A group of people with diverse skin tones standing in a circle, their hands clasped together in the center. The text "Sharing Ministry Wins" and "Part 1: The How" is overlaid on the image.

A few years back, I was serving at the largest church I’d ever attended. The kids ministry was huge and the church was growing. But I had a problem. I was severely lacking volunteers. I’ll admit, part of this was my fault. I hadn’t done what I needed to do to recruit. However, I was relatively new to the church. Once I started, many of the volunteers who served faithfully were burnt out and walked away. I quickly found myself with over 100 kids and around 10 volunteers. If you try to keep proper room ratios, that’s not enough.

I wasn’t sure what I could do, so I reached out for help from Jessica Bealer. She was offering free coaching calls at the time, so I signed up. I laid out the problem, and she gave me great advice.

One of my biggest problems was no one knew what was going on in kidmin. You could attend my church for years and never visit the kids wing. Many didn’t even know it existed. Jess advised me to do all I can to get the word out about the children’s ministry. She suggested I make announcements, tell stories, get t-shirts, and perform in big church. I needed to make so much noise about what God was doing in kidmin that no one could ignore it.

You may have a similar problem in your ministry. God is doing great things. But because you’re in the basement, meet on another night, or for some other reason, the congregation doesn’t know it. Or worse, seem to care.

You can go out and start making a lot of noise. You can talk about the needs. You can talk about the importance. You can threaten to shut things down or beg people to step up. And those things may work…for a while.

But there is a better way.

People want to win. In fact, they love it. They want to be a part of the winning team even if it’s just sitting on the sideline. Being an Alabama Football fan was easy during the Saban years. They always won. Similarly, you need to talk about your wins in your ministry. Talk about them frequently and often to whomever will listen. Maybe even to a few who won’t.

But before you do that, you need to determine what your wins are. In previous posts, I shared the milestones I believe every believer should mark. I also talked about how to set ministry goals that lead to growth. Once you develop these for your own ministry, you have your wins. But setting these goals is not enough. You also need to track them. I talk about how to do that here.

Now you have all this data about success in your ministry. Don’t be like the foolish man in the Parable of the Talents who buried his money to keep it safe. Bring those things out for all to see.

Context matters. So how you share those wins and where you share them matters. So, in part one of these posts, I’ll share how you can share your wins, and in part two I’ll talk about where. This is part one.

1. Wins with Vision

I already said earlier that people want to be part of the winning team. Your vision is your success statement. It’s how you set the direction for your ministry. If you don’t cast a compelling vision, then everyone will pick a direction. That direction may or may not be where you want them to go.

So, when you talk about your wins, talk about them in context of your vision. For example, when I was at that large church, my vision statement was, "to develop an authentic relationship with Jesus that will last a lifetime." Whenever I talked about my kidmin, I started with that statement. I then used numbers and stories to show how we were being successful.

One time, I baptized 8 kids on a single Sunday.

I talked about how we were excited that these 8 kids decided to put their faith in Jesus. We pointed out how this was the second milestone on their spiritual journey. I talked about how many other kids also made that decision and how they’re different now.

Your numbers are your scoreboard, and the stories are the highlight reel. But they all have to point back to the vision. Numbers and stories galvanize your volunteers. They invite others to join your vision.

2. Wins with Numbers

I’m a numbers guy. These days, I’m bi-vocational and teach high school math. I love a good spreadsheet and seeing how we’re doing throughout the year. I receive a lot of weird looks, especially when I share an awesome formula. But that’s my cross to bear.

Even if you hate numbers, you need to keep track of them. They paint the picture of what’s going on in your ministry and let you know how you’re doing week to week. As I said earlier, your numbers are your scoreboard. I talk about which numbers you should track and why here.

While I love to track attendance, it’s not a great story. People get far more excited about milestone numbers, things like salvations and baptisms. So, on my dashboard, I have those things listed. This way I can tell you at any given time exactly what my numbers are. There’s a reason why the scoreboard is permanently displayed on any sporting event. People want to know who’s winning and who’s not. Use your numbers to celebrate what God is doing.

3. Wins with Stories

I mentioned earlier that I had 8 baptisms in one Sunday. That’s a big number, but relatively easy to hit when you have over 100 kids attending every week. I’m helping a church plant now and we had 9 kids last week. If we had 9 baptisms in a week, we’d be in full-on revival!

I heard Karl Vaters, author of De-sizing the Church, say once that small churches can’t talk about numbers as much. You can’t put those big numbers on the board because you don’t have that many to begin with. Instead, small churches and ministries should focus on stories.

Collect as many stories as you can. You may only have one baptism or salvation this year. What’s their story? How did they come to Christ? Why are they choosing baptism now? You may not be able to reach out to your whole city. But you can reach out to your local neighborhood or school. And as you do, ask people for their story. Then share it.

One of the nice things about a relatively small church is we don't have to rush baptism. Larger churches with their big numbers can look like an assembly line. Rather, small churches can take their time. At my church, we tell a little bit of each person's story and celebrate what God has done. Northpoint Community Church does this on a large scale with excellence. You may not have as much production value, but you can do this too.

Your vision points people to success. Your numbers are the scoreboard. Your stories are your highlight reel. Numbers don’t have feelings. Vision is just an idea. But a person tearfully sharing their testimony will change someone else’s life.

Having all these wins is great, but you need to know where to share them. Next week, I’ll answer that question. For now, think about how you’re being successful and writing it down. Even if you think you don’t have any great stories, you’d be surprised how many you’ll find once you start looking.

What are some wins in your ministry? Let me know in the comments!

Knowing how you’re successful is vital to your ministry. But you don’t want to just collect all that data and sit on it. You’ll be like the foolish man in the Parable of the Talents. He kept his master’s money and buried it. The Master was furious and took it away. If you don’t talk about how your successful, people will draw their own conclusions. Unfortunately, they may assume you’re doing a horrible job. No one wants that.

Sharing Ministry Wins Part 1: The How

One of my biggest problems was no one knew what was going on in kidmin. You could attend my church for years and never visit the kids wing. Many didn’t even know it existed. You may have a similar problem in your ministry. God is doing great things. But because you’re in the basement, meet on another night, or for some other reason, the congregation doesn’t know it. Or worse, seem to care.

What I Read in 2024

This year was an interesting year for me. I started teaching high school math full-time while serving in ministry part-time. It’s been a struggle finding a balance between school, church, this blog, and family. I hit many of my goals and accomplished many things I never dreamed of doing. However, many goals went by the wayside.

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It’s the end of the year. And as busy as we are with Christmas, it’s also important to look ahead. If you want to have a successful ministry, then you need to have a plan. You can’t wander into January and hope that things will happen. There needs to be intentionality and purpose to the things you do.

Winning the Annual Review

It’s the end of the year and your pastor may be setting up an annual review. The annual review can be scary. Recently, I saw a Facebook post where a person asked if it’s natural to feel like you’re going to get fired.

My response?

How to Follow Up with Your Missing People

As a pastor you’re a shepherd. It’s your job to take care of your flock. In my own experience (and even in my writing) I talk about reaching out to new people and caring for them. However, Jesus gave us the example by sharing the parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99 to go after the one.