Thoughts on Church leaders from Perry Noble

Questions Church Leaders Should Ask…per Perry Noble

Posted by admin on March 27, 2010
Stored in Blog

I had the great pleasure to work with Northridge Church in Rochester, NY and have become very fond of the church, their people and pastor, David Whiting

David recently posted the following blog and I have asked his permission to re-post it for you (Thanks David). There is some great insight here from Perry Noble and it is right on the mark.

On Tuesday, I met with over 20 pastors to talk about momentum… how to get it and how to keep it. Later in the day, I remembered some questions that I heard Perry Noble ask (a pastor in South Carolina). I’m not sure if any of those 20 pastors read my blog, but the questions are a good reminder for me…

#1 – What do we need to stop doing?

Leadership teams are often obsessed with new things they need to do…but what about things that need to STOP being done?

Is there ANYTHING in our church that we have to manufacture energy for?

Is there anything that we attend ONLY because we are on staff…and not because we are genuinely excited about it?

Why do we do the things we do…because we’ve always done them, or because we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we must do them to follow the mission God has given us?

#2 – What bothers us about our church?

What bothers us about OUR church. (Unfortunately most of us are REALLY awesome and saying what bothers us about other churches…only because looking at our own church would force us to handle our own dysfunctional leadership issues!)

So…what about our church drives us up the wall?

(By the way…if the thing that bothers us is, “these people just don’t get it”… then that problem isn’t THEIR problem…it’s OUR problem because they are following OUR leadership!)

#3 – What bothers us about our community?

What is the biggest need in the community where our church is? Where can the biggest difference than can be made? What bothers/burdens us about our city? God didn’t place us where we are so we can just pray about it…He has called us to take action.

#4 – How can we do things better?

One of the biggest pitfalls of a church is when they believe they have discovered the best way of doing something…thus causing them to switch into cruise control. We must continue to have a holy discontent.

#5 – Who do we need to be talking to?

Churches should learn from one another. I’ve said it before…our job should be to complete one another, not compete with one another. Saying that…who are the churches we need to learn from? (I didn’t say imitate…I said learn from!) By the way…learning from other churches doesn’t happen by chance/accident…it must be an intentional effort.

#6 – What’s next?

When a church becomes content with the way things are…it’s over!!! Leaders should NEVER apologize for getting in a room and asking “what if” questions in regards to vision.