How to Kill a Church Program Before It Kills You
by Roger Fields

A long time ago, in the early days of cable TV, I was the cable guy for a small town in Kansas. Back then, we had only eight channels and one of them was a homemade weather channel. We placed a cheap video camera in a small shed that rotated from a clock to a barometer to a thermometer. The picture was blurry and in black and white. We played music in the background to try to make something pleasant out of this useless channel. And to make it worse, the channel was high-maintenance, requiring constant upkeep and causing the technicians continual grief.

One day we replaced it with a real television channel, one that had news, weather, sports and lots more. We thought the community would be as thrilled as we were. Most were. But to our amazement some people called our office and complained about losing the "clock channel". They actually missed it! We were stunned. I learned a lesson that day. No matter how worthless something is, a few people will bond emotionally to anything they have learned to live with over time and they will fuss, stomp and snort when you eliminate it.

The greatest key to success in children’s ministry is knowing which programs to do and which ones not to do. Every situation varies. You have to decide which programs are worth the time, money, people and energy and which are not. Energize the ones that are; slay the ones that aren’t.

Working too hard does not result in burn out. Continually working hard on something futile results in burn out. Pouring time, energy and money into an outdated program that most know is doomed to fail is the force behind burn out. Nothing weakens a church, and wears everyone out, more than archaic methods of ministry that will never produce anything of value. You work hard to air up a program and find it leaking faster than you can pump it up. And that is what scores of children’s pastors do on a weekly basis, resulting in the perpetual turnover common in children’s ministry.

Know when to pull the plug on terminally ill programs. You have tried everything but the program is still on life support. And there are no vital signs. You have injected money. You performed surgery on the organizational structure. You prayed for healing. After all is done, the program just lays there with only a blip on the screen. If it is not dead already it is certainly in a coma.

It’s time to call in the staff, say a prayer and pull the plug. Then throw a party. The miserable, old program is finally dead. Make sure no one utters any "Lazarus, come forth!" prayers. This program is dead and never coming back. Praise God forever.

But let me caution you. Make no mistake about it. No matter how lame the program, one thing is certain. Someone will scream to high heaven when you dismantle it. Every weak, miserable, sorry program has a few faithful followers. They are vocal and sometimes influential, and they are usually wrong.

Here is the mistake. Well-meaning church folks have a common expectation of what church "ought" to provide and they rarely stop to ask "why" the church should provide it. They assume that since it has always been, there must be some divine command behind it. They don’t think in terms of productivity; they simply like knowing that the program exists.

This is the time when the children’s pastor should rise up and show leadership. Good management means doing the thing right; good leadership means doing the right thing. Ask first if something should be done before you ask if it can be done.

Here are some ministry lab tests to help you make the case for pulling the plug on ailing programs that have drained your energy long enough.

The Box Test

Draw a box on a piece of paper. Then write one sentence in the box that explains why you need the program. If it takes you longer than three minutes to write in the box then your program may not have a clear purpose. Your program failed the box test.

The Fruit Test

Write down the names of ten people whose lives were enhanced from the program. Then list ten people who came to the Lord through the program. If you can’t list at least a few people who were impacted by your program then it is not producing fruit. Your program failed the fruit test.

The Money Test

Add up what it really costs to run the program. List all the hidden costs like supplies, publicity, utilities, etc. Write down three ideas of how the money might better be spent. If two or more of these ways would out-perform your program, then it fails the money test and qualifies as a financial drain.

The Time Test

Determine how much time it takes to plan and run the program. Write down how many people it takes and multiply by how many hours each has to work. Then ask the obvious question. Could they be more effective doing something else? If yes, then your program fails the time test.

Hold every program-from Vacation Bible School to the hand bell choir-up to the light and take these four tests. Be honest. Be brutally honest. Use the results to explain why the program should be allowed to live or die.

Sometimes the leader is simply the one who climbs the tallest tree and yells "Wrong forest!" If you are in the wrong forest, then climb down and lead your workers into the right forest. You will get a few unpleasant phone calls. Be kind. Then rest in the knowledge that you killed something that was about to kill you.