Multi-Site EPODs: Opining the Optional
We continue a miniseries based on this long-ago post titled Multi-Site: You Need an EPOD. An EPOD is one of the tried-and-true tools in our multi-site toolbox, and keeps us on the literal same page. It establishes understanding, goals, and accountability between our central resourcing teams and the campus staffs who are on the front lines.
The third section of our EPOD is Optional. Ironically, it’s the section with the longest definition and the shortest list of examples. (You can see the EPOD in full via the link on this post.)
Optional is defined as practices that are one of three things: 1) practices for some campuses but not all due to context and need, 2) serendipitous ministry opportunities, and 3) innovative ideas that come from the ground up through experiences, evaluation, and problem solving. These practices are always in line with the mission and values of the church, align with the current strategy of the church, are done in collaboration with central ministry leaders and supervisors, and are typically pursued when the campus is growing and in a place of overall health.
On our Guest Services EPOD, we currently have only one “optional” bullet point, and that is:
Volunteer team rotation based on the unique needs of a particular team (set up team, shift lead, etc.)
I’ll unpack why the Guest Services Team only has one “optional” while other ministries may have many as we break down the definition below:
1) practices for some campuses but not all due to context and need
For Guest Services, this typically is reflected most often by whether a campus is permanent or portable. While both have set up and tear down needs, a portable campus has substantially more requirements that might dictate that we rotate those set up / tear down teams more often than a permanent campus would.
In our overall context, it would also apply to our one campus that only has one service time. Our Summit en Español campus can’t “attend one, serve one,” so their volunteers serve on a rotating Sunday schedule.
2) serendipitous ministry opportunities
We have one campus that typically sees a larger homeless population show up each Sunday. That has led to unique opportunities for our Guest Services and Local Outreach teams, such as providing immediate help with food or resources. They have developed policies and best practices for how to address these needs, but they are not universally applied. Other campuses don’t have those same type of opportunities, so we don’t make this an across-the-board required or preferred.
3) innovative ideas that come from the ground up…
We’ve said for years that our best opportunities from ministry don’t come from our staff, but from our pews. At all of our campuses, there are members who are integrally involved in community ministries (or potential ministries) and if we trust in the work of the Spirit in the life of a believer, then we want to be open to how the Spirit may be stirring in them.
That means that Campus A might pursue a ministry focused on refugees, while Campus B might allocate time and dollars to special needs families. All of it depends on the serendipitous ministry opportunities combined with the passion, skill set, and calling of the staff and volunteers of each campus.
As you can see from the definition, there is not a lot of room or opportunity for campus Guest Services teams to reinvent the wheel, because so much of our process is clearly defined in the Essential section. And again, other ministries may have far more optional language.
But the first half of the optional definition have to mesh with the last half. I’ve condensed it below, but optional must be…
…always in line…aligned…in collaboration…pursued in health
Think of the last half of the optional definition as the four walls of a fence around a large playground. Inside of the playground, there is plenty of room to play, experiment, and explore. But we don’t want campuses to go over the walls of the fence, because that is moving beyond the boundaries of who we are and what we have agreed upon as a church. Anything that is outside of our mission and values, falls apart from our current strategy, isn’t discussed with central ministry leads or supervisors, or is masking a weak or underperforming culture…those things fall in our Don’t category, which we’ll get to next time.
Do you have questions about the Optional section of our EPOD – or EPOD questions in general? Let me know below, or email me here. I’ll address as many as I can in future posts.
See all posts in this series:
- Multi-Site: You Need An EPOD
- Multi-Site EPODs: Establishing the Essentials
- Multi-Site EPODs: Promoting the Preferred
- Multi-Site EPODs: Opining the Optional
- More posts coming soon!
