17 comments (+ Add)
The Power of Questions (1 of 3)
Recently, I put together a list of questions to ask our team. I’ll break them down into ten questions a day for the next three days. Today I’ll share the general questions we’re asking.
General Questions:
- What are we doing that we should stop doing?
- What are we not doing that we should start doing?
- Who is doing something we need to learn from?
- What are we doing that has gotten stale?
- What area of ministry is under-resourced?
- Where have we experienced inappropriate spending drift? Who is going to help cut expenses and when will it be done?
- Are we avoiding any problem issues?
- What are our blind spots?
- What ministries are struggling? What changes are we making to them in the next 30 days?
- What do we have to celebrate?
Visit 
Thanks for these great questions Craig! The leadership team is meeting in a few weeks to reevaluate where we are and what we are doing and how well are we doing and I plan to use these at that meeting. Great timing! As an aside: will you be at theSticks conference in November in Loudonville, OH?
thanks for posting these questions. asking questions so help when wanting to move forward and grow. i often write questions down for myself so i can meditate on it for a week or so to assure i’m giving myself the best answer. thanks!
Great questions Craig. I am just going into our staff meeting with the mindset of celebrating the recent victories but looking to the future. You made ME stop and think. Thanks.
Bill, Hope you had a good weekend. I’m not familiar with the sticks conference.
Heady and Tim, You’re welcome. Thanks for being a part of the Swerve community.
I love how you are actively “seeking” !!!!…The Bible says “Seek….Seek…Seek” and You shall FIND…FIND…FIND! God hides the good things in life like a treasure hunt and we have to “GO find it!” Most Christians are not “Seeking and Finding”… They are “Preaching and Whining”. To the world, Christians mostly sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher …”Whah…Whah..Whah..Whah…Whahh!” Keep PRESSING on!
What are we doing that we should stop doing?
Answering this one question changed the whole atmosphere of our ministry a few years ago. So many projects or programs we do are life and energy draining, not only to staff and volunteers but the people who feel they have to participate. Although they were “good” things, they were not “great” things. We stopped serveral events and focused more on our main event which we feel is our entire Sunday experience. Every program we have is done with much more excellence.
Great questions Craig.
Do you ask these of just your senior leadership team, or do these get asked further down the latter as well? Or do your leaders go back and ask these questions of their teams?
great discussion starters. I just used some of these in a devo time my worship band. Thanks for lending a helping hand!
Clif, I start with asking these to senior leadership and then they pose these questions to their teams.
I can’t tell you how valuable these questions and the many other resources you and your team make available are to me and my team. Thank you so much for all you do. We launched our church about a year and a half ago and are seeing some amazing things take place. Even though we have never met, we have gleaned from your insight and teaching. Keep it up!
i’m the new kid on the block…brilliant questions it made me stop and re-evaluate evrything…now the future for the church seems a lil clearer
Thanks — just added the questions to my leadership folder.
We just went through a “what’s our sacred cows” leadership brainstorming session. Look at every event we do, major program supported…why did we start doing it? Is it accomplishing it’s missional goals? Is the leader responsbile still empassioned about its intent, value and execution? What has become a sacred cow once valued and effective and now just draining, distracting and hindering us?
Everything was fair game. VBS? Fall Events? Particular mission trips?
It’s valuable to re-evaluate regularly. Sacred cows hoard resources and weigh you down as an organization. Melt the golden calves and use them for more purposeful pursuits!
phenomenal questions, thanks Craig!
[...] of the time. Asking these questions and seeking the answers will transform your organization. General Questions, Staffing Questions, Peer to Peer [...]
[...] Power of Questions - There are actually 3 parts to this entry (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). These are questions that anyone on a team or leading a team should be asking to [...]
[...] Cruise Control Posted in September 10th, 2008 by Andy in Uncategorized Too many churches, ministries, and even some businesses don’t evaluate things unless there is an obvious problem. It is kind of like being in cruise control and not worrying about anything until you run out of gas or hit something. Craig had a great post on good questions to ask often about your church.Read Craigs Post Here [...]