The best way to make your ministry the best ever is to avoid these five ministry management pitfalls at all costs.
1. A Lack of Clarity
Make sure you are always sending the intended message to volunteers, congregants, and supporters:
You wouldn’t want to be misquoted or misunderstood.
Keep your plans, goals, and instructions simple and swallowable. This will make it easier to keep everyone "rowing in the same direction". Leave little room for ambiguity. This empowers your people to focus their efforts and energies in the most efficient way possible.
2. A Lack of Preparation
Every ministry leader knows how important it is to prepare. You can’t get caught not knowing what you’re talking about. You don't have to know everything, but in order to inspire confidence, you do need to appear to have done your homework. As the old saying goes, "failing to plan is planning to fail."
3. A Lack of Focus
It's easy to get drawn into new projects and themes. The "shiny object syndrome" is real and causes many ministry professionals to spend valuable time going down rabbit holes.
Your team has undoubtedly been planning for 2017 for some time now. Remember why you chose certain objectives and keep everyone laser-focused on them.
4. A Lack of Layperson Involvement
One mistake ministries often make is not involving the laypeople. A lay person is someone who is not employed by the organization and who may not have professional experience, but nevertheless has valuable skills they can contribute. Not only can they be valuable pieces to help reach certain objectives, it increases the sense of shared accomplishment and involvement among the laity. When ordinary people feel that their skills are being utilized for a purpose, it will guard against both burnout and boredom.
5. A Lack of Safety
Nothing can derail an otherwise successful season like an injury to a child or elderly person because of poor safety planning. Because of this, always be prepared. Before the new year begins, take a walk around the grounds and do a critical review of anything that may be a hazard and ensure that all safety precautions have been taken.