No matter how great your church is, every church needs to go through some development process at a minimum of every five years. The reason is all organizations, including your church, over time lose focus, clarity and conviction. Also all systems tend to weaken or atrophy over time. The way to combat these tendencies is to do a periodic Church Development Process.

Some of the things that need to be re-examined include:

• Mission (What is God’s mission for your church?)
• Culture and Values (What Culture and Values does God want for your church?)
• Functions and Purposes (What are the functions or purposes of a New Testament Church?)
• Congregational makeup (Who is part of your church and what are they like?)
• Community analysis (Who lives in your ministry area and what are their values and needs?)
• Evangelism System (How are you building relationships with people who do not yet have a relationship with God?)
• Spiritual Formation System (How are people becoming more like Christ?)
• Worship Gathering System (Is your Worship Gathering drawing people to Christ and are they being encouraged?)
• Ministry/Serving System (Are people discovering their gifts and strengths and finding a place to serve?)
• Finance System (Are you developing a generous attitude and managing God’s money and resources effectively?)

Some churches will want to go through a concentrated process and other churches will prefer to focus on two or three systems each year in a five year cycle. But no matter which approach, to keep your church strong you need to be intentional about recalibrating. We see what happens in the New Testament when churches do not do this. The same vibrant churches planted in Acts are challenged in Revelation for getting off mission.

A mistake some churches and leaders make, is to think once they have been through a development process (For example: Leadership Development Process (LDR), Turnaround Churches, Re-calibrate Network, Outward Focused Churches or Acts 2) they are done. In reality, they need to repeat such a process as a church at least every five years.

If you have not done an intentional Church Development Process in several years, I encourage you to become part of one of the ministries that can help you get refocused or to connect with a Church Coach.

Here are some development approaches you might consider:

• Turnaround Churches (http://turnaroundchurch.org/)
• Re-Calibrate Network (https://recalibrategroup.com/)
• Outward Focused Network (http://www.outwardfocusednetwork.com/)
• Acts 2 Journey (http://acts2journey.com/acts-2-resources/)

All of these will help you keep your church on mission!