CHURCH CONSULTANCY
When might a consultancy be helpful for your Church?
(a) When a church wants to review its health and direction - Vision/Mission/Value/Goal Statements - Are we achieving our aims? - Do we need to review our leadership structure/model/effectiveness? - Evaluation of effectiveness/appropriateness of current direction of the church and its ministries
(b) When a church is going through a period of change - When a church has reached a plateau - When a church is between pastors or new pastoral staff are being considered - When restructuring is being planned - When the church is declining - When the church is growing and needs to change structures to cope - In other times of significant change such as adopting or fostering another congregation, multisite, planting a new daughter congregation.
(c) When assistance is required in times of difficulty/crisis - When there is the need for outside perspective: consultants can help a church to see the real issues. - When there is the need for independent mediation - When a church is struggling with a specific issue that potentially could hinder unity and growth
(d) When a church has lost its outreach edge with the local community - maybe the community has changed and the church needs to rethink how it approaches outreach. This can also involve how the church is in touch and connecting with the local community - being known.
(e) When a church is struggling to raise up new leaders. Maybe there is not a clear pathway for spiritual growth/leadership pipeline.
(f) When a church chooses to have a pro-active health check. Many good churches do this - they may have an external health check every 3 years
What church consultancy is
(a) A ministry aimed at serving and supporting the local church.
(b) A valuable strategy aimed at improving the health of congregations so that they may have a greater impact for the Kingdom of God.
(c) A collaborative process in which a church leadership enters into an agreement with a trained and experienced consultant, with the commitment of working together for the benefit of the local church.
(d) A proven, evidence-based process being used by churches from a wide variety of denominations across Australia (see Ian's book The Impact of Church Consultancy here for how churches that had a consultancy were still significantly impacted in their growth and health five years after the consultancy).
What church consultancy is not
(a) An imposed agenda, another program or a "quick-fix" solution.
(b) Something only for conflicted or unhealthy Churches. (Healthy churches will be proactive and see the value of consultancies to ensure they remain healthy!)
WHAT TO EXPECT in a church consultancy
Each church situation is unique and so different methods may be appropriate for each different church. Objectives are set by the local church - not the consultant. The aim of the consultancy process is to help the local church decide on its best course of action. The consultant's role is facilitating, guiding, listening and information gathering, communicating and recommending. The report containing observations and recommendations that follows the consultancy is for the consideration of the Leadership Team and the local church. The local church then decides what to do concerning the recommendations of the consultant. Basically there are three phases to a consultancy: setting objectives in collaboration with the Leadership Team, gathering information through interviews and surveys, and reporting back with recommendations that link to the original objectives. Some training for the Leadership Team may be involved. To assist with implementation of the consultancy recommendations, coaching sessions for the Senior Pastor are included in packages.
To get more details about what is included and prices, please complete the contact form below (with consultancy in the subject line) or pop your name and email address into the chat box. You can find out more about what clients are saying here and more about Ian here.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
CONNECT CHURCH ENGADINE
Ian Duncum has wide ranging experience and expertise in Church health and development. Ian’s advice, input, support and prayer was invaluable over a period of two and a half years, helping us bring two local Churches together in a successful merger process. He assisted our initial discussions, the development of an enquiry team and then the formation of a merger team. Ian’s wisdom was essential in identification of underlying values, as well as matters of vision and mission for the merged Church. Ian’s ongoing mentoring of our senior leadership team has been a vital part of the successful birth and growing health of Connect Church. We highly recommend Ian Duncum as a Church consultant and are grateful for his input.
Mike McGarrity – Missional Leader
Glenn Baigent – Pastoral Leader
NORTHWEST COMMUNITY MINISTRIES
Since your consultancy of our OOSH care non-profit two years ago (recommending restructuring and employing staff) our annual turnover has increased from $2M to $5M and we are serving more schools, parents and children.
Graydon Colville - Board Member
river community church
On behalf of the River Community Church Leadership I take this opportunity to thank you for your time, wisdom, compassion and advice you provided to the Leadership and the River Community Church during our current situation and transition...I personally thank you for listening and sharing your wisdom and assisting me with some of the challenges I experienced over the last few months.
Steve Rau - Elder