by Dan Reiland

When it comes to dessert, the more the better! The Sun Dial restaurant is located in Downtown Atlanta at the top of the Westin Hotel. The Sun Dial is 73 stories up and 723 feet above the city with a 360 - degree panoramic view of Atlanta far below. The restaurant slowly revolves throughout your entire dining experience. It's very cool. The best part is the desserts. The Sun Dial serves a Sunday brunch that includes a huge selection of incredible desserts. Anything you can imagine and as much as you want! Twenty feet of desserts including a section of chocolate that makes my blood-sugar rise just looking at it.

You can be tempted to think the same way about the number of ministries in your church, the more the better. But it isn't true. The opposite is true. The fewer the better. Less is more.

It is in the nature of a local church to keep adding ministries, because it's not in the nature of local church to stop a ministry. Even if the ministry is ineffective, it is allowed to continue. Adding ministries without an intentional plan is not a good idea. It may be a worthy ministry, most are, but that doesn't mean your church should do it. In fact, I'll go on record to say that except in very rare circumstances, it's far better to offer fewer ministries than to offer more.

Parts of my job are unpopular. I often serve as the "no" guy. When people in our church (wonderful, passionate and dedicated people) want to start a ministry, the answer is nearly always no. I'm (we're) not mean about it, but we are clear. We've embraced a philosophy of simple and lean and for the last nearly eight years we've done just that. We've kept it lean.

We don't have men's ministry, women's ministry, sports ministry, a counseling ministry, a recovery ministry for people addicted to Starbucks and dozens of other things we could do. We don't think those things are bad. But we are not called by God to do them. That's the point.

You know how the conversation goes. "But Pastor, the staff won't have to do anything. We'll do it all." And "Pastor, absolutely no church time or resources will be needed." No amount of logical explanation persuades them to see that this is just not true.

The line of thought that people do understand is this. I ask them if they believe one church can do everything. They acknowledge that it's not possible for one church to do everything - at least not smart. So then I ask: If one church can't do everything, then, of what the church does do, should it be random or intentional? Picking up on the idea, they acquiesce and agree that it should be intentional. So, if one church can't do everything and if what we do should be intentional, then it seems like we should be on our knees to prayerfully discover the unique and divine thumbprint that is just for our church. And we should stick with that.

Then the next idea is explored. "But Pastor, aren't we squelching the Holy Spirit?" Not at all. If the Holy Spirit wants to launch a new ministry He will confirm that among the leaders of the church. That's biblical. Further, if someone truly believes that God has placed a ministry on their heart, I absolutely think they should do it. Candidly, I'm excited for them! But that doesn't mean they should place that personal ministry expectation on the church. That person needs to stand up and be obedient. If God told them to do it, go do it. But don't expect the church to do it. I don't want anyone to leave my church or your church. But, if someone feels very strongly about a certain ministry that we don't have, and another church does, it's OK to go to that church to serve there. We're all about the Kingdom, not just one church.

Let's test the theory in reverse. Suppose that was your philosophy. If you can think up a ministry, and you will lead it, the church will support it. What if several hundred people did that? The church ministries would at best be a mile wide and an inch deep. The variety would be impressive but the impact very shallow.

In my travels, I have noticed a direct correlation between the size of a church (how small it is) and how many ministries it has. I consulted with a church of 200 people that boasted of 89 ministries. You can imagine the impact of each of those ministries. There are a very few rare exceptions of mega-churches that have a long list of ministries. But trust me, they are the exceptions.

We at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, GA, like many churches who have adopted this idea of lean ministry, do participate in a wide variety of local compassion ministries but we don't own or manage them. For example, we are highly leveraged with volunteers and finances in a number of things from Habitat for Humanity to local food Cooperatives to Prison Ministries. But none of those ministries are ours. We go out into our community and serve them.

We focus on a very short list of ministries, and even this lean, it takes massive effort to do them well. Candidly, it feels to the leaders like more than enough with nearly 8,000 people involved a week.

• Weekend worship experiences (Evangelism and Teaching)
• Small Groups (Community and Spiritual Formation)
• Children (Next Gen development)
• Students (Next Gen development)
• Global and local outreach (Evangelism, Compassion and Justice)

There are a number of supportive ministries with armies of volunteers such as ushers, greeters, parking, hospitality, etc. but they all exist for the main focus. We also have a significant effort invested into culture shaping initiatives such as leadership development but again, that is to enhance the mission, not add to it.

I'm writing a lot about 12Stone for the sake of illustration, but this is not a new idea. Thousands of churches are catching on to the idea of less is more. I'm not telling you what your church should do, but saying that you may serve your community better by going lean. Discover what God has for you and do that, and do it very well. If you have some nights at your church were there isn't something going on, then great! Tell the people to hang out with their families or invest time into people who are unchurched. For us, even with a lean ministry, there seems to be something going on nearly all the time. Lots of rehearsals, training, and leadership development. I can't imagine what it would be like if we had dozens of ministries that we "owned and operated."

If you are still reading you must be interested to some degree so let me recommend an excellent book. It's called Simple Church - Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples. It's written by Thomas S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. There are also a number of church leaders who are huge advocates of lean ministry. Here's just a few, check them out. North Point Church (Pastor Andy Stanley); LifeChurch.tv (Pastor Craig Groeschel); and Mars Hill Church (Pastor Mark Driscoll).

Let me offer you a few ideas to get you started toward a leaner and more robust ministry.

1. Don't stand at your pulpit, brandish your Colt .45 and declare that you just shut down half the ministries in your church. Please. I don't have any job openings.

2. Invest weeks or months thinking and praying with key leadership asking God what your focus needs to be.

3. Cast vision and teach the principle of lean ministry. Tell why you are leaning into it. (No pun intended.)

4. Once you know your focus, take six months to a year to s-l-o-w-l-y close down other ministries.

5. Keep casting vision. Tell success stories of primary ministries.

6. Develop relationships with ministries in your community and around the world that you don't "own and operate" but can support. (Keep this group lean too.)

7. Remind people that they can do any ministry that they want, but that doesn't obligate your church to do it, support it, advertize it, find a room for it, pay for it, and on the list goes.

8. Don't feel like this limits you. You can start a new ministry any time you want. But be intentional. And when you do start a new ministry, be tough about considering what ministry you may need to drop.

I pray that God blesses your ministry endeavors and multiplies your efforts for His Kingdom!