How to Get Past the Well-Oiled Machine
This is the next installment in our ongoing “Large Church” series, which looks at guest services through the lens of the larger congregation: those with an average attendance of 800 or more. See the entire series here.
In the previous article in this series, I proposed seven ways that larger churches struggle with hospitality. These seven ways are common things I’ve seen in churches of a certain size.
Struggle #1 is the myth of the well-oiled machine. I’ve talked about the well-oiled machine before: that our desire to get it perfect can often mean new volunteers don’t feel like there’s a place for them at the table. And even in a large church, that can eventually mean your volunteers dwindle and your team dissolves.
So how do you fight the well-oiled machine? I think there are at least five ways:
1. Don’t rest on your laurels.
I’m going to be honest with you: I don’t actually know what laurels are (and resisted the urge to Google them, because sometimes ignorance is bliss), but I know that people get really wigged out about resting on them.
Sometimes in a larger church, we begin to believe our own press, believe that we’ve arrived, and feel like we can coast. But as the old business book says, what got you here won’t get you there. While I don’t believe in change for change sake, I do think that our hospitality ministry needs to be in a constant state of improvement and plussing.
2. Seek out helpful criticism.
I think leaders make one of two mistakes when it comes to feedback: we only like to listen to the positives, and we figure out a way to dismiss the negatives.
Seeking out helpful criticism is a triple-whammy:
- We’re seeking it out, proactively asking for it, specifically requesting it, and not stopping until we find it.
- We’re seeking out what’s helpful, from voices we trust. (That doesn’t mean voices we necessarily know: I’ve learned much through the years from our first-time guest surveys, filled out by people who’ve had one experience with our church.) Voices we trust can be the first-time guest, a long-time volunteer, a lead pastor, a lateral staff member, a random pew-dweller, or our spouse.
- We’re seeking out helpful criticism. Sure, I want to hear what’s working. But what’s more helpful is to hear what’s not working. I can’t fix it if I can’t see it as a problem.
3. Document your dream list.
I’m really bad about having a “someday maybe” list that exists nowhere other than my head. That makes it all too easy to shift it to the back burner, let the urgent overtake the important, or forget about it altogether.
Better to write down the things that you want to do / wish you could do / don’t have the time or money or people to do right now. Put it on your whiteboard. Print it out and put it on your cubicle wall. Talk it up to your team. Do something that gets it out of your head and in front of your eyes. That doesn’t make your dream a reality, but it makes it a teensy bit more real than just a dream.
4. Promote your serving opportunities.
One of the biggest contributions to the myth of a well-oiled machine is that our weekend looks polished enough already. Think about hospitality from the perspective of a first-time guest or a pew-dwelling attendee: they show up on Sunday morning to a crew of vested volunteers in the parking lot, smiling people at the doors, helpful ushers in the aisles, and a clean building at every turn.
Sure, you know that six volunteers called out and you actually can’t staff a parking team the next service and one of your team leads just let you know they’re stepping down at the end of the month, but to the casual observer, it looks like you’ve got your junk together and there’s no space for someone new.
So bust that myth. Talk frequently about the opportunities to serve. Tell stories of people whose lives were impacted by your Guest Services team. Have your existing volunteers shoulder-tap their friends. Tamp down a bit of the polish and dial up a bit of the rust.
5. Ask for a bigger vision.
Even with the best track record of success, the most pointed constructive criticism, the biggest dream list, and the steadiest influx of new volunteers, we have to recognize that we’ll never care about hospitality more than God does. He’s the one who gave instructions to welcome the outsider, the foreigner, the stranger, the sojourner. He’s the one who laid out plans for a temple with observable worship spaces by non-Jews. He’s the one who makes hospitality both an individual mandate and a corporate calling.
So when your critics and your dream list quiet down, ask God to stir up. Seek his face on what he wants from your team and for your guests. Get desperate for the working of his Spirit above your systems. Ask your team to join you in praying for what’s next in your ministry, and you might be surprised at what is revealed.
Next in the series: How to Get Past the Assumption of Plentiful Resources. Do you have an idea for a post in the Large Church series? Comment below or contact me here.
