Services MinistryConnect Offers
These are the primary areas of service offered in coaching churches.
WhatsNew:
New Approach, Same Purpose
January 1, 2011
Thank you for visiting our new web site. It is our hope that the new look and the presentation of our ministry is appealing to you. We invite you to comment on our web site and any part of our ministry by going to our contact page and leaving a comment.
Our ministry, coaching churches, has not changed. We have made some adjustments in how we go about approaching church coaching. 
We have prioritized three coaching areas--preparation (a move toward leadership readiness), leadership (a move toward the search and calling of a pastor), and ministry (a move toward church health). These priorities are the result of the experiences with dozens of churches and pastors.
Current News:
Church Health--Natural Church Development
January 10, 2011
We are excited about what God is doing world-wide in developing healthy churches. The materials have now been translated in over 40 languages and are or have been used in over 50,000 churches world-wide and 30,000 churches in the US. It is the most widely implemented process in the world.
MinistryConnect is drawing together some pastors from mid-Missouri for an orientation to Natural Church Development, Tuesday, January 18. These pastors represent various faith traditions. Furthermore, you are invited to bring along another pastor from your local community who you think might be interested.
You will be provided a complimentary lunch and a paperback copy of the ABCs of Natural Church Development. We will be meeting in a central location, Room 508, of First Baptist Church, 301 E. Capitol Avenue, Jefferson City.
RecentEvents:
Memorial Calls Senior Pastor
November 14, 2010
Memorial Baptist Church of Columbia, Missouri, called Kevin Glenn as Senior Pastor.
MinistryConnect had the privilege of serving as coach to the Pastor Search Committee through the entire process. God has blessed the church with a warm and gifted pastor and we are grateful for the privilege of serving the church.
Our Services
Our Focused Areas of Church Coaching:
A coach guides, teaches, encourages and assists a team to accomplish a task. A leader and a church, like a team, can benefit from an outside coach who gives guidance, training, encouragement and assistance in accomplishing a desired task.
In coaching, there is no substitute for experience and expertise. The MinistryConnect Team is well-trained with a wide range of experience in assisting churches. With a combined experience of over 80 years in ministry to hundreds of churches, this team will be able to provide any search committee with the help it needs to be exceptionally successful.
Preparation - a move toward pastoral readiness
A multiplicity of factors could be at play in the church which have led to the church being pastorless. Here are just a few possible factors: pastor leaves to pastor another church for no appearant reason on the part of the church, long tenured pastor retires (maybe even the founding pastor), conflict in the church, mismatch of pastor and church, moral failure of the pastor, no strategic plan, declining numbers resulting in dissatisfaction.
Some of the above reasons and others not mentioned could be reasons for the church to need significant preparation and healing before a new pastor is called. A MinistryConnect coach may discover that the church needs time before they proceed toward calling a new pastor. The coach may suggest one or more of the following: calling a trained Intentional Interim Pastor, have a coach lead the church through extensive conflict resolution activities.
Leadership - a move toward the search and calling of a pastor
Since leadership is the key to the health and growth of any organization, getting the right leader in a timely fashion is critical. The average time between pastors is generally about 18 months. The longer a church takes to find the right leader the more the church suffers in terms of lack of growth and participation, giving generally decreases and attendance levels off or declines.
The negative experiences of many Pastor Search Teams/Committees have resulted in untold harm to the Kingdom. Mismatched ministry leaders and churches give testimony to the need for this vital ministry. The MinistryConnect process and materials along with experienced coaching provides churches the best opportunity to experience a ministry match that glorifies God and grows the Kingdom.
Ministry - a move toward church health
Natural Church Development is the most researched and widely used church health approach in the world. The materials have been translated in over 40 languages and have been used by over 50,000 churches world-wide. It suggests that there are eight essential qualities of healthy churches. It confirms what many leaders have known intuitively -- that healthy churches are growing churches, making more and better disciples in loving obedience to Christ.
The past almost 20 years of research of thousands of churches indicate that when a church has a trained coach in Natural Church Development principles it is much more likely to experience significant growth and health.
