The Unstuck Group

Even we have a hard time believing we're saying this after all the curveballs we've been thrown since September last year, but our consulting team is booked up through June... and counting. If you want to work with The Unstuck Group this year, you need to get on our calendar soon. (No exaggeration!) We are truly in awe of how God has taken care of us, how the Unstuck tribe has rallied around us, and how much GOOD STUFF is happening in the churches we are connected to. Data to back it up in the latest edition of The Unstuck Church Report, out today. https://lnkd.in/eC-Mf_e8

Wise words from Seth Godin "Nothing stays still. Relative to the rest of the world, even something that’s not moving is changing. It’s tempting to talk about not making fast enough progress. But it’s far more useful to ask which direction we’re progressing. Often, people will point to the velocity of the change they’re making without pausing to consider the direction of that change. Strategy is the hard work we do before we do the rest of the hard work. Where to?" https://lnkd.in/e-XWp-vF

The ’90s called, and they want their strategic planning process back.?That binder that’s still on the shelf. The 10-year vision that has come and gone. So many churches are still doing vision, planning and strategy following an old playbook—a 30+ year-old playbook. Is there a more modern way to unify your church body around your vision? In this series, Amy and Sean kick off 2025 by helping you learn a more nimble, actionable approach to planning and aligning your staff and church around a common purpose. And in Part 1, they did a bit of picking on church mission statements and shared what makes more sense: - why so much of the thinking about mission statements is dated - why having defined the problem is NOT the same as doing the work to solve the problem - why knowing your mission field is more important than your mission statement—and how to identify your mission field https://lnkd.in/e7JYWr7U

Inspiring story, Jimmy McLoud. We love seeing First Christian Church on the move.

In the latest episode of The Unstuck Church Podcast, Amy touched on an emotional aspect of leading a growing church that pastors often don't see coming: "This is the part of winning that can actually catch us off guard. I know it caught me off guard. When I was in full-time ministry, our church was successfully growing, 20% year over year. It was so much fun. "As a leader, we were seeing results, but you’re running on this high of seeing the fruits—of all your effort, your intention, your faithfulness. You and the team, you’re on mission. You’ve sensed God’s blessing and hand on your ministry, and all of that is great. "But it can start to take a toll on you and on the team. And if you’re not careful, things can start to go a little sideways... "When we’re in these grinds, it can shift workloads from what I call 'hard doable' to 'hard destructive.'" Listen to Amy and Sean discuss the emotional impact of leading a growing church, and share some solutions for not getting stuck.

We surveyed nearly 200 churches... ? Every quarter, The Unstuck Group compiles all the data we’ve collected to monitor trends in churches in the United States. For this quarter’s report,?we are specifically focusing on trends in multisite churches. We received survey responses from 162 churches ranging from under 500 to more than 20,000 in physical attendance for worship gatherings. This is the second time we have produced this special edition of The Unstuck Church Report with a focus on multisite. We intend to repeat the multisite survey for one of the quarterly reports each year so we can continue to monitor trends over time. Get your copy for free here:

From a Monday morning Unstuck consultant poll: What's 1 key challenge you helped a pastor overcome THIS week? These 3 stood out: - Helped align the staff structure to their vision as they navigate intense growth. (They now have clarity on priority hires as well.) - Helped them confirm a financial model to support their multisite strategy. - Helped them make vague metrics clearer and measurable. Helping pastors lead unstuck churches is what we're all about.

If culture is so important, why is it so easily ignored? Culture is often pushed to the side because it isn’t seen as “urgent” or directly related to the accomplishing of ministry goals. It’s a long term play that gets pushed to the background in the midst of the tyranny of the urgent. And oftentimes pastors struggle to connect the dots around how much their team culture impacts the desired results they’re working towards. In most organizations, culture is?unspoken?and?unexamined. But the best organizations and ministries are intentional in the articulation of the kind of culture they want to have. After all, culture is not just a way to make people feel good about where they work—It has very positive results in terms of effectiveness and productivity.

Pastors often reach out to us to help them with Staffing & Structure in situations like these: - One of their key leaders just resigned. - They know they need to let someone on the team go. - They don’t trust the leaders around them, so they carry roles that should be the responsibility of other senior staff leaders. - Several key staff members are underperforming: They don’t follow through on what they say they will do. Their competency in their roles is not improving. And yet, it’s hard to articulate a reason to let them go. - Everybody is responsible for all the ministry, so there are no clear lanes and everyone is overwhelmed. - Their church is growing and they don’t think structure can support the growth. They need to hire 3-6 roles, but don't know what to do first or what kinds of leaders to look for. - The staff seem overworked and burnt out, but they didn’t receive training on organizational leadership in seminary. The idea of restructuring gets too big and feels overwhelming. We bring a proven process that helps pastors position the team to do ministry at its highest potential. Churches tend to reach out to us again and again when they need to solve staffing and structure problems because: We recognize what’s unique about addressing people-problems on a church staff. Learn how it works --> https://lnkd.in/d-V_7RPK

There is so much?more to serving than just the serving—in fact,?serving is a key aspect of spiritual formation. And there are many?unexpected benefits of a healthy volunteer culture. But it will take more than blurbs in the bulletin and pleas from the pulpit to successfully move people into volunteer positions in your church. Click below to read 5 of the common barriers and mistakes we see when it comes to volunteer engagement.