One of the ways we exercise leadership is by asking powerful questions. Questions can focus conversations on what matters most. Questions can be framed in ways that lead to new possibilities and new results. Questions I frequently ask congregations include:
1. What’s your primary purpose?
2. What do you deem as important, and how does that influence your decision-making?
3. What pathways or strategies are used to fulfill your mission?
4. How do you determine if your strategies are working?
5. What do you do if the strategies are not working as intended?
6. How are lives being changed as a result of what you’re doing?
7. What expectations do you have for people who are part of your faith community?
8. In what ways do you communicate these expectations?
9. How do you know if people understand and embrace these expectations?
10. How do you stay in touch with the needs of your community?
I also like to ask BEST questions that focus on high leverage activities.
1. What are the BEST pathways for fulfilling your mission?
2. What are the BEST ways to help people discover, develop & deploy their gifts?
3. What are the BEST options for teaching faith practices to households?
4. What are the BEST options for providing ways for people to share their faith stories?
5. What are the BEST options for forming faith at every life stage?
6. What are the BEST options for introducing Christ to people in our community?
7. What are the BEST options for befriending and supporting young adults?
8. What are the BEST ways to communicate and engage our members?
9. What are the BEST strategies for helping guests experience your hospitality?
10. What are the BEST strategies for engaging members in ministry?
What questions you do regularly ask to get at the heart of the issue? What questions do you ask that lead to doing ministry in more excellent ways? What questions are you asking yourself to learn how to be a more effective leader?
I just had my monthly meeting with my teachers and the first thing I asked was “How are things going?”, “Do things seem to be going smoothly?” “Is there anything I can do to make your job easier?” Simple questions can really help!
I have been very bad about asking questions in the past about what I am doing in my ministry. It was kind of we got this done and let’s move on to the next step. A year ago when we started going through Mark DeVries’ ‘Sustainable Youth Ministry’ I finally started asking some of the questions like Does what we do reflect our values? Are we working within the mission of the church? I think our biggest change which we are trying to remember to do each event is to stop and just ask what worked well, what worked poorly and what will we do differently next time.
What does GOD want?