When it comes to leading your church to growth, hiring a church consultant for professional assistance can make all the difference. An effective church consultant can help you perform your church’s various tasks, from creating a strategic plan, deciding your church’s staffing structure, and searching for the next pastor.
For all of your church consulting needs, turn to none other than Auxano. Our team aims to deliver clarity first processes that lead to the ultimate growth of churches. We help ministry leaders do the challenging work of turning their vision into reality. With help from our team of church consultants, you can have a visionary for your ministry that lets you discover unprecedented clarity around the identity and direction of your church.
Why Hire a Consultant
A church consultant can help you clarify your church’s core values.
Through an effective process, you and your ministry team can reach clarity regarding your church’s mission, vision, and values statements. These elements of a church’s foundation give direction to your strategic planning, operations, and decision-making. In addition, they provide you with a means by which you can assess your church’s current and emerging activities, allowing you to map out better plans for the future. Learn more about Auxano’s church consulting to develop core values using this simple form. <Link>
A consultant can help you identify your church’s priorities.
Careful planning doesn't simply prioritize according to what's urgent. It's also not a random scheme of trying the latest ministry or pastor trend. While church consultancy books can be helpful, every church has unique needs. What works for one church may be far from effective for another.
Auxano consultants work closely with churches in addressing their critical planning concerns and identifying their priorities. This helps direct the focus of their ministry staff and guide their disciple-making processes. With assistance from our church consultants, churches can make sure that the eventual plans that come from their process are aligned with their interests and fit their culture. Start a conversation with an Auxano church consultant here.
A consultant can help you establish your church’s direction.
By helping leaders clarify their church mission statement, church vision, critical issues, and core values, Auxano consultants help them move quickly through a process that establishes their future direction. These church consultants help these churches create their road map of goals, strategies, action plans, timelines, and budgets. Once this map or plan is complete, which churches are at liberty to revisit anytime, it's a matter of bringing the set goals in it to fruition. Talk to an Auxano Navigator about developing a visionary plan for your church.
Finding the Right Consultant for Your Ministry Team
When you plan to hire a consultant, there are a few key attributes you must consider. These include:
Responsiveness of the Consultant
During your initial contact process, gauge the responsiveness of the consultant. How many days did he or she take to get back to you? Does he or she display enthusiasm and interest in your ministry needs and goals? Good consultants are responsive to their clients not only before but also after they're hired. They're also proactive and responsible about providing updates and facilitating discussions.
Responsive consultants don’t simply ignore but acknowledge an inquiry even when they currently don’t know the answer. They’ll inform the client that they’ll do their best to address the concern and lean on the collected expertise of their team to find the answer.
Once you reach out to Auxano using this form, you’ll talk to an actual church consultant (not a sales person) within one business day. Our team stays connected to pastors and leaders long after the church consulting services are completed.
Work Arrangement of the Consultant
Find out whether the consultant works full-time or part-time. When church consultancy is not the primary job of a professional, it could mean that it is not his or her only focus. On the other hand, consultants who work full-time are likely able to focus solely on your church and offer you personalized, prompt service. Full-time consultants and their team may also provide you with a wider net of support and resources for your ministry.
Auxano maintains a core-team of six full-time church consulting navigators and a network of trained bi-vocational church consulting strategists.
Expertise of the Consultant
Every church is different in terms of various aspects, such as theology, staff culture, demographics of the congregation, and structure of leadership. Great consultants not only recognize these differences. They are also knowledgeable of them.
Let these questions guide you as you analyze the expertise of the consultant: Can he or she speak to ministry differences? Does he or she understand the nuances of your theology? Does he or she have experience with your specific denomination? If the answer to these questions is yes, you’ve got yourself a good candidate.
In addition, a church’s leadership structure is especially significant for a consultant to understand. This is because it’s an integral part of the health and staffing of the church. For instance, the search process for a congregational church will be different from an elder-led one. A consultant has to understand this as well as discern your church staff culture from the others.
Auxano church consultants lead with questions not answers. This is our organizational value of Carnivorous Learning in action! Learn how we can serve your church strategic planning needs here.
History of the Consultant
It’s important to gain insight into the quality of service a ministry consultant can provide. Before you hire one, check his or her history in the industry. You’ll want someone who has made a name for him or herself and built a solid reputation in the field.
Ask about the experiences of the consultant with clients. In the same way that references come in handy in hiring professionals, they can also help you choose the right consultant. Hear the side of the previous clients as well. Ask about their opinion of the consultant, and let it help you decide whether to work with him or her.
Auxano enjoys a two-decade history of serving churches in their calling to make disciple-makers. All of our church consultants have church ministry staff experience and carry a contiguous passion for the local church.
Motivation of the Consultant
Take into account the consultant’s financial motivation. Your consultant will be your partner in determining what’s best for you and your church, not what will generate him or her the most profit.
Excellent consultants don’t rush the process of addressing your needs just so that they are paid immediately. They perform their job no matter how long it takes to deliver the best possible results to you and your church. From helping you determine your church leadership structure to creating the most appropriate visionary plan, a consultant will make sure to act only in the best interests of your ministry team.
Overall, a consultant will provide you with the support and resources you need to manage and care for your church efficiently. He or she will also be your source for sound and invaluable advice regarding your church planning requirements.
Auxano is a non-profit organization and our core team of church consultants are salaried employees. This means we will bring you a plan to fit YOUR church consulting needs, not supporting OUR lifestyle.
Hire One of Our Trusted Consultants at Auxano
At Auxano, we are dedicated to helping you bring your church vision to reality. We have been working with pastors and ministry leaders in North America for almost 20 years. When you enlist our church consultancy service, we’ll help you develop actionable strategies for articulating, planning, and integrating a solid vision into your culture. Get in touch with us to learn more. We look forward to hearing from you.