Deconstruct Your Ministry

Deconstruct your ministry.One of the best ways to better understand how something works is to deconstruct it, to take it apart.A good mechanic understands engines because he's spent time taking engines apart--laying out all the parts, studying how the different parts fit together, and then putting everything back together for improved engine performance.From time to time you should do this with the church or ministry you lead.Just before Christmas break I grabbed a yellow pad and deconstructed my ministry. I wrote down every component of my ministry, using a separate sheet of paper to record each component. Thirty minutes later I had a huge stack of scribbled yellow papers.Next, I reviewed each piece of yellow paper along with my intern, Francis Tao. I asked questions of each paper/component (How does this component fit in with our overall vision of building disciples in the gospel? Is this component helping or hindering what God is presently doing with our ministry? Does this component need to be oiled? Does this component need to be discarded? etc.).After reviewing the stack of papers, some papers/components ended up in the trash can, some were in a "Needs Attention" pile, and the rest were in a "Running Smoothly" pile.Then I took several weeks to think, pray, and tinker, and put the engine back together.