Necessary Endings

I’ve spoken with a lot of leaders in this current season that we are all in and one of the questions I get is… “When should we start back doing ______ as a ministry?” As I have thought about that question and honestly evaluated it in my own context, I would say that maybe you don’t need to start ______ back. 

I am a huge believer in intentionally evaluating what you are doing as a church, ministry, or organization. And then making changes that need to be made based on the evaluation. This would be a good season to evaluate every facet of your ministry and determine what needs to be restarted and what needs to come to a necessary ending. 

I would encourage you to sit down with your core staff or leaders and evaluate everything. I have found it very effective to ask the following questions:

• Does it line up with our vision?

If the answer is no, cut it! If the answer is yes, it might require you to then ask the next question… 

•  Is it accomplishing the results we want?

It might be that you have some ministries or programming that still line up with the vision, but you’re not seeing the results you want to see. In this case I would encourage you to think through ways to rebrand or change up what you’re doing to accomplish better results. 

The “How” can change, if you can accomplish the “Why” in a more effective way.

Sometimes programs, events and ministries outlive their effectiveness. It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a good idea or that at some point it wasn’t an effective thing to do. But if we don’t evaluate and make changes from time to time, we create sacred cows in our organizations. 

I would encourage you in this season to evaluate and ask What are we doing that we should stop? andWhat are some things we’ve stopped doing that we shouldn’t start back? 

Matt Moore

Pastor & Author of Intentional Youth Ministry