Assessing the Health of Your Eight Organic Church Systems

Today much is being written about the importance of the church being “organic” as well as being “systems” based. Using the following definitions we can see these are not mutually exclusive.

“Organic” may be defined as having fundamental characteristics of or deriving from living things.
A “system” may be defined as a combination of parts that work together in a synergistic and unified whole.

An “organic system” then is characterized by a unique and interdependent arrangement of fundamental parts working together in similar fashion and complexity to that of all living things.

Most evangelical churches structure themselves around several core or fundamental organic systems such as: Evangelism, Discipleship, Worship, Missions, Service, Fellowship, Prayer and Leader Development.

To be effective each of these fundamental organic church systems must be characterized by an integrated, intentional and documented structure of Theology, Philosophy, Methodology and Process as defined as follows.

Theology – How we understand and apply God’s word to each system.
Philosophy – Our unique guiding values, principles and rationale for each system characterized by the statements, “we believe, therefore our priority is……”
Methodology – Our unique underlying procedures, practices, disciplines and techniques for implementing each system.
Process – A series of action steps in order to accomplish the objectives of each system.

These four structures should be discerned sequentially as our Theology informs our Philosophy, our Philosophy informs our Methodology and our Methodology informs our Process.

Example 1:

A Theology of Service: 1 Corinthians 12

A Philosophy of Service: We believe God has uniquely gifted, impassioned and called each believer for a specific Kingdom assignment and, therefore, our priority as a church is to help identify, connect, equip and support them in that Service.

A Methodology of Service: We use the “Finding Your PLACE in Life and Ministry” assessment to help people identify their personalities, gifts, abilities, experiences and passions and to connect them to a place of Service.

A Process of Service: We require every church leader and new member to attend a PLACE Class, complete a PLACE Assessment, consult with a Connection Coach to interpret their assessment, select one to three potential areas of Service, and meet with the appropriate Ministry Representatives.

Example 2:

A Theology of Missions: Acts 1:8

A Philosophy of Missions: We believe the church should be on Mission in Jerusalem (our community and where we live, learn, work and play), Judea (our state), Samaria (to local people groups not like us), to the Ends of the Earth (our nation and world), and, therefore, our priority as a church is to equip and deploy our people to be on Mission locally and globally.

A Methodology of Missions: We deploy our people in Mission Projects and on Mission Journeys locally, nationally and internationally through partnerships with missionaries, churches and like-minded non-profit organizations and agencies.

A Process of Missions: Partners, Projects and Journeys are determined by the passions and callings of our people as identified through the PLACE data base. Local, National and International Partners are determined through a defined vetting process and report quarterly on how they are deploying our members and allocating our financial gifts.

Organic Church Systems Health Assessment

Use the simple assessment below to determine how well your church has designed, developed and documented the eight core organic systems of Evangelism, Discipleship, Worship, Missions, Service, Fellowship, Prayer and Leader Development.

Based upon your understanding of your church, for each statement share how much you agree or disagree with the statement using a five-point scale. If “5” on the scale means you strongly agree and “1” means you strongly disagree, where would you place your church? Circle the number that best reflects your understanding.

Our church has an intentional and documented Theology, Philosophy, Methodology and Process for connecting people to Jesus and the church through Outreach and Evangelism.