, practical chunks. Growing a church can be overwhelming. Where do you start? Of all the things that need improving, which are the most important? So many directions to go can leave you paralyzed by inaction, so here are eight specific places you can start improving your church. If you are pastor, church leader, or even a volunteer with a voice, you can begin to set goals in these areas.

1. Spiritual health – What is the spiritual health of your church? Are there areas of danger or sickness? What’s something you can do to strengthen the spiritual health of your church?

2. Weekend experience – Churches today live and die by the weekend experience, so it is always something worth improving. Maybe you need to ramp up the first-time guest experience. Perhaps the worship music needs an overhaul or the style of preaching needs some tweaking. Whatever it is, any work done on improving the weekend experience is worthwhile.

3. Facilities – It’s a lot tougher to attract and retain new members if your facilities are outdated and in need of repair. Does your preschool area need a face lift? Some small group rooms need a coat of paint? Maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and build that youth building.

4. Next generation – The children’s and youth ministries should always be the best funded ministries of your church, because Christianity is always one generation away from extinction. What can you do to improve your children’s or youth ministry over the next six months? Do something!

5. Online outreach – People today will interact with your church online before they ever step foot on your campus, so what kind of online presence do you have? Does your website need an overhaul? Do you need to start posting sermons online? Do you need to develop an intentional social media strategy?

6. Community outreach – Online outreach can never be a substitute for being the literal hands and feet of Jesus in your community. How are you getting outside the four walls of your church? Is there a local ministry you can partner with? Is there a low income apartment complex you can adopt? If you open your eyes, you’ll discover needs all around you, just on the other side of your parking lot.

7. Systems – If you have a church of 300 people, it’s because you have systems perfectly designed to support a church of 300. Improving systems is like working on the engine of your car. It’s all underneath the hood and it’s difficult to see from the outside, but you can feel the difference the next time you take it out for a drive. Whether it’s staffing, decision making processes, teams or committees, working underneath the hood on the systems within your church will help you grow to the next level.

8. Leadership development – How is your church identifying, equipping and empowering leaders? How is your church unleashing the spiritual gifts (and the power that goes with it) of its congregation? Every second spent on developing leaders within your church is worth it.