Spare Parts Won’t Get You Anywhere

A car assembly line has a goal.

To produce a car.

If the tire guy obsesses more about the tire itself and less about it’s overall contribution to the car, then he’s missing the point.  If each area gets bogged down with the goals and dreams of their particular part and lose sight of the bigger picture… producing a car… then all you get is a pile of spare parts.  No matter how good each part is… if it doesn’t contribute to the greater goal… there is no car.  Opportunity lost.

Sometimes we see the same thing in ministry.  If a ministry leader focuses more on their individual ministry and less on their contribution to the overall church ministry then what you have is a pile of spare parts.  A group of people that could function as a the hands and feet of Christ… but don’t.

In Kids Ministry, many of us see this breakdown first hand in the relationship between Kids & Student Ministry leaders.  Chad Swanzy writes a great post here about the rocky relationship between Youth Pastors and Children’s Pastors.  Often the angst between the two all boil down to misperceptions.  In the end, the we both want the same thing.  To see kids love Jesus and grow into adults that love Jesus.

The first time I heard the Orange concept was from a DVD called The Essence of Orange.  (In fact, you have until noon today to enter to win your own copy over at Kenny Conley’s blog.  Click here.) In this DVD, Reggie Joiner teaches about the 5 components of the Orange concept.  He had my attention from the start.

The Orange concept begins with Integrated Strategy.

Its critical for a church to work together to create an end goal.  What do you hope your ministry produces.  No… not just your ministry alone.  The overall ministry of your church.

If an individual attends your church for 1 year… what is their understanding of spiritual truths?

If an individual attends your church for 5 years… what spiritual disciplines have they integrated into their lives?

If an individual attends your church for 10 years… in what ways do they choose to live sacrificially?

When it comes to Integrated Strategy, I think it matters less about the age of your specific ministry audience and more about the overall product your church produces.  Once you identify what you want to produce as a church, then you address how your specific ministry contributes to this overall goal.

An Integrated Strategy requires that you get into each others’ space.  It demands that you trust each other, let down your guard and dream together.  It means becoming your Youth Pastors’ greatest advocate.  Being your Small Groups Pastors’ strongest encourager.  If you invest yourself in their ministry, they’ll invest themselves in yours.  Freely sew your volunteers into their ministry and they’ll reciprocate.

In fact… quit using the language ‘mine’ & ‘yours’.

Start using the term ‘ours’.

Develop an Integrated Strategy and you’re on your way to transforming  building full of ‘spare parts’ into a functioning body of Christ that actively meets the needs of it’s community.

You can learn more about the Orange Philosophy and Integrated Strategy at the Orange Conference 2010.  This is ain’t your standard ministry conference.  And you won’t want to miss it.   Click here to register…

Let’s talk…

How have you worked to Integrate Strategies within your church?

What success have you seen?  What hurdles did you face?

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