In.Motion

Next comes what I believe to be the most important practice of the 7: Narrow the Focus. I feel that if you can’t narrow your focus, then the rest of these practices will be futile in their efforts. Refusing to narrow your focus will dilute your programming and ministries with ideas and programs that don’t work as well as they could when focused.

The book focuses on the two main reasons so seek out narrowing your focus. The first would be growth; the counterintuitive thought about growth and focus is that “You have to do less if you want to grow more”. If you do more, chances are your ministry will not grow. We can’t confuse action/activity for growth. Secondly, we must narrow our focus so that we can attach ourselves to the mission rather than programs. When we cling to programs, we tend to stick to things that are nostalgic rather than what is working. However, when we focus ourselves on the mission of the creative/worship ministry, we can make better programming choices and be more effective in our decisions. “A good leader is always more passionate about the mission than about the program.”

We are wired to just add things on. To make things more and more complicated because that is what is natural. We have to fight for simplicity. We need to seek out to “choose what potentially works best over what is presently working”. In John 15, Jesus talks about the idea of pruning dead things away so that the whole can benefit. He also makes a very wise point that sometimes you need to prune life-bearing parts so that the whole can bear even more fruit. We need to choose what potentially works best over what is presently working.

The book sites four effects of narrowing your focus. The more we narrow our focus for given ministries or environments, the greater the relevance, the better the connection, the higher the quality, & the stronger the impact. When we narrow our focus, our creative elements become more relevant and connect with the congregation better. Also, when we begin to look more closely at our choices for worship environments, the quality will surely increase and the songs will bear more impact. The right song played in the right place can have a great effect rather than just another tune picked for convenience.

What about when it comes to the world of creative and worship ministries? What do we need to “narrow our focus” on? Are we talking about songs or something larger? I think, for me, it comes down more to the programming aspect for different environments. What songs or elements would work best for this particular service? Just taking time to dig into what works best and being as specific as possible without forcing things is how I see myself narrowing the focus.

How can we “narrow our focus” when it comes to Creative & Worship ministries?

One.Love

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