HIS LIFE MINISTRIES is now using the line / idea: DEEPBENCH for the next Two YEARS!
2024 and 2025 are DEEPBENCH emphasis YEARS. Yet I believe we will use this word longer --- years up ahead, together with Habakkuk 2:14, where "as the waters cover the sea" -- the knowledge of the LORD will abound in our ministry endeavors.
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This article is taken from the bestseller "Generations" Book.
Under Vol. 1, Chapter 8: Mindset Shift # 2
GenerationS – Reinforcements Not Replacements
If you whisper the word GenerationS with a strong emphasis on the ‘S’ to any leader in our church, their eyes will immediately light up with respect for you.
Let me tell you a secret. In our church, there is another buzzword: Deep Bench.
If you also throw in the word Deep Bench in your whisper, that could earn you a standing ovation.
Deep Bench is a sports term.
It means that when one team is playing on the court, there are many substitutes sitting on the bench. They can be called on to play anytime. They are not inferior players. They are equally skilled!
So the standard does not drop when the crew from the deep bench is called upon.
In NBA basketball lore, the Golden State Warriors won championships because of the starting players on court and its quality deep bench of players such as Andre Iguodala.
He was called the Sixth Man.
When you have a sixth man, it usually means that your team has incredible depth because the sixth man is usually so talented that he can easily be the starter for most other teams!
When you have a sixth man, it usually means that your team has incredible depth because the sixth man is usually so talented that he can easily be the starter for most other teams!
In HOGC, we believe in the Deep Bench.
We believe in having many sixth men on the bench in every department in our church!
That is why we are always training up many reinforcements to serve God in all the departments.
The House of God shall have no lack of people serving Him!
THERE ARE MANY BENEFITS TO HAVING A DEEP BENCH
On Fire but Don’t Burn
A Deep Bench in our church helps ensure our faithful people keep being on fire but don’t burn out.
A Deep Bench in our church helps ensure our faithful people keep being on fire but don’t burn out.
The perennial problem with most churches is that once they build one good team they use them every weekend till Jesus Christ comes back!
As a Christian in my teenage years, I can almost swear that I saw cobwebs forming under the arm of the only organist our church had!
Deep Bench ensures that you don’t have to tap on the same team.
Another team can serve as the first team rests and the quality does not drop.
(I hear burnt-out leaders heave a sigh of relief here!)
Another HOGC buzzword? Sustainable – which means able to keep at a good pace.
Another HOGC buzzword? Sustainable – which means able to keep at a good pace.
We want our crew to serve at a sustainable pace so that nobody burns out.
In HOGC, we are volunteer-reliant.
So we want to take care of our volunteers.
A crew in our church only serves a maximum of twice a month.
With the Deep Bench in church, everybody dares to be on fire for Jesus and nobody needs to burn out!
Expand but Don’t Weaken
We don’t want to be a church that is a mile wide but an inch deep.
Expansion is good but don’t weaken your church.
With a Deep Bench, if the church expands into new grounds (e.g., global, missions) the local church which is home base will always be strong.
The ideal goal HOGC strives for is to have three different teams in every department.
The ideal goal HOGC strives for is to have three different teams in every department.
One team will be serving at home base, the second team will either be sent out for missions or training new crew and the third team will be doing the most important – resting!
Having a Deep Bench has enabled us to do missions the way we do.
In 2018 and 2019, we brought 143 and 212 ministry crew respectively to run the Strong Church Hong Kong Conference. It was like exporting a full conference. Our crew did everything from the ground up. They ran everything from the worship team, sound, operations and media to ushering, security, hosts, décor and even building maintenance! Even the crew who served in Hong Kong were rostered and did not have to serve every session. Both years, we still ran services at home without compromising quality! Expand but don’t weaken!
And back in 2018, we also brought 85 members to Chiang Mai, Thailand, when HOGC had the wonderful opportunity to partner John and Lisa Bevere in running a conference. Again, services at home still ran as per normal while 85 first-team, experienced ministry members were engaged in missions overseas!
I say this not to brag but to stress how important it is to build the Deep Bench in your church, because ultimately it is about people, people, people, which leads me to the next point.
And back in 2018, we also brought 85 members to Chiang Mai, Thailand, when HOGC had the wonderful opportunity to partner John and Lisa Bevere in running a conference. Again, services at home still ran as per normal while 85 first-team, experienced ministry members were engaged in missions overseas!
I say this not to brag but to stress how important it is to build the Deep Bench in your church, because ultimately it is about people, people, people, which leads me to the next point.
Rest to Recreate
Rest is the next best-loved four-letter word after love.
If you can rest your ministry volunteers on a regular basis, I assure you, they will come back refreshed, recharged and will recreate some fresh moves in their department.
Take care of your volunteers!
Serve With No Expiry Date
Even as our youths grow up and enter into a new phase of life, they may not be able to serve as much as they want to. Work commitments or parenthood may reduce their ministry scope. But with Deep Bench, there will always be reinforcements. This ensures that the church will always have volunteers serving at a high capacity. More importantly, this also liberates and enables people at different stages of life to serve at a level best suited to them, even if it means serving at a lower capacity.
Everyone in HOGC enters into each new demanding ‘grown up’ phase of life with confidence because they know they can continue to serve in church with no expiry date.
Deep Bench is about people, people, people.
WHY AREN’T
DEEP BENCHES
MORE COMMONLY SEEN IN CHURCHES?
The toughest hurdle in people development in church is when those with ministry experience view the new, younger crew as a threat to themselves. From the usher ministry to platform ministry – any ministry you name – you see the veterans holding tight to their post, refusing even an inch of space for the younger people.
The toughest hurdle in people development in church is when those with ministry experience view the new, younger crew as a threat to themselves. From the usher ministry to platform ministry – any ministry you name – you see the veterans holding tight to their post, refusing even an inch of space for the younger people.
Why is this so?
That is because the older generation fears being replaced!
The younger generation is viewed as pests who are so competitive that they would even arm wrestle their grandmothers for a glass of water!
Replacement fear is so commonplace that it has become part of the cultural wallpaper in most churches. It is time for churches to have an epochal advance in ministry by having a seismic shift in mindset! GenerationS are Not Replacements but Reinforcements!
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RELATED:
Stack the Deck STRATEGY
Your vision, strategies, and plans can all be great on paper.
But at the end of the day, it all hinges on leadership.
If your church is relying on too few leaders to accomplish too many things, you’ll never experience sustainable growth.
Churches that grow have a deep bench.
Therefore, you need to stack the deck in your favor by recruiting and developing more and better leaders.
In fact, we recommend that most pastors build their schedule so that they can dedicate about a third of their week to leadership development.
It’s that important!
Jesus understood that the long-term success of His message didn’t depend on the size of the crowd He preached to but on the quality of the leaders who followed Him.
The growth of the movement hinged on the capacity of the leaders Jesus developed.
The same is true for you.
In our Leadership Pipeline process, we teach churches how to create a system for recruiting leaders and helping them be more effective. Churches that go through that process frequently remark that the paradigm shift towards leadership development is the single most impactful thing they have done to influence church growth.
It’s no wonder!
God has called every believer into ministry, and it’s the role of leaders to focus on equipping the saints to live out their calling.
Church growth isn’t about nickels and noses.
It’s not about fog machines and cool lights.
Church growth isn’t about fueling your ego.
But God is calling every church to grow because every church is called to go and make disciples.
If you want to experience sustainable and healthy church growth, lean into these five principles*
Just do the next right thing.
You’ll be surprised how far you come in the months and years to come.
