8 Questions Every Pastoral Leader Needs to Ask (and Answer)

Church renewal is really hard. In fact, just the daily grind of running a parish (or diocese / ministry) can be hard. That means trying to do all of the day-to-day and still make time for growth, evangelization, discipleship, change, renewal, etc is VERY hard. Yet, it is still worth it. If you believe it is worth the time, energy, struggle, and resources, then you should answer these questions.

1. Do we have the proper vision, that focuses on evangelization and discipleship? If you don't know where you are going, then you are lost. The good thing is, Jesus provides us a mission statement (a statement for why we exist) - "go and make disciples". But, how we live that out in each particular context, needs to be discerned. This takes visionary leadership, planning, and implementation of the plan.
2. What assumptions are we making that will hurt the implementation of our vision? Do we assume that because someone is "involved" (or even on staff) that they are an intentional disciple? Do we assume that people know how to respond to Jesus? Do we assume that our parishioners, staff, volunteers, etc know how to pray and are doing so? Now...if we stopped making such assumptions, how would it change our plans and how we operate?
3. Are our primary goals to make missionary disciples and then to help them flourish and go into the mission fields themselves? If not, then we are not achieving the mission that Jesus gave us (see #1). It also can't be that we merely have the right goals on paper, but we also need to have a clear path to achieving them. Also, are we accountable to achieving our goals? How?
4. How do we measure success? This is a very tough question, so instead of answering it and trying to measure success, according to a vision, most just skip it. We should measure everything that we can - objective numbers (Mass attendance, kids in R.E., small group numbers, marriages, etc) but keep in mind that they don't tell the full story. This means that one way to measure is what you can control, the decisions of staff and key volunteers (e.g., start a new evangelizaiton retreat in 9 months, each staff member start a new Bible study within 4 months, etc).
5. Do we have a clear path for every member of our parish to become a fully-committed and holy missionary disciple of Jesus? If not, it is time to develop one. This means every part of the process should be included - pre-evangelization (relationship building), evangelization (encounters with Jesus, explicit proclamations of the Gospel, invitations to respond, and conversion), and discipleship (accompaniment with other disciples who help them grow in holiness, prayer, virtue, service, and mission). There are no accidents in ministry. So, plan appropriately.
6. Do we pray together (as leaders) and discern God's will together? If you aren't praying from start to finish of this process, then you are excluding God from the process. Most staffs don't really pray together. Rather, they pray in front of one another. This isn't a time to fall back on your favorite prayer style and stick to your guns. Rather, it is a corporate discernment process. We need to be open to our own hearts changing and the Holy Spirit moving.
7. What is holding us back from growing and what can we do about it? Is it Church politics? Then deal with those with honest conversations. Is it past failures or hurt relationships? Then seek new beginnings and forgiveness. Is it entrenched "we have always done it this way" mentality? Then challenge it boldly. No matter what it is, work on moving the barriers to success and growth.
8. Are we empowering our parishioners to take on the mission of the parish or doing it all ourselves? We can't do this ourselves, as staff. In fact, that isn't what God wants at all! He wants to empower His body, to go and change the world. Those you serve, should be growing right alongside you. Don't think this is for professionals alone. It isn't.

Many don't know where to start and that is ok. Many need help, that is ok too. In fact, it may be easier for someone from outside your diocese, parish, or ministry to help, because they don't have to deal with all of the internal issues and history. We at Catholic Missionary Disciples, would love to assist you, if you feel called to reach out to us, please do so.