Every church planter and pastor I’ve met has hundreds of responsibilities on their plate. In our day-to-day stress, it’s easy to lose track of the big important things that are vital to starting and leading a healthy church. As we all recover from a busy and likely stressful holiday season, here are twenty questions that might help you assess your health and the health of your community.

If you struggle in some of these areas, give yourself some grace, but use this list as a prompt to re-prioritize your time and energy so that you and your church are making the biggest impact in 2020.

Launchpad is ready to coach you through problem areas. Email us at coaching@launchpadpartners.org to discuss how we can help.

Loving Myself

• Am I taking care of myself by setting healthy boundaries and building rest into my regular routine?
• Am I taking care of my spouse and my family and honoring times of rest with them?
• Am I taking care of my staff? Are they healthy? How can I support them in creating routines of rest?
• What am I doing to connect with other pastors in my community and across the country?
• Is the identity of the church too wrapped up in my identity? Is my identity too wrapped up in the church’s identity?
• What’s my exit plan? Am I staying in this position forever or do I need to start preparing for the day when I might leave my church?

Our Mission and Vision

• Are we truly doing a good job of loving God, our neighbors and ourselves?
• Are we telling our story in a way that communicates our mission, vision and values to people who don’t know us?
• Do our board and staff feel aligned with the church’s mission, vision, and values?
• In this important year, how will we discuss politics from the pulpit and in our communities? What do we need to learn or prepare in order to do this in a healthy way for everyone?

Loving Others

• Are we serving people of color well inside our church and in our local community?
• Are we serving women well both inside our church and in our local community?
• Are we serving LGBTQ people well both inside our church and in our local community?
• Are we serving people of other socioeconomic classes well both inside our church and in our local community?

Fundraising and Operations

• Are we connecting our mission, vision and values with how we fundraise?
• Is our fundraising process and infrastructure working well for the church? Do we make it easy to donate easily?
• Are our systems and processes (facilities, budgets, volunteer recruitment, etc.) working well? What needs to be changed?
• Are we doing things as a church that aren’t working and should be stopped?
• Are we using metrics like headcount and per capita giving in a healthy way and not in a way that drives a “growth at all cost” mentality?
• Is our community stepping up to volunteer inside the church and within the local community? If no, why not?