Have You Ever Wanted to Become a Church Consultant?
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Wed, June 13, 2007
- Viewed 785
- (47) comments so far
If you have a passion to revitalize churches, Christ can use you in exciting ways to turn around hurting congregations.
Are you a veteran of the business world? Your experience and skills may be sought after by the church. Is an extensive pastorate in your background? Your wisdom could help a pastor deal with the challenges in his church.
But many consulting veterans urge a slow approach to exploring a consulting career. It’s not for everyone. Obstacles like lack of money or experience can cripple a promising consultant before he or she accepts client number one.
If you’re currently in the marketplace, keep your current job for a while. If you’re a recent seminary grad, find a way to pay the bills. If you work on staff at a church, stay there. Lucky you if you’re retiring and have a nest egg to cover expenses.
Financial concerns aside, starting a consulting ministry isn’t easy. But the rewards can be rich.
Before you chase your dream, pause to consider the following strategies that may increase your chances of success.
1. Get professional training. By now you know about the consulting courses offered by the Society. I also recommend theology classes if you’ve never worked in a church. Many seminaries and universities offer convenient distance-learning courses.
2. Read leadership and consulting books. You can browse Amazon.com or visit any book store and peruse the business section for titles by the likes of John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, Ken Blanchard, Jim Collins, and others. Also check out these books on building a consulting practice by Karl Weiss: How to Acquire Clients, How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession, and Value-Based Fees. Also helpful are The Interventionist by Lyle Shaller and Biblical Church Growth by Gary McIntosh.
3. Find a guinea pig. In the Society’s Level 5 training, you’ll be coached as you work with a real church. Even if you don’t enroll in the formal training, find a willing church that could use some free help (but don’t make any promises you can’t back up). When you create your own personal case study, your learning accelerates. You’ll develop a valuable repertoire of anecdotes that will serve you in future consultations. If you succeed in this first exercise with a real church client, you’ll know whether to pursue consulting.
4. Write a business plan. Now that your calling is a little more sure, it’s time to strategize. Approach your plan this way: “If I went into consulting full-time, what would my practice look like? What kinds of churches would I work with? What would be my area of expertise?” Think about how you would promote your services and find clients. Consider how much you’d charge (I don’t recommend charging by the hour; it’s better to start off quoting on a project basis). Flesh out every aspect of your dream as if you were jumping into it full force. Now scale it back and fit a separate paying job into the picture. If you build a profitable practice on the side, rather than putting full-time financial pressure on it right away, you’ll find more joy and success.
5. Get a mentor. If you’re serious about this, get advice from people you trust. Talk to pastors and other consultants. Some people build a personal advisory board and have formal meetings. If you don’t know anyone who’s currently consulting, join the Society to meet certified members and talk to the instructors. Ask them tough questions and listen to their war stories.
6. Get published. The Society offers its certified members a mini-Web site and a personal blog. So getting published is easy. But writing stuff people want to read is the tricky part. Once you feel confident in your writing, submit articles to ChurchCentral.com (which publishes general articles on church health), or query the publications and Web sites you read often.
I applaud you for your interest in church consulting. It’s an exciting calling for anyone with experience leading businesses or churches. But a final (repetitive) word of caution. If your resume doesn’t boast years in either ministry or the marketplace, I urge you to delay your dream. That doesn’t mean cancel it – but first invest time in getting some real-world experience. Dr. Glen Martin, one of our instructors, says you need “blood on your tunic” before you’re qualified to work with a church. War wounds signify wisdom. Experience ultimately benefits the churches you’ll work with.
After all, church consulting is not a hobby. It is a calling worthy of your highest efforts. It requires diligence, experience, education and excellence. Advising a church can cause a ripple effect throughout eternity.
When you realize God has a dream of greatness for his church, your heart should quicken at the thought of participating in it.
I pray the Lord gives you a personal dream of fortifying the church. If he does, may he also inspire you with a perfect plan for your consulting ministry.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tom Harper is author of Career Crossover: Leaving the Marketplace for Ministry (B&H, May 2007). He is president of Church Central, which has trained more than 800 church consultants (www.churchcentral.com), and maintains a marketplace job as president of NetWorld Alliance, which publishes business magazines and news portals.
Have you ever considered a future as a church consultant? My friend Tom Harper has recently written this piece to help those who may be considering entering the consultation area of ministry...
Comments
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Camey on Wed, June 13, 2007
Great stuff from Tom! Knowing a few church consultants….. my heart goes out to those considering the possibililty. They are indeed some of the most wonderful individuals I know though. Their hearts are almost bigger than the state of Texas…
Rev. Dr. James E. Gibbs on Mon, June 25, 2007
I know that church consultant can be valuable to my context. The challenge is to develop a culture that will charge for these services. I have found it difficult to do.
I have had the experience of giving this service (outside of my scheduled duties as minister) and when asked how much I find it difficult to say. I am a veteran from the business world coming into full time ministry and have learned the hard way that it takes money to give this kind of service. Thanks for the advice.
I look forward to providing information to this group where /when needed and I seek to get information on methods to an efffictive church consultant (part time) practice.
James
Job Centre Plus on Wed, February 20, 2008
Wow, I didn’t even know there was such a job as a church consultant, thanks for opening up my eyes.
lakshmi on Tue, July 01, 2008
Great work done by Tom. From this article i came to know that there many jobs to work,but there was no chance to know it.
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Prabhakaran on Tue, July 01, 2008
Though many job oppurtunities are there to do people are still suffering. Thanks to Tom for giving this article
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James Larson on Thu, July 17, 2008
I don’t want to be a church consultant at any cost.
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prasala on Sun, July 27, 2008
Is there any rules and regulations to apply for this post? or any anybody can ? Why because my friend is telling that it is tough to apply.
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DR Tony Lane on Thu, August 28, 2008
I am a new member of the society and a seasoned pastor of 40 years, who is starting on this great journey to work with other churches, I am excited about this article as it answers many questions for me starting out in this profession.
I need a marketing plan and was looking for one when I fould this article, I am unemployed at the present so I am not able to pay for the training the society provides., but the suggestion to find other consultans and create a advisory counsel resonates with me. I now have a plan thank you very much
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Rathna on Fri, September 19, 2008
Church consultant - sounds new!!!. Anyway i think it will be good open for peoples who are in search of job.Is there any specific Qualification to apply? Thanks for posting this useful article.
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I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
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Promotional Products on Mon, September 22, 2008
This is truly a great read for me!! Once again, thanks for the quality articles you post on your blog!! I admire your articles and informative information you share. Keep up the good work. I have you bookmarked to show this to my brother!
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Rathna on Thu, September 25, 2008
Few of my friends are interested in making use of this good opportunity. can you help me with further proceedings?
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seo on Mon, October 20, 2008
point number 5 says that one should get a mentor but isnt it like extremely difficult to get one? a good one that is?
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